ED Doctor Near Washington, DC

Washington Huskies running backs coach Scottie Graham has a very particular strategy on the recruiting trail.

Usually, Graham likes to take two prospects per class: one big, physical prospect that thrives between the tackles, and a speed back that can stretch defenses laterally before turning upfield. However, in the 2027 class, Graham appears to be focusing on adding one high-end prospect who has the makings of a three-down back at the college level, like Dajon Talley-Rhodes.

Talley-Rhodes, a 6-foot, 213-pound product of St. John's College Prep in Washington, D.C., has yet to be ranked by either 247Sports or On3, but has put together an impressive offer sheet. He's received 17 scholarship offers with five other Big Ten teams: Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Penn State, and Wisconsin, all in pursuit.

On film, Talley-Rhodes shows off all the makings of a running back who can handle a heavy workload at the next level. He displays solid breakaway speed when he can get to the edge and strong acceleration, along with impressive contact balance that allows him to slip away even when defenders appear to have him wrapped up, rarely going down on first contact.

Combined with great vision that helps him identify and attack holes quickly, and a solid jump cut that can help him escape a heavy box, Talley-Rhodes could quickly rise up the rankings following his junior season as he continues to grow into his frame.

As the Huskies continue to hunt for their first commit in the 2027 class and expand their recruiting footprint, Talley-Rhodes doesn't seem close to making a decision, but if Graham is able to earn a pledge from the talented ball carrier, he would be an impressive addition for Jedd Fisch's coaching staff.

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - A local Commissioner in southeastern North Carolina is pushing for a bill that would make it easier to receive Federal help after a natural disaster.

North Carolina has experienced its fair share of destructive storms in recent years.

Brunswick County Commissioner Frank Williams says the southeastern region is his home, and he says seeing the aftermath of devastating hurricanes is what inspires him to vouch for better preparedness and speedy recovery efforts.

Williams is on a task force created by the National Association of Counties (NACo), which helps strengthen disaster mitigation, response, and recovery capabilities.

Williams and others visited Washington, D.C. this week to speak with leaders about the new Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act 2025.

The bill would simplify the victim application process across federal agencies, transition the FEMA public assistance program from a reimbursement-based model to a grant-based model, and increase transparency into the status of project approval. It would also allow for interest incurred on loans to be covered by FEMA public assistance.

Williams says applications can add to the hard time storm survivors face when trying to recover.

“One of the things that I observed, you know, during Hurricane Florence was how confusing the process is for individuals,” said Williams. “One thing this act would do is create a single universal disaster application that residents could fill out if they need something from FEMA so they don’t have to guess which application is the right one.”

He explains that this act would help governments to stay afloat when paying for storm damage.

“Now you’ve got counties in the mountains who have to dip into their emergency fund at a dangerous level in order to pay bills from Helene, while they’re waiting on FEMA reimbursement. So one of those counties has $53 million in bills to contractors from Helene damage. Their whole annual budget is $42 million. So that is obviously a massive strain on them,” shares Williams.

It would also help set towns up for success in the aftermath.

“Sometimes local governments have to take out loans to pay hurricane or emergency bills, that interest is not currently reimbursable by FEMA,” said Williams.

Thankfully, he says it’s gaining support from some leaders on the hill.

“Our group from North Carolina met with Senators Tom Tillis, Senator Ted Budd, Congressman Tim Moore, and also Congresswoman Virginia Fox,” shares Williams. “We met with the top staff for Congressman Chuck Edwards, whose entire district, for the most part, was affected by Helene. And Congressman Rouser was not up here this week, but I have communicated with him directly about this.”

He tells me that their voice is being heard and considered.

“The people we met with ask a lot of questions and ask for specifics and follow-up information that the Association of County Commissioners will provide to them on numbers of what counties have had to expend and what they still are owed and that type of thing,” said Williams.

The bill was approved by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with a 57 - 3 vote. It will now go before the House.

Williams believes now is the time to take action, before the Peak Atlantic Hurricane Season starts again.

