The observance, organized by Indivisible Route 1 Corridor, brought together immigrant rights groups, faith leaders and residents calling for accountability and support for affected families.

“We get a lot of public support when we do an event like this,” said Laura Usher, co-leader of Indivisible Route 1 Corridor.

“We’re really grateful to have the support of the faith community in speaking out against the reprehensible treatment of immigrants.”

One of the signs held along the sidewalk read, “ICE agents repent, love, and save your souls.” Its owner, 20-year-old Jenifer Pineda, said fear has shaped her life and the lives of other children of immigrants.

“Before, it was, we couldn’t go outside because of COVID, and I was like, we can’t go outside because of the fear of our parents being taken away,” she said.

Pineda, president of the youth group at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, said her uncle was detained last August on his way to work, forcing her aunt and young cousin to leave the country.

Karen Murphy, who began protesting with her parents during the Vietnam War era, was joined Saturday by her son and daughter.

“I need to see more people at events like this,” she said. “Put down your phones and join these events.” She added,

“This isn’t right. This isn’t America. We stand up for human rights. This is a country of immigrants.”

Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey told ������Ƶapp that ICE agents are being asked to do work they are not trained for.

“These ICE agents aren’t trained to be doing the work that the administration has them doing,” he said.

“They really should be using these agents to focus on finding the worst of the worst instead of these roving patrols and racial profiling stops.”

The vigil included prayers, songs led by the Rapid Response Choir, and a reading of the names of people killed in ICE encounters. Organizers also collected food for Route 1 Mutual Aid, which supports families affected by ICE detentions.

Source

The latest wildfires in southern Europe this week have displaced more than 250,000 people, including some 70,000 people who were evacuated in central Spain. One man died in Manises, the municipality reported on its Facebook page, the first death so far in the blazes.

In France, the giant A400M transporter swooped in low, its long plume of ochre-colored retardant trailing over drought-hit woodlands in the southwest as fire crews on the ground fought flames that authorities feared could spread toward the wine region city of Bordeaux.

Race organizers and the Paris police department announced a truncated 21st and final stage on Sunday for the three-week Tour, France’s most famous annual sporting event, reflecting the immense strain that two large fires in the southwest are causing for emergency services.

Tour riders will race Sunday inside Paris, rather than starting from Thoiry, west of the capital, on a circuit of 89 kilometers (55 miles) — down by a third from the 133-kilometer (82.5-mile) route that had been planned. Part of the race’s security detail will instead “reinforce the response efforts in the areas affected by the wildfires,” according to the statement announcing the ”exceptional measures made necessary by the situation.”

Shifting winds raise concerns for Bordeaux

With winds expected to shift in a west-to-east direction on Saturday afternoon, potentially driving flames closer to Bordeaux, fire crews and authorities were digging trenches, using retardants and taking other blaze-blocking steps, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, predicting a “long and very difficult” battle.

He said the fire was about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the city and lost some of its intensity overnight. The prefect of the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux said the blaze grew into “a firestorm” on Friday after igniting earlier this week and cautioned that it “remains dangerous” even though firefighters were making progress.

The government mobilized soldiers to join fire crews and was rushing in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.

Authorities ordered people between the fire and Bordeaux to evacuate, including from parts of the city’s western suburbs and other towns and villages.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the fires as unprecedented and said the Gironde blaze became so strong on Friday that it had begun generating its own winds. Firefighting teams were being reinforced with the addition of hundreds of soldiers and breathing masks to filter out potentially noxious smoke particles were being rushed to those exposed, Lecornu said.

In Bordeaux, authorities took in thousands of evacuees, offering them food and shelter in an exhibition center, and the city’s mayor said it could be equipped to welcome as many as 10,000 people if that became necessary. The city’s airport said it remained open but that its bus and tram services were suspended.

Evacuation orders were sent with special alerts to mobile phones, instructing people to leave, Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said. She said the fire had destroyed about 140 homes in the region.

The magnitude of the wildfires caught authorities off guard

The French military A400M transport plane, specially converted for fire-fighting, was a heavyweight new tool in the battle. It joined at least 18 other water- and retardant-dropping aircraft and helicopters that Nunez said were deployed in the Gironde region, working in rotation in the smoke-filled skies.

The virulence of the French and Spanish wildfires, fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of , caught fire crews and authorities off guard.

Firefighters in Spain said the blazes spread so fast and violently that they could not be tackled head on. In France, some people even fled by boat when flames swept through touristic towns on the Atlantic coast.

“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo, west of Madrid, where fire charred a famed chestnut grove. “When we saw the flames coming into our town, surrounding us, leaving us with practically no way out, all the neighbors joined together to try to stop its advance.”

“It’s just really sad,” he said.

Climate change supercharges fires

Spain deployed 2,600 firefighters, police and other emergency personnel to two blazes west of Madrid, backed by 19 water-dumping aircraft and helicopters.

France deployed 1,400 firefighters to the Gironde fire and hundreds of others to another wildfire further south in the Landes region. Dozens of firefighters suffered injuries, authorities said amid panic scenes with townsfolk fleeing by car and police went door to door to tell people to leave.

Successive heat waves that hit unusually early and hard this year, baking Europe with record-shattering high temperatures, have turned forests and scrublands into tinderboxes.

Fires have burned 130,000 hectares of forest already this year in Spain, up from an annual average of 100,000 hectares over the past decade, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday as he visited a command post west of Madrid.

He said more favorable weather Saturday offered “a window of opportunity” for fire crews to bring the blazes under control. Madrid’s regional government said the fires decreased in intensity as winds and temperatures dropped.

The fatality reported on Saturday occurred in Manises, part of the wildfire-affected region of Valencia.

