Chicago Hull House closing for lack of funds

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago's historic social services agency Hull House, founded well over a century ago by pioneering social reformer Jane Addams, will close by the end of March due to a lack of funds, the board chairman said on Thursday.

"We are no different than anybody else in the world right now," Hull House board chairman Stephen Saunders said. "We're suffering with this economy."

Saunders said the social service agency has millions of dollars of debt and has not been able to raise enough money to cover operating costs, having fallen short of fundraising goals by $1 million or more annually for the past three or four years.

"It's insurmountable," Saunders said of the situation.

Jane Addams, also a leader in women's suffrage, was the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She and her associates influenced policy on public health and education, fair labor practices and immigrants' rights.

She founded Hull House in 1889 to provide services mostly to the city's immigrant community. The current Hull House Association serves 14,000 people, with programs in early childhood development, child welfare and family services such as domestic violence counseling.

Saunders said Hull House was arranging for other social services providers, such as Metropolitan Family Services, to take on Hull House's clients and employees.

"The 14,000 people we serve aren't going to be thrown out on the streets," Saunders said.

Metropolitan Family Services Chief Executive Ric Estrada said the agency was willing to help but was waiting to find out from sources like the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois how funding will be distributed.

"There's a lack of funds all around," Estrada said. "Every place is stretched."

Saunders, describing Addams as "essentially the mother of social services in the city," said another agency would probably apply the Jane Addams Hull House name to one of its programs.

Hull House is not affiliated with the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, which is located in the original settlement house on the city's near south side.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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Austin hotel closing after third falling-glass incident

Falling-glass incident is the third in recent weeks involving the Austin, Texas, hotelHotel says it will close while it replaces all balcony glass; guests are being relocatedThe hotel is being sued over a June 10 incident in which two people were injuredRead more about this story from CNN affiliate KXAN-TV.

(CNN) -- The W Austin hotel is closing indefinitely after glass fell from the balcony panels of the Austin, Texas, building for a second day in a row and the third time in recent weeks, the hotel's parent company announced Tuesday.

The hotel will be closed "until further notice" as the glass panels are replaced, the hotel's parent company said in a statement Tuesday. Guests of the hotel are being relocated to other hotels.

"We are replacing every piece of balcony glass on the building," Stratus Properties CEO Beau Armstrong said in the statement.

The incident occurred the same day a lawsuit was filed against the hotel on behalf of two people who were injured June 10 when glass from a broken panel rained down on them in the hotel pool, CNN affiliate KXAN-TV reported.

According to the lawsuit, the hotel had been warned of the problem before the incident but failed to respond, KXAN reported.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, three panels fell from the south side of the building, a day after panels fell on cars parked below on 3rd Street, KXAN reported.

The W Hotel in midtown Atlanta was the site of a fatal accident on May 28, when two women crashed through a 10-floor window and one fell to her death. According to a preliminary investigation, the friends were "play fighting" when they smashed into the window and fell.

In the days following that incident, an Atlanta police spokesman said in a statement officers were not looking at the glass in the windows as a factor and had "no reason to believe this was anything other than a tragic accident."

In a statement Tuesday, W Austin stressed that the Austin and Atlanta incidents were "completely unrelated."

"They involve two dissimilar types of buildings that were built at different times," the statement said. "The incident at the W Austin involved balcony glass on empty condos above the hotel and the incident at the W Atlanta Midtown involved a guestroom window."

CNN

Levee reopens in Baton Rouge; spillway bays closing

U.S. Army Corps closes some bays at spillway above New OrleansLevee partially reopens in Baton RougeThat section is popular with pedestrians, bicyclists

(CNN) -- Pedestrians and bicyclists were allowed back on a Mississippi River levee in Baton Rouge, one of two developments Saturday that showed the flooding crisis in Louisiana was easing.

Mayor-President Melvin "Kip" Holden closed the levee May 13 because record high water was expected during the height of the flood, CNN affiliate WBRZ reported.

Since the river began falling, crews have been removing sandbags. The downtown portion reopened Saturday; another section will be back in business next week.

"I think it's a big part of downtown Baton Rouge," Rachel Brignac said of the levee. "There's not a whole lot of places to hang out and have a good time."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was to begin closing 30 of 330 bays at the Bonnet Carre spillway at Lake Ponchartrain.

The agency said it will continue to assess the conditions of the river and perform more closures when warranted.

"We'll evaluate the river each day, we'll evaluate the flows again and determine how many we need to close each day until we get the structure completely closed," Corps spokesman Mike Stack told CNN New Orleans affiliate WWL.

The Corps opened the spillway last month to divert water from the Mississippi River and protect New Orleans.

The Mississippi River was at 15.4 feet in New Orleans Saturday, 1.6 feet below flood stage.

Baton Rouge's reading was 39.44. Flood stage is 35 feet.

CNN