“Obviously you know, to get anything done in Washington is challenging. Hopefully this will, even if it doesn’t pass in its current form, put a spotlight on some of the issues that need to be changed,” said Williams. “I’m hoping that it will come to the full floor of the House and then see some legislation in the Senate that matches.”

Click here to learn more about Williams’ work to better prepare county leaders for Hurricanes.

???? Adoption promotion: Adopt dogs and cats in need of forever homes for only $31 and help clear the shelter. Many of the dogs need homes outside of PG County.

???? Adopters: Please go to the shelter between 11am and 7pm (arrive by 6pm) to meet and adopt animals. Adopters are able to meet 2 dogs and bring dogs for meet and greets. *In order to apply to adopt a “terrier mix”, you must provide two original documents with matching addresses as proof of residency outside of PG County (due to breed specific legislation.)

----- DC event:

???? Also on Saturday with @vindicatedpits: ???? Pittie Palooza! ????????"Join us on Saturday, October 25th from 12–5 PM at Taco Bamba City Ridge (3930 Wisconsin Ave, NW DC) for a day full of:✨ Adoptable dogs, ✨ Delicious food, ✨ Local makers market, ✨ Free training tips, ✨ Family-friendly fall fun!Bring your pups, your friends, and your love for rescue dogs. ????❤️ You won’t want to miss it!"

----- PG County event:

Please see bios, photos, and videos of the dogs and cats at the first two links and share posts at any of these links.

Adoption website: 24petconnect.com/PGEOADOPT

Follow Shelter posts: facebook.com/pgcpets4us/

Follow Friends' posts about urgent dogs: (None are urgent this week.) facebook.com/people/Friends-of-PG-County-Animal-Shelter/61565594829660/

Prince George’s County Animal Shelter, 3750 Brown Station Road, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

Call 301-780 -7200 (select 1, 4 - adopt, then 3 - info) with the animal ID number(s) to check availability.Adoption Hours: Tuesday to Friday 11:00am - 7:00pm, Saturday 10:00am - 4:00pm. (Arrive 1 hour before closing.)

More information: PG County Shelter adoption steps, fees, and spay/neuter https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/departments-offices/environment/animal-services/pet-adoption https://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/departments-offices/environment/animal-services/pet-care-education/spaying-neutering

This is a courtesy post.

The White House may be the most well-known home in Washington D.C., but just blocks away from the presidential mansion sits a lesser known home with its own piece of U.S. history.

The Octagon is an approximately 10,000 square foot home designed by William Thornton, who served as the first architect of the U.S. Capitol. The building sits at the corner of New York Avenue NW and 18th Street NW in Washington, D.C., and was completed in 1801.

Built as a second residence for Virginia's prominent Tayloe family who were friends of George Washington, the more than 200-year old building gets its name from the shape of the main room at the main entrance. Amanda Ferrario is the manager of the house, which now doubles as a museum and event space. It's owned and maintained by the Architects Foundation, the philanthropic partner of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which purchased the property in 1902.

"The Octagon name comes from this room that we're standing in," Ferrario told CBS News during a tour of the home. "In order to build a circular room, you make the structure out of an octagonal shape and then builds it in with various building materials to give this nice smooth circle," she added.

Ferrario says the epicenter of the house was in the basement, where several enslaved people lived and worked mostly out of sight of the wealthy occupants.

"(The basement) is the absolute epicenter of all of the activity," Ferrario said. "Not only for the enslaved who would live and work here, they were sleeping here. They were working here around the clock, but also in order to operate a house of this caliber," she added.

The Octagon also served as a home for one of America's early first families. President James Madison and his wife, Dolley Madison, temporarily relocated to the home after the British burned down the White House in 1814. Ferrario says the rent for the temporary stay was about $6,000 for their 6-month stay. She also noted the specific reason why the British did not destroy the prominent home.

"But during this time, Mr. Tayloe was quite savvy, and invited a French ambassador to stay here. He knew that if there was a French flag flying, no one's going to touch this house," Ferrario said. "And it was spared, and rightfully so, because in preparation for the British coming. And Dolley Madison did send over a few of her items that meant a lot to her, so that they would be extra protected."

President Madison used the residence to conduct official business including signing the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812. He signed the document in the home's circular office, Ferrario told CBS News.