Other European nations were helping, with Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany and Switzerland already providing or expected to deploy water-dumping planes and helicopters to the Spanish and French fire fronts.

___

Leicester reported from Paris. Associated Press journalists Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal; Manu Fernandez in El Tiemblo, Spain; and Joseph Wilson in Barcelona contributed.

Source

Now, another water feature on the National Mall is being repaired after it was damaged.

A contractor’s vehicle drove over the center of a fountain feature at the German-American Friendship Garden after bike rack barriers meant to protect the area were moved, cracking the fountain and prompting repairs, according to the National Park Service.

You may be thinking to yourself that you’ve never heard of this place. Chances are you’ve walked through it without realizing it.

Located between the White House and the Washington Monument, the garden welcomes an estimated seven million visitors each year.

Unlike traditional fountains with basins, the features use ground-level water jets built directly into the pavement, offering visitors a place to cool off during Washington D.C.’s hot summer months.

The damage comes only a few years after the German-American Friendship Garden underwent a major restoration project.

Dedicated in 1988, the garden commemorates 300 years of German immigration to America.

The National Park Service said they are working on repairing the fountain.

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Policías y bomberos se presentaron poco antes del mediodía a un incendio en una casa en Grand Haven Township, en la orilla oriental del lago Michigan. Al ingresar al lugar, encontraron los cuerpos, indicó el capitán Jacob Sparks, del

Sparks señaló que las autoridades aún no han identificado a todas las víctimas y que no cuentan con una causa oficial de muerte. Agregó que las edades de los menores oscilaban entre los 5 y los 15 años.

No precisó cuántas de las personas presentaban heridas de bala.

“Es una escena complicada, una escena compleja”, subrayó Sparks.

Explicó que los investigadores no buscaban a más sospechosos y que, hasta ahora, una de las hipótesis es un homicidio-suicidio. Añadió que aparentemente todos los residentes de la casa habían fallecido.

Sparks afirmó que el incendio era “sospechoso” y que había motivos para creer que fue provocado. Indicó que investigadores de incendios provocados de la Policía Estatal de Michigan forman parte de la pesquisa.

Grand Haven Township tiene alrededor de 18,000 habitantes y se ubica a unas 25 millas al oeste de Grand Rapids.

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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa. Un editor de Telemundo Chicago revisó la traducción.

The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by abortion providers in Kansas, Montana and Virginia to challenge the restrictions as excessive, unwarranted and inconsistent with other legal requirements. A similar case in Hawaii was already decided in October, with a federal judge also finding that the restrictions were arbitrary.

In Virginia, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Ballou, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said the FDA failed to conduct an appropriate review of the 2023 restrictions on mifepristone, which include rules that prescribing pharmacies and clinicians must be specially certified and prescribers and patients must sign a form acknowledging the medication’s risks.

“The 2023 REMS modification is unlawful and must be remanded to the FDA for review,” Ballou wrote, using the acronym for the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies protocols.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of lead plaintiff Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, based in Virginia, said in a statement Friday that eliminating those three restrictions would help clinic staff focus on patient needs instead of “excessive paperwork.”

“I have worked in abortion care for over 30 years, and I can attest that these regulations serve no medical purpose, nor do they add value to our patients’ experience of abortion,” Hagstrom Miller said in the statement.

The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Stateline on Friday.

Ballou did not give a timeline for a review of the restrictions, but the FDA has said it is conducting a and has sought to dismiss cases related to mifepristone regulation until it completes that review. Trump administration officials told the Wall Street Journal in June that the review was expected to take about six months, meaning it would conclude after the national midterm elections.

Katie Keith, founding director of the Center for Health Policy and the Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, said the Virginia and Hawaii decisions mean the FDA has been ordered by two courts to reconsider its restrictions and more thoroughly explain why they are necessary.

“They’re going to have to look at everything these various courts are telling them to look at,” Keith said.

But the two rulings come at the same time the administration is receiving pressure from anti-abortion groups to further restrict access to mifepristone, even in states where abortion is legal.

The 2023 rules, which were decided under the Biden administration, also eased restrictions to allow mifepristone to be dispensed without an in-person provider for the first time. That helped expand national access to the medication, which is one of two drugs typically used to end a pregnancy before 10 weeks and to treat miscarriages, and allowed people who live in one of the 13 states with near-total abortion bans to continue to receive it by mail.

That expanded access prompted three other lawsuits from attorneys general in states with abortion bans that are still pending in federal courts. In Louisiana, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether to strike down the provision allowing telehealth prescriptions, and will hear oral arguments in the case in September.

The 5th Circuit initially granted an emergency request from Louisiana to block telehealth access to the medication, but after drug manufacturers appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices reversed the circuit court ruling. That stay from the high court will remain in place as the case continues.

Two other cases with different implications for the future of mifepristone are ongoing. One is in Missouri, joined by attorneys general from Idaho and Kansas, where they have asked the court to return all of the restrictions to what they were in 2016. The other is in Texas, joined by Florida’s attorney general, asking the federal court to revoke the drug’s approval entirely.

Stateline reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris can be reached at kmoseley@stateline.org.

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The salary deadline is part of the state’s multiyear, multibillion-dollar education reform plan known as the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. It’s also a mandate for which there is little wiggle room for local districts: At a legislative hearing in March, an official with the Accountability and Implementation Board, which oversees the Blueprint, said the July 1 date was firm and there was no waiver.

But some local school officials said it wasn’t easy to meet that July 1 deadline.

Denise Sopa, chief financial officer for Cecil County Public Schools, said in an email Tuesday that a first-year, 10-month teacher will receive a starting salary of $60,086 for the 2026-27 school year. But “in order to meet the state requirement and balance the budget in general, we needed to reduce 104 positions,” she said, including 60 teachers, 30 support staff and 14 administrators.

Jodi Colman, assistant superintendent for academics and student services in Dorchester County, said some restructuring had to be done to hit the salary mark and balance the system’s 2026-27 budget. One of the results: an increase in classes sizes – possibly from 18 to 22 – because the school system wasn’t able to fund as many teacher positions.

Colman said Dorchester schools, which have about 4,500 students, also had to resort to a reduction in force “in order to make sure we were funding the classroom positions because we wanted to have the least impact on the schools as possible.”

Colman acknowledged the work on this year’s budget “was difficult. We don’t have a lot of extras around here.”

But legislators who support the Blueprint, such as Del. Jessica Feldmark (D-Howard), said Friday the salary increase is an investment that helps not only the education profession, but also the students.

“Within the context of whatever budget challenges we’re facing, we have to remember that this is about investing in our children and in our future, investing in the future of our workforce, our economy, our democracy, and that investment is something we have to take seriously,” said Feldmark, vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“If we want to have great schools, we need to be able to recruit and retain great educators, and recognizing their value and paying them a fair salary is a critical piece of that,” she said.

When AIB Executive Director Rachel Hise told a  in March that there would be no waivers on the minimum salary requirement, just half of the state’s 24 school districts met the threshold: Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s and Washington counties. Starting salaries for those systems ranged from $60,000 even in Allegany and Carroll counties to $64,591 in Montgomery.

Since then, officials with Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties said they have met the minimum salary requirement. The remaining counties either did not respond or said they are still working on it.

One of the penalties for failing to hit the deadline is that the AIB can withhold a certain amount of funding from a district until the $60,000 salary gets approved.

At least one school district continues to work on it: Somerset County, which had the state’s highest percentage of people living in poverty, at 20.3% in 2025, according to the .

Somerset schools remain in negotiations with their bargaining units, Superintendent W. David Bromwell said in an email Thursday. Bromwell said the district is aware of the $60,000 minimum salary requirement.

“Any budgetary item/mandate, can be difficult to complete for any MD Public School system, especially the smaller districts,” he wrote in his email.

Somerset officials have time on their side because they’ll have until Sept. 1 to send an attestation to the AIB to confirm the $60,000 minimum teacher salary has been met. That must also be done by all other school districts.

While some school systems struggled, or continue to struggle, officials in Frederick County said it was simply a matter of doing what had to be done.

“It was a requirement under the law. We did it. I hope everybody else did the same,” said Sarah Sirgo, chief of staff for Frederick County Public Schools.

Other school districts may have focused on the challenge to work on their budgets this year due to the salary mandate, but  Sirgo said she and her colleagues in Frederick don’t view it that way.

“We’re not like, ‘Oh well, if we’re going to pay teachers more, we can’t do X, Y, or Z,’” said Sirgo, who also serves as the district’s Blueprint coordinator. “When we build our budget, we have our strategic plan. We make sure that our budget is advancing the goals that we’re after.”

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You may soon notice new murals in D.C., as part of the District’s DC250 Mural Project.

“Public art is a fantastic way to celebrate our country’s semi-quincentennial — through art, we can share our stories, celebrate our shared values, and inspire future generations,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a news release announcing the project.

Coordinated by the city’s Department of Public Works, eight D.C.-based artists will create one new mural for each of the eight wards of the city over the next few weeks, with each mural reflecting the history and character of the neighborhood it appears in.

At least two of the murals have been completed, one in Ward 4 and artist Luis Del Valle’s mural in Ward 7.

“To me, it just means that we’re celebrating the successes that happened, even when happening with the civil rights movement, we’re not where we want to be, but we have moved further (across) the line,” Del Valle said about the 250th anniversary celebratory murals.

“So 250 anniversaries means that we get to celebrate some of the accomplishments, but we also get to acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do,” he said.

Del Valle’s Ward 7 mural is located near the Shrimp Boat Plaza at 4510 East Capitol Street in Southeast D.C. It features images of children, with bright colors and more.

“On the right-hand side here, I have a eagle that is fishing. The eagle is the symbol of the United States. And as you move through the mural in the middle, we have a little young girl that kind of represents the future and hope. And as we move toward the far left, we have a little boy that’s fishing, so that is the little boy that was taught how to fish,” Del Valle said.

Del Valle wanted to ensure that the images would bring a smile to people’s faces.

“Each of the colors here are actually very uplifting. So when people see them, it brings them joy and happiness, and sometimes they don’t really know why. But in the subconscious, the colors really affect you, and when you mix that with the little children, especially children, always attract people and always bring happiness to them,” he said.

Here is the list of murals in the project and where to find them:

• Ward 1: Ben’s Chili Bowl, by Aniekan Udofia. Work begins in August.
• Ward 2: Blagden Alley entrance, 1312 9th Street, NW, by Julia Kagan. Work begins next week.
• Ward 3: Macomb Recreation Center, 3409 Macomb Street, NW, by Demont Pinder. Work begins next week.
• Ward 4: 5816 Georgia Avenue, NW, by Federico Frum. Complete.
• Ward 5: Metropolitan Branch Trail, 2000 5th Street, NE, by artist Asad Walker. Work begins next week.
• Ward 6: Henceforth restaurant, 1335 H Street, NE, by Mia Duvall. Work completed this week.
• Ward 7: Shrimp Boat Plaza, 4510 East Capitol Street, SE, by Luis Del Valle. Complete.
• Ward 8: Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, 701 Mississippi Avenue, SE, by Nabi Bilal and Candace Taylor. Work begins in August.

