NEW YORK – Indian-American entrepreneur Kris Singh wants the Indian government to help him with his initiative to create fast track mini nuclear reactors, claiming that they are economical and could be constructed within two years.

The SMR LLC and Holtec International founder and CEO, recently opened up a 160,000-square-foot office building in their 50-acre campus in Camden, New Jersey and the state government has awarded him $260 million to develop an SMR construction facility there, reported PTI.

“The new generation Small Nuclear Reactor uses light water technology to produce 160 MW and is the future of nuclear energy reactor because of its unconditional safety and economy,” Singh said, adding that the new SMR reactors require only few acres of land and because they are air cooled, they can be put in a desert, unlike traditional reactors, which require huge amounts of water for cooling purposes.

But constructing each of these small nuclear reactors can cost about $1 billion however, if made in India; the cost could be far less.

‘The Indian labor is cheaper…so the construction cost would be less. You should reasonably expect between 20 to 30 per cent reduction in cost as we go forward,” he exclaimed mentioning that the company has already written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the SMR 160, offering to have it constructed in India under the Make in India program.

“You can build these reactors in large numbers and distribute them across the country,” he said arguing that such reactors can be the best solution to addressing the energy problem of India.

Asserting that it is better to put five of these modular reactors than a large 800 MW reactor, Singh said his company is being considered for both the Canadian and British SMR program and is at the forefront of the SMR technology adding that it will be much cheaper in price per MW and will be much faster to build, said reports.

“We have also started Holtec Arabia for SMR deployment in the middle east countries. Many of these SMR parts will be manufactured in India and exported to Middle East,” he added.

Holtec Asia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Holtec International, recently finished constructing a facility in Dahej, Gujarat to develop components of Small Modular Nuclear Reactor (SMR-160), noting that the $100 million project is just a small beginning of his long-term plan of manufacturing in India.

Singh said this facility would initially export the critical nuclear facility components including air cooled condensers, spent fuel storage and others to the U.S. and other countries and that his company expects the export to cost $400 million in a year or so.

According to Singh, the proposed SMR 160 reactors are much safer than Large Nuclear Reactors when it comes to an earthquake, a tsunami or even a terrorist attack as the nuclear activity in their SMR is underground, “in case of any disaster, it shuts itself for indefinite period, thus we call it walk away and unconditional safe.”

Sanjay Gupta, SMR executive director, said that big reactors are a thing of past, “safety issues, excessive costs and untimely completion led to the financial crisis and bankruptcy of the makers of big reactors.”

“I can foresee our small nuclear reactors being used as the cheapest and most reliable source of green energy worldwide,” added Gupta who has been in talks with the Indian government about this initiative. “We have already started the ground work in few countries including UAE, Canada, and Ukraine in this direction.”

Holtec also has a back log of orders of $6 billion and it expects around $470 million exports over next year from its Gujarat site.

“We plan to invest around 2 Billion Dollars in South East Asia Corridor next few years and some of this can be in India,” Gupta continued.

Singh mentioned that even though solar energy is another alternative renewable energy option, small nuclear reactors like SMR-160 are a more viable and economic option saying “solar definitely has the future, but solar is a…you know it’s not a reliably constant source of power. If the sun is not shining the power disappears.”

Singh came to the United States more than 40 years ago and has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

He also has over 70 patents to his name along with one textbook and numerous symposia volumes and over 120 nuclear plants around the world employ Holtec’s systems and equipment in safety-significant applications.

He has also donated money to the Nanotechnology Center at University of Pennsylvania, which has been named after him and recently completed building 700 toilets in Bihar.

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The Indian American business community came together at the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey Oct. 7, for the annual gala of the Sikh American Chamber of Commerce..  This year’s gala was the biggest yet, organizers said, with more than 500 entrepreneurs in attendance. The speakers focused on emerging business opportunities in both the United States and India.

The guest speakers at the 6th annual gala included Kanwal Rekhi, managing director of Inventus Capital Partners and first Indian-American founder and CEO to take his company public on NASDAQ; Reshma Saujani, founder of the non-profit Girls Who Code; and Vijay Chattha, founder and CEO of VSC and Wareness Studio.

This year’s theme was “Dream Bigger” and, according to organizers, the three guest speakers “embody this mantra.”

The Gala is meant to showcase successful Sikh entrepreneurs coming together to promote mutual prosperity, according to the organization’s website.

“I’m honored to contribute to this event and share my journey in hopes that it may inspire others to become change agents,” Saujani is quoted saying at the event, according to a press release from SACC. Rekhi discussed raising millions of dollars for startups in the U.S. and India and his work on regulatory reform in India.

“It is organizations such as the SACC and TiE, which I co-founded, that will help drive the entrepreneurial spirit in US and India that is needed in order to foster the right economic climate for Indian prosperity,” Rekhi is quoted saying. Chattha said galas like that organized by SACC were a great opportunity for the community to “find inspiration and think and dream bigger.”

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When she posted pictures of herself in Indian garb on Twitter, Indian American fashion blogger and aspiring model, Sruthi Jayadevan, 22, shut down her haters in her recent tweet which has received more than 74,000 likes and has been retweeted more than 21,000 times.

“People: ‘what’s with the dot,’ ‘what’s that on your nose,’ ‘maybe you should tone down all this cultural stuff,’” she tweeted relying with “Me:” with two photos of herself in a sari, wearing bangles, a giant golden nose ring attached to her hair by a gold chain and a flower with a three part bindi on her forehead.

Jayadevan, who came to the U.S. at age 11, was often bullied for being different while growing up in California and is proud to embrace her culture and share it on social media.

“I went to my elementary school wearing a traditional bindi, my thin gold anklets, and my hair in braids like I used to back in my village,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.

“My sister and I were the only Indian kids at my school, so we would get called all kinds of names and be asked why we don’t speak English or why we had a dot on our forehead,” she added.

Because of the bullying, she began to assimilate into American culture but in college, realized that she had been shying away from her Indian culture and roots and wanted to get back in touch with them.

