HELENA, Mont. — Dozens of universities and organizations that applied for federal grants to help young people from poor families prepare for college were turned down by the U.S. Education Department because of mistakes that consisted mostly of incorrect margins, the wrong font or lack of double-spacing.
The rejections have triggered an outcry from members of both parties on Capitol Hill and thrown into jeopardy programs that help thousands of high school students a year.
Amid the uproar, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a memo late last month saying requests for grants from the federally funded Upward Bound program will no longer be rejected over “formatting” errors in the 65-page application. But congressional aides told The Associated Press that DeVos’ staff informed them last week that the applications turned down in March will not be revisited.
The next round of applications won’t be held for another five years, and some of the affected schools and groups say their Upward Bound programs may have to shut down.
More than 62,000 high school students around the country receive services from Upward Bound, which seeks to inspire low-income, first-generation and rural students to attend college.
Satanic monument
BELLE PLAINE, Minn. — The Veterans Memorial Park in Belle Plaine, Minn., includes a walkway with rows of American flags on either side, a UH-1 Huey helicopter and a granite monument with the engraved names of residents who died in the Indian War of 1862, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Coming soon to this 1-acre park will be an unlikely monument from an even more unlikely source: a black steel cube with a golden inverted pentagram on each side and an empty soldier’s helmet on the top, sponsored by the Satanic Temple. It will be the first monument sponsored by the temple to be erected on public grounds, the group said.
Residents allowed a Christian memorial earlier this year, opening the park to all memorials in order to avoid violating the constitutional prohibition against establishment of religion. Now they have to allow the satanic memorial as a matter of free speech.
Teen had suicide note
SAN DIEGO — The 15-year-old boy who was killed by police officers early Saturday morning after he pointed a BB gun at them had a suicide note in his jacket pocket that indicated he planned the incident, San Diego police said Monday.
Police have not identified the teen, but friends said he was Jacob Peterson, a freshman at Torrey Pines High School.
He was fatally shot near the front of the Carmel Valley campus after someone called 911 shortly before 3:30 a.m. and asked police to check on a boy at the school. Officers later determined the boy had made the call himself.
‘Sanctuary’ ban lawsuit
AUSTIN, Texas — A Latino rights groups says it has filed what may be the first lawsuit challenging a new “sanctuary cities” ban in Texas that allows local police to ask a person during routine stops whether they’re in the U.S legally.
Luis Vera is an attorney with the League of United Latin American Citizens. He says he filed the challenge Monday on behalf of a small town near the border with Mexico called El Cenizo, which has had a “safe haven” ordinance since 1999 that prohibits city employees from asking about a person’s immigration status.
The ACLU and other groups have also pledged to fight Texas in court over the law signed Sunday by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Texas has already asked a federal court to pre-emptively find that the law known as SB4 is constitutional.
Also in the nation ...
Authorities say they have found the body of an 18-month-old girl who, along with her 4-year-old brother, on April 29 was ripped away from their mother’s arms and swept downstream by floodwaters in rural Arkansas. ... Sinclair Broadcast Group, the nation’s largest local TV station operator, announced Monday that it will pay about $3.9 billion for Tribune Media and its 42 stations, which includes KTLA in Los Angeles, WGN in Chicago and WPIX in New York. Chicago-based Tribune also owns stakes in the Food Network and job-search website CareerBuilder.
First Published: May 10, 2017, 4:00 a.m.
