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Are you a creative looking to expand your network and share your work? Join DC’s creative community at City Winery DC on August 29 to kick off the 3rd installment of Mayor Muriel Bowser Presents 202Creates with live performances, vendors and more!

202Creates was established to celebrate DC’s innovators, makers and artists throughout all 8 wards of the city. It connects District residents with government resources, educational opportunities and spaces to support their projects.

This results in the creation of business development tools, original media content and performances, as well as community-building events, activities and roundtables.

This September’s 202Creates programming is made possible in partnership with the DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment; The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities; The DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development; and the DC Executive Office of the Mayor.

With nearly 60 percent of the District’s workers employed in the creative roles, this program is more valuable now than ever. Let’s celebrate DC’s creative culture!

RSVP for the kickoff here, and check out upcoming events here.

By Employment and Consumer Attorney Jonathan Street, founder of The Employment Law Group.

Movements such #MeToo and #TimesUp have been making strides across the country, particularly in Hollywood by women that have huge platforms to speak to millions of people. It seems it has worked, as now the movement has given women the courage in many other industries to speak up about sexual harassment.

The latest to face allegations is McDonald’s restaurants. Currently there are nine different McDonald’s franchises to face allegations from ten different women across the country.

New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, Durham and Kansas City in Missouri are the locations in which complaints of sexual harassment are currently being filed against McDonald’s franchises. Allegations include inappropriate groping and touching, indecent exposure and lewd comments, most often made by supervisors.

McDonald’s currently has a zero tolerance policy in regards to sexual harassment, but it does not seem as though it is being enforced.

In their complaints, the women have stated that when bringing their complaints to the company, they were typically ignored. In other cases, they were mocked for making the allegations. Some even faced retaliation in the workplace.

This is not the first time the fast food chain has faced such allegations. Two years ago they faced similar charges. At that time they stated an investigation into the allegations would be conducted.

However, Terri Hickey, spokesperson for McDonald’s, refused to comment on whether or not those complaints resulted in any policy changes or increased enforcement of the company’s zero tolerance policy.

“The only way things are going to change,” says Jonathan Street of The Employment Law Group, “is if brave women continue to come forward. This is no longer something that will be ignored, or swept under the rug. Everyone has to be held accountable for their actions, and that includes anyone in the workplace that believes they can treat people unfairly or disrespectfully.”

The latest complaints were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Because the McDonald’s locations named in the complaints are franchises, the franchise owner is named in each complaint. So too however, is McDonald’s Corp.

Due to the fact that the women filing complaints are most often making minimum wage and cannot afford the legal costs associated with pursuing their case, they are being covered by the TIMES UP Legal Defense Fund.

They are working with Fight for $15, who is handling and organizing the women’s complaints in the hopes that they can get the justice they deserve and prevent it from happening to anyone else.

This column in written by Randy LiVorsi, of the District Residential Group. A DC resident for 16 years, he is licensed in DC and VA. Randy holds a Masters in Organizational Management and Development and is a certified project manager with a current PMP. Each month he will dig into all things DC area real estate. He is also a General in the KISS Army, so get ready to rock and real estate all night, and party every day!

For first time home buyers, one of the most ‘understudied’ and intimidating parts of the purchase transaction is the process of selecting not just a lender, but also discerning what mortgage product best fits their needs.

In my experience, the most common reason first time buyers shy away from adeptly navigating this component revolves around one thing — fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of the perceived complexities of both the products as well as the process of obtaining a mortgage. Like anything else, if an emotion drives behavior that leads to avoidance, it can result in an unnecessary ‘handicap’ that can be costly.

In this month’s installment, I share three tips to amp up your readiness as a buyer and a bonus fourth for the real overachievers!

1. Eliminate ego and critically assess your own level of knowledge.

Read, read, read, read… and then read more. Don’t be intimidated by what you identify as shortcomings.

Create a punch list of those specific items​ — whatever they may be (eg. the difference Fixed Rate Mortgage (FRM) vs. an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM).