“I wanted to break free from these things that held me back. One day, I just decided to post a picture of me wearing a bindi and share my story on my page, and the responses were incredible,” she said. “I got so many messages and comments from young Indian-Americans who had all been through similar things.”

Jayadevan, who now lives in Dallas, has also shared other photos in the past of her looking beautiful in traditional outfits, from a salwar kameez or two to saris and bindis and plenty of sparkling jewels.

“Empowering others to embrace their culture empowered me to embrace my culture. I started growing more fearless with the way that I wore my cultural accessories. I started wearing the nose ring my mom always wore as a young adult. I put my anklets back on, I planned a trip to India,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “Doing these things made me feel whole again. I felt all the suppression fade away slowly. I could feel the healing that it was bringing to my heart and soul.”

To those who genuinely have a question about the meaning behind her accessories, she says, “I have always loved when someone asked me a question out of genuine curiosity about something cultural I was wearing. But most comments I get are rather hateful, and mocking the accessories.

The tweet did help spread awareness. I was able to link an article to that tweet that explained the different cultural accessories that people of South Asian culture wear and what each of those things mean.”

Jayadevan also told Yahoo Lifestyle that her “biggest dream I’ve had, ever since I was a young girl, was to create a network or organization that supported women’s empowerment. I want to empower others to embrace their roots and celebrate their culture. I want them to embrace their gender, their skin color, and all the things that make us unique individuals. I want to represent my culture and heritage with beauty and fashion brands that want to be more inclusive.”

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ROLLING MEADOWS, IL

Thousands of Chicagoland residents came to enjoy Desi Talk newspaper’s eagerly awaited Diwali Mela celebrated at The Meadows Club in Rolling Meadows, Oct. 8.

This year was the second Desi Talk Diwali Mela, organized at the initiative of Parikh Worldwide Media, the New York-based publishing house that brings out multiple weeklies in English and one in Gujarati.

According to organizers, more than 8,000 people attended the much-awaited festival and the hype and anticipation from last year’s program was a major pull for the crowd. The program did not disappoint in the variety of entertainment.

More than 30 vendor booths featured food, clothes, jewelry and much more. Attendees also received useful information from businesses dealing in money transfers, phone services, health care, and non-profit organizations.

The Chief Guest was Consul General of India at Chicago. Neeta Bhushan. Bhushan gave Karwa Chauth and Diwali wishes to all the guests.

Chairman and Publisher Dr. Sudhir Parikh, recipient of India’s Padma Shri award, wished everyone a very happy Diwali and added, “We are proud and honored to join the community of Chicago to celebrate this festival and the whole idea is to empower our next generation and to teach about her (India’s) heritage that will help to make our community stronger.” A documentary on Dr. Parikh’s life was played at the event. Bhailal Patel, executive vice president of Parikh Worldwide Media thanked everyone for joining the celebration and wished everyone a very happy festive season.

Parikh Worldwide Media is the largest Indian-American publishing group in the US. The group publishes five periodicals including Desi Talk in Chicago, a weekly newspaper serving the Greater Chicago area and the Midwestern states; “The Indian American,” a national bimonthly feature magazine; Desi Talk in New York for the Tristate area; News India Times, a national weekly; and the Gujarat Times, a Gujarati language national weekly newspaper. The combined circulation and readership of these publications make the media group among the most influential in the ethnic Indian market.

Rohit Joshi performed the Vedic rituals to start the program followed by a variety of performances. Ilayas Quraishi, the COO of Parikh Worldwide Media, was the emcee for the daylong, well-organized event. There was nonstop music and dancing all day to entertain the audience.

The Desi Talk organizing team worked throughout the day helping the vendors and artists get settled and provided any assistance that was needed. The dances interspersed by the breaks kept the program flowing and the crowd interested and participating, despite the day-long event. Many attendees arrived at 11AM and stayed till the end of the event at 8 PM.

There were featured giveaways and a raffle that kept the crowd enthused. “I personally came to shop for jewelry and clothes, which did not disappoint”, said Sahiba Gupta of Schaumburg. The Air India raffle received a huge number of entries and the winners were announced by Consul General Bhushan.

Inspite of fasting for Karva Chauth on the day of the event, Bhushan stayed till the end to cheer on the attendees and present awards and certificates to the performers.

More than 140 participants of all ages performed on stage. The dance items were performed by Bolly DanceFit, choreographed by Deepthi Chiruvuri; Taal Dance Group, choreographed by Garima Singh; and the Indian Dance School, choreographed by Gauri Jog.

The show was kicked off by the Awaaz Group with music by Waheed Gul and songs by Dr. Effat Jabeen. Seema Gadre did “Lavani”, a song/dance combination from Maharashtra. Cyenthia Vijaykumar danced the Tarana, Adi Yogi and Bikram Ghosh dances. The dance items also included performances by Team Ghunguru (choreographed by Sridevi Pandala), Bollywood Groove (choreographed by Ajanta Chakraborty), Sahaja Yoga Meditation (choreographed by Sarawati Udar and Misha Goel), Indian Dance School (choreographed by Gauri Jog), Team Taal (choreographed by Garima Singh) and Bolly DanceFit (choreographed by Deepthi Chiruvuri). Mehul Adhikari was the superb Dhol player at the event. Winners of the dance competition were announced amidst much anticipation by the crowd and participants alike. The first prize went to Bolly DanceFit and the second prize to Team Ghunguru. Certificates were given to all the participants.

“These types of events help to keep our culture alive and encourages participation of children who grew up here in the States,” Pankaj Sharma of Naperville told Desi Talk, adding, “That helps to preserve our culture and creates interest of their heritage in our children.” He came with his whole family – his wife, two kids and his in-laws.

