Bias found in Yale admission practices
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. Justice Department investigation has found Yale University is illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants, in violation of federal civil-rights law, officials said Thursday.
Yale denied the allegation, calling it "meritless" and "hasty."
The findings, detailed in a letter Thursday to the college's attorneys, mark the latest action by the Trump administration aimed at discrimination in the college application process after complaints from students about the process at some Ivy League colleges.
The two-year investigation concluded that Yale "rejects scores of Asian American and white applicants each year based on their race, whom it otherwise would admit," the Justice Department said. The investigation concluded that Asian American and white students have "only one-tenth to one-fourth of the likelihood of admission as African American applicants with comparable academic credentials."
The Justice Department has demanded that Yale immediately stop and agree not to use race or national origin for upcoming admissions.
In a statement, Yale said it "categorically denies this allegation," and has cooperated fully by turning over a "substantial amount" of information to investigators.
"Had the department fully received and fairly weighed this information, it would have concluded that Yale's practices absolutely comply with decades of Supreme Court precedent."
U.S. seizes militants' cryptocurrency
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department said Thursday that it has seized millions of dollars from cryptocurrency accounts that militant organizations abroad, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, relied on to raise money for violent operations.
The legal moves, which included undercover law enforcement work and civil forfeiture complaints, is meant to deprive the organizations of fund needed to buy weapons and equipment and develop fighters and plots, said Assistant Attorney General John Demers.
The department said that it seized about $2 million, four websites and more than 300 cryptocurrency accounts used by al-Qaida; Hamas' military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades; and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS. The seized funds are expected to be turned over to a fund for victims of terrorist attacks.
The Trump administration said the groups used the accounts to solicit donations for their causes, including through a bogus scam that officials say purported to sell protective gear for the coronavirus pandemic.
J for Josephine another storm record
MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Josephine formed Thursday in the Atlantic Ocean, making it the earliest "J-named" storm in a record-setting hurricane season.
Josephine was 865 miles east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands, according to the 5 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.
Josephine was the earliest 10th Atlantic named storm on record, breaking the previous record of Jose, which formed Aug. 22, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna and Isaias also set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes.
Earlier this month, Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean and several others across a number of U.S. states when the storm made landfall in North Carolina and moved along the East Coast.
Last month, Hurricane Hanna, slammed the Texas Gulf Coast with high winds and rains.
Charter system fined over libel lawsuit
OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma County district judge imposed a $500,000 fine on the nonprofit overseeing Epic Charter Schools for filing a libel and slander lawsuit against state Sen. Ron Sharp, who accused the virtual charter school of unlawfully counting student enrollment and misusing taxpayer dollars.
Judge Cindy Troung decided the nonprofit was subject to a fine under Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act because the law sanctions plaintiffs who file meritless lawsuits intended to silence critics.
Community Strategies Inc., which oversees Epic, sued Sharp in December, arguing the state senator knowingly made false and defamatory statements against the system.
Truong threw out the lawsuit and said Sharp's public comments about Epic did not rise to the level of actual malice, which is the standard to prove libel and slander against a public entity.
While an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent wrote in an affidavit for a search warrant last year that the school's two founders, David Chaney and Ben Harris, recruited and enrolled "ghost students" who received little to no instruction, Epic has denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed.