Educators at the University of Georgia have announced plans to require masks in their classrooms despite their state university system not mandating mask-wearing, and say they face potential punishment for following through. More than 50 UGA life science faculty members this week sent a letter to university administrators, stating their actions are needed to mitigate…… MORE
Attorneys are still trying to reach the parents of 303 migrant children who were separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration, down from 337 in August, according to a federal court filing Wednesday. The filing from the Justice Department and the American Civil Liberties Union is part of an effort to identify and…… MORE
It’s crunch time for China’s heavily-indebted Evergrande Group. The sprawling Chinese real estate conglomerate faces a critical test on Thursday: can it meet its obligations to bondholders, or will it slip closer to default? Evergrande is due to pay $83.5 million worth of interest on a dollar-denominated bond on Thursday, according to data from Refinitiv.…… MORE
As far back as June, Border Patrol agents in Del Rio, Texas, began asking management for additional resources to more rapidly process migrants, but their calls for increased resources appear to have gone unmet until recent days when thousands and thousands of migrants were forced to wait under a bridge near the US-Mexico border. Agents…… MORE
A law professor told GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on Wednesday that Texas’ voter ID law is racist in a tense exchange during a Senate hearing on voting rights. Cruz had asked Franita Tolson, the vice dean for faculty and academic affairs and a law professor at the University of Southern California, if she found voter…… MORE
A number of key Democrats say that their party should take matters into its own hands and raise the national debt limit by itself once Republicans block their plans as expected in the Senate, underscoring the lack of options facing the White House and Democratic leaders in the face of stiff GOP resistance. But going…… MORE
Melvin Van Peebles, a trailblazing African-American director who helped champion a new wave of modern Black cinema in the 1970s, has died, his son announced Wednesday. He was 89. Van Peebles, father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles, died at his home on Tuesday night, according to a statement shared on social media. “Dad…… MORE
The US Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would grant emergency use authorization for a booster dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in people 65 and older, people at high risk of severe disease and people whose jobs put them at risk of infection. “After considering the totality of the available scientific evidence and the…… MORE
San Jose State University will pay a total of about $1.6 million to some of the female students and student-athletes who alleged they were sexually assaulted or harassed by a campus athletic trainer over more than a decade, the US Department of Justice said Tuesday. The payments are part of a settlement between the university…… MORE
Nearly 44 years after hunters discovered human remains near a Mississippi highway, authorities have identified the victim as Clara Birdlong — who they believe was killed by Samuel Little, America’s most prolific serial killer. The announcement was made Tuesday by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. Little died last year at age 80 while serving three…… MORE