All the sponsors and supporters were acknowledged on stage. The major sponsors of the event were US Bank and Western Union. Syed Nizam from US Bank and Ved Sarvottam from Western Union were honored with plaques. Other supporters that were honored were Star Plus, Air India, Radio Dil, YUPP TV, Hakka Bakka, Chataka Masti, Care For Soul Inc, TV Asia, Factory Plaza, Joyalukkas Jewelers, Royal Basmati and Sunil Shah of New York Life. The publishing group’s COO Quraishi, along with Executive Vice President Bhailal Patel and Office Manager Muslima Shethwala, also presented plaques and certificates of appreciation to honor the sponsors and participants.

Several guests speaking to this correspondent, expressed appreciation and praised the 2017 Desi Talk Diwali Mela, and said they were already looking forward to next year.

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HYDERABAD

Prabhas always thought he was too shy to emote in front of the camera, and had planned a career in the hospitality sector. But not only did he enter showbiz, but attained global fame with the “Baahubali” film franchise. The actor says he still gets conscious at public events — and is learning the art of handling stardom.

“I am still shy when I go to interviews. I want a lot of people to come and watch my film but I can’t face (that many) people,” Prabhas told IANS in a candid interview here.

“After being in the industry for 13-14 years now, I still don’t know how to handle stardom. My fans feel bad that their hero doesn’t come out so much. I’m better than before, and trying to improve,” he added.

His father is famous producer Uppalapati Surya Narayana Raju and his uncle Krishnam Raju Uppalapati has also made a name in Telugu cinema.

Many would have thought that his family’s film roots would lead him naturally into the film industry. But that was not the case.

Prabhas says he had denied his family’s suggestion to try his luck in the field, and that he still can’t put a finger on what made him change his mind.

“My uncle is an actor, my dad is a producer, so they asked me if I was interested, and I was like ‘How can someone act in front of so many people with lights and emote’. I used to feel shy… My parents asked me once or twice (about the decision to be an actor) and I said that it is impossible.

“I had thought I will do some business because I am lazy and I can’t do jobs. I had thought that maybe I will go into hotel business because our family loves food. And north Indian food is very famous in Hyderabad.”

So what changed his mind?

“This is what I remember, (though I) actually don’t know what happened inside my mind. One day I was watching my uncle’s film directed by Bapu. I imagined myself in my uncle’s character… Then I think it slowly started somewhere.”

Prabhas, who started his career with Telugu film “Eeshwar” in 2002, says he faced a hard time making his family believe about his newfound acting ambition.

“One day, I told my friend that I want to act, and he didn’t believe me… He believed me after at least 10 days. And now he is the producer of ‘Saaho’.”

He made his place in the southern film industry with projects like “Raghavendra”, “Barish: The Season of Love”, “Varsham”, “Jeene Nahin Doonga”, “Chatrapathi”, “Yogi”, “Rebel” and “Pournami”.

But his role as Amarendra Baahubali and Mahendra Baahubali from the “Baahubali” universe changed the whole game for him, and made him popular both in India and around the world.

Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli put together a story about the battle for control of an ancient kingdom between two brothers in two parts — with dance, music, emotion and drama.

The first part “Baahubali: The Beginning” came out in 2015 and the second “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” was released earlier this year. The second instalment will have its TV premiere on Sony MAX on Sunday.
After “Baahubali” becoming a phenomenon, Prabhas admits that fear of failure with upcoming projects looms large.

“Fear of failure is definitely there for every film. It was present for ‘Baahubali’; then, after the first part, it was there for the second part. Now, there are so many expectations and audience wants to see something else… Fear is there, but what we can do is believe in something and try to make it.”

On the film front, Prabhas is busy with “Saaho”, which will mark Shraddha Kapoor’s Telugu debut. The film is being shot simultaneously in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. He also has a period love story in his kitty.

IANS

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NEW YORK

Dr. Sudhir Parikh, a Padma Shri recipient, and founder and publisher of Parikh Worldwide Media, apprised the Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, of a new foundation he’s established in New York City, under whose aegis a think tank focused on US-India polity issues will be fleshed out, and a quarterly magazine made its debut last month.

Jaitley, on a week-long trip to the US, will also attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

In New York, Jaitley spoke at a meet entitled ‘India’s Market Reforms: The Way Forward’, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, in association with the US Chambers of Commerce, at the New York Palace Hotel, on Monday. The next day, on Tuesday, Jaitley addressed a gathering at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Parikh, who was among the guests at New York Palace Hotel, spoke to Jaitley on the sidelines of the meet, and informed him of the setting up of Parikh Foundation for India’s Global Development.

Parikh informed Jaitley that the Foundation has been received well by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, who has given his “blessings” for its success.

Last month, the debut quarterly magazine of the Foundation, US-India Global Review, was unveiled by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meet. Swaraj too, wished the Foundation success in its mission to create understanding of US-India ties and relations.

India’s Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna was also among the attendees at the Palace Hotel meet.

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Karwachauth and Diwali were celebrated together for the first time this year by Events by Vandana & Vaishali at Martinsville Gardens in Martinsville, New Jersey.

The Mela featured an afternoon of live music and dance performances, along with a Fashion Show and various booths featuring mehndi, jewelry and apparel.

The Mela was also the perfect way for families to celebrate the divine festivals of Karwachauth and Diwali, to kick off the winter holiday season and visitors enjoyed the vibrant colors, fragrances, sounds and delicacies related to the festivals.

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump suggested challenging licenses for NBC and other broadcast news networks on Wednesday, a salvo that followed reports his own secretary of state had called him a “moron” after a discussion of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

“With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” Trump, a Republican, wrote in a post on Twitter.

Trump and his supporters have repeatedly used the term “fake news” to cast doubt on critical media reports about his administration, often without providing any evidence to support their case that the reports were untrue.

Trump kept up his criticism of the media in an appearance with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday, saying: “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.”

Any move to challenge media companies’ licenses, however, would likely face significant hurdles.

The Federal Communications Commission, an independent federal agency, does not license broadcast networks, but issues them to individual broadcast stations that are renewed on a staggered basis for eight-year periods.