������Ƶapp’s Diane Morris contributed to this report.

Source

Sonia Mendez recalled standing in the communal room at the McDonald’s location in Riverdale, Maryland, when suddenly, members of her crew walked in holding colorful “Congratulations” balloons and flowers. They all shouted congratulations and clapped for her, leaving Mendez stunned.

“Vas al mundial,” one of her co-workers shouted in Spanish, translated to “You’re going to the World Cup.”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God! I just cannot believe it,'” Mendez, 40, said. “It was a very exciting moment, and especially that they have flowers, balloons and everybody was happy to say that I was going.”

Mendez, who is the general manager of the Riverdale location, was one of four U.S. McDonald’s employees selected to take part in a special three-day experience in New York City, which ended with a ticket to attend the men’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. In total, 44 crew members from around the world were selected to take part in the experience.

Mendez, who’s worked at the company for 14 years, was nominated for the once-in-a-lifetime experience for her leadership skills and commitment to her team in Riverdale. Soledad Sanchez, operations consultant for McDonald’s, told ������Ƶapp she nominated Mendez for the opportunity for her hard work and passion.

“She makes it seem so easy,” Sanchez said. “She’s a leader. She helped her people, and she’s been helping her people grow, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Originally from Puebla, Mexico, Mendez began working at McDonald’s in Riverdale while attending Bladensburg High School in Prince George’s County. After bouncing around for years and gaining additional experiences, she returned to Riverdale in 2022 as its general manager.

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

Courtesy Sonia Mendez

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Despite ongoing nearby construction of a future Purple Line station, the location has continued to outperform sales metrics. Meanwhile, Sanchez said Mendez has been able to balance being a single mother of three daughters while fostering a great work environment with a motivated staff.

For her part, Mendez is a big soccer fan. She grew up watching games with her father Pablo and roots for the Mexican national team. While she knew McDonald’s had opportunities to go to other events or go to school, Mendez “never imagined” going to the World Cup finals.

One night, as Sanchez and Mendez spoke on the phone during a Mexico World Cup match, Sanchez got the news that her colleague had been selected.

“I got the email, and I said, ‘Oh my God,’ I cannot tell her, but I really wanted to tell her,'” Sanchez said. “But it was not a tough decision.”

She flew to New York and participated in a welcome reception and a river cruise, which included getting close to the Statue of Liberty. She met McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski and took a photo next to the World Cup trophy.

On match day, she was given a special McDonald’s jersey to wear to the final as part of a package of goodies she took home. After taking part in a special social media video, Mendez watched as Spain defeated Argentina in extra time to win its second World Cup. McDonald’s brought her and all the other nominees back to Times Square for a special postgame meal.

The fast food company paid for the entire experience, including her flight and hotel stay. By the end of the experience, Mendez said the company made her and the other participants feel special, which made it hard to say goodbye.

“I feel so proud to have the opportunity to be there,” Mendez said. “I feel so amazing that I had the opportunity to know more people, to see what McDonald’s really does for us, like take care of people too.”

Now back in Riverdale, Mendez said she welcomes those in the D.C. region to visit her and her crew, who she credits for all her success. She hopes the staff sees her as an example of how to excel to higher roles in the company.

“I share my knowledge that I know with them so they can have more opportunities like me,” she said. “Maybe they have better opportunities in the future. They might become the next general managers, too.

Source

Plane engines thunder. Trucks beep as they back up. A shearing sound echoes in the distance.

But First Officer Netanel Draiblate has no problem tuning out the noise. He’s laser-focused on the task at hand: making sure the Chicago-bound 737 he’s about to fly is ready for its 6:30 a.m. takeoff.

The pilot shines the bright beam of a flashlight as he walks around the tarmac and inspects the aircraft. Then he heads inside to begin a rapid-fire series of tests. A click-click-click as he flips switch after switch on the control panel punctuates the steady hum of the plane’s power system.

“This,” Draiblate says, “is almost like warming up for a concert.”

He knows that routine, too. Draiblate is also a professional violinist, and the process of tuning and mentally preparing for a performance is just as familiar to him as the precise pre-flight procedures for a commercial jet.

He’s often on stage when he’s not in the cockpit. The 43-year-old studied music for decades before he took his first flying lesson. And now he’s a United Airlines pilot — and heading into his 17th season as the concertmaster of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra.

These two elite jobs, piloting passenger jets and helping lead an orchestra as its top musician, may sound like they have little in common. But Draiblate says they share some striking similarities. And at a time when more Americans are taking on second jobs and forging career paths that don’t fit into a traditional box, this pilot and violinist says he’s happy he’s found a new sense of balance in his life.

On this July morning, his violin is tucked away in storage at the back of the cockpit as he discusses the flight plan with the plane’s captain. Over the next few days, he’ll fly to five cities in four states and practice music for hours inside hotel rooms across the country.

A concert is quickly approaching. For the first time, he’ll be playing in an unlikely location that blends both his careers.

An idea begins with a chance meeting in an airport security line

Draiblate was at Newark Liberty International Airport a few months ago when someone caught his attention: another musician, also toting a violin as he went through the TSA security line.

Paul Huang, an acclaimed New York-based violinist who frequently plays with orchestras and other ensembles around the world, was on his way to perform at a music festival in Japan.

The two violinists had never met before but discovered they had many friends in common. And a professor who’d taught Draiblate had also been one of Huang’s mentors.

“OK,” Huang thought to himself, “this guy is serious.”

Draiblate had an idea. “Hey, I want to show you something,” he said. He took Huang to see a small stage in a waiting area of Terminal C. “Next time you’re at the airport, let me know,” he said, “and maybe you and I can play something.”