Dolley Madison brought cherished items from the White House including curtains, silverware and her pet bird. The former first lady would go on to host what became known as "squeezes" in the first floor sitting room. The events were gatherings of Washington's elite at the time.

Over the years, The Octagon was transformed for different uses including a Catholic school for girls, a federal office building and later as tenement housing.

Its storied past includes spooky and unexplained events reported by guests throughout the building's lifetime. Doors opening, lights flickering and security alarms going off without any explanation have been common occurrences in the building.

"We have an ongoing, I guess it's kind of an ongoing joke with our security monitoring company, that if the security monitors go off on the second or third floor, everything is okay. It's just our friends playing."

Ferrario also says Jackie Kennedy Onassis — then known as Jackie Bouvier — may have had her own chilling experience in the home when she was working for a local newspaper.

"She wrote about a time when she came through to the Octagon and she was standing right where you're standing," Ferrario explained to CBS News. "And she felt the overwhelming presence and a smell of lilac, which is equated to Dolley (Madison). And what she said was, it was like a former first lady looking over the shoulder of a future first lady."

The building is currently undergoing renovations to become a prominent and cohesive part of the new headquarters for the AIA later this year. The house will also play a part in America's 250th Independence celebration after receiving a National Park Service grant for restoration efforts.

Jennifer Calvert Hall serves as the Executive Director of the Architects Foundation. She hopes future visitors gain a sense of reverence for the architecture of America's early history.

"I want them to have this sense of that moment in time where our founding, sort of the people who founded the United States of America, were interested in very progressive ideas, and that those progressive ideas were reflected in its architecture. I want them to feel that," Calvert Hall said.

In:

“Isn’t Cameroon like Africa in miniature, a melting pot of many ethnic groups with rich traditions, a crossroads of all the major religions of the African continent, at the crossroads of the French-speaking and English-speaking worlds, with a remarkable demographic expansion and a very large youth population? This country has been spoken of as an island of peace,” St. John Paul II said upon arriving in Cameroon on 10 August 1985.

During that first visit, Pope John Paul II presided over four Eucharistic celebrations in Cameroon’s four Metropolitan Sees, emphasizing family, unity, and faith.

A decade later, on 14 September 1995, he returned to Cameroon’s capital city, Yaoundé, to sign Ecclesia in Africa, the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation that summarized the reflections of the 1994 Synod of Bishops for Africa. The exhortation laid the foundation for the “Church-as-Family of God” model that continues to shape African ecclesiology today.

African Liturgy at the Shrine

Organized under the Shrine’s mission of “worship, religious formation, and cultural renewal”, the September 13 event, which was jointly hosted by the African Catholic Association (ACA) of the Washington D.C. Metro area brought together over a dozen African Priests, women and men Religious, and Laity with Bishop Michael Bibi of Cameroon’s Buéa Diocese as main celebrant and homilist.

The Cameroonian Catholic Bishop brought personal memories of the impactful Polish-born Pontiff, who was the second-longest-serving Pope in modern history with 27 years of pontificate, and the first non-Italian Pontiff since the Dutch Pope Adrian VI in 1523.

As a young altar boy, Bishop Bibi had served at Pope John Paul II’s 1985 Mass for families on 12 August 1985 in his native Catholic Archdiocese of Bamenda.

The September 13 Eucharistic celebration that provided an opportunity to revisit St. John Paul II’s prophetic vision for Africa and renew the missionary commitment of African Catholics in the diaspora incorporated vibrant African elements — lectionary and offertory processions accompanied by rhythmic dances, and prayers rendered in multiple African languages.

The offertory featured the Congolese song Eh, Eh Eh Mfumue, first sung at St. Peter’s Basilica during the 1994 Synod opening Mass. Among those presenting the gifts was Sr. Marie Agatha Ozah of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus (HHCJ), who had taken part in that very offertory procession in Rome 30 years earlier.

The colourful celebration underscored the theme of inculturation, one of the central pillars of “Ecclesia in Africa”, alongside the vocation of the family and the call to be “personally rooted in Christ” — themes highlighted in Bishop Bibi’s homily.