January 2024. Volume 10. Issue 1.
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Vol 59 No 15... January 25 - 31, 2024
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Amid Grassroots Push for YearRound Youth Employment, Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program Marks 45 Years
By Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5A gas explosion on Marion Barry Avenue SE destroyed a convenience store around 10 a.m. Thursday, causing minor injuries to one person hit with flying debris. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington Informer)
Gas Explosion in Southeast Levels Convenience Store, Injures One
By Kayla Benjamin and Ja’Mon Jackson Climate & Environment Writer and Photojournalist
A gas explosion on Marion Barry Avenue SE destroyed a convenience store around 10 a.m. Thursday, causing minor injuries to one person hit with flying debris and requiring the
rapid evacuation of over a dozen toddlers at the daycare next door, along with dozens of people working in buildings nearby. Firefighters extinguished the blaze by 3:45 p.m., Fire Chief John Donnelly said at an afternoon press briefing. Efforts to clear the debris along the block would continue into the night, he explained.
“[The explosion] was just like the movies,” said Andre Campbell, a Department of Housing employee who was evacuated from a building across the street from the explosion. “It was terrifying to see it.” Shortly after receiving a report of a gas leak around 9:30 a.m., first re-
For weeks, Antone White has circulated a petition among District residents and elected officials demanding that young people under the age of 16 be able to receive stable employment throughout the year and access to comprehensive vocational programs. The petition, titled “Youth Empowerment - 5D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, students and District leaders, celebrate the kickoff of the application season to the 2024 Jobs for Youth/Crime PreMarion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program, which vention/Community Safe- is celebrating its 45th year. (Ja’Mon Jackson/The Washington
SYEP Page 48 Informer)
Local Mother Demands Custody of Daughter, Protection of Black P.K. Collins Parental Rights ByWISam Staff Writer
EXPLOSION Page 48
By Kayla Benjamin heavy rainfall. Collapsed Pipe She first called DC Water, Climate & Environment as she normally would, around Writer Floods Over A Dozen 9 p.m. As the night wore on, 5 Teron McNeil, Jr., the 12-year-old son of Smith quickly realized Titania Best, counted among several people When water started to seep Southeast Homes into her basement the evening though, this was not her typical flood is- who took to the front of the Hospital for Sick Children Pediatric Center to protest for parenof Jan. 15, Kayla Smith didn’t sue. with Sewage tal rights for Aziyrah Peters, mother Ramyah “We kept calling every hour, to panic. Since buying her house on
Southern Avenue SE Resident Discusses the Flooding and Aftermath
Southern Avenue SE in 2019, she has dealt with several nuisance flooding issues, usually during
say ‘hey, it's still rising,’” Smith
FLOODS Page 22
Peters, who is at odds with the D.C. Childs and Family Services Agency and medical professionals about health treatment plans for her young daughter. (Courtesy Photo)
Celebrating 59 years. Your credible and trusted source for Black news and information.
For months, Aziyrah Peters has been at odds with administrators at the Hospital for Sick Children Pediatric Center in Northeast about the medical care that her daughter, Ramyah Peters, has been receiving for pulmonary hypertension. Since Ramyah’s birth, when doctors
RIGHTS Page 40