KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The school board narrowly approved a plan Wednesday night to close nearly half the district’s schools in a desperate bid to avoid a potential bankruptcy. The board voted 5-4 after parents and community leaders made final pleas to spare the schools even as the beleaguered district seeks to erase a projected $50 million budget shortfall. The approved plan calls for shuttering 29 of 61 schools — a striking amount even as public school closures rise nationwide while the recession eats away at academic budgets. About 285 teachers also are expected to be cut.
New York: ACORN funding
A federal judge who found it unconstitutional that Congress tried to cut funding to the activist group ACORN has rejected a government request to change her mind and has ordered government agencies to make it clear the funding isn’t blocked. In a ruling Wednesday, the U.S. District judge made permanent her conclusion last year that the cutoff of funding was unconstitutional. She ordered all federal agencies to put the word out about it. The judge said ACORN was punished by Congress without the enactment of administrative processes to decide if money had been handled inappropriately.
S. Carolina: Two pilots eject
Two Marine Corps fighter pilots have been rescued from the ocean off South Carolina after their aircraft went down. The U.S. Coast Guard said Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort notified the Coast Guard at about 5:17 p.m. Wednesday that two pilots aboard a Marine F/A-18D Hornet went down about 35 miles off the coast. Authorities said two parachutes were spotted, indicating that the pilots had ejected. A Coast Guard helicopter located the pilots and rescued them about an hour after the crash.
Massachusetts: Gun ruling
The state high court on Wednesday upheld the constitutionality of a state law that requires gun owners to lock weapons in their homes in a ruling applauded by gun-control advocates. The case had been closely watched by both gun-control and gun-rights proponents. Prosecutors argued that the law saves lives because it requires guns to be kept in a locked container or equipped with a trigger lock when not under the owner’s control. The Second Amendment Foundation Inc., however, cited a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said people have a constitutional right to keep weapons for self-defense.
New Mexico: Tribal offenders
Only Ohio and Native American tribes in Washington and Oregon have so far met the deadline to comply with a federal law passed nearly three years ago to coordinate and expand sex offender registration nationwide, a U.S. Justice Department official said Wednesday. States and tribes have until this summer to implement the registration and notification systems required under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, but many are expected to seek extensions, the official said.
Mississippi: Prom dispute
A school district decided Wednesday not to host a high school prom after a lesbian student demanded she be able to attend with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo. The Itawamba County school district’s policy requires that senior prom dates be of the opposite sex. The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy and allow 18-year-old Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend, who is also a student, to the dance on April 2.
California: Whale in sushi
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against the owner of a restaurant and its sushi chef that marine mammal activists say served illegal whale meat. Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant in Santa Monica, and Kiyoshiro Yamamoto, a 45-year-old Culver City resident, were charged Wednesday with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanor. Two undercover diners requested whale as part of an $600 omakase or chef’s choice, meal. They pocketed a sample, and genetic testing confirmed that it was meat from the endangered Sei whale.
Italy: Google to scan classics
Google says it will scan up to 1 million old books in national libraries in Rome and Florence, including works by astronomer Galileo Galilei, in what’s being described as the first deal of its kind. Officials from Google and Italian culture officials said Wednesday the project is the first time Google Books and a culture ministry have had such a partnership. A Culture Ministry official said the deal will help save the books’ content forever.
From Herald news services
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