Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can't be used
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.
The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
The decision, like last year’s momentous abortion ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, marked the realization of a long-sought conservative legal goal, this time finding that race-conscious admissions plans violate the Constitution and a law that applies to colleges that receive federal funding, as almost all do.
Those schools will be forced to reshape their admissions practices, especially top schools that are more likely to consider the race of applicants.
Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
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Russian general is believed to be detained in aftermath of Wagner mutiny, AP sources say
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
It’s not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of the Kremlin’s politics and uncertainty after the revolt.
But his reported detention comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took over the military headquarters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what appears to have been an aborted insurrection.
Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has spoken positively of Surovikin while criticizing the country’s military brass and suggested that he should be appointed the General Staff chief to replace Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The New York Times this week reported that U.S. officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhin’s plan to stage the revolt.
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Deputy acquitted of all charges for failing to act during deadly Parkland school shooting
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida sheriff’s deputy was acquitted Thursday of felony child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, concluding the first trial in U.S. history of a law enforcement officer for conduct during an on-campus shooting.
Former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read, while the fathers of two students murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb, 14, 2018, stared straight ahead and quickly left the courtroom. The jury had deliberated for 19 hours over four days.
After court adjourned, Peterson, his family and friends rushed into a group hug as they whooped, hollered and cried. Kevin Bolling, Peterson’s private investigator, chased after lead prosecutor Chris Killoran and said something. Killoran turned and snapped at him, “Way to be a good winner” and slapped him on the shoulder. Members of the prosecution team then nudged Killoran out of the courtroom.
“I got my life back. We’ve got our life back,” Peterson said as he exited the courtroom, his arm around his wife, Lydia Rodriguez, and his lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh. He has insisted that he would have confronted the shooter Nikolas Cruz, but because of echoes, he didn't know where the shots were coming from. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster for so long.”
He also said people should never forget the victims.
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In affirmative action and student loan cases, advocates fear losses for racial equality
WASHINGTON (AP) — As a Black student who was raised by a single mother, Makia Green believes she benefited from a program that gave preference to students of color from economically disadvantaged backgrounds when she was admitted over a decade ago to the University of Rochester.
As a borrower who still owes just over $20,000 on her undergraduate student loans, she has been counting on President Joe Biden's promised debt relief to wipe nearly all of that away.
Now, the student loan cancellation plan could be dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Both policies disproportionately help Black students. To Green and many other people of color, the efforts to roll them back reflect a larger backlash to racial progress in higher education.
“I feel like working people have been through enough — I have been through enough,” said Green, a community organizer. “From a pandemic, an uprising, a recession, the cost of living price going up. I deserved some relief.”
The rulings could also have political consequences among a generation of young voters of color who took Biden at his word when he promised to cancel debt, said Wisdom Cole, director of NAACP’s youth and college program.
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France mobilizes tens of thousands of police to head off unrest after police fatally shot a teenager
NANTERRE, France (AP) — France mobilized tens of thousands of police officers Thursday in an effort to head off widespread urban rioting following the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that shocked the nation, with commuters rushing home before transport services closed early to avoid being targeted by rioters.
Protesters in some cities set fires in the streets as the night progressed.
The police officer accused of pulling the trigger Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.”
The detained police officer’s lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFM-TV, said the officer was sorry and “devastated.” The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, attorney Laurent-Franck Lienard told the news outlet.
“He doesn’t get up in the morning to kill people,” Lienard said of the officer, whose name ha not been released. “He really didn’t want to kill. But now he must defend himself, as he’s the one who’s detained and sleeping in prison.”
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Expect a hot, smoky summer in much of America. Here's why you'd better get used to it
The only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smoke from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly, forecasters say.
And then the smoke will likely come back to the Midwest and East.
That’s because neither the 235 out-of-control Canadian wildfires nor the stuck weather pattern that's responsible for this mess of meteorological maladies are showing signs of relenting for the next week or longer, according to meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center.
First, the stuck weather pattern made abnormally hot and dry conditions for Canada to burn at off-the-chart record levels. Then it created a setup where the only relief comes when low pressure systems roll through, which means areas on one side get smoky air from the north and the other gets sweltering air from the south.
