GALVESTON, Texas — A federal judge has ruled that the Galveston public school system is desegregated, ending a civil rights lawsuit that was initiated in 1959. The U.S. District judge issued the ruling Friday, saying the district’s history of compliance with a 1969 desegregation plan showed that the schools had fully integrated. The school district formulated the plan 30 years ago requiring all students to attend the school nearest to where they lived, but judges had ruled several times that the district was not integrated. The judge wrote in Friday’s ruling that he found no segregation in faculty and staff assignments, pupil transportation, extracurricular activities, facilities, resource allocation, student achievement or special programs.
Virginia: Blind hiker found
A legally blind hiking magazine editor who went missing along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia has been found in good condition. Authorities said 41-year-old Ken Knight of Ann Arbor, Mich., was found around 5 p.m. Saturday. He was last seen on Sunday. Friends had reported him missing when he didn’t meet up with his hiking group and then missed his flight home Wednesday. Knight is an editor for Backpacking Light magazine. Knight reportedly set a brush fire several miles from where he was last seen that attracted the attention of firefighters.
Florida: Hyperbaric blast
An Italian woman has died and her 4-year-old grandson is in critical condition after a hyperbaric chamber exploded at a South Florida clinic. The Broward Sheriff’s Office said 62-year-old Vincenza Pesce died early Saturday, a day after a blast caused a flash fire inside the chamber. Hyperbaric chambers are filled with 100 percent oxygen and can be used to treat diving injuries and other wounds.
California: Tour bus crashes
A tour bus crashed into a freeway divider in Southern California on Saturday, injuring all 28 people aboard, including eight who suffered critical injuries, authorities said. The crash was reported shortly before 5 p.m. on Interstate 215 in Perris. All northbound lanes were shut as firefighters and emergency responders rushed to the scene, the Riverside County Fire Department reported. Six passengers trapped in the back of the bus had to be extricated by rescuers, they said.
Massachusetts: Limo DUI
A limousine driver hired to take a group of high school students to the prom has been arrested after the students suspected he had been drinking. Lowell police said 45-year-old Brian Harrison of Tewksbury, Mass., was charged late Friday with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. Police said two female students that Harrison picked up suspected he may have been drunk. One called a parent, who called police. The students, from Lowell Catholic High School, refused to get into the limo, and the driver left.
Pakistan: 13 militants killed
Militants attacked a Pakistani security post near the Afghan border on Saturday, triggering a battle that left 13 assailants and two troops dead, an official said. The incident early Saturday in the Mohmand tribal region — where Pakistan’s army recently declared victory over militants who had begun to threaten the nearby city of Peshawar — also injured three troops, an official said. “Our security forces returned fire after coming under attack this morning, and when the insurgents escaped they left the bodies of 13 of their comrades,” he said.
Gaza Strip: Tunnels bombed
An Israeli airstrike against smuggling tunnels on the Gaza-Egypt border killed two people Saturday, a Palestinian medical official said. Two bodies were pulled from the collapsed tunnels after the Israeli attack, an official said. The Gaza-Egypt border tunnels are used to bring weapons as well as commercial goods into the blockaded territory. Israel routinely targets them to prevent smuggling.
Brazil: Deadly flooding
Officials said floods and mudslides from heavy rains in northeastern Brazil have killed at least 14 people in the last month and driven tens of thousands from their homes. Regional Civil Defense departments report that at least 62,600 people are homeless in five northeastern states. Maranhao has been the hardest hit, with some 40,700 people living in shelters and six dead. A State Civil Defense official said Saturday that meteorologists forecast at least two more weeks of heavy downpours.
From Herald news services
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