NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
_1 Education inequality: Too often, low-income, black and Latino students end up in schools with crumbling walls, old textbooks and unqualified teachers, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The commission said inequities are caused by the fact that schools are most funded with state and local tax dollars. More than 92 percent of funding comes from nonfederal sources, according to the Education Department. The resulting imbalance renders “the education available to millions of American public school students profoundly unequal,” the commission said. For instance, the authors said, 33 percent of high schools with high black and Latino enrollment offer calculus, compared with 56 percent of high schools with low black and Latino student populations. Nationwide, 48 percent of schools offer the rigorous math course.
2_ No release challenged: Eleven prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention are challenging an apparent policy of no releases under President Trump. A legal challenge filed in federal court in Washington argues the policy amounts to “perpetual detention” that violates the Constitution and acts of Congress establishing the rights of the men held at the U.S. base in Cuba. The filing notes that President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama together released nearly 750 men by making case-by-case determinations on individual detainees. Trump has not formally released a Guantanamo policy but has allowed no releases. The legal challenge filed Thursday comes on the 16th anniversary of the opening of the prison that now holds 41 men.
_3 Teacher’s arrest: The Louisiana teacher arrested after she spoke out about teacher pay at a school board meeting says she hopes the ordeal prompts others to get more involved in education. In an interview that aired Thursday on NBC, Deshia Hargrave said it’s sad that a woman “has to be forcibly, violently removed” from a school board meeting “for people to start caring.” Hargrave said she hopes teachers and others outside of schools become more involved in education. Vermilion Parish Schools Superintendent Jerome Puyau told NBC he doesn’t support his employees being arrested but added that “a person has to follow the rules.” Hargrave returned to the classroom Wednesday. A local prosecutor says he won’t pursue charges against her.
_4 Kucinich to run: Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich plans to enter the race for Ohio governor next week, bringing another big name to the Democratic side of the race. Kucinich, now 71, was elected mayor of Cleveland 40 years ago and spent years as a liberal voice in Congress, where he opposed the war in Iraq. He’s run twice for president, in 2004 and 2008. Cleveland.com reports Kucinich plans to announce his bid Wednesday. He filed paperwork Monday forming a campaign committee, but his spokesman had said it was not yet a declaration of candidacy. Kucinich is entering a crowded field. Another nationally known competitor is Richard Cordray, the federal consumer watchdog under President Barack Obama and, until November, under President Trump.
_5 Hearst film canceled: Twentieth Century Fox Film says it is canceling the studio’s planned movie based on Jeffrey Toobin’s Patricia Hearst book “American Heiress.” Toobin’s non-fiction book chronicled the saga of Hearst’s kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and her eventual bank robbery conviction with the radical group. The studio announced the decision late Thursday after Hearst earlier in the day issued a lengthy statement condemning the project and Toobin’s book, which she described as victim blaming and an attempt to “rewrite history.” Fox representatives declined to comment on whether the decision to cancel production was related to Hearst’s statement.