Kentucky
DOJ settles with school district over racial harassment
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky school district has agreed to make “institutional changes” to settle a federal investigation into complaints of widespread harassment of Black and multiracial students, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
The investigation of the Madison County school district, launched in October 2021, uncovered numerous cases of race-based harassment in which Black and multiracial students were subjected to derogatory racial comments by their peers, the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. It found that the district failed to “consistently or reasonably” address the problems, including racial taunts and intimidation, at times reinforced by displays of the Confederate flag, the department said.
When the district did respond, it often failed to follow its own anti-racial harassment policies and ineffectively addressed the “broader hostile environment,” the department said. The situation deprived Black and multiracial students of equal access to educational opportunities, the DOJ said.
“Racial harassment inflicts grievous harm on young people and violates the Constitution’s most basic promise of equal protection,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement will create the institutional changes needed to keep Black and multiracial students safe and to provide them with a supportive educational environment.”
The school district — based in Richmond, Kentucky, about 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Lexington — said it fully cooperated with the investigation.
“The district will continue working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to implement policy and procedure changes outlined in the agreement, particularly those that pertain to the tracking and analyzing of data pertaining to racially motivated incidents,” the district said in a statement Tuesday.
The investigation also raised concerns about racially disproportionate disciplining of Black students at some schools and inadequate record keeping and analysis of disciplinary data.
The district agreed to take “all necessary and reasonable steps,” consistent with federal law, to end racial harassment and prevent recurrence, the department said.
It agreed to retain a consultant to revise anti-discrimination policies. It also plans to create three new positions to oversee how racial discrimination complaints are handled, and will update how it tracks and responds to race-based harassment.
Additional measures will include training staff to identify, investigate and respond to racial harassment and discriminatory discipline practices and informing students and parents how to report harassment and discrimination.
The district also agreed to update its electronic reporting system to track and manage complaints as well as the district’s responses.
Carlton S. Shier IV, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said the investigation’s principles and settlement are straightforward.
“All young people are entitled to seek their educational opportunities without facing racial harassment and abuse, and schools simply must adequately protect those entrusted to their care and instruction from that offensive, harmful behavior,” Shier said.
Indiana
Lawmaker pleads guilty to drunken driving after highway crash
SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana state legislator pleaded guilty Monday to drunken driving charges less than two weeks after police say he crashed his pickup truck through an interstate highway guardrail and drove away.
Republican Rep. Jim Lucas of Seymour signed an agreement with the prosecutor in southern Indiana’s Jackson County in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident at the interchange of Interstate 65 and Indiana 11 early May 31, court records show.
The agreement calls for no additional jail time for Lucas as long as he completes at least 180 days of supervised probation, including completion of any alcohol or drug abuse treatment as determined by the county probation department.
Lucas said in a written statement to The Associated Press that he took “full responsibility” and apologized for his actions.
“I plan to take time to evaluate myself and I’m already enrolled in counseling to get the help I need,” Lucas said. “I will continue to work every day to earn back the trust of my community while serving my neighbors in House District 69.”
Lucas, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2012, is allowed to keep his position; state law only prohibits those with felony convictions from holding elected office. Lucas is a prominent supporter of legalizing marijuana and loosening state gun laws. He has faced controversy several times for what critics called racist social media posts.
Police said officers stopped Lucas, 58, walking near where they found the badly damaged truck, which has a state legislator license plate, parked behind a Seymour carpet store nearly 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) from the crash site.
A state trooper’s affidavit filed with the criminal charges earlier Monday said Lucas smelled of alcohol, failed a field sobriety exam and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.097% on a portable breath test device more than an hour after the crash. The state’s legal limit to drive is 0.08%.
An email message seeking comment on the plea agreement was sent to Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant.
Lucas’ pickup truck was found with major front-end damage and three flat tires, two of which had been worn down to the metal wheel rims, police reports said.
Lucas told a state trooper that he drove away from the crash scene to get help and that he parked behind the business because he didn’t want to leave an oil leak in its front parking lot, the affidavit said.
When asked what caused the crash, Lucas told the trooper, “I thought I saw a deer, how’s that?”