Smoke or heat. “Pick your poison,” said prediction center forecast operations chief Greg Carbin. “The conditions are not going to be very favorable.”
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3 charged in insider trading case related to taking Trump media firm public, accused of making $22M
NEW YORK (AP) — Three Florida men were charged Thursday with making more than $22 million through illegal insider trading before the public announcement that an acquisition firm was going to take former President Donald Trump's media company public.
The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in New York that did not in any way implicate Trump or Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns his Truth Social platform.
The charges make it less likely that Trump Media will be able to pocket the $1.3 billion promised upon completion of a merger with the acquisition firm. The merger is pending the approval of securities regulators.
According to the indictment, the men were invited to invest in the special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and were provided confidential information that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media.
Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump Media business was made public. After the public announcement, the men dumped their securities for a significant profit, according to the court papers.
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Recapping the revolt in Russia, through the words of 4 presidents and a mutinous warlord
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Civil war. An evil that must be stopped. Fratricide. A bug about to be squashed.
The dramatic weekend rebellion by a mercenary warlord in Russia that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin was punctuated by dramatic language from the key protagonists — and some long silences — as the world held its collective breath at the biggest challenge to Putin's rule of more than two decades.
Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin incited a rebellion against Russia's military leaders and sent his troops toward Moscow but aborted his mutiny when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered an agreement that included exile for the warlord in Belarus. Though short-lived, the revolt rattled Russian power circles, tarnished Putin’s aura of complete control and gave Ukrainians hope that Russian infighting could help them.
Many questions remain unanswered about how Prigozhin managed to get 200 kilometers (125 miles) from Moscow with little resistance. But a lot of words went back and forth. Here is a look at the past several days with a focus on comments by key figures — Prigozhin, Putin and Lukashenko — as well as by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden.
Prigozhin had been hurling expletive-laced insults at Russia’s military brass for months before escalating his confrontation on Friday night. In a significant challenge to the Kremlin, he argued that Russia's stated reasons for invading Ukraine — a threat from NATO and neo-Nazis — were lies.
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Central US is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Mike Shane’s Illinois farm got a nice soaking on May 8, shortly after he planted his corn crop. Since then, rain has been hard to come by.
Plenty of storms have ventured close only to fizzle out before making it to Shane’s 200-acre spread near Peoria.
“It comes across the Mississippi River and then just disappears,” Shane, 47, said. “My corn looks absolutely terrible right now.” Without substantial rain soon, “I just don’t see any hope for it,” he said.
Heavy rain over the winter eased the drought in the West, but now the middle of the country is extraordinarily dry. Crops are stressed, rivers are running low, and cities and towns are anxiously hoping for a break in the weather.
Experts say the drought in the central U.S. is the worst since at least 2012, and in some areas, is drawing comparisons to the 1988 drought that devastated corn, wheat and soybean crops. This year, although temperatures have been generally mild through the spring and early days of summer, rainfall has been sorely lacking.
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Ex-GOP Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years for role in $60M bribery scheme; appeal expected
CINCINNATI (AP) — Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history and taken immediately into custody, a judge declaring that “the court and the community's patience with Larry Householder has expired.”
The 64-year-old Republican tensed only slightly as U.S. District Judge Timothy Black meted out the punishment, the maximum under the law, and appeared somewhat disoriented as U.S. Marshals placed him in handcuffs. He glanced back briefly at his wife, Taundra, who exited the courtroom with his Perry County Ducks Unlimited ball cap folded in her hands.
Ahead of his sentencing, Householder stood before Black to make a personal appeal for leniency, saying it was not himself that a harsh prison sentence would hurt most but his spouse of 40 years, his sons, grandchildren and friends.
“I wasn't power hungry. I went home,” he said of his departure from the Ohio House between speakerships. Householder told the judge that he and his wife had given “every ounce of energy we have to make life better for others.”
In a blistering rebuke, Black threw back at Householder evidence counter to the family man image he had presented. He quoted Householder's own statements, presented at trial, saying: “If you’re going to f—- with me, I’m going to f—- with your kids,” “we can f— with him later” and “f—- him ’til he’s dead.”
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