Latest news with #RHOP
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ashley Darby Speaks Out on Mia Thornton's 'RHOP' Exit: 'This is Not an Easy Process' (Exclusive)
Ashley Darby is looking for love. The OG of The Real Housewives of Potomac stars alongside other housewives in Bravo's Love Hotel, the reality TV network's brand new dating series. The show follows Darby, her RHOP buddy Gizelle Bryant, RHOC star Shannon Beador and RHONY alum Luann de Lesseps as they travel to Los Cabos, Mexico, to find their one true love in a pool of eligible bachelors. For Darby, this series has been something she's wanted to do for a long time. "Andy Cohen will tell you that I have been asking, begging and pleading for something like this for the past two and a half years," she quipped in an exclusive interview with Parade. Darby confessed that not only did she want a Bravo dating show, but other fellow Bravo stars, including Kenya Moore and Sutton Stracke (who aren't on Season 1 at least), also liked the idea. "When finally, the powers that be listened to the ladies and gave us what we wanted, I knew that it was going to be a fantastic thing," she said. "So I packed my bags and ran to Cabo." Related: ' Unlike other dating shows, the four contestants are extremely well-known, with an audience that has followed their personal love lives for the better part of a decade. That layer adds stakes to the experience, and as Ashley puts it, allows viewers to watch them "redefine" what love means to them. "None of us have been in this situation where these men were vetted," she explains. "We've all dated our share, and obviously haven't had the best to know that we were putting our faith in the hands of whoever were counting these men, was a little nervewrecking but also exciting." She adds that they all had to learn to "trust the process." What surprised Ashley the most about this experience? Just how real the journey became for her. "I didn't expect to care or to be as invested as I actually became," she said. "I thought I was going to go and play this game of chess, and do my thing, but surprisingly, I really developed real feelings, and I allowed myself to fall into this web of love and I didn't think I was going to. I was really guarded about it ... but it overtook me. I really leaned into the experience." Related: Darby also shared her thoughts on the latest news coming out of The Real Housewives of Potomac: Mia Thornton's departure from the series. Just hours after Thornton took to Instagram with her announcement, Darby told Parade that she understands that a show like The Real Housewives "can be challenging." "This is not an easy process," Darby said. "I can attest first hand. I know that when things are in the shitter, and everyone has an opinion on your life and you have to answer some hard questions, it can be very challenging and it's mentally taxing. If Mia is not in a place where she can handle that and deal with that, then I support and I'm happy that she is making the right decision for herself to leave the show." "That's most important," she added. "Getting her life together, making sure her children are happy and taken care of, those are the priorities that she needs to focus on and I'm glad, hopefully, that she's doing that." Bravo's Love Hotel premieres Sunday, April 27th at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, with episodes streaming next day on Peacock.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DOGE cuts mental health funding for homeless children, youth in Nevada, officials say
Elon Musk at a cabinet meeting at the White House April 10. (Photo by) Elon Musk took his chainsaw last month to federal grants for mental health – including two that provide free mental health counseling to youth in Elko and Humboldt Counties, where access to such services is scarce, according to UNLV's Dr. Dan Allen, director and principal investigator of the Nevada Rural Mental Health Outreach Program (RHOP). DOGE also eliminated another grant for the mental health needs of homeless children. Allen says he was notified of the cuts via a letter last month from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH). Eliminated grants include those awarded to UNLV Partnership for Research, Assessment, Counseling, Therapy and Innovative Clinical Education (PRACTICE), a mental health clinic at UNLV that provides care to populations that have difficulty accessing help, and turns out trained mental health providers in the process. Those programs are just a few of the mental health treatment services terminated by President Donald Trump's administration on March 24. Others, according to a letter from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto to Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, include 'crisis support hotlines, community-based initiatives, peer support services, and workforce training to support individuals in crisis and ensure continuity of care.' 'Preliminary calculations show about $8.4 million was terminated under pandemic-era additions to the community mental health services block grant,' Jesse Stone of DPBH said via email Tuesday. 'This number is subject to change as we receive final requests from reimbursements from our partners that were receiving grants at the time that funds were rescinded.' Trump's administration hopes to save $11.4 billion by eliminating COVID-era funding for addiction and mental health. 'These grants were issued for a limited purpose: To ameliorate the effects of the pandemic,' says the termination notice from Trump's administration. 