The lawmaker said he swerved to miss the animal, losing control of his truck, which veered off Indiana 11, down a hill at the interchange with I-65, through a guardrail and across traffic lanes to hit the median guardrail, the police affidavit said.
The plea agreement called for his driver’s license to be suspended for 60 days, although the judge gave Lucas permission to drive on weekdays for trips connected to the awning business he owns.
Lucas also agreed to pay about $4,000 in restitution to the state highway department for damage repairs from the crash.
An email was sent Monday to Republican House Speaker Todd Huston’s spokeswoman, who previously said the speaker would not be commenting on what she called “Lucas’ personal matter.”
New Jersey
Lawyer charged in connection with Boston sexual assaults will post bail, attorney says
BOSTON (AP) — The New Jersey lawyer charged in connection with a series of sexual assaults that took place in Boston about 15 years ago is expected to post bail, his attorney said at a brief court hearing Monday.
Matthew Nilo, 35, was not present in the Boston courtroom. But his attorney Joseph Cataldo told the judge that his client was prepared to post the $500,000 bail that was set last week when he pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery.
Nilo, of Weehawken, New Jersey, is also required to wear a tracking device, surrender his passport, have no contact with any victims or witnesses, and stay away from the area where the assaults happened.
The charges stem from four attacks that happened in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood from August 2007 through December 2008 — a time during which authorities say Nilo lived in the city.
Prosecutors said at Nilo’s arraignment last week that he was tied to the attacks through DNA obtained from a drinking glass he had used at a corporate function earlier this year.
At that hearing, Cataldo questioned the legality of his client’s DNA being taken without a warrant.
Nilo was arrested in late May. He is due back in court on July 13.
New Orleans
Magnet school in historically Black zone, a step to resolve 1965 desegregation suit
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities in a southwest Louisiana school district have agreed to develop a magnet school in a historically Black school zone to draw students of all races from across the district in a step toward resolving a desegregation lawsuit dating back to 1965.
The agreement, or “consent decree” involving the St. Martin Parish School District and the U.S. Justice Department was approved last week by U.S. District Judge Erny Foote in Lafayette.
Magnet schools are designed to offer specialized courses aimed at drawing a variety of students from a broad area.
“Under the consent decree, the school district will promote student transfers to advance desegregation and work with the Justice Department and private plaintiffs to develop a robust magnet school, with the goal of attracting a diverse student body and desegregating a historically Black school zone,” the Justice Department said in a Monday news release.
After the magnet school plan is implemented, the school system can apply for a court declaration that it has achieved “unitary status” for its admissions policies after the 2025-2026 school year. Unitary status means a set of schools have eliminated the effects of historic segregation. If, 45 days after the request, all parties and the court agree, the district’s admission process could be deemed unitary.
Even then, it would not mean a complete end to the lawsuit.
“Several other areas of this case remain open and are subject to the court’s continuing jurisdiction, including possible attendance zone modifications, the desegregation of faculty and the issues of discipline and graduation pathways,” Monday’s Justice Department statement said. “The court will retain jurisdiction over the consent order during its implementation, and the department will monitor the district’s compliance.”
The 1965 St. Martin case is one of many school desegregation cases that have lingered since days of the Civil Rights Movement. The Justice Department is a party in 14 other such cases in Louisiana and more than 130 cases nationwide.
Massachusetts
Healy to get first chance to name justice to state’s highest court
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Maura Healey will get her first chance to nominate a judge to the state’s highest court after one of the seven justices announced Monday that she will step down in January.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice Elspeth Cypher notified Healey that she will retire from the court on Jan. 12.
Cypher was elevated to the court by former Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who nominated all seven members of the current court. She has served on the high court since 2017.
“I have served with wonderful, collaborative colleagues, and an outstanding staff, all committed to excellence in furtherance of the mission of ensuring fair, impartial, and timely justice for everyone who appears before the courts,” she said in a written statement.
Cypher said she looked forward to pursuing her love of teaching at Boston College Law School in the spring semester of 2024. She was first appointed to the Massachusetts Appeals Court as an associate justice by former Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci in 2000.
Healey, a Democrat, thanked Cypher for her service on the court and said she looks forward to naming her successor.
“Obviously she has many more months to serve so we’ll undertake the appropriate process, and we’ll make announcements at the appropriate time,” Healey told reporters.