Comcast Corp <CMCSA.O>, which owns NBC Universal, also owns 11 broadcast stations, including outlets in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas and Chicago. A Comcast spokeswoman referred questions to NBC, which did not immediately Wednesday.

ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co <DIS.N>, declined to comment.

Shares in media companies fell after Trump’s tweet, potentially reflecting concerns the war of words could escalate. Comcast was down 0.8 percent, while Disney shed 1.4 percent. CBS Corp fell 1.2 percent and Twenty-First Century Fox <FOXA.O> slid 2.8 percent.

Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner called the market response a “short-term irrational knee-jerk reaction” and said Trump faced essentially insurmountable hurdles to getting licenses pulled.

A spokesman for FCC chairman Ajit Pai did not immediately comment.

Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the National Association of Broadcasters, defended the media’s free speech rights.

“It is contrary to this fundamental right for any government official to threaten the revocation of an FCC license simply because of a disagreement with the reporting of a journalist,” he said in a statement.

ABC, owned by Walt Disney Co <DIS.N>, declined to comment.

Numerous Democrats criticized Trump and urged Pai to denounce Trump’s comments.

Senator Ed Markey wrote Pai on Wednesday asking him to “withstand any urges from President Trump to harm the news media and infringe upon the First Amendment,” a reference to the U.S. Constitution’s free speech and press freedom guarantee.

Democratic U.S. Representative Frank Pallone said Trump “seemed to threaten broadcasters’ licenses only because he disagreed with their reporting. This threat alone could intimidate the press and lead to skewed and unfair reporting.”

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel responded to Trump by tweeting a link to an FCC fact sheet. “Not how it works,” she said on Twitter.

‘FAIRNESS DOCTRINE’

According to a fact sheet on the FCC website, when reviewing licenses the agency must determine if a renewal is in the public interest.

The FCC said in the fact sheet it expects “station licensees to be aware of the important problems and issues facing their local communities and to foster public understanding by presenting programming that relates to those local issues.”

The agency does not issue similar licenses for cable networks like CNN and MSNBC, or regulate internet news or other websites.

The FCC has said the First Amendment “expressly prohibits the commission from censoring broadcast matter” and that its role “in overseeing programme content is very limited.”

In the early 1970s, then-President Richard Nixon and his top aides discussed using the FCC’s license renewal process as a way of punishing the Washington Post for its coverage of the Watergate burglary that ultimately brought down his presidency.

NBC News has reported on tensions between Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and has said Trump sought a dramatic increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a meeting with national security advisers in July. NBC reported Tillerson made his “moron” comment after that meeting.

Trump on Saturday also suggested he should get “equal time” because of what he described as late-night television hosts’ “anti-Trump” material.

The FCC’s equal time rules apply in limited cases to air time for political candidates and not to criticism of elected leaders.

Trump may have been referring to the “Fairness Doctrine” that was designed to ensure broadcasters present opposing viewpoints about public issues. Republican President Ronald Reagan’s administration eliminated it in 1987.

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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was expected to nominate Kirstjen Nielsen, who as top aide to his White House chief of staff has sought to instill order in Trump’s team, to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, a White House official said on Wednesday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Nielsen would take the reins at a sprawling department with more than 240,000 employees that is responsible for U.S. border and airport security, immigration policy, disaster response, refugee admissions and other matters.

Nielsen, 45, is a cyber security expert with a considerable resume in homeland security that includes work at the department’s Transportation Security Administration and on Republican former President George W. Bush’s White House Homeland Security Council.

Nielsen was retired Marine Corps General John Kelly’s chief of staff when he was secretary of Homeland Security during the opening months of Trump’s presidency. Kelly brought her to the White House as his deputy when Trump named him chief of staff in July to replace Reince Priebus after only six months on the job.

The official announcement of her nomination could come as early as Wednesday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

Nielsen’s departure from the White House would mark the latest upheaval in Trump’s White House team. She was responsible for carrying out some of Kelly’s orders on who gets access to the president. As a result, she has irritated some White House officials who now have limited contact with Trump.

Kelly has sought to bring more order to the chaotic West Wing since replacing Priebus. Trump has welcomed the changes to some extent, although he has privately confided to friends that the limitations on access to the Oval Office sometimes go too far.

Putting Nielsen into the Homeland Security post would allow Trump and Kelly to keep a close eye on the department, but getting her out of the White House could permit some relaxing of Kelly’s strictness.

The department has been led by an acting secretary, Elaine Duke, since Kelly took the White House post.

Cyber security is one of the primary issues under the Homeland Security Department’s sprawling portfolio. Nielsen previously worked at a cyber think tank at George Washington University, blocks from the White House, and is considered well-versed in some of the more technical missions at the department, such as sharing cyber threat information with the private sector.

The department was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States exposed cracks in the country’s homeland security apparatus.

The appointment comes at a busy time for the department, with one of its agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, overseeing disaster relief in hurricane-hit Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida as well as wildfire-ravaged areas of California. The department also is responsible for U.S. border security.

The department is a major player in implementing Trump’s aggressive stance towards deporting illegal immigrants, as well as vetting the lower number of refugees Trump has decided to allow into the United States and devising his travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations, North Korea and certain Venezuelans.

‘LOW-DRAMA PICK’

“It seems like a low-drama pick. It’s a little concerning that she seems to have little background in immigration security and policy, but those individual agencies are in good hands already, and there is a strong core of career managers,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favours more limits on immigration.

Nielsen is not known for hard-line views on immigration like those of White House advisor Stephen Miller.

If confirmed, Nielsen would be the first homeland security secretary to have previously served as a rank-and-file member of the department. Some previous DHS secretaries at times have been criticized for not possessing enough technical fluency to address cyber threats facing the nation.

“Kirstjen’s a policy wonk at heart, especially when it comes to cyber,” Frank Cilluffo, a former senior homeland security official under Bush who worked with Nielsen at George Washington University.

Nielsen would be immediately given the task of helping to coordinate the federal response to potential cyber attacks that target elections. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election to try to help Trump win in part by hacking and releasing emails embarrassing to his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and through online propaganda.

Jeh Johnson, who served as Democratic former President Barack Obama’s final homeland secretary chief, designated election systems as critical infrastructure, widening the support the department can provide to states. But the department has clashed with several state officials over how best to cooperate to defend future elections.

Politico first reported the appointment.

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WASHINGTON – A Democratic congressman stopped just short of forcing a House vote on President Donald Trump’s impeachment Wednesday, pulling back under apparent pressure from his own party.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, read his impeachment resolution on the House floor Wednesday afternoon, bringing it up under rules that would force a rapid vote. But when, less than an hour later, the House’s presiding officer called the resolution up for action, Green did not appear on the floor to offer it.

Green said to reporters afterward that he had wanted to allow more time for his colleagues to review the resolution before it was voted on, and he suggested that the House floor staff had misled him about the timing of that vote.

“Before I left the floor, there was an understanding with the parliamentarian and other persons who were there that it would not be voted on immediately,” he said.

According to multiple House Democratic aides, party leaders had prevailed upon Green not to offer the resolution and thus force his colleagues to cast a potentially troublesome vote.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other leaders have sought to tamp down calls for Trump’s impeachment, citing ongoing investigations into his campaign and administration being pursued by congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller. Any move to impeach before those probes are complete, they have said, would be premature.

Republicans, on the other hand, were happy to schedule a vote. GOP aides said they planned to move to table Green’s resolution, killing it outright.

A vote to table Green’s resolution could force Democrats to have to explain to anti-Trump voters why they oppose removing the president from office, while a vote against tabling could require them to explain to more moderate voters why they took action against the president while investigations are underway.

“Many members are telling him that this is a fruitless effort and will end in a complicated vote that cannot be easily explained,” a senior Democratic aide said. “Members don’t want this vote.”

Green, who first announced his intention to pursue impeachment last month, said he had not been asked to stand down before he came to the floor Wednesday. But he declined to say whether he had been approached after he gave his remarks.

“Any discussions I may have had are private, and I will not discuss them,” Green told reporters Wednesday, adding that he felt “not one scintilla” of pressure from party leaders.

Green did not rule out forcing a future vote on his resolution: “I will not indicate when, but I will indicate that it will be brought up.”

In nearly 20 minutes of floor remarks Wednesday, Green inveighed against Trump for having “produced a demonstrable record of inciting white supremacy, sexism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, race baiting and racism by demeaning, defaming, disrespecting and disparaging women and certain minorities.”

“In so doing,” Green continued, Trump “has fueled and is fueling an alt-right hate machine and his worldwide covert sympathizers, engendering racial antipathy, LGTBQ enmity, religious anxiety, stealthy sexism and dreadful xenophobia, perfidiously causing immediate injury to American society.”

Green told The Washington Post in an interview last month that he was compelled to pursue articles of impeachment after seeing Trump denigrate pro football players who have engaged in silent protests during the playing of the national anthem before games. That, he said, was the final straw after what he saw as a litany of impeachable offenses.

“There were many, many things that could have been the straw,” he said. “But these comments about free speech, which is something I cherish, they have caused me to conclude that now is the time to let the world know that there is at least one person in the Congress who believes that the president has gone too far.”

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Amna Cheema, 37, a Pakistani national, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Renee Harris Toliver of the Northern District of Texas, Oct. 10, and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.

Cheema will remain in custody pending sentencing which is set for January 22, next year.

Co-defendant Bilal Ahmed Khaleeq, 47, a South Asian-American attorney from Dallas, is scheduled to begin trial on December 11, for his alleged role in the conspiracy.  If convicted, Khaleeq faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. Khaleeq is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to plea documents filed in Cheema’s case, in May 2015, Cheema engaged in discussions with Khaleeq and another individual at Khaleeq’s law office to discuss planning Cheema’s marriage to an individual identified only as ‘Person A’ in order for Cheema to obtain legal status in the United States, according to the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In exchange for agreeing to marry Cheema, Person A was paid $745 and promised more money after the immigration process was completed.  On June 15, 2015, Cheema married Person A to establish eligibility for legal status in the United States.

Cheema, Person A and Khaleeq allegedly discussed the filing of the alien relative petition forms (I-130), the permanent residence applications (I-485), and additional evidence needed to ensure approval of those forms, including filing joint tax returns and placing articles of male clothing at Cheema’s house as further evidence of a valid marriage.

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Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Illinois, garnered the support of scores of members of the House of Representatives when he introduced a bill Oct. 5, to establish a commission that would investigate hate crimes. In making the case on the need for such a commission, the bill makes mention of the killing this Feb. 22, of Indian techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla in a Kansas bar, as well as several other instances and FBI reports. The bill, H.R. 3980, entitled “The Hate Crimes Commission Act of 2017, was referred to the House Judiciary Committee the same day.

Krishnamoorthi, and co-sponsor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, introduced legislation to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate and report on hate crimes. They specifically want the commission to determine if there has been a rise in hate crimes and the causes of that increase and what steps could be taken to combat it.

The Indian-American lawmaker serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and on the Committee on Education and the Workforce. He is also the ranking member, and top Democrat, on the Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits, and Administrative Rules.

Some 52 other lawmakers signed on to Krishnamoorthi’s bill which calls for a 12-member panel mandated to prepare a report in one year. Its members would be appointed by the House and Senate leadership of both parties with equal representation from the civil rights and law enforcement communities. Forty-five States and the District of Columbia have statutes criminalizing various types of bias-motivated violence or intimidation.