'The end of the pandemic provides cause to terminate COVID-related grants. Now that the pandemic is over, the grants are no longer necessary.' The pandemic exposed multiple shortcomings in health care services and programs nationally, not least with respect to accessing affordable mental and behavioral health care. Nevada suffered from a dearth of mental health professionals and services prior to the pandemic, and continues to do so even though the pandemic has ended. One of the RHOP programs that is losing funding provided telehealth services to youth in their own school setting, with the assistance of Communities in Schools, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fulfilling the needs of Nevada students. 'We're also providing services to kids who need more intensive care,' Allen explained, through a clinical program for youth at high-risk for psychosis, and for those with early bipolar disorder. 'Our community is plagued with mental illness,' Elko resident Morgan Pavao, who serves as a site coordinator for Communities in Schools in Northeastern Nevada, said via email. 'I have lost family and loved ones to suicide every year because we live in a community where mental health is not only ignored, but stigmatized. This program is saving lives and we cannot afford to lose it.' Gov. Joe Lombardo, who emphasized a commitment to mental health matters in his State of the State speech in January, did not respond to requests for comment on whether he plans to replace the programs with state funding. The grants for services provided by UNLV PRACTICE were funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), says Dr. Michelle Paul, executive director of UNLV PRACTICE. The funding, awarded in 2023, 'enabled UNLV PRACTICE to significantly expand its existing telehealth services, allowing us to offer year-round care and screening for high-risk youth in Northeastern Nevada,' Paul said, adding she learned in March the funding was terminated, effective immediately. 'With the sudden cessation of funding, services for approximately two-thirds of participants were affected immediately. Thanks to a generous donor, we were able to soften the landing for those youth and their families during the abrupt transition.' Services for the remaining one-third of students 'have been temporarily sustained through short-term institutional support from UNLV and are expected to conclude in May,' Paul said, adding the cuts are also taking a toll on post-graduate training and support opportunities for future mental health care providers in training at UNLV PRACTICE. The telehealth services provided care to 35 students this semester, says Liz Carrasco, the program's clinical director. 'Last semester we had 150 students,' she said, adding the loss of the grants comes as residents in both counties are recovering from teen suicides earlier this year. Suicide has long been among the leading causes of death for Nevadans aged 8-17 and 18-24, according to the Office of Suicide Prevention. Students are referred to the program by school counselors, administrators, or social workers, and complete an 'extensive referral packet' that helps UNLV determine whether telehealth counseling is appropriate, says Alexandra Paredes, a Winnemucca resident who coordinates the program on behalf of Communities in Schools. Students, she says, call their clinician their ''person.' They're always asking 'when do I speak with my person?' They form a very strong bond.' The grants were slated to run out at the end of September, says Allen, who says he'll apply for block grants as an alternative. 'All that funding has been cut back, so I'm not sure what's going to be available,' he said during a phone interview Monday. 'But that's our climate.' DOGE also eliminated a grant funded via ARPA that was to be administered beginning in September by UNLV's Education Department and run through UNLV PRACTICE for the benefit of homeless youth. Efforts are underway to find alternative funding, Allen and Paul said. The lost funding across all three grants amounts to about $634,000, according to Paul. 'The State of Nevada has received approximately $15 million in Community Health Services Block Grant funding from the American Rescue Plan since it was passed,' Lauren Wodarski, spokesperson for Cortez Masto, said via email. 'The Trump Administration has yet to offer concrete details on specifically how much of that funding has been frozen or rescinded – and Senator Cortez Masto is continuing to push for answers.' The Reno Gazette Journal reported earlier this month that Renown Health suspended mental health services at its Crisis Care Center in Reno after the federal government terminated its grant funding last month. Cortez Masto, in the letter to Kennedy, demanded answers about the rationale for terminating block grant funding for Nevada's mental health services months before it was set to expire. 'This abrupt decision to cut critical, already-allocated funding is alarming and poses a direct threat to the mental health and well-being of Nevadans,' Cortez Masto wrote of the cuts, which were made the same day the UNLV PRACTICE programs were eliminated and were also set to expire in September. Cortez Masto wants to know whether HHS analyzed the effects of ending the funding prematurely; what the federal government is doing to sustain the affected programs; how the government will avoid gaps and delays in care for individuals currently in treatment; and what alternative funding sources are available for the state. 'We're of course disappointed by this loss of funding, as these programs provided momentum to UNLV PRACTICE's ability to deliver crucial mental health services to rural communities in Nevada while training the next generation of providers,' she said, adding the clinic remains 'committed to delivering high-quality and accessible programs to residents in our community and throughout Nevada.'
