DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Why not start your holiday weekend with some links:

Southeast students served raw onions as snack “No matter how you slice it, the days of milk and cookies are long gone as schools aim to provide students with healthy fruits and vegetables as snacks. But raw onions? That’s what several classes of students at Southeast’s Turner Elementary were fed Tuesday, instead of the zucchini slices the school’s food provider, Chartwells, said it would serve as part of a federal initiative to provide healthy food to young learners.” (Washington Examiner )

Fast Gourmet fills ’em up “’The city is where everyone wants to live now. If D.C. had 50 more creative places like this — great food in a gas station — then this would be a really great place to be. It would be, well, Brooklyn,’ says Blair Ruble, a Washington historian and chronicler of U Street, as he tucks into a juicy Peruvian-chicken lunch. Ruble talks about the significance of Fast Gourmet being in a gas station, a symbol of the open road and of the dated suburban American dream. The Washington area has the second-highest subway ridership in the country, after New York. And this Lowest Price station has a new identity: It’s a way station that’s now a destination.” (The Washington Post)

D.C. Mentors Seek To Strengthen Father-Son Relationships “Some advocates estimate that 70 percent of African-American children are born out of wedlock, and most of those are raised by single, African-American women. ‘There’s a significant difference when the father is not in the house versus when the father is in the house,’ says (Nate) Murrell. That’s why Murrell put together the new mentoring program for boys age 13 to 18. Alpha Omega will help teens set goals, both academic and personal, and involve young people in service work and weekly activities.” (WAMU.org)

Pair of teens escape from D.C. custody “Leon Wynder and Reginald Tomonia, both 17, jumped from a third-floor window at the Alternative Solutions for Youth facility in the 5800 block of 14th Street in Northwest, according to sources within the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. The sources said the teens cut off their Global Positioning System bracelets when they escaped and are still at large. Little information about the youths was available Thursday, but DYRS sources said Leon has been a ward of the city since he was 12 and has previously escaped from DYRS custody.” (Washington Times)

Beware What You Eat Out of the Anacostia “There are other things in the river…toxins from industrial sites along the river, bacteria from sewer overflows, and wild and domestic animal waste…Researchers have set out to survey those who regularly take fish from the Anacostia. What they’re finding is that as the area’s population changes, so has the makeup of those who fish the river. Officials are looking at ways to get the advisory out to a wider audience, including signage in different languages. Still, some folks have fished the river for years and say they’ve seen no ill effects from eating their catch.” (NBC Washington)

Barry threatens lawsuit over plan to redraw D.C.’s wards “(Marion) Barry’s concern was that his Ward 8, which had to grow geographically due to a drop in its population, made no movement across the river. The day the U.S. Census numbers came out showing his ward needed to grow, Barry was quick to assert that it would be divisive and racist if his majority black ward didn’t pick up whiter neighborhoods around Nationals Park on the west of the Anacostia. He continued that mantra Thursday. ‘The river has long been a divider of races, class and a whole range of other dividers,” Barry said. “This committee has an opportunity to let the Anacostia River be a uniter.’” (Washington Examiner )