WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday seemed sympathetic to a group of 6,000 blacks who said the city of Chicago improperly used the results of an entrance exam to deny them the opportunity to become firefighters.

The city's attorney ran into tough questioning from both sides of the court's ideological divide as the justices considered the claim that the city's use of the test scores violated federal civil rights laws prohibiting seemingly neutral business practices that have a disparate impact on minorities.

In fact, the city acknowledges an "unlawful practice" that, in the words of Chicago deputy corporation counsel Benna Ruth Solomon, classified the applicants in a way that "deprived them of their employment opportunities."

But Ms. Solomon said those affected missed their opportunity to sue by not challenging within the mandated 300 days after the city announced how it would use the results.

After Chicago gave the entrance exam to 26,000 applicants in 1995, it divided those who passed into two groups: "qualified" applicants, who scored from 65 to 88 on the test, and "well-qualified" applicants, who scored 89 or above. The second group was disproportionately white.

WASHINGTON -- America's economic recession has hit blacks who are middle age and older much harder over the last year than it has the general public, according to a new survey released today by the AARP.

In telephone surveys, more than twice as many blacks ages 45 and older reported having trouble paying their mortgage or rent, having to cut back on medications and having borrowed money to pay living expenses in comparison to the general population.

NEW YORK -- A jury found three police officers not guilty on Monday of abusing a suspect in a Brooklyn subway station during a 2008 arrest.

Acquitting all three men on all counts, the jurors rejected Michael Mineo's claims that Officer Richard Kern had attacked him and repeatedly rammed a baton between his buttocks.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, 86, has been hospitalized in Washington, D.C., recovering from pneumonia and and after having surgery on his knee, his spokesman said. ... Former Vice President Dick Cheney, 69, went to a Washington, D.C., hospital Monday after experiencing chest pains, a statement from his office said.

-- Compiled from news services

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.