In Michael Brown case, race rears once again for President Obama
Once more onto the high wire of race for President Obama, once more because a young black man had been shot dead on an American street.
Los Angeles Times
Protesters use hands-up gesture defiantly after Michael Brown shooting
Yet again, the protesters took to the sidewalks and streets, facing a row of police guarding the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office. “Hands up!” they chanted, their arms aloft. “Don’t shoot.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hands-up-20140813-story.html
Los Angeles Times
Editorial: Religious rights and gay rights
Last month, President Obama issued an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Equally notable is what the president didn’t do: He refused to exempt religious organizations. That was the right call. Religious organizations have a constitutional right to disapprove of homosexuality, but if they are
Rialto Unified hires law firm, vows to release Holocaust documents
Rialto >> After repeated criticisms over the failure to release documents explaining the genesis of an assignment that asked the school district’s eighth-graders to argue whether or not the Holocaust occurred, the school board replaced its legal team on Saturday night and pledged to release documents “as soon as possible.”
Daily News
How the ‘Long Shadow’ of Family Background Helps Determine Which Children Succeed
To see how the circumstances of childhood shape the lives of young adults, Karl Alexander and his colleagues followed a sample of nearly 800 children from the start of first grade at Baltimore public schools into their late 20s. Their findings, documented in a new book, The Long Shadow, illustrate just how family background can
New Politics of Partner Benefits
Now that gay marriage is recognized in their state, faculty members and other employees within the University of Minnesota system with same-sex partners no longer need access to domestic partner benefits. Right?
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/18/partner-benefits-higher-ed-evolve-more-states-recognize-gay-marriage#ixzz37pjUNOAk
Inside Higher Ed
Both Sides Find Reason for Optimism After Latest Ruling on Texas Affirmative Action
When federal judges on Tuesday upheld the University of Texas’ use of race as a factor in college admissions, the decision sent two important signals. To proponents of affirmative action, the ruling was confirmation that diversity, particularly race and ethnicity, in education is an essential and constitutional goal. To the opponents who have waged a
Supreme Court ruling on prayer at board meetings still reverberates
The letter arrived in Sue Galloway’s mailbox with no return address and a brief message warning Galloway, who is Jewish, to “be careful.” It was signed “666.”
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-greece-prayer-20140717-story.html#page=1
Los Angeles Times
Federal judge’s ruling on California death penalty stuns experts
A federal judge’s ruling that California’s death penalty is unconstitutional was described by legal experts Wednesday as stunning and unprecedented.
Los Angeles Times
57,000 Reasons Immigration Overhaul May Be Stalled for Now
WASHINGTON — The crisis on the border with Mexico is rapidly overtaking President Obama’s plans to use executive action to reshape the nation’s immigration system, forcing him to confront a new set of legal, administrative and political complications.
The New York Times