links for 2010-03-22

The fistfights at Southside High School involved no weapons and no serious injuries, and in some ways seemed as old-fashioned as the country roads here in eastern North Carolina. But the punishment was strictly up-to-date: Sheriff’s deputies handcuffed and briefly arrested a dozen students. The school suspended seven of them for a short period and six others from the melee, including the two girls, for the entire semester. As extra punishment, the girls were told they could not attend Beaufort County’s alternative school for troubled students and were denied aid to study at home. Their punishment was typical of the get-tough, “zero tolerance” discipline policies that swept the nation over the last two decades, resulting in an increase in suspensions that are disproportionate among black students.

"Thomas Hagan has been held since moments after shots rang out in the Audubon Ballroom in 1965. He has been on work release for more than two decades, but he still spends two days a week locked up at the Lincoln Correctional Facility on West 110th Street in Manhattan. "

"The patients that emergency room docs call "frequent fliers" — regular visitors to the Emergency Department — are predominantly white, have insurance and tend to be sicker than most patients who visit the ER less often."

"Two years ago, eight Philadelphia police officers drew national scrutiny when a news helicopter caught them kicking and beating three murder suspects.

Tonight, their comrades will toast them with free beer and munchies. The officers will be the guests of honor at a bash hosted by the Fraternal Order of Police celebrating their reinstatement.

"Our Guys Are BACK!" proclaims an FOP flyer inviting officers to the free happy-hour party at the FOP office, on Spring Garden Street near Broad.""

"From the courtroom benches, the few spectators saw a frightened woman who had never been in trouble before and a public defender who was not fighting for her. “She was sitting there looking stunned and confused,” said Daniel J. Freeman, a recent Yale Law School graduate who had been sent to observe by the New York Civil Liberties Union. “I didn’t see him interacting much with her.”

The story of this one defendant and her public defender, assembled through interviews and court records, is about a woman who was barely making it before the legal system helped shove her off track."

"The authorities in southern New Jersey said Saturday that they had arrested a 16-year-old boy for activating a public-address system at a Wal-Mart store last week and ordering “all black people” to leave. "

"Nebraska long has regarded itself as a staunchly antiabortion state.

But for months, the state has wrestled with an issue that pits its signature conviction against another belief — that illegal immigrants should not receive tax-supported services.

So two viewpoints collided with this question: Should Nebraska pay for prenatal care for the unborn children of illegal immigrants?"