Huang had never played in an airport before. But he’d once , and he’d seen how powerful it can be to play classical music in an unexpected venue. That week he sent Draiblate his schedule, and the two began planning their performance.

“I was just elated with the idea that he’s so passionate about this,” Huang says.

As a child, he slept beside his violin

For Draiblate, who’s known to fans of the Annapolis Symphony by his nickname, Nati, playing violin has been a lifelong passion.

He grew up in Israel with parents who were both professional violinists, and at 5 years old he remembers begging to start lessons. His mom, who also taught violin, insisted he wait another year until he was more disciplined. But she struck a deal with her son.

Every night, she’d make space in his bed and place the violin case beside him.

“I would refuse to go to sleep if it wasn’t there,” Draiblate recalls.

At 6, she gave him his first lesson, and his love for the violin only grew from there. As his training intensified, his passion for performance eventually brought him to the United States, where he studied at the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University before going on to earn a doctorate at the University of Maryland. In 2010, he as of the Annapolis Symphony.

Draiblate’s skills and leadership ability were immediately clear, according to José-Luis Novo, the symphony’s conductor and artistic director.

“The position of concertmaster is very important in the orchestra, and difficult to get, because you need someone that is very competent technically and musically playing the violin, but also you need someone that can lead and also someone that can follow the conductor,” Novo says.

Draiblate’s “wonderful tone” and his commitment to the music also make him a standout performer, Novo says. “I’ve never seen him playing halfway.”

Like many musicians, Draiblate found himself juggling numerous gigs. He was the top violinist in multiple orchestras around the country, teaching and leading .

But he wasn’t looking to add another career to the mix — until he got an unexpected piece of advice.

A former fighter pilot suggests a new path

Frank Kennedy was impressed. The director and chief flight instructor at the Navy Annapolis Flight Center is a former 747 captain and an ex-fighter pilot, and he’s seen plenty of people at the controls of a plane.

When he flew with Draiblate, he saw potential. The same skills that made him a strong leader onstage made him a highly disciplined pilot.

“He was quite remarkable, to be honest,” Kennedy says. “His attention to detail, the ability to adapt to your environment, decision-making. He had that ability. He was very decision-oriented.”

Draiblate had loved planes almost as long as he’d loved the violin. He’d doodle them frequently as a kid and collected models of aircraft he flew in on family trips. But it wasn’t until 2018 that a friend gave him his first flying lesson.

“I got hooked,” Draiblate recalls. The years he’d spent training as a violinist made the studying and memorization skills needed to become a pilot come naturally. But at the time, he kept signing up for more lessons as a hobby, hoping maybe someday to own a four-seat Cessna he could fly with friends on the weekends.

His ambitions started to shift after a flight exam in 2019, when he met Kennedy for the first time. Draiblate remembers Kennedy asking what he did for a living, and being baffled by the violinist’s response describing his music career.

“He looked at me with very inquisitive eyes and he was like, ‘That’s all great, but what do you do for a living?’ He told me, ‘You can still do a lot of those things, but you should be an airline pilot.’”

Draiblate didn’t deny how much he loved flying, but he pointed out how many musical commitments were on his plate. Kennedy helped him see an alternative he’d never considered. He could focus his music career on performing in the symphony, leading its academy and performing several times a year with . And if he set aside several of his other music gigs, he could also pursue a career as a pilot.

Eventually, Draiblate made that pitch to the symphony’s board.

Novo says he was quickly convinced.

“We needed to give him the opportunity to follow his dream. … If we had resisted, he might have decided to leave the orchestra. I think that would have been a great loss for us,” he says.

The pilot has performed for passengers before

With the symphony’s blessing, Draiblate began working as a commercial airline pilot in November 2022. And he’s been a first officer for United since April 2025. He estimates he flies around 18 days per month, often taking last-minute assignments as a junior pilot on reserve duty.

Draiblate frequently travels with his violin so he can practice between concerts. It’s common for pilots to have other talents outside their aviation work, Draiblate says, and he’s come across a few other pilot-musicians online.

Still, he’s become familiar with the shocked expressions that flash across passengers’ faces when they see him perform while wearing his pilot’s uniform.

He saw those surprised faces amid the winter holidays in December, when with another United pilot, a captain who’s also a pianist.

And he saw them again during a flight delay in Newark last year, when he gave an impromptu onboard performance while waiting for the all-clear to fly.

He knew many on the Punta Cana-bound flight were stressed by the delay and eager to get to the beach. So he gave them something he hoped would transport them somewhere else in the meantime: Bach.

The first officer stood at the front of the 737’s cabin and played the serene, sweet notes of a sonata.

Passengers pulled out their phones to record the surprise solo. A little boy climbed onto his dad’s lap to get a better view. And when Draiblate played the last note, row after row erupted in applause, and a woman in first class shouted, “Bravo!”

Draiblate smiled, took a brief bow and got ready for takeoff.

His second career gives him a new perspective onstage

Being a pilot has come in handy during his career as a violinist, too.

He once flew a soloist who’d just performed with the orchestra to Washington Dulles International Airport, avoiding the DC area’s notorious highway traffic.

Novo, the Annapolis Symphony conductor, says he’s noticed that Draiblate’s career as a pilot has made him even more organized and efficient when planning events and discussing orchestra business.

“There is a crossover between being a pilot and being a concertmaster,” Novo says. “There are a lot of things that you have to take care of at once.”

And now, when he takes the stage, Draiblate says he approaches performing with a different perspective.

