WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed that the value of creating a diverse student body allows university officials to consider race in making admission decisions, upholding a University of Texas plan that has been the subject of years of legal battles.
The 4-to-3 decision was a surprising win for advocates of affirmative action, who had entered the term simply hoping the court would not use the case to ban all uses of affirmative action.
Instead, the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy reiterated previous high-court rulings that diversity justifies some intrusion on the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, which generally forbids the government from making decisions based on race.
LONDON – The British pound plunged to a 31-year low Friday as results in the country’s European Union referendum gave the “leave” side a small but growing lead.
The figures delivered a deep shock to financial markets, overturning earlier anticipation of a narrow victory for “remain.”
The pound initially soared as polls closed and two opinion surveys put “remain” ahead and two leading supporters of the “leave” campaign said it appeared the pro-EU side had won. But it then suffered one of its biggest one-day falls in history, plummeting more than 10 percent in six hours, from about $1.50 to below $1.35 as results suggested a strong possibility the U.K. would vote to quit the bloc.
“The dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom,” U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said to loud cheers at a “leave” campaign party.
“Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day!”
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Ralph Stanley, a patriarch of Appalachian music who with his brother Carter helped expand and popularize the genre that became known as bluegrass, died Thursday. He was 89.
Stanley died at his home in Sandy Ridge, Virginia, because of difficulties from skin cancer, publicist Kirt Webster said. He and his brother formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946.
The Stanleys created a distinctive three-part harmony that combined the lead vocal of Carter with Ralph’s tenor and an even higher part sung by bandmate Pee Wee Lambert.
DES MOINES, Iowa – One of the six men long identified in an iconic World War II photograph showing the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima was actually not in the image, the Marine Corps said Thursday.
A panel found that Private First Class Harold Schultz, of Detroit, was in the photo and that Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class John Bradley wasn’t.
Bradley had participated in an earlier flag-raising on Mount Suribachi.
Associated Press & Washington Post
