National News - Page 43

U.S. Military Academy at West Point can continue to consider race in admissions, judge rules

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point can continue to consider race for now when evaluating who to admit to the elite military school, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, rejecting a bid by the group behind the successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge to race-conscious college admissions policies. U.S. District Judge Philip Halpern, in White Plains, New York, rejected a request for a preliminary injunction sought by Students for Fair Admissions, which was founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum. The judge, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote that he could not at this early stage in the case rule in SFFA’s favor without

Descendants fight to maintain historic Black communities

Sallie Ann Robinson proudly stands in the front yard of her grandmother’s South Carolina home. The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation. “I was born in this very house, as many generations of family have been as well,” said Robinson, a chef and tour guide. “I was raised here. These woods was our playgrounds.” Long dirt roads were once occupied by a bustling community that had its own bartering system and a lucrative oyster industry. “There were at one point over a thousand people living on

Large swaths of the U.S. are facing severe weather. Here’s what to know

By Joe Hernandez Severe weather is already battering parts of the U.S. or will in the coming hours and days, meteorologists say. From blizzard conditions in the Southwest to more precipitation in the Northeast, people across the country are bracing for bad weather and, in some cases, extreme conditions that could hamper travel. Here’s what’s happening throughout the U.S.: A blizzard pummeling the Great Plains began Monday morning The National Weather Service says a cyclone that developed over the Great Plains early Monday could drop up to 2 inches of snow per hour in some places and make it risky to travel.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin treated for prostate cancer, severe infection: Pentagon

By Rebecca Picciotto Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for complications following surgery nearly two weeks earlier to treat prostate cancer, doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center revealed Tuesday. The disclosure of Austin’s diagnosis and cause of his hospitalization came amid controversy over the Pentagon’s failure for days to inform the White House or the public that the Defense secretary had been admitted to Walter Reed, where he ended up in the intensive care unit. Pentagon officials also failed for two days last week to notify Austin’s second-in-command that he had transferred authority to her while he was in the ICU, and

The U.S. Mint releases new commemorative coins honoring Harriet Tubman

By Jonathan Franklin Three commemorative coins featuring famed abolitionist and human rights activist Harriet Tubman have now been released to the public, the U.S. Mint said. The coins, which were released Thursday as part of the Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coin Program, include $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollar coins that honor the bicentennial of her birth. The designs featured on the coins follow the three periods of Tubman’s life and her work as an abolitionist and social activist. “Every coin produced by the United States Mint helps to tell a story that teaches us about America’s history or connects us to

South Carolina is getting its only civil rights museum thanks to photographer Cecil Williams

Much of how South Carolina has seen its civil rights history has been through the lens of photographer Cecil Williams. From sit-ins to prayer protests to portraits of African Americans integrating universities and rising to federal judges, Williams has snapped it. After years of work, Williams’ millions of photographs are being digitized and categorized and his chief dream of a civil rights museum marking how Black Americans fought segregation and discrimination in the state is about to move out of his old house and into a much bigger, and more prominent, building in Orangeburg. “Images can be very powerful storytelling,” said Williams,

Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s embattled president, resigns

By Daniel Arkin and Adam Reiss Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned Tuesday after facing intense scrutiny for equivocal testimony she gave at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism as well as widening allegations of plagiarism in her academic work. “It is with a heavy heart but a deep love for Harvard that I write to share that I will be stepping down as president,” Gay said in a letter to the Harvard community. “This is not a decision I came to easily. Indeed, it has been difficult beyond words because I have looked forward to working with so many of you to advance the commitment

To tackle poverty, more states will offer bigger child tax credits in 2024

By Jennifer Luden Many Americans took a double whammy to the pocketbook this year: Prices for things like food and rent rose, and federal pandemic aid continued to peter out. But a string of states took a cue from one of those relief measures — the expanded federal child tax credit — and are stepping in to help bridge the gap. That tax credit was a pandemic success story. Enacted in 2021, it cut child poverty in half before it expired at the end of that year, and poverty rates shot right back up. Since then, the number of states that have created their

Reparations gained historic momentum in 2023 because of California’s efforts

By Curtis Bunn For the first time, this year advocates seeking reparations for the harms inflicted on Black people during centuries of slavery in America saw a movement for redress that elicits hope. Many municipalities either started or are forming commissions to address compensation to the descendants of enslaved Africans. California has made the most zealous effort. The state’s reparations task force spent two years researching the impact of the generational damage of the discriminatory practices and produced a 1,100-page report with comprehensive recommendations that it considers to be the blueprint for other cities and states — and the federal government —

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