SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- In the decade since mass protests over the punishment of six Black students in Decatur, the state's racial gap in discipline has split wide open. It's such a gaping hole that now more than half of all Illinois children suspended from public schools are Black, even though they represent less than one-fifth of the enrollment, according to an Associated Press analysis.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats, without a vote to spare, have pushed forward a bill to overhaul the U.S. health care system, but a divisive debate still lies ahead and there is no assurance the measure -- as written -- will win approval in the upper chamber of the Congress.

NEW YORK (NNPA) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Nov. 13 that the trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators would be held in federal court in Manhattan. And, as would be expected, the announcement opened a floodgate of opinion for and against the decision.

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Mildred Muhammad, D.C. Sniper John Allen Muhammad's ex-wife from his second marriage, was making preparations to attend his funeral last Tuesday in Baton Rouge, La., with their three children John, 19; Salena, 17; and Taalibah, 16.
"They need closure and to see their dad one last time before he is placed in the ground," Ms. Muhammad said.

NEW ORLEANS (NNPA) - Eleven months after New Orleans Civil District Court Judge Ethel Simms-Julien certified a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 8,500 former employees of Orleans Parish Public Schools who were terminated after the State of Louisiana seized control of more than 100 public schools in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed the decision of the trial court. The three-judge panel was comprised of Judge Edwin A. Lombard, Judge Terri F. Love and Judge Paul A. Bonin.

A new Harris Poll finds that a 2-to-1 majority now gives President Obama negative ratings on his handling of Afghanistan, a six-point increase in his critics over the last two months. It also finds that the plurality of the public who believe the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse has increased to its highest level since the president was inaugurated.

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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young Black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years.

Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices -- and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far -- can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A suburban swim club accused of discrimination last summer after revoking the memberships of mostly Black and Hispanic children plans to declare bankruptcy, a newspaper reported Saturday.