“You just operated a piece of machinery and took it up 30,000 feet. Things look very small down below,” he says. “You can go on stage, and nothing bad is going to happen. You’ll be alive at the end of the concert. So it gives you that perspective, and it takes away a lot of the more nervous jitters that you get, so you can focus.”

A last-minute rehearsal

If Draiblate is harboring any jitters, there’s no sign of them as he heads through the Newark airport security line on the way to meet Huang, violin in tow.

They’re about to play together for the first time. And they have less than an hour to iron out any kinks before their concert on the airport’s stage.

In a United conference room tucked away from the commotion of the terminal, the musicians get out their instruments and are harmonizing a few seconds later.

“Amazing!” Huang says as they run through a duet by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Viotti. After a few quick adjustments, the two are in sync.

Draiblate smiles. Just as he’s learned to respond swiftly to flight conditions as a pilot, as a performer, he’s learned to listen and adapt.

“All this time following soloists,” he says, “and eventually, you get it.”

“I always follow the orchestra,” Huang laughs.

He asks what it’s like juggling a music career with life as a pilot.

“For us here (at United), things pick up during the holidays in the summer, when the orchestra doesn’t play,” Draiblate says. “It works perfectly.”

To Huang, that idea of balance makes sense.

“It’s good to have two things,” he says. “It actually makes you happier on both.”

Draiblate has flown more than 60 flights in and out of Newark for United. But he’s never performed on the airport’s stage. Today he’s wearing his pilot’s uniform, even though he doesn’t have a flight scheduled. He’s excited to have a chance to show others the two worlds he loves.

Pilot and passenger play a duet

“I’m waiting for a wave of calm to wash over me,” Jon Gooda tells the musicians as they walk into the concourse. In the roughly 18 months since United set up its stage in the Newark terminal, the vice president of airport operations has seen passengers and staff members light up during performances, from youth poetry readings to jazz ensembles to an employee talent show.

Gooda knows the 15,000 United employees in the Newark area have countless skills they bring to the table. And he’s excited for passengers today to see another side of one of the airline’s more than 19,000 pilots.

It’s a bustling afternoon in one of the country’s busiest airports and a steady stream of people are rushing through the concourse. The high-top tables in the waiting area near the stage are starting to fill up with passengers cramming in quick meals and neon-vest-clad workers on break. The air is full of the sounds of hundreds of conversations, the crackling of potato chip bags and the beeping horns of trams that race by with passengers who are running late.

A small crowd gathers as the violinists play their first duet. Draiblate greets them with a warm welcome.

“My name is Nati,” he says. “As you can see, I play the violin, but I also operate one of those wonderful machines.”

He gestures toward planes visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the stage. It’s a beautiful backdrop.

But the airport’s acoustics during rush hour on a Monday afternoon are less ideal.

As Draiblate speaks, it isn’t long before he’s drowned out by blaring announcements warning passengers not to leave luggage unattended and gate agents’ reminders about limited carry-on bag space.

And as he and Huang perform the pieces they’ve prepared with virtuosic flair, some passengers hurry by without seeming to notice the free concert.

But Draiblate is unfazed. He knows this is an airport, not a concert hall. And he hopes even the passengers who are too busy to stop will see that a pilot is performing.

For the final number in their nearly 30-minute show, the two violinists play a rousing rendition of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

A little boy dances with his dad. A couple sits down in seats near the stage and holds hands. An older woman looks awestruck and hands off her suitcase to her husband so she can record the scene on her phone.

“Thank you so much,” Draiblate says as onlookers cheer at the end of the piece. “We’ll do this again another time.”

Within minutes, Huang is heading to a nearby gate to board his flight to Switzerland, where he’ll be performing in a chamber music festival.

And Draiblate is back in the driver’s seat of his BMW convertible, which has a license plate that reads “BOW2FLY.”

As he drives south on I-95 toward his Maryland home, he thinks about future concerts he hopes to plan.

He’d love more chances to bring his two careers together. He’s looking forward to telling other musicians about the airport’s stage — and performing there again between flights.

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The church and the town are now in a federal lawsuit over an overnight shelter operating inside the parish hall across from City Hall. The church filed a lawsuit against Ocean City, arguing the town’s actions against the shelter violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Ocean City responded with a counterclaim seeking an injunction to close the shelter, arguing the operation does not comply with local zoning requirements.

Town officials say the dispute is not about providing services to people experiencing homelessness, but about how the shelter is operating. The church said it is carrying out its religious mission to help people in need.

During a tour of the church’s outreach center, the Rev. Jill Williams told ������Ƶapp the church serves about 120 lunches each day during the summer season and averages “between 30 and 35 people in the evening as guests for the shelter.”

Williams said the shelter began operating after the town told the church to remove tents used by unhoused people from its property and move people indoors.

“They told us from the beginning that this place needs to look like Disneyland. That’s a quote. They would like all the homeless people off the island. That is the goal of the mayor and city council,” Williams said.

In a phone interview, Ocean City Town Manager Terry McGean told ������Ƶapp that Williams’ characterization of that conversation was not accurate.

“What I said was that some people thought Ocean City was Disneyland, but I knew that was not the case. That we were a city with all the intended issues and responsibilities, and that we were not some amusement park,” he said.

“I guess the way she puts it is a better sound bite, but it certainly takes what I said well out of context,” he said.

Williams also said McGean told her to rely on wealthy parishioners to influence city leaders.

“He instructed me to figure out who my wealthy parishioners were, who were the wealthy business owners in Ocean City, and have them call the mayor and city council if I wanted anything done, because that’s how things are done here in Ocean City. That was a direct quote,” she said.

McGean disputes that account, saying he never mentioned wealthy parishioners or suggested that was how approvals are obtained.

