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Women Completes College Finals in Labor

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A college student in Kansas City was determined to finish her college finals on time, even if that meant going through labor when the exam was due.

Nayzia Thomas, a sophomore at Johnson County Community College, continued her studies of psychology for 39 weeks until her baby son ultimately gave her what she could no longer avoid: the completion of childbirth.

Yahoo! Lifestyle reported that, instead of putting off her final psych exam, Thomas decided to complete her assignment on time. So, she did just that. (Read more from “Women Completes College Finals in Labor” HERE)

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Black Student Shares Valedictorian Status With White Student, Sues School

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A black Mississippi high school graduate sued her school district this week after being forced to share valedictorian status with a white student who had a lower GPA.

Jasmine Shephard, a 2016 graduate of Cleveland High School, filed the lawsuit against her Mississippi school district, The Washington Post reported Friday.

The school named Shephard and the white student “co-valedictorians” the day before graduation, the lawsuit claims.

“Prior to 2016, all of Cleveland High School’s valedictorians were white. As a result of the school official’s unprecedented action of making an African-American student share the valedictorian award with a white student, the defendants discriminated against,” the lawsuit alleges . . .

The Mississippi school district denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit “frivolous.” Both students had the same GPA, Jamie Jacks, an attorney for the district, wrote. (Read more from “Black Student Shares Valedictorian Status With White Student, Sues School” HERE)

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Maine Court Awards Transgender Student $75K

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A Maine court awarded a transgender female student $75,000 this week after her school district would not allow her to use the bathroom of her choice.

Penobscot County Superior Court ruled last week that Nicole Maines, a student who was born a male but identifies as a female, was discriminated against by the Orono school district when she was forced to use a staff bathroom instead of the girls’ bathroom.

According to the Associated Press, the superior court also ruled that the Orono district may no longer “[refuse] access by transgender students to school restrooms that are consistent with their gender identity.” The money awarded in the case will reportedly cover legal fees, with a portion going to Maines’ family.

Read more from this story HERE.

Student Buys Bottled Water, Gets Thrown in Jail

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Photo Credit: dotjay

Photo Credit: dotjay

When a half-dozen men and a woman in street clothes closed in on University of Virginia student Elizabeth Daly, 20, she and two roommates panicked.

That led to Daly spending a night and an afternoon in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. Her initial offense? Walking to her car with bottled water, cookie dough and ice cream just purchased from the Harris Teeter in the Barracks Road Shopping Center for a sorority benefit fundraiser.

A group of state Alcoholic Beverage Control agents clad in plainclothes approached her, suspecting the blue carton of LaCroix sparkling water to be a 12-pack of beer. Police say one of the agents jumped on the hood of her car. She says one drew a gun. Unsure of who they were, Daly tried to flee the darkened parking lot.

“They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform,” she recalled Thursday in a written account of the April 11 incident.

“I couldn’t put my windows down unless I started my car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were … terrified,” Daly stated.

Read more from this story HERE.

Charge Dismissed Against Student Who Refused to Remove NRA Shirt

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Photo Credit: 13 News

Photo Credit: 13 News

The West Virginia eighth-grader arrested after refusing a teacher’s demand he remove a National Rifle Association T-shirt he wore to school won’t face criminal charges after all.

Jared Marcum, 14, was charged with obstruction following the April 18 incident after police who were called to Logan Middle School school said he refused to stop talking. The case generated national headlines, as Marcum’s family and attorney, Ben White, claimed the demand that he remove the NRA shirt violated his right to freedom of speech. On Thursday, Logan County Circuit Judge Eric O’Briant signed an order dismissing the charge.

Marcum’s mother, Tanya Lardieri, told WOWK that she was overcome with emotion after signing a dismissal order relating to the charge. The boy’s father, Allen Lardieri, said the couple is just glad Eric’s legal troubles are behind him.

“It should have come sooner but it’s done and we don’t have to have that concern anymore about him having a criminal record,” Allen Lardieri told WOWK. “I’m just glad that it’s over. His mother is glad it’s over.”

After he was charged, Marcum faced up to a year in jail and a $500 fine. Although the charge related to the boy’s behavior after the incident began, White said the school’s unreasonable demand that he take off the shirt caused the situation to get out of control.

Read more from this story HERE.

14-Year-Old at the Center of “NRA T-Shirt Controversy” Now Facing Possibility of 1 Year in Jail

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Suspended and arrested after refusing to change his NRA shirt. Today, 14-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was officially charged with obstructing an officer.

A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that’s the penalty that Jared could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move forward with it’s obstructing an officer charge against him.

“Me, I’m more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we’re going to get through this,” Jared’s father Allen Lardieri said. “I don’t think it should have ever gotten this far.”

The Logan County Police Department initially claimed that the at-the-time 8th grade Logan Middle School student was arrested for disturbing the education process, obstructing an officer and Lardieri says that officers even went as far as threatening to charge Jared with making terroristic threats.

[T]he arresting officer from the Logan City Police Department, James Adkins, claims that when Jared refused to stop talking, that hindered his ability to do his job, hence, the obstruction charge.

Read more from this story HERE.

Read an earlier story about what happened at the school HERE.

One-Third of Young Adults Regret Going to College

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Photo Credit: Forbes Here’s an indication of how burdensome student loans have become: About one-third of millennials say they would have been better off working, instead of going to college and paying tuition.

That’s a according to a new Wells Fargo WFC +0.57% study which surveyed 1,414 millennials between the ages of 22 and 32. More than half of them financed their education through student loans, and many say the if they had $10,000 the “first thing” they’d do is pay down their student loan or credit card debt.

That’s no surprise when you consider student borrowing topped the $100 billion threshold for the first time in 2010, and total outstanding loans exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in 2011. Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in the U.S. which stands at about $798 billion.

Delinquencies are also on the rise. The number of borrowers who are at least 90 days late on student loan payments has jumped from 8.5% in 2011 to 11.7% today, according to a study by the New York Federal Reserve.

Read more from this story HERE.

5th Grade Teacher: Helped Students Cheat Because They Were “Dumb As Hell”

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Photo credit: woodleywonderworks

A former fifth-grade teacher implicated in a cheating scandal reportedly gave students the illegal assistance because she thought they were “dumb as hell.”

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, math teacher Shayla Smith was accused of offering students the answers to a test they were taking at the time. She had reportedly been responsible for supervising them while the tests were being completed.

Schajuan Jones, who taught a fourth-grade class across the hall from Smith’s former room, overheard her talking to another teacher about the test.

“The words were, ‘I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell,’” Jones was quoted as saying about the interaction between Smith and the unidentified third teacher.

A former student also allegedly accused Smith of cheating, adding that the educator offered the girl, now in eighth grade, the answers to a math test in 2010.

Read more from this story HERE.