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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has charged two Ohio corporations, Epcon Communities, Inc., and Epcon Communities Franchising, Inc. (Epcon), with housing discrimination for failing to design and construct thirty-two multifamily housing communities throughout Ohio that meet the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act. Read HUD’s charge. The Fair Housing Act requires that multifamily housing built after March 1991 contain accessible features for people with disabilities. Requirements include accessible common areas, bathrooms and kitchens, as well as wider doors and environmental controls that can be reached by residents who use wheelchairs. The failure to include these features is unlawful and makes the property difficult or impossible to use by people with disabilities. "It can be very difficult for persons with disabilities to live in housing that does not meet the Fair Housing Act’s design and construction requirements," said Anna María Farías, HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. "If, for example, a unit has stairs at its entry, that unit is effectively unavailable to a person who uses a wheelchair; it’s as if the property has a sign saying, ‘no wheelchairs allowed.’" HUD’s charge resulted from complaints by the Fair Housing Advocates Association (FHAA), an Ohio-based fair housing organization, and HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. FHAA first filed a complaint with HUD alleging that five Epcon communities in Ohio had numerous inaccessible features in violation of the Fair Housing Act. During its investigation, HUD discovered additional properties, built by Epcon or throughout its franchisees and filed its own complaint alleging that a total of thirty-two Epcon communities were inaccessible. According to the charge, Epcon allegedly discriminated against persons with disabilities because it lacked unsafe and inaccessible routes that persons with disabilities and others can use to travel between their homes and common areas: mailboxes, the clubhouse and pool. The charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party elects for the case to be heard in federal court. If the administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he may award damages to FHAA for its loss as a result of the discrimination. The judge may also order retrofits at the inaccessible properties, and other injunctive or equitable relief, as well as payment of attorney fees. In addition, the judge may impose civil penalties to vindicate the public interest. April 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Fair Housing Act and the 30th anniversary of the Act’s amendment to prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities. This year, HUD, local communities, housing advocates, and fair housing organizations across the country are conducting a variety of activities to enhance awareness of fair housing rights, highlight HUD's fair housing enforcement efforts, and end housing discrimination in the nation. For a list of activities, visit www.hud.gov/fairhousingis50. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability and familial status. People who believe they have experienced discrimination may file a complaint by contacting HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 927-9275 (TTY). Housing discrimination complaints may also be filed by going to www.hud.gov/fairhousing.

@Chelita and @Nicole where should they be ranked? ?

Ok... help me out... who have I missed or placed wrong? This list is just starting so I'm sure I've missed hundreds of good names.

Where should I place? Drew Barrymore Martin Sheen Charlie Sheen Michael Douglas Barbra Streisand Cher

D-List Maria Menounos (cinema ads) Bianca Jagger What is the name of Clint Eastwood's son again?

C-List Al Courtney Cox James Franco Melissa McCarthy Amy Schumer Jennifer Leann Carpenter Â

B-List Jack Hughman Zac Efron Christopher Walkens Scarlett Johansson Bill Murray Dwayne Johnson Jake Gyllenhaal Anthony Hopkins Antonio Banderas Meghan Markle Emma Stone Sophie Marceau (My favorite French Actress) Eva Mendes Gal Gadot Chris Pine Michael Keaton Charlize Theron Benedict Cumberbatch Sophia Vergara Michael Knight aka Janet Jackson Sally Field Morgan Freeman Nicole Kidman Kate Winslet Rowan Atkinson Ryan Reynolds Channing Tatum Adam Sandler Now deceased: George Michael Mary Tyler Moore Dick Van Dyke

