Celebrity cheerleader Jerry Harris is under FBI investigation for allegedly soliciting sex, nude photos from twin brothers. They say Harris harassed them online and at competitions. He has not been charged. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
The two boys who have accused Harris of abuse, Charlie and Sam, their mother and their attorney spoke with USA TODAY. The family has also filed a civil suit. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Charlie and Sam described a pattern of harassment by Harris, both online and in person, that started when they were 13 and spanned more than a year. The family provided screenshots of texts and Snapchat messages they say show Harris soliciting nude photos.
During an interview in his Texas home, Charlie said his interactions with Harris left him struggling with anxiety. He lost sleep, his grades suffered, and he cried at school.
When Netflix released “Cheer” in January, Charlie said people who knew of their friendship begged him to FaceTime Harris and allow them to say hello. He said Harris agreed — if Charlie agreed to send him nude photos. The messages continued until this spring, Charlie said.
The boys said they are discouraged to see Harris still involved in cheerleading, his prominence only growing. They said they chose to share their story because they want to be a voice for others who may have faced abuse, including in cheerleading: bit.ly/3hxrf0w
Jerry Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
“I would not be putting myself out there and doing all this stuff and literally losing my friends about this for no reason,” Charlie said. “Jerry is just an example of how you can see someone as one way, but they're truly a different person.” bit.ly/3hxrf0w
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In Thursday’s paper:
- New climate change front line: Insurance
- Trump’s deja vu all over again
- Alaska’s grim Army suicide rate receding
Smoke descended on New York City, oceans are rising, arctic ice is melting. But one of the most significant and undeniable ways Americans will be impacted by climate change is far less dramatic: Insurance. usatoday.com/story/news/nat…
The arraignment of a former president Tuesday on charges of violating the Espionage Act was breathtaking.
Students are misbehaving more now than they did before the pandemic, according to 70% of 1,000 educators in a recent national survey. And many educators said they had no idea how to handle the rise in disruptions this year. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
Teachers are under pressure to help students make up for what they haven’t learned, and kids feel their stress. The combination has led to a pronounced rise in students expressing anger or sadness by lashing out and being disruptive at school.
Educators sent kids to other classrooms or school offices to be consoled by someone else, worked longer hours to try to counsel children themselves, set up physical boxes for kids to anonymously share their complaints and ramped up lessons in managing emotions.
Student attendance nationwide is nowhere close to pre-pandemic levels amid parents’ ongoing concerns about students’ health, shifting mindsets about the importance of classroom time and the expectations of school.
Chronic absenteeism can significantly reduce a child’s academic performance and odds of graduation. But since the pandemic hit, the problem has reached new proportions, despite the widespread return to classrooms and standard school routines.
The number of students who were chronically absent last spring was 16 million. That's double the 8 million of chronically absent students before COVID-19.
Donald Trump prepared for his initial court appearance Tuesday as the first former president to be criminally indicted by flying from New Jersey to Florida, continuing to fundraise and blasting the rival Biden administration. usatoday.com/story/news/pol…
More than three years after the COVID outbreak began, many children are severely behind in school. They miss class, struggle to read or do math and can hardly sit still after years of shape-shifting school days. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
After a day full of math and reading lessons, third grader Ashley Soto struggles to concentrate during a writing exercise. She’s supposed to be crafting an essay, but instead she wanders around the classroom.
“My brain is about to explode!” she exclaims.
Fourth grade teacher Rodney LaFleur looks for a student to answer a math question. He reaches into a jar filled with popsicle sticks, each with the name of one of his students. The first student’s name he draws is absent. So is the second. And the third.
In the year since the Supreme Court dismantled Roe v. Wade, the quiet college town of Carbondale, Illinois, came to symbolize the shifting map of U.S. abortion access. bit.ly/3WSULUP
Carbondale transformed into an important abortion destination for women across the Midwest and South, states where abortion bans and restrictions have spread.
A year ago, there were no clinics in Carbondale. Now, it is the closest abortion destination for more than 1.2 million women from states as far as Louisiana, according to an analysis by Caitlin Myers, an economics professor at Middlebury College.