In the text as posted on the Congress bill tracking website, H.R. 3980 notes that the federal government has had hate crimes statutes since 1968, with the most recent law enacted in 2009; that the impact of underreporting on hate crimes statistics hinders hate crimes prevention; that according to multiple, nonpartisan studies, hate crimes have increased sharply over the past year, with over 900 new hate incidents reported since November 2016; that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that in 2016, there was a 6.7-percent increase in reported hate crimes since the prior year, one of the largest one-year increases in over a decade; and that in May 2017, the FBI found that White supremacists and rightwing extremist groups were responsible for 49 deaths in 26 incidents between 2000 and 2016, the most of any domestic extremist group;

“In February 2017, a White supremacist entered a bar in Kansas and shot at two Indian men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani while shouting racial epithets. Srinivas later died of his injuries,” the bill notes.

It also reference to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism’s study which documented 55 instances of anti-Semitism between January and March 2017 in New York City alone; as well as attacks on LGBT centers, as well as the White nationalist rally in Charlottesville. Virginia Aug. 11-13 which resulted in 1 death and 20 injuries.

“Over the course of this year, we’ve seen hate-motivated crimes strike numerous communities as people have been targeted based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity,” Krishnamoorthi is quoted saying in a press release from his office. “In the wake of this series of attacks, Congress must take action so that all Americans know their rights will be protected and that those who violate them will be brought to justice,” he added.

Krishnamoorthi represents the 8th District of Illinois, which includes Chicago’s west and northwest suburbs. Before being elected to Congress in 2016, he was president of small businesses in the Chicago area focused on the national security and renewable energy sectors. Prior to that he served as an Illinois Special Assistant Attorney General in the public corruption unit and as Illinois Deputy Treasurer. He and his wife Priya live in Schaumburg with their three children.

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Indian-American Madhu Valli, an emerging hip hop artist and a student of criminal law at George Mason University in Virginia, has been crowned Miss India Worldwide 2017. This year the pageant was held in Fords, New Jersey, Oct.8.

“I want to be the next biggest bridge between Bollywood and Hollywood,” Valli, 20, told Press Trust of India the day after she won the pageant.

Her latest album was released a day before the pageant and her dream is to be a recording artist as music has always been her passion and she started learning vocals at age eight.

The beauty pageant attracts entrants of Indian origin from across the world, organizers say.. It is yet another forum for Indian living abroad to showcase how they have preserved Indian culture thousands of miles away from their original homeland, organizers believe. This year there were 18 participants

“I definitely want to speak to a lot of young Indian-American women about women empowerment and positive self-image,” Valli is quoted saying. “I love both my countries, India and the U.S. and I always wanted to discover a way to be a leader in both!” she added.

Stephanie Madavane from France won second place and Sangeeta Bahadur from Guyana won third place at the pageant.

Another Indian-American, Sarita Pattnaik, an interior designer from Texas, was declared Mrs. India Worldwide; the mother of two, said she wants to be a social activist and become a voice for women’s empowerment.

Miss India Worldwide is organized by the New York-based India Festival Committee. The IFC claims the event is considered among the top ethnic pageants in the world, and that it is the only international Indian pageant that covers more than 35 countries.

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NEW YORK – The lawyer for the mother of the 3-year-old Indian American girl Sherin Mathews who has been missing since Saturday after it was reported that she was sent outside as punishment, said on Wednesday that she is “distraught” but still hopeful her daughter will be found, adding that “all she wants is for her daughter to be returned.”

According to a Dallas News report, Sherin was last seen about 3 a.m. outside her family’s Richardson backyard as her father, Wesley Mathews, was punishing her for not drinking her milk.

Her mother, Sini Mathews’ lawyer Kent Starr, spent almost two hours inside their home before speaking briefly to reporters, stressing the fact that there were no charges against Sini.

“They adopted Sherin; they love Sherin,” Starr told Dallas News mentioning that Sini hasn’t spoken publicly as “some individuals mourn differently.”

Richardson police are still looking for the toddler and have issued an Amber Alert ever since she went missing on Saturday. However, the alert was discontinued on Monday afternoon due to the lack of necessary information.

Her father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested Saturday on a charge of abandoning or endangering a child and was released from custody late Sunday after posting $250,000 bail but is required to wear an electronic monitoring device and surrender his passport as part of the conditions of his bond.

According to Wesley, at about 3 a.m., he put Sherin outside and told her to stand next to a large tree that was behind a fence, about 100 feet south of the family’s home and across an alley and even admitted to police that he knew coyotes had been seen in that specific area though, investigators have not found any indication that Sherin was dragged away.

Some 15 minutes later, Wesley checked in on Sherin but she was gone and after looking around for her, he said he went inside to do laundry and decided to wait until it was light out, to continue searching for her in hopes that she would return home on her own.

However, police weren’t informed of Sherin’s disappearance until about five hours later at 8 a.m.

“Why was the last sighting at 3 o’clock and the parents not call us until after 8 a.m.? That’s the question we want answered as well,” police Sergeant Kevin Perlich told NBC5. “As far as why she was out there, how long she was out there, that’s the questions we have for the parents.”

The girl’s mother does not face any charges. She was in the house at the time, but was reportedly asleep and unaware of what her husband was doing, Perlich said.

According to NBC 5, Texas Child Protective Services removed the toddler’s 4-year-old sister from the family Monday and placed her in protective custody as police continue to search for the missing child.

The search for the girl has expanded beyond the neighborhood and police are contacting sex offenders and businesses in the area that could potentially have useful surveillance video.

“We don’t have any other indication or evidence that she was forcibly abducted from that area,” Perlich said.

Sherin is described as three feet tall and weighs 22 pounds, she has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a pink top, black pajama bottoms and pink flip-flops.

Police said the toddler has “developmental issues and has limited verbal communication skills.”
The Mathews family adopted the girl two years ago at an orphanage in India and she was malnourished when the couple took her in.

Wesley told investigators that it wasn’t unusual for the girl to wake up in the middle of the night to eat something so that her weight would increase.

Investigators have seized three vehicles, cellphones and laptops from the family as well as footage from surveillance cameras in the area in an effort to find out what became of Sherin.