In popular usage outside the film industry, an "A-list celebrity" is any person with an admired or desirable social status. Even socialites with popular press coverage and elite associations have been termed as "A-list" celebrities. Similarly, less popular persons and current teen idols are referred to as "B-list" – and the ones with lesser fame "C-list". Entertainment Weekly interpreted C-list celebrity as "that guy (or sometimes that girl), the easy-to-remember but hard-to-name character actor". "D-list" (or sometimes Z-list) is for a person whose celebrity is so obscure that they are generally only known for appearances as so-called celebrities on panel game shows and reality television. In the late 20th century, D-listers were largely ignored by the entertainment news industry; I decided to start my own list of who I consider celebrities and in what ranking they are in according to $ and fame. Feel free to share your opinions with me as well and I will consider them. A-List Leonardo DiCaprio Matt Damon Keanu Reeves Robert Downey, Jr. Tom Cruise Tom Hanks Madonna Elton John Julia Roberts George Clooney (Amal is with him) Matthew McConaughey Will Smith Sandra Bullock Johnny Depp Brad Pitt Ryan Gosling A-List actors/actresses whose careers appear to be slowing down or even halted: Nicholas Cage Richard Gere Bruce Willis Harrison Ford Sir Paul McCartney Jack Nicholson Jim Carrey Arnold Schwarzenegger Mel Gibson Cameron Diaz Catherine Zeta-Jones Michael J. Fox Jennifer Aniston Arnold Schwarznegger Sylvester Stallone Kevin Bacon Steve Martin Eddie Murphy Clint Eastwood Bill Cosby...... What a fall from grace and soon to be on the list below. Sad story. Oprah Winfrey.... She owns the media world... so I can't really say her career is in decline. But she isn't seen publicly as much as her TV days. Now deceased: (A List) Elvis Presley Michael Jackson Princess Diana Marilyn Monroe Prince Christopher Reeves

I think they are being clear with their message: Any questions?

New York District Office FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 17, 2018 EEOC SUES STAFFING SOLUTIONS FOR MULTIPLE DISCRIMINATORY HIRING PRACTICES Owner Frequently Used Racial Slurs and Forced Out Manager Who Opposed Hiring Discrimination, Federal Agency Charges BUFFALO, N.Y. –Staffing Solutions of WNY Inc., a Buffalo-based staffing company that places employees with clients throughout Western New York, violated federal laws prohibiting hiring discrimination, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the complaint, EEOC contends that Staffing Solutions either refused to hire highly qualified black applicants or placed them in the lowest paying, least desirable jobs. Further, EEOC alleges that Staffing Solutions’ owner, Kathleen Faulhaber, regularly referred to black applicants as “n----rs,” instructed her staff to comply with clients’ race and sex preferences, placed employees in positions based on race and sex, and rejected pregnant applicants. Additionally, the complaint alleges that applicants over the age of 50, applicants with disabilities, and those whom the company deemed disabled were routinely rejected by Staffing Solutions. EEOC contends that applicants were improperly asked for their dates of birth and about injuries and medical conditions, and that Staffing Solutions rejected applicants considered too old and those who revealed health issues, such as cancer, blindness, or back injuries. Finally, EEOC charges that an office manager for Staffing Solutions complained about the illegal hiring practices and voiced objections to Faulhaber’s repeated use of racial slurs, but was warned that she would be fired if she failed to comply. The office manager felt she had no choice but to resign. Staffing Solutions’ alleged hiring practices violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act which prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, disability, race, or sex, as well as retaliation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York (EEOC v. Staffing Solutions of WNY, Inc., Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-00562) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks back pay; compensatory, liquidated, and punitive damages; and injunctive relief. The agency’s litigation effort will be led by Trial Attorneys Daniel Seltzer, Elizabeth Fox-Solomon, and Supervisory Trial Attorney Nora Curtin. "Staffing Solutions’ conduct hearkens back to a time over half a century ago, before the passage of federal laws that make this type of discriminatory hiring illegal,” said Jeffrey Burstein, regional attorney for EEOC’s New York District Office. “The EEOC is sending a clear message with this lawsuit: those days are over.” Kevin Berry, the EEOC’s New York district director, added “Staffing companies are playing an increasingly large role in our economy. The EEOC will fight to ensure that they do not become an instrument of discrimination. The law is clear that honoring discriminatory client requests is illegal.” “I’m proud to have been born and raised in Buffalo,” said Curtin. “Buffalonians, and all Americans, deserve to be hired based on their qualifications, without regard to age, disability, race or sex." Eliminating barriers in recruitment and hiring, and preserving access to the legal system by eliminating retaliation are national priorities identified by the EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan (SEP). The EEOC's New York District Office is responsible for processing discrimination charges, administrative enforcement, and the conduct of agency litigation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, northern New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Buffalo Local Office conducted the investigation resulting in this lawsuit. The EEOC advances opportunity in the workplace by enforcing federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination. More information is available at www.eeoc.gov. Stay connected with the latest EEOC news by subscribing to our email updates. Anyone who may have been discriminated against by Staffing Solutions should contact the EEOC at staffingsolutionslawsuit@eeoc.gov.

