Student Sparks Row Over Indian 'Mascot'

Native Americans fear for wildlife, sacred sites

(NEWSER) - Sure, solar energy plants are aimed at helping the environment—but planned sites in the Mojave Desert area could do more harm than good, Native American groups argue. That's because making way for the plants would damage the habitats of the horny toad and desert tortoise, Alfredo Figueroa, a 78-year-old Chemehuevi Indian tells the Guardian . "Of all the creatures, the horny toad is the most sacred to us because he's at the center of the Aztec sun calendar," he notes. "And the tortoise also, who represents Mother Earth." More»

Wrestler teammates suspended, cops investigating

(NEWSER) - California high school wrestlers face possible hate-crime charges for reportedly taunting a black teammate with a hangman's noose, then chaining him to a locker, police said. The mother of the victim didn't learn of the confrontation until almost a month after it occurred. "That the school district administration never told me about it is an additional outrage," said mom Victoria Gray. Her son was first confronted by a brown dummy in a hangman's noose when he entered the locker room at Santa Monica High School for wrestling practice, a school investigation revealed. Then one white teammate grabbed him in a bear hug while another chained his pants to a locker as both made racially charged remarks, according to the Los Angeles Times. More»

FBI joins in on hate crime probe

(NEWSER) - Neighbors are reeling after a large cross was burned in a lot next to the home of a black family in a mostly white California community. The 11-foot cross was stolen from a church in Arroyo Grande near San Luis Obispo. "I was horrified," said a local minister. "We live in a paradise, and I think the first thought was: This can't be real." The incident has been classified as a hate crime, the first in the region in nine years. More»

(NEWSER) - A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act yesterday, supporting the Obama administration's claim that a gay couple had not suffered "an injury in fact." The Justice Department filed a brief agreeing with the plaintiffs that DoMA is discriminatory, but said it was bound to defend the law until Congress repealed it. The judge said that since the couple had not shown personal harm, he lacked jurisdiction to tackle the constitutionality of DoMA. More»

Calif. panel rules dismissal amounts to discrimination

(NEWSER) - Firing an employee for breastfeeding during her break amounts to sex discrimination, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission ruled last week, awarding her $41,645 in damages, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Marina Chavez was fired from her job at a Los Angeles-area taqueria after breastfeeding her newborn on her lunch break in the family car. More»