“I said it’s always good to have any member of her congregation, if they knew council members, to educate them on what the church wants to do,” McGean said, adding that he would give the same advice to any nonprofit seeking town funding.

Williams said the church has also faced difficulties installing a washer and dryer, saying plumbers have repeatedly withdrawn after beginning the permit process. She said the machines are needed for altar cloths, kitchen towels and cleaning supplies.

McGean said the electrical permit was approved, but the plumbing permit application did not meet code because the proposed drain line was too small. He said the town would approve a code-compliant application if one is submitted.

McGean said Ocean City supports homeless services through Diakonia in West Ocean City and the Worcester County Homeless Outreach Team.

“We are simply enforcing the law that we have had on the books for many, many, many years, and we enforce it equally,” he said.

When asked what she would tell the mayor and council, Williams said she wants them to understand the people who sleep in her parish hall and hear their stories, including “some who work for the town of Ocean City.”

“Understand the miracles that are happening here,” Williams said. “This is the mission of the followers of Jesus Christ for all time and that we’re not going to stop.”

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It was a surprising observation, Rai said, given research suggests “many of the habits, such as having patience and gratitude, actually start at” the elementary school level. So Rai, Austin Chen and Ayush Ranjan worked to address that by creating a book.

Called “The Seed That Grows,” the book emphasizes the importance and value of saving, among other things. The trio wrote the storyline and created the images, and the book has now been distributed across Fairfax County elementary schools and to various countries abroad.

“For being able to be financially stable, you have to have those basic skills about not just spending money whenever you get a chance, but actually having that basic discipline in order to save it or wait awhile,” Rai said.

The book, Rai said, uses a metaphor of a seed to discuss saving, investing and delayed gratification. It tells the story of two kids who each get a seed: one who decides to plant it and wait for a tree to grow, and the other who traded the seed for a piece of candy, a short-term goal.

As the story progresses, the contrast between thinking in the near and long terms is revealed, Rai said.

The group raised over $1,000 for the project and 274 books were distributed at 12 nearby Fairfax County schools and five international schools.

Because their adviser has connections at the World Bank, Rai said translated versions of the book made it to India, China, Kazakhstan and Australia.

They also hosted several read-aloud sessions, asking students to participate in surveys before and afterward.

“We saw a 74% in understanding,” Rai said.

Now, they’re planning to take the same concepts used in the book and turn them into a financial literacy game, Rai said.

The hope, Rai said, is students will develop “habit-based learning in order to instill their success and their discipline and their financial success when they grow up and manage their finances.”

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To make room on the roster, left-hander Will Dion and utility man Daniel Schneemann were optioned to Triple-A Columbus.

Cleveland (54-50) entered the game against Tampa Bay 1 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox for the top spot in the AL Central.

Martinez was slotted in the leadoff spot to open the series against the Rays and went 0 for 4. He missed 32 games with a fracture in his left foot after fouling a ball off the foot against Detroit on June 13. Martinez was placed on the injured list on June 16 with a non-displaced fracture and missed 32 games. Coming in, the 24-year-old was hitting .239 with 33 RBIs and is tied for the team lead with 11 home runs.

Martinez appeared in four games on a rehab assignment, playing twice with Double-A Akron and two games with Columbus, combining to go 5 for 12 with a home run and two doubles before joining the Guardians for a pregame workout on Thursday.

Herrin worked an inning of relief and allowed two hits and an earned run. He was placed on the IL on July 9 with a left elbow contusion when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Minnesota’s Royce Lewis a day earlier. Entering the game, Herrin had 27 strikeouts and a 3.06 ERA in 32 1/3 innings in 41 relief appearances this season. He made a pair of appearances in a rehab assignment this week.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — LeBron James’ first final decision was that he would retire. Weeks of deep reflection led him to change his mind, however, with all the familiar options in front of him to extend his career; a third trip with Cleveland, a second stop in Miami, maybe even stay in California for a high-profile union in Golden State.

Nope — to all of those teams.

The blaring headline in bold letters still seemed like a feverish dream to the bulk of a fan base that wasn’t even alive the last time the franchise won a title, but it’s true:

LeBron James is heading to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The NBA’s career scoring leader made the announcement on social media Friday, saying it will be his “last decision” and that it comes after he strongly considered retirement.

“I believe I can help make the Philadelphia 76ers a championship team and I am so excited to energize a new fan base and start this incredible journey one last time,” James said.

A four-time NBA champion, wrote he was “done” when his 23rd NBA season ended and that it was his last with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I was pretty sure I played my last game. I was honest at that last press conference when I said I needed to look at myself and decide if I still love this game,” James wrote. “I still truly love this game, and I have more to give.”

The 41-year-old James is set to sign a modest $8 million, two-year contract on the veterans’ minimum with the Sixers, according to ESPN. He made nearly $53 million last season.

“I’m not going for money. I’m not going for family,” James wrote. “What am I really playing for at this point? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to grind. I still want to compete, to win and to have a chance at the feeling of winning.”

James celebrated his decision on Instagram with a career set to Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares,” the adopted sports anthem of city teams.

The video ends with the lyric, “hold up, wait a minute. Y’all thought I was finished?” and cuts to a 76ers’ logo.

Fanatics already had his No. 23 jersey on sale for $125 with delivery not expected until the end of August. The company sold out within hours of the announcement.

Much as James did for Cleveland when he ended a 56-year championship drought for the city by leading the Cavaliers to the title in 2016, he can snap a lengthy title drought for the Sixers.

The Sixers went 45-37 last season and were swept in the second round by the NBA champion New York Knicks.

Most betting sites had the Sixers as 9-1 favorites to win the championship behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, as of Friday afternoon.