The community is also shaken up from the matter as well as the toddler’s great-uncle.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Philip Mathew, who arrived at the parent’s home on Monday evening with other family members, but no one answered the door, yet he insisted that the parents are good people, “they’re nice people. The parents are believers in Christ.”

Meanwhile, members of Emmanuel Bible Chapel in Irving, where Sherin and her parents attended frequently, printed fliers with the girl’s description and posted them in and around the Richland Meadows neighborhood over the weekend.

“I can’t believe I have to do this right now, I never thought this day would come that the cutest baby in our church has gone missing,” Joanna Cherian told NBC 5 in disbelief.

“I can’t say anything about that. The parents are also loving. They loved Sherin very much. They take care of her very much,” said Jose Cherian, the church elder.

“She’s very much worried and depressed,” Jose said of Sherin’s mother.

“If anyone have in possession baby Sherin, please bring back and report to police, to Richardson police. Those who, any of you who brings the baby God will bless you. God will reward you,” he added.

Anyone with information about Sherin Mathews or her location was asked to contact the Richardson Police Department at 972-744-4800.

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NEW YORK – Indian American Sheel Tyle, 26, founded a new company in May called Amplo and will now lead a $100 million fund for seed and follow-on deals related to startup Andela.

According to a Forbes report, Amplo was able to join a who’s who cast of venture firms in backing Andela – African fund CRE Venture Capital led the round in the largest ever between an African firm and startup, joining Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, GV, Salesforce Ventures and Spark Capital and has completed a first close in recent weeks as well as being oversubscribed.

Tyle served as an independent board member at Andela since 2014, upon the request of CEO Jeremy Johnson.

Tyle is joined by a new independent board member, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who has her own ties to Amplo.

After graduating from Stanford at age 19 with a double major in biology and public policy, Tyle went to Harvard Law School while he worked for the venture firm Bessemer Venture Partners and then the NEA where he started off as an associate but was quickly promoted to principal and co-headed the firm’s seed practice.

On his LinkedIn profile Tyle writes that all along, he was investing alongside his employers, making personal bets on Pinterest; the French online ad firm Criteo; the Canadian e-commerce software company Shopify and Twilio, which enables developers to build applications that can interact with customers.

Tyle also invested personally in those companies, Andela and Mark43, appearing on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2012.

Although Tyle did not discuss the financial details of the fund due to regulations, he told Forbes that Amplo’s goal is to concentrate on young entrepreneurs who can solve “real problems.”

“Founders who want to change something about how the world works tend to build bigger companies,” he said.

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NEW YORK – Indian American Sunil Amrith, a Mehra Family professor of South Asian studies and professor of history at Harvard University, has been awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, also known as the “genius grant,” and will be award $625,000 over the next five years with no strings attached.

Amrith earned his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Cambridge and was a research fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge.

He taught Modern Asian History at Birkbeck College at the University of London prior to joining Harvard University in 2015 where he is currently the director of the Harvard Center for History and Economics, a Mehra Family Professor of South Asian studies as well as a professor of history who focuses on migration, colonialism and the movement of ideas and institutions in South Asia.

He has been working on global migration focusing on India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore; tying centuries of movement of people and goods around and across the Bay of Bengal.

Amrith has written various publications including “Decolonizing International Health: India and Southeast Asia, 1930–65” and “Sites of Asian Interaction: Ideas, Networks and Mobility” and books “Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia” and “Crossing the Bay of Bengal,” in which he combines the theoretical frameworks of oceanic and environmental history with archival, ethnographic and visual research to chart how migration transformed individuals, families and communities by using narratives and records left by coastal traders, merchants and migrants of India who made homes in new lands across the bay.

According to the foundation, Amrith also provides an analysis of how climatic patterns around the bay defines the lives of migrants and coastal residents in the Bay of Bengal and will expand on this work in his current project which is on the history of environmental change in Asia, he will focus mainly on the monsoon season.

The foundation stated that Amrith won the fellowship for “illustrating the role of centuries of transnational migration in the present-day social and cultural dynamics of South and Southeast Asia.”

“From transforming conditions for low-wage workers to identifying internet security vulnerabilities, from celebrating the African American string band tradition to designing resilient urban habitats, these new MacArthur Fellows bring their exceptional creativity to diverse people, places, and social challenges,” Fellowship program managing director Cecilia Conrad said in a statement. “Their work gives us reason for optimism and inspires us all.”

According to Harvard’s website, the fellowship is awarded annually to 24 “talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction”; the recipients include academics, artists, activists, and others.

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Jashavneal Patel was 54 when he was shot to death June 20, 2008, by someone attempting to rob the convenience store he owned in Davenport, Florida. His wife and children were still in India and could not attend his funeral. But close to 200 Indian-Americans gathered to mourn his loss at the ceremony in this town in Central Florida, according to a news report in The Ledger’s online edition.

Nine years later a suspect has been indicted. Thirty one year old Dreon Smith, against whom a grand jury had issued a sealed indictment in August, made his first appearance in court Oct. 10, according to the news report.

Smith, who is in prison on a 5 1/2 year sentence for a 2013 perjury conviction also relating to Patel’s death, has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a firearm. The sealed indictment was unsealed Oct. 10, the news report said.

On that fateful day nine years ago, Patel was working in his store – Rightway Food Store and Citgo gas station, in Davenport, when he was shot and killed. He was found by a customer who hailed a police car. The death was considered as part of a robbery according to police, The Ledger reported.

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Sri Muduganti Ram Gopal Reddy of Thakkallapally village in earlier Jagtial Taluk in Karimnagar District, Andhra Pradesh, who passed away in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 85, was commemorated on his 100th birthday on Oct. 10.

Reddy graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Osmania University in 1942 and served as an officer in Nizam Sugar Factory for 20 years from which he resigned in 1961 and entered into politics.

He was one of the main founders of the Nizamabad Cooperative Sugar Factory Ltd. (NCSF) in 1964 and had 21,000 farmers as its shareholders, rising to about Rs. 1.25 crores as a share capital and was also the most successful chairman of NCSF as well as the chairman of the A.P. State Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd.

