Washington, D.C
Following transformative experience, Palmer woman advocates for donor rights in Washington, D.C.
PALMER, Alaska (KTUU) – A Palmer woman is heading to the nation’s capitol next week to lobby legislators for donor registration funding and advocate for a bill aimed at protecting bone marrow and blood cell donors’ rights to job security.
Sandra Hinton, an administrator for Knik Charter School in Wasilla, registered as a bone marrow donor sometime in the late 2000s through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). She can’t recall exactly what prompted her to register, only that it felt like something she needed to do.
“I got online and looked at it and I thought, ‘Well that’s easy, who wouldn’t want to do this for somebody?’ and so I signed up,” Hinton recalled.
She thought a lot about donating after she first registered, but when her phone didn’t ring for nearly a decade the idea left her mind.
“I actually forgot about it,” Hinton admitted. “And when I actually got the call, text, my phone blew up and I called back and I thought it was a joke.”
But it wasn’t a joke, Hinton was a 100% match with a young Florida man named Jonathan who had been diagnosed with leukemia. She traveled to Kansas City and underwent surgery. She never met Jonathan during this process — to her, he was a perfect stranger.
According to Hinton, donors can reach out to recipients after a one-year waiting period following the donation. After this time, donors can send recipients their contact information but it’s ultimately up to the recipients if they want to respond.
Jonathan responded.
“He came up [to Alaska] with his brother and his mom and dad, and we met in Denali,” Hinton said. “It was beautiful. It was the most amazing day of my life.”
Hinton said the meeting was an emotional one, as she and her husband embraced Jonathan and cried. She felt the same love for Jonathan that she would her own son.
Because of her donation, Jonathan lived for another 18 months. Hinton said her beloved match died after contracting an infection in his port. It was a year and a half that Hinton said Jonathan didn’t take for granted — traveling to Spain to watch his favorite soccer team, ringing in a new year under the Eiffel Tower and visiting Alaska to meet the woman who saved his life.
“He got a lot of life in that 18 months,” Hinton said. “I wish it could be forever. I wish it could.”
Jonathan’s death didn’t take anything away from Hinton’s experience as a donor. She said she would do it again in a heartbeat if asked.
Since the donation Hinton has become an advocacy volunteer for NMDP, running drives locally to drum up donor registration numbers and educate the public on bone marrow and blood stem cell research. She will remain active on the registry list until she reaches the age limit of 61 years old.
While in Washington, D.C., Hinton and her team will meet with lawmakers to ask for their support in passing H.R. 3024, a bill titled the “Life Saving Leave Act” that would amend the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to permit additional leave time for donors.
“This would ensure that somebody donating would have at least 40 hours that they would be able to take leave and not lose their job,” Hinton said.
According to research conducted by NMDP, approximately half of donors turn down the opportunity to donate due to the fear they will lose their jobs if they take off work.
Hinton and her team will also ask Congress for a $2 million funding increase for the C.W. Bill Young Transplantation Program to focus on donor recruitment efforts.
“There’s just so much to it and so many people need it,” Hinton said. “I can’t stop, you know, advocating for that, for helping people.”
Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Abundant sunshine
- Temps slightly cooler than average
- No rain in sight — again
- Mid-week warmup
May is drawing to a dry, comfortable close, in stunning contrast to the very soggy Memorial Day weather we saw last weekend.
That 10-day stretch of rain put a definite dent in our drought, according to the weekly national drought monitor, but it seems that was the end of the improvement for a while: There’s almost no clouds in sight for the DMV for several days.
Enjoy the many hours of sunshine on Saturday. The high pressure coming in from the Hudson Bay brings a stiff north wind, but the day will also be sunny and comfortable, with highs in the mid 70s.
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
The wind will die down after dark, and Sunday morning will be bordering on chilly. Expect widespread mid/upper 40s in most of the D.C. area, with urban centers and bayside communities staying just above 50°. Sunday afternoon will be just a bit warmer, in the mid 70s, but with far less of a breeze.
Highs will be back around 80° for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with overnight lows in the comfy 50s. It’ll be a perfect start to meteorological summer (June/July/August).
QuickCast
TODAY:
Sunshine Abounds, Breezy
Wind: North 10-15mph, Gust to 25 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 70° to 75°
TONIGHT:
Clear Skies
Winds Diminish
Wind: Northwest 10-15 mph
Chance Of Rain: 0%
LOWS: 46° to 54°
SUNDAY:
Mostly Sunny Skies
Pleasant Conditions
Light Breeze
Wind: NW 5 – 10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 70° to 76°
MONDAY:
Partly Cloudy
Seasonable
Light Breeze
Wind: West/Northwest 10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 76° to 82°
Sunrise: 5:45 Sunset: 8:26
Average High: 80° Average Low: 63°
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
WASHINGTON – A man is in critical condition after falling into the Anacostia River in Southwestern Washington, D.C., Friday night.
What we know:
D.C. Fire and EMS reported the rescue effort shortly after 10 p.m. at James Creek Marina in Buzzard Point.