James joins a 76ers team that has not won an NBA championship since 1983 and has not advanced out of the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs since 2001.

He’s the biggest elite free-agent star to sign with a Philadelphia sports team since Bryce Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million deal with the Phillies ahead of the 2019 season. Like James, Harper was a teenager on the cover of Sports Illustrated and has long had to live up to lofty expectations at every single turn.

“He’s going to have a great couple of years here, and obviously everyone’s going to expect him to win a championship here like everywhere else,” Harper said. “So nothing new for him. He’s had all the pressure since he was in high school or younger than that.”

The 76ers should boast one of the top starting fives in the NBA with second-year standout VJ Edgecombe, fellow All-Stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown — the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, a five-time All-Star and the league’s fourth-leading scorer this past season acquired in a stunning offseason deal with the Celtics.

Maxey posted an Instagram story of him celebrating in a gym and yelling “what!? what?!” over the news while Brown wrote on X “#throwtheballup.” Brown wrote the same phrase in his introductory note to Philadelphia, and it has already been branded on billboards throughout the city.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro even proclaimed Friday as in the state.

Turned out with the Brown deal, new 76ers team president Mike Gansey — an Ohio with James — was just getting started with his summer of surprises.

No move, of course, hits like James’ arrival.

Playing with his home team in Cleveland to the bright lights of Los Angeles and with the talent he took to Miami, James won an NBA championship everywhere he played. James left the Lakers after an eight-season run highlighted by the 2020 NBA title.

James is the NBA’s oldest active player at 41 and the only player in league history to have a career spanning 23 seasons; this coming season will be his 24th. Speculation has been rampant for more than two months about his future, officially starting in May when the Lakers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs.

James’ resume is beyond compare in NBA history. He’s a 22-time All-Star, a 21-time All-NBA selection, a four-time Most Valuable Player, a four-time NBA Finals MVP, a three-time All-Star Game MVP, and was a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

He’s also coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. For his career, he’s averaged 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.4 assists in more than 1,600 games.

James started his career in Cleveland in 2003 and spent seven seasons with the Cavaliers before heading to Miami for four seasons — where he won his first two NBA titles. He then returned to Cleveland for four more seasons, including that title run in 2016, and left in 2018 for the Lakers.

Cleveland and Miami were believed to be on James’ radar again as he weighed this decision.

“Thank you LA. Miami I’ll forever love and Northeast Ohio will always home!” James wrote.

He eighty-sixed them all for a shot to win a title with the 76ers, a franchise with a career lineup that includes Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley and, for the next two seasons, LeBron James.

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In a TikTok video with more than 377,000 views, Isabella Williams said she received the email, crying as she described the situation.

“We had a remaining balance, and they said that there was really no other avenue for us. And if we wanted to, we could transfer in as a transfer student at a later notice. And they gave us a few links if we wanted to get scholarship reimbursement if anything had already been sent,” Williams said.

The university told ������Ƶapp the email was sent out to 502 students who had not satisfied the payment requirement for enrollment at the prestigious historically Black university in D.C.

“What we did was created a communication, which I think has been disseminated quite broadly, sharing that we respected that they no longer wish to continue their educational journey at Howard,” Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Keyana Scales said.

The university set a July 10 deadline for payments and certain financial aid documentation, but incoming freshmen said the process was not clear.

“It was kind of confusing for all of us, for the majority of us, at least of the hundreds of students that I talked to at this point. All of us had either pending external scholarships, loans that were given to us by Howard University or military stipends,” Williams said.

Since sending the email, Scales said the university has heard back from many students who intended to enroll but were having difficulty with the process. She said the university is going through each student’s inquiry one by one and will restore enrollment “if needed.”

At last count, Scales said, 46 students had been reenrolled, including a student who drove from North Carolina on Friday to restore her status.

Williams drove from Alabama on Friday to clarify her status as well.

“It felt like it was almost life or death. And I know it’s not, and I know that I will do great things regardless of that. But this was something that I’ve been looking forward to for so long. I’m literally supposed to move in on Saturday. I just got word that I’m still able to,” Williams said.

������Ƶapp’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.

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“I would love for there to never be mistakes in student communications, but sometimes it happens,” Tisa Silver Canady, founder and executive director of the Maryland Center for Collegiate Financial Wellness, told ������Ƶapp.

Silver Canady said that while distressing, getting a message from a college or university that there’s a problem with tuition or room and board payments “is not something that necessarily means your dream is over,” or that a student will have to go to another school.

“It doesn’t always mean that.”

What it does mean, she said, is that the student and family should contact the financial aid office immediately.

“Critical information is coming from the financial aid office,” Silver Canady said. “The financial aid website — I know a lot of people are intimidated by it because it’s content heavy — but if you don’t get into it now and start to develop an understanding and start asking questions about it, then you’ll set yourself up for these sometimes disruptive events like unenrollment.”

Families should make sure they are getting all the emails and communications from the financial aid office and the bursar’s office at their child’s school, she said. That way they can avoid surprises should an updated invoice go to a spam file, for example.

Families should also be prepared to have their financial information easily accessible.

“The number of times that they’re going to need to re-up this process of financial aid is — at a standard — going to be twice a year: once per semester and then an additional time if they choose to enroll in special sessions like summer or winter,” Silver Canady said.

Becoming comfortable with understanding how to finance a college education should start in high school, and Silver Canady encouraged families to visit the U.S. Department of Education’s for college.

“One thing that I tell students and families a lot is, there’s a big difference between financial literacy and financial aid literacy,” she said. “And when you are on a campus, that’s when that financial aid literacy has got to start beefing up.”

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