National News - Page 85

Atlanta mother alleges Black students were assigned to elementary school classes based on race

By Rebekah Riess and Gregory Lemos A mother in Atlanta has filed a civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education alleging her children’s elementary school placed Black students in separate classrooms from their peers based on their race. Kila Posey, the mother two Black children enrolled in Mary Lin Elementary School in Atlanta, said some classes in that school “had been formulated, in part, based upon race of the students” during the 2020-21 academic year, according to the complaint provided by her attorney Sharese Shields. Posey said the principal assigned two teachers’ classes as the “Black classes,” and

Thousands of Mississippi students are quarantining just as the school year gets underway

By Madeline Holcombe and Hannah Sarisohn More than 4,400 students in Mississippi are quarantining after being exposed to Covid-19 in the first weeks of the school year, according to data from the state’s department of health. The department tracked student and staff Covid-19 exposure and positive cases by individual schools and counties from August 2 through August 6, and officials said 43 out of Mississippi’s 82 counties submitted reporting. Mississippi is one of 46 states in the US seeing a surge in cases, which is alarming experts as students return to school. Vaccines have not yet been approved for kids

FDA expected to authorize Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for some immunocompromised people within the next 48 hours

By Kaitlan Collins and John Bonifield The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce within the next 48 hours that it is authorizing Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for some people who are immunocompromised, according to a source familiar with the discussions. This would be a third shot of the current two-dose Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. That announcement could slide, the source cautioned, but this is the current timing. “The FDA is closely monitoring data as it becomes available from studies administering an additional dose of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines to immunocompromised individuals,” an FDA spokesperson told CNN. “The

A Black realtor was showing a home to a Black father and son. They were handcuffed by Michigan police

By Dakin Andone and Raja Razek A Black realtor was showing a house to a Black man and his 15-year-old son in a Michigan suburb last week when they looked outside and saw police officers surrounding the property with their guns drawn. “I knew once they surrounded the home they were preparing for a standoff,” the father, Roy Thorne, told CNN’s Don Lemon Friday. “And so my instincts told me we need to get out of here, we need to get to where they can see that we’re not a threat.” A neighbor had called authorities, saying a suspect arrested

One of the longest marches of the civil rights movement is honored in Louisiana

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By Leah Asmelash The Louisiana Civil Rights Trail is steadily growing after officials in the state unveiled a fourth marker this week honoring a historic march against anti-Black violence. The new marker, unveiled on Monday, is in Young Park in Baton Rouge — marking the 105-mile march from Bogalusa to Baton Rouge. The march, known as the Bogalusa Civil Rights March, took place in 1967, four years after the March on Washington. Started by activist A.Z. Young, the 10-day march was a protest against the general treatment of Black Americans, following years of harassment by the KKK in Louisiana. Monday’s unveiling ceremony

Kathy Hochul will take over as New York governor

By Chandelis Duster and Veronica Stracqualursi New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will become governor of New York after Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that he will resign in two weeks following the state attorney general’s investigation that found he sexually harassed multiple women. Hochul will become the state’s first female governor and stands to inherit a political landscape that Cuomo dominated for more than a decade. She will also assume office at a time when New York is fighting a resurgent coronavirus pandemic and the fallout over Cuomo’s departure. “I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right

‘You made me so damn proud’: Biden praises Olympic athletes and extends invite to the White House

By Donald Judd President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden met with members of the 2020 US Olympic Team Saturday in a livestreamed virtual reception. “You handle yourself with such grace, and such decency, it just — you made me so damn proud,” the President told the group of Olympians over Zoom from his home in Delaware, where the first couple is spending the weekend. Biden offered shoutouts to Olympic athletes Katie Ledecky, who he said, “can probably swim a mile quicker than most people could run a mile,” gymnast Simone Biles and runner Isaiah Jewett. He also took the opportunity to invite

NAACP launches national campaign in latest strategy to combat widespread voter suppression efforts

By Nicquel Terry Ellis The NAACP is partnering with several other civil rights groups to launch a national voter mobilization campaign this week that aims to engage more people in the fight for federal voting legislation and motivate voters to participate in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. NAACP leaders say the “Fighting for Our Vote” campaign will target diverse cities in states that have passed restrictive voter laws such as Houston, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Miami. The campaign will include radio and digital promotions, phone banking and knocking on doors to urge people to register to vote and call their state

US vaccination rate is at its highest in weeks. But mandates may be needed for kids going back to school, expert says

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By Madeline Holcombe As Americans gear up for a new school year against a backdrop of rising Covid-19 cases, experts say there is no time to waste in getting already rising vaccination rates even higher. The US is currently averaging 486,332 people initiating vaccinations a day, which is a 10% increase over last week’s pace and the highest daily average since June 18, according to data published Monday by the CDC. Though the improvements are promising, more Americans still need to get vaccinated as quickly as possible, especially considering that it takes six weeks from the first injection for people to be

‘The difference between life and death.’ Black leaders step up vaccine campaigns as Delta variant hits the unvaccinated

By Nicquel Terry Ellis Jeniffer Hall was hesitant to get vaccinated until early July when a Detroit pastor convinced her that she needed the shot to protect herself and her brother — who she has cared for since he suffered an aneurysm — from Covid-19. After surviving Covid-19 herself in 2020, Hall said she decided to follow the science instead of listening to her adult children who say the US government can’t be trusted. “The way I felt when I had Covid was the weakest I had ever been and I don’t want to experience that anymore,” Hall said. “I

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