Crews believe a man fell from the dock into the water.
By 10:30 p.m., crews were able to pull the man out of the water.
Paramedics took him to the hospital in critical condition.
What we don’t know:
Officials did not identify the man who was rescued. No other information was immediately available.
The Source: Information in this story is from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.
Washington, D.C
DC’s baseball team faces potential DOJ probe after exec allegedly admitted to religious discrimination
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
FIRST ON FOX — Washington, D.C.’s professional baseball franchise could come under Justice Department scrutiny after a viral video showed a team executive appearing to admit to his religious discrimination against a Christian player.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon to investigate alleged religious discrimination against players for the Washington Nationals, according to a letter sent Thursday to and first obtained by Fox News Digital.
The letter comes after Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe published a secretly recorded video of Washington Nationals Director of Community Relations Sean Hudson saying the team does not include pitcher Trevor Williams in certain social media promotion.
He cited the player’s public criticism of another Major League Baseball franchise for hosting a drag group mocking Catholics.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is urging the Department of Justice to investigate alleged religious discrimination within the Washington Nationals organization and across Major League Baseball. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
EXCLUSIVE: KENTUCKY BARISTA TAKES LEGAL ACTION AFTER TERMINATION, CLAIMS SHE WAS FIRED FOR SHARING HER FAITH
“According to the reporting by James O’Keefe, it appears the Washington Nationals are engaged in unlawful religious discrimination,” Boebert told Fox News Digital in a written statement. “I urge the DOJ to take immediate and decisive action.”
A spokesperson for the Justice Department said they received Boebert’s letter.
“The Department is reviewing the matter and will evaluate all appropriate next steps. As always, we remain committed to enforcing federal law and protecting civil rights,” they told Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for the Washington Nationals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hudson, in the clandestine recording, pointed to Williams’ public objections to the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence — a drag group that dresses as nuns — during the team’s 2023 “Pride Night.
The event also drew condemnation from multiple Catholic bishops, who described it as “blasphemous.”
Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals sits in the dugout before a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash., on May 28, 2025. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
Williams said he found the group’s anti-Catholic demonstration featuring vulgar caricatures of the crucifixion and sacred rituals to be “deeply offensive,” in an interview with Bishop Robert Barron last year. The professional baseball player said he made the decision with his wife to speak out even though it would put “a target on our back.”
“Baseball stadiums should be a place where everyone feels welcomed, like 100%,” Williams said in the interview. “We should all feel welcomed there. But that was clearly against one certain religion. If you don’t draw the line in the sand, who’s gonna do it?”
According to Hudson, that public criticism of the drag group’s performance later affected Williams’ opportunities at the Nationals franchise.
“Because of that we don’t use him on social [media],” Hudson told an undercover journalist in the video. “When they’re like ‘is a hot dog a sandwich’ and the players come up, we don’t ask him.”
CONGRESSMAN SAYS MLB IS OUSTING TREVOR BAUER DUE TO TRUMP SUPPORT, IN LETTER TO ROB MANFRED
Boebert said she is concerned that Hudson’s admission could mean the franchise violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on religion and other protected classes.
“Americans of faith should not face professional repercussions for objecting to the mockery of their sacred traditions,” the Colorado Republican said in the letter. “MLB’s privileged legal position should not become a license for exclusionary practices.”
“Sister Unity” and “Sister Dominia” of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were honored on Pride Night before the MLB game between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on June 16, 2023. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire)
Hudson, in the video, described himself as “far-left leaning” and nonreligious. Meanwhile, he called Williams “super Catholic.”
The Washington Nationals executive also boasted about a Communist Party poster in his office and mused about pushing redistribution of wealth and other leftist agendas during baseball games at Nationals Park in Southeast Washington, D.C.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“What a cool opportunity for us [Nationals] to also, be a little bit of like, the voice of reason,” Hudson said. “And a lot of people will tell you when I come to a baseball game, I don’t want to think about that s–t.”
“If you’re a sports fan and we piss you off, where else are you gonna go,” he went on. “I don’t give a sh–t.”
-
Pennsylvania2 minutes agoMan accused of using excavator to destroy home with family inside
-
Rhode Island5 minutes agoRhode Island high school yearbook printed with the word ‘school’ misspelled on its cover: ‘Shocking to see’
-
South-Carolina10 minutes agoSouth Carolina Democrats celebrate redistricting win as governor hopefuls clash
-
South Dakota17 minutes agoSouth Dakota’s annual History Conference returns to Fort Pierre
-
Tennessee20 minutes agoABC broadcast goes out during Tennessee softball vs Texas Tech in WCWS
-
Texas25 minutes agoLive Updates: Lady Vols Softball vs. Texas Tech in the Women’s College World Series
-
Utah32 minutes agoMan guilty of crash that killed Utah CEO and his daughter gets maximum sentence – East Idaho News
-
Vermont35 minutes agoFallen solar panels in Vermont prompt environmental concerns – Valley News