By Benjamin Wermund The Education Department is launching a new effort to help schools make sure their websites are accessible to students with disabilities. The move comes after civil rights investigators tossed out hundreds of complaints about schools with inaccessible websites. The department also rewrote months-old agreements requiring some schools to update their sites. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced today that the Office for Civil Rights will offer webinars over the next several weeks for schools, districts, state education agencies, libraries, colleges and universities. "As more educational opportunities are delivered online, we need to ensure those programs, services and activities are accessible to everyone," DeVos said. "OCR's technical assistance will help us continue to forge important partnerships with schools for the benefit of students and parents with disabilities." Federal civil rights investigators have tossed out hundreds of complaints under a new Trump administration rule directing them to dismiss bulk complaints — a directive the administration says is aimed at more efficiently dealing with so-called mass filers, who file the same type of complaint against many schools. Department officials have also been renegotiating dozens of agreements with schools and districts that resulted from those types of complaints. In those cases, investigators had already found the schools were potentially violating federal anti-discrimination laws because the districts had websites that were inaccessible to students with disabilities.

That should narrow it down for you. Thurston county is where the State Capitol is located. KIRO news is a major news outlet in Washington state.

These are the words of the surviving father??? Who else thinks this is SICK way of thinking much less speaking publicly. Are Jehovah's Witnesses taught to think that a father has this right? Is it their studies of patriarchal times affecting his thoughts that his father in law somehow "OWNED" these women and children? He needs mental health treatment immediately himself.

Cheryl Strange, left, secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services, talks with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, right, following a news conference in Lakewood, Wash., Friday, May 11, 2018. Inslee on Friday outlined a five-year plan for the state’s mental health system that will include ending most civil patient placements at the state’s large hospitals by 2023 in favor of smaller state-run community-based facilities. (Ted S. Warren / AP) By Jim Camden jimc@spokesman.com OLYMPIA – Washington may shift many of its mental health services from aging state hospitals in Spokane and Pierce counties to smaller facilities across the state. Gov. Jay Inslee called Friday for a five-year “major transformation” of the state system, in order that patients who are committed involuntarily for treatment by the courts can get those services closer to home. Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake and Western State Hospital should handle the growing number of “forensic” patients, those sent for evaluation by the courts to determine whether they are competent to stand trial or treatment because they aren’t able. The state currently has a list of 233 patients waiting for forensic evaluations. The state is under court sanctions for providing slow or inadequate services to some patients, which the Legislature has been trying to fix for several years. Standing outside Western State Hospital on Friday, Inslee said the state has dedicated staff and has made strides in increasing their numbers. But it’s working with a system of large institutions that are more in line with 1918 than 2018, he said. “We need to stop pouring resources into an outdated model,” he said. “In most states, smaller community-based facilities are the standard of care and Washington should go that route.” Inslee said the state should open “about a dozen” facilities of 16 beds in communities around Washington by 2023. That would allow patients who are involuntarily committed by a court to be closer to their families and friends while still getting high quality care from a state facility. The more recently constructed or refurbished portions of Eastern and Western state would be used for forensic patients and some civil commitments. “We will need to fund up front costs and make some budget decisions,” Inslee said. The cost of the proposed shift in mental health facilities hasn’t been estimated yet, but will be estimated by the time he submits his 2019-21 budget proposal late this year. He’s hoping for bipartisan support in the Legislature, and was joined by lawmakers from both parties at his announcement. Sen. Steve O’Ban, R-Pierce County, said the Legislature is in a position to tackle the state’s second-biggest problem, after public schools, now that it has completed work on court ordered improvements to education. “This needs to be the primary focus,” he said. Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said she’s waiting to see the “full bill,” which would include increases to higher education to have an adequate work force as well as the cost to build the community facilities. But it’s possible those facilities will not be as expensive to operate as large state hospitals.