Next, do independent research — ​there’s no one you will trust more than yourself. Don’t ​rely​ on what your friend said last week — there are too many extraneous variables specific to YOUR purchase goals that likely do not align with the well meaning advice of your friend.

2. Establish a comfortable baseline where you can confidently speak to a loan officer without experiencing crippling levels of anxiety or nervousness.  (more…)

By Family Law Attorney Brian W. Reidy, founder of Reidy Law Office LLC.

The Dehli High Court — the rough equivalent of US Court of Appeals — has ruled that a woman and her toddler child must return to Illinois for final adjudication of child custody and divorce proceedings following her husband’s filing of a petition with the court for an order removing the child from the woman’s custody and returning her to the United States.

The woman, who was originally born in India but lived in the United States, was seeking to avail herself of India’s courts in an attempt to use that country’s laws in manner that would have dissolved her marriage and provided her custody of the couple’s three-year-old daughter.

The couple had traveled to India to visit the woman’s parents, but just before flying back to the United States, the woman and her daughter had disappeared.

The Hindu Marriage Act governs marriages where one or both of the individuals are of the Hindu religion. Divorce is generally frowned upon in the Hindu religion; however, the Act allows for divorce in certain situations, including allowing the wife to petition for dissolution of the marriage in the instance of rape, which is what the wife alleged.

However, the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, had already exercised jurisdiction over the custody of the child, having ruled in the matter prior to the wife’s petition in India, wherein sole interim custody had been vested in the father.

“The father asked the Delhi High Court to remove his daughter from his wife’s custody and return her to the United States, arguing that the courts in India had no jurisdiction over the matter,” said Brian W. Reidy, an Illinois Child Custody Attorney with Reidy Law Office, LLC.

The Delhi High Court agreed, holding that the United States was the “Karam Bhumi” (the place with proper jurisdiction) of the couple and as such, the wife could not avail herself of the laws of her home country at the expense of the best interests of her child, a United States citizen who had only ever known life in Illinois.

This “best interests of the child” concept may be in an order from an Indian court, but the concept itself is not foreign to divorce and custody proceedings in the United States. The best interests of the child standard has long been the “polar star” for courts in child custody proceedings, the goal being to put the needs of the child ahead of the wants and wishes of the parents.

In this scenario, the mother was seeking to move to India with her child to be closer to her family and those that she knew. Though this would be good for the mother, removing the child from her life, school, friends and other family solely for the ease of the mother represented a violation of that child’s best interests for the Dehli court.

Child custody proceedings are inherently challenging and filled with conflict. An experienced child custody attorney in Illinois will help you understand the laws governing custody and work to negotiate an outcome that is favorable to you as a parent while keeping your child in mind.

Scrofano Law PC is D.C.’s premiere Criminal, DUI and Cannabis defense firm. We give anyone who cares about their future a fighting chance when they are facing the full weight of the criminal justice system.

When a friend or family member gets arrested, it is a scary, difficult and unexpected event. There is some practical information that people should know in case they get the unthinkable call that police have arrested a friend or loved one.

First, understand that the person will immediately be brought to the police district in which the incident occurred. That is also where the arrestee will ultimately have to return to get their personal property like cell phone, wallet, purse and keys. You can find the addresses and contact information for each police district here.

Second, if the person is eligible for citation release, then the police will release them after several hours of booking at that station. Eligibility requirements for citation release depend on several factors.

Once they have been processed, police will release them from the station with a Citation to Return to Court in 2 to 4 weeks.

Next, if they are not eligible for release from the station, the next place police will take them is Central Cellblock where they will likely spend the night. Contact information for Central Cell Block can be found here.

While friends and family members are not allowed to go see them at Central Cell Block, a criminal defense attorney is. It is likely they will stay the night at Central Cell Block and be brought to D.C. Superior Court where they will go before a judge who will determine whether to release them with conditions or hold them for at least 3 to 5 more days.

Before you think it cannot happen to you or a loved one, please consider the following circumstances that often lead to the arrest of folks who are ordinarily law-abiding citizens:

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