USA Today
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Real Housewives of Potomac' star Karen Huger sentenced to jail for DUI
'Real Housewives of Potomac' star Karen Huger sentenced to jail for DUI Show Caption Hide Caption Karen Huger body cam video: "Real Housewives" star found guilty of DUI "Real Housewives of Potomac" star Karen Huger was found guilty of DUI and four other charges after a car crash in Maryland. Fox - 5 DC "Real Housewives" star Karen Huger is headed to jail. Huger, dubbed "The Grande Dame" on Bravo reality show "The Real Housewives of Potomac," was sentenced to two years in jail by Maryland Circuit Court Judge Terrence J. McGann with one year of the sentence suspended, meaning she is expected to serve one year in jail, Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office confirmed to USA TODAY Wednesday. On Dec. 19, Huger, 61, was found guilty of DUI, negligent driving, failure to control speed to avoid a collision, and failure to notify of a change in address, but was acquitted of reckless driving, following a March car accident, the state's attorney's office previously confirmed. In addition to her time in jail, Huger faces $2900 in fines, no driving at all for a year after release and five years of supervised probation upon release with an interlock device (a car breathalyzer), according to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office. 'Real Housewives' star Karen Huger found guilty of DUI, bodycam videos released Huger was charged in March after crashing a vehicle while driving in Potomac, Maryland. The TV personality "crossed a median and struck street signs," a representative for the Montgomery County Police Department confirmed to USA TODAY at the time. Huger failed to show for the three-part "RHOP" reunion, revealing in a previously taped message to her cast members on the Feb. 16 episode that she was checking herself into a rehab facility. Karen Huger arrest video: 'RHOP' star said she was 'Thomas Jefferson's concubine' in post-accident footage The "RHOP" reunion featured now-infamous body camera footage from the night of Huger's accident and subsequent arrest by police officers, which captured her saying, "Oh God. I'm lit." In body-cam videos shown during the trial, Huger refused to take a sobriety test but acknowledged she had been drinking before the accident and should have "probably taken a cab." The reality star repeatedly asked officers if they knew who she was and appeared to slur her words as she said she is "really rich" and "Thomas Jefferson's concubine." The footage also showed Huger telling an officer he would be "ashamed" when he Googles her. Karen Huger became known as 'Grande Dame' on 'Real Housewives' Huger has been a main cast member on the "Real Housewives of Potomac" since 2016. The show, one of two featuring all-Black casts, features wealthy and prominent Black women in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area (or DMV for D.C., Maryland, Virginia). 'Real Housewives' star Jen Shah guilty in fraud case, producer Andy Cohen doesn't 'know how to feel' Season 9 of "RHOP" wraps Sunday with its final episode of the three-part reunion. Huger currently stars on the Bravo show with fellow main cast members Ashley Darby, Gizelle Bryant, Wendy Osefo, Mia Thornton, Stacey Rusch, Keiarna Stewart and friends of the cast Jacqueline Blake and Jassi Rideaux. Huger's cast members have criticized her conduct throughout the season. Contributing: Brendan Morrow
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Yahoo
Montgomery County Correctional Facility: Where Karen Huger will serve DUI sentence
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. () — , star of Real Housewives of Potomac (RHOP), found out Wednesday that . Huger was found guilty in December 2024, months after her Maserati crossed a median, hitting a pole and a tree near Oaklyn Drive in Potomac. The incident was a topic of conversation throughout RHOP's ninth season, although Huger, herself, did not discuss the matter in any great length as she waited for the legal process to play out. Real Housewives of Potomac star Karen Huger found guilty of DUI; body camera footage released Prior to recording the Season 9 reunion, Huger entered a treatment program and . Instead, she appeared in pre-recorded segments, addressing the audience and cast. Huger is serving her sentence at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility (MCCF), which is located in Boyds Md., near Clarksburg. According to the , MCCF can accommodate as many as 1,028 inmates, both men and women. The facility is responsible for the custody and care of people who either are in a pre-trial status or are serving sentences of up to 18 months. Huger, who began serving her sentence immediately, faces five years of probation after her release and will not be able to drive for a year. She had 30 days from the day of sentencing to appeal the judge's ruling. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NBC News
26-02-2025
- NBC News
'Real Housewives of Potomac's' Karen Huger sentenced for DUI
A Maryland judge on Wednesday sentenced 'Real Housewives of Potomac' star Karen Huger to a year behind bars, 11 months after she got drunk and crashed her Maserati into a street sign. An original "RHOP" cast member known as the "grande dame" of high society in suburban Washington, Huger was convicted late last year by a Montgomery County jury of driving under the influence and other charges connected to a March 19, 2024, solo crash near Oaklyn Drive in Potomac. The jury cleared Huger, who was not injured, of reckless driving charge. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Terrence McGann sentenced Huger to two years in jail, with one suspended, to go along with $2,900 in fines and five years of probation. Huger won't be allowed to drive for a year after she's released. And if she violates probation, Huger could be sent back to jail to serve the year of suspended time. Huger, 61, faced up to two years behind bars, though prosecutors had requested six months in jail and defense lawyers wanted no time in favor of rehabilitation. Prosecutors called Huger a repeat offender with three previous alcohol-related traffic cases between 2006 and 2011. None of those previous cases had led to jail time. A police officer's body camera captured footage of Huger shortly after the crash with the reality TV figure appearing to struggle with balance and appearing to slur her speech. Huger did not appear on "RHOP's" reunion shows earlier this month, but sent a pre-taped video message to announce she'd checked into rehab to address issues with drinking and anti-depressant medication.