He was also the Director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd. and a member of Sugar Export Corporation along with being a leader for the workers of the factory and the vice president of INTUC in the Nizam Sugar Factory.

Reddy was elected as an Independent legislator from Bodhan in Mizamabad District and Medaram in Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh where he was very popular amongst the farmers.

He was then elected as a member of the Parliament from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency for three consecutive terms, serving for nearly 15 years and also participated actively in the Parliamentary debates, supporting the farmers and agriculture.

Reddy was also the president of the Praga Tools Union and the Central Government Officers Association of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and although he was denied a ticket in Congress in the 1984 elections, he still worked for the cause of the farmers and the weaker section until his sudden death in a car accident in 2002, while he was fighting against the privatization of NCSF and NSF by T.D.P. Government.

He was known for being a people’s politician and his generosity which came with no limitations; he always kept education and development as a top priority.

Reddy wrote three books, including “Life and Letters of Ram Gopal Reddy Legislator and Parliamentarian,” “Speeches of Ram Gopal Reddy in the Legislative Assembly” and “My Speeches in Parliament.”

“Ram Gopal Reddy had a magnificent career as a successful politician who always worked for the welfare of the farmers and workers and common people. His leadership qualities and his human approach to solve all problems endeared him to the people,” said former Union Minister Sri Bandaru Dattatreya.

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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is “an outspoken defender of First Amendment freedoms,” according to his biography on the agency’s website.

Yet a day after President Donald Trump’s threat to use the FCC to revoke broadcast licenses, Pai remained silent on the issue — including on Twitter, where he comments, on average, about six times a day.

Democrats called on Pai to speak out against the president’s call to challenge TV licenses, issued after a report on NBC News that Trump denied.

“@FCC Chairman Ajit Pai must immediately condemn Trump’s threat to remove broadcaster licenses because he disagrees with their reporting,” tweeted Rep. Frank Pallone, of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee that oversees the agency. He called for a hearing on the matter.

Pai on Thursday was in Indiana as part of a bus tour to highlight startup companies. Tina Pelkey, an FCC spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Less than a month ago, Pai, speaking at a symposium in Washington, said freedom of speech “should unite Americans across the ideological spectrum,” and cited “worrying signs” about intolerance driven by partisan views.

“On Twitter, for example, people regularly demand that the FCC yank licenses from cable news channels like Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN because they disagree with the opinions expressed on those networks,” Pai said in the Sept. 15 remarks. “Setting aside the fact that the FCC doesn’t license cable channels, these demands are fundamentally at odds with our legal and cultural traditions.”

Trump questioned whether FCC licenses should be taken from NBC after the network published a story on Wednesday saying he had called for a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal in a meeting with military and security officials. The president later told his 40 million Twitter followers that “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”

The FCC doesn’t license networks. It issues licenses to owners of television stations, which must be periodically renewed. Comcast owns 10 NBC stations, including in New York and Los Angeles. The television network also broadcasts through more than 200 stations owned by independent businesses.

It’s unclear whether Trump could succeed if he were to go after licenses. Broadcast attorneys with decades of experience said they couldn’t recall the FCC retracting a license because of what is broadcast. The agency’s own broadcast guide says “the FCC cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view.”

Still, the presidential threat evoked memories of intimidation by President Richard Nixon, who urged his lieutenants to interfere with the renewal of the Washington Post’s licenses for Florida TV stations in 1972.

Lawmakers of both parties reacted to Trump.

On Twitter, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a frequent critic of Trump, said, “Mr. President: Are you recanting of the Oath you took on Jan. 20 to preserve, protect, and defend the 1st Amendment?” Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, tweeted, “The FCC must show it is more loyal to the law than the President.”

Jessica Rosenworcel, a member of the FCC’s Democratic minority, said in a tweet that “Freedom of the press is a cornerstone of our democracy. Hope my @FCC colleagues can all be on the same page with respect to 1st Amendment.”

Pai, an FCC member since May 2012, was elevated to chairman by Trump. Pai has tweeted 11,880 times since May 2012, according to his page on Twitter. On Thursday, he tweeted from Indianapolis about the road trip with internet entrepreneur Steve Case.

– Bloomberg

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University of Maryland police are investigating three hate-related reports, including that of a swastika drawn inside a men’s restroom stall.

Offensive language or drawings scrawled in black marker were found in a men’s restroom stall in the Ellicott Dining Hall between Sept. 28 and Oct. 9, police said. The first report was on Sept. 28 at 10 a.m., the second shortly before 6 p.m. on Oct. 7, and the third at about 3:50 p.m., on Oct. 9, police said. The Oct. 7 report was about an offensive phrase and a swastika, police said.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about these incidents to call 301-405-3555 or email investigations@umpd.umd.edu. A reward of $2,000 is available for information that leads to “the successful identification of the individual responsible for these despicable acts,” University of Maryland police said in a statement.

The writing and drawings in the restroom stall are the latest in a string of reported hate-related incidents at the University of Maryland and colleges nationwide.

In August, police reported a “person of interest” to university officials in connection with an investigation of a noose made of plastic wrap found in the kitchen of a fraternity house.

Last week, police said they charged a Hyattsville, Md., man with malicious destruction of property in connection with a swastika found spray painted on a trash cart in a dorm on Sept. 27. Ronald Alford Sr., 52, has also been charged with one count of “disturbing the operations of a school” and has been banned from campus, police said.

Authorities are also still working to determine whether the slaying of Richard Collins III should be prosecuted as a hate crime.

Collins was visiting campus with friends when he was fatally stabbed at a bus stop. Police arrested Sean Christopher Urbanski, 22, of Severna Park, Md., in the slaying of Collins. Police said Urbanski was associated with a Facebook page called “Alt-Reich: Nation.”

Urbanski awaits trial on murder charges in Prince George’s County, Md., Circuit Court.

– Washington Post

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