By Benjamin Wermund The Education Department is rewriting dozens of agreements with school districts that investigators had already found were potentially violating federal anti-discrimination laws because the districts had websites that were inaccessible to students with disabilities. It's the latest example of the Trump administration's new approach to civil rights enforcement, and department officials say it's another way the administration is seeking to boost efficiency in the Office for Civil Rights. While the Education Department has long had the option to renegotiate existing agreements, officials have rarely done so — and civil rights advocates say they've never seen it done on such a scale. They question whether redoing so many old agreements will really boost efficiency. The revised agreements come as the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights has tossed out hundreds of complaints filed by so-called mass filers, including Marcie Lipsitt, a Michigan-based disability rights advocate. Lipsitt has sent the government thousands of complaints against schools, districts and colleges with websites that she believes are not accessible to people who have impaired vision or hearing. The dismissals were spurred by changes to the rulebook for civil rights investigations, which Trump administration officials say is an effort to cut back on what it calls mass filers — people like Lipsitt who file the same type of complaint against many schools. Administration officials say the renegotiated contracts are also aimed at more "efficiently" resolving civil rights complaints. Lipsitt said that dozens of the agreements the civil rights office previously reached with schools and districts have been renegotiated in recent weeks, including some that were originally reached nearly two years ago. She said the new agreements, which are much shorter, are all identical. She called them "worthless," because they make a slew of changes, including removing mentions of accessibility audits and training for staff, among other things. "How can the OCR retroactively offer these modified resolution agreements to institutions that entered willingly into ... agreements 23 months ago?" Lipsitt said. Education Department spokeswoman Liz Hill acknowledged the agency is revamping some agreements after schools or districts asked for them to be reconsidered "in light of OCR dismissals of mass-filed complaints." Civil rights officials are considering those requests from districts on a case-by-case basis, Hill said, and weighing whether renegotiating the agreements would allow the cases to be "monitored and resolved more efficiently than what was in the original resolution agreement." "It is critical to note that even the modified agreements still obligate schools to ensure that their digital and website content is made accessible," she said. Seth Galanter, senior director at the National Center for Youth Law, said it's legal for officials to change an existing agreement, "but only in response to a change in facts, law, or agency policy." "It's not clear to me what change OCR is relying on to weaken these agreements requiring website accessibility," said Galanter, who worked in the Obama administration Office of Civil Rights. "OCR shouldn't be limiting justice depending on who brings a civil rights violation to their attention. The identity of the complainant doesn't alter the fact that all these school districts had inaccessible websites and that they agreed to fix them only when OCR received a complaint. OCR shouldn't back off ensuring full compliance with all the civil rights laws." Catherine Lhamon, who led the civil rights office under the Obama administration, said renegotiating so many settled cases seems to fly in the face of the Trump administration's efforts to cut down on what officials have said is burdensome work created by mass filers. "They say the basis is to save time and resources," Lhamon said. "To then add to the work burden to renegotiate agreements ... does not make sense. It really is burdensome to renegotiate these agreements."

This is egregious!! ?

83 Mexicans died in the battle I was told.

@Nicole take all the advertisements off. Therefore she couldn't make any $ off of her videos.

@Nana Fofana I think he is great! and he is not even a journalist. As a person who loves news... this is downright scary to see the massive control one group has on our "news". I wish I knew of a forum where people could post and talk about the news in a public way exposing stuff like this.... Hmmm..

YouTube basically decided it didn't want to deal with the little people anymore and is trying to please the big advertising budgets. McDonald's doesn't want its ads on her yoga videos and they threatened. (hypothetical example) Advertisers have gotten used to creepy level, cookies tracking, east german style spy level targeting for their ad dollars and are demanding more of YouTube and Alphabet. They in turn, turn off premium advertisements for anything that is not 100% wholesome, healthy and relevant. Anything controversial, hard-hitting or unpleasant is not monetized. Leaving only pleasant government supported news that has been whitewashed. I suspect one day this website will be forced into subscription only mode for support.