Dexter Scott King, son of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 62
Dexter Scott King, the third child of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, died Monday after a “valiant battle with prostate cancer,” the King Center said in a statement.
King, 62, was named after an Alabama church where his father served as pastor and was 7 years old when the Civil Rights Movement icon was assassinated in 1968, according to the King Center. King went on to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, and worked as chairman of the King Center and president of the King Estate. He devoted his life to perpetuating his father’s legacy and protecting the intellectual property he left behind, the King Center said.
“The sudden shock is devastating. It is hard to have the right words at a moment like this,” Martin Luther King III said in a statement about his brother’s death. “Please keep the entire King family in your prayers.”
Coretta Scott King died in 2006. Dexter’s sister Yolanda King died in 2007.
Calif. State University faculty reach deal, end planned strike
SAN FRANCISCO – California State University faculty members reached a tentative contract agreement Monday, the same day that nearly 30,000 professors, librarians, coaches and other workers struck at the nation’s largest public university system, their union announced.
Members of the California Faculty Association returned to work Tuesday instead of continuing their planned weeklong walkout to demand higher wages, the California Faculty Association said in a statement.
The deal, which still needs to be ratified by the union members, “reflects the solidarity displayed by faculty, staff, and students across all 23 campuses,” the association statement said. “To all the hard-working faculty who have been organizing on the street and on campus, your efforts have earned this victory.”
The tentative agreement calls for a 5% raise retroactive to last year and another 5% raise on July 1. It also increases the minimum wage for the lowest-paid faculty, according to the union statement.
Green River killer’s last known victim’s remains identified
SEATTLE – The last known set of remains linked to the Green River serial killer in Washington state belonged to a teenage girl who had previously been identified as a victim, authorities confirmed on Monday.
The remains were identified as those of 16-year-old Tammie Liles, the King County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. She was from Everett, Washington, north of Seattle, according to local media reports.
Authorities had previously identified another set of partial remains as also belonging to Liles. There are no other unidentified remains believed to be connected to Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River killer, according to the sheriff’s office.
King County sheriff’s spokesperson Eric White told The Seattle Times that officials feel a sense of relief that they’ve been able to give family members of Ridgway’s victims answers about what happened to their loved ones.
“It’s an immense feeling of satisfaction that in this case, that started in the early ’80s, we are able to identify all of Gary Ridgway’s victims,” White said Monday. “All 49 of them.”
Justices won’t overrule order to redraw Detroit legislative seats
LANSING, Mich. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from Michigan’s redistricting commission to overrule an order to redraw 13 Detroitarea seats in the Legislature, a decision that will likely make the legislative maps more competitive.
The redistricting commission had asked the high court to overrule a December ruling by a three-judge federal appeals court panel that Michigan’s legislative maps were illegally influenced by race when drawn in 2021. The panel ruled that although nearly 80% of Detroit residents are Black, the Black voting age population in the 13 Detroit-area districts mostly ranges from 35% to 45%, with one being as low as 19%.
The panel ordered that the seven state House districts have their boundaries redrawn for the 2024 election, and it set a later deadline for the six state Senate districts because the senators’ terms don’t expire until 2026.
A drafted state House map is due by Feb. 2 and a final deadline is March 29.