Iowa
University settles discrimination lawsuit by coach
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The University of Iowa has settled a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by a male track coach who alleged he was passed over for a job because administrators wanted a woman.
Mike Scott applied for assistant track coach when the position became open in 2012. An internal email from June 2013 surfaced that indicated head coach Layne Anderson rewrote the position's job description to attract more female candidates after earlier searches failed.
The settlement agreement pays Scott's attorneys nearly $81,000 and Scott $20,000 for past wages and $97,222 to settle all claims.
Scott's attorneys say his goal was to expose sex discrimination in college athletics.
The university didn't immediately respond but the agreement says there's no admission of discrimination.
Scott is now an assistant coach at Missouri State University.
Virginia
Police: Mom knocks out school official
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) - Police say a Virginia mother hit an assistant principal at her child's elementary school in the head, knocking her unconscious briefly.
Portsmouth police said in a news release that the confrontation occurred Tuesday afternoon, when 43-year-old Tracy Lawrence visited Lakeview Elementary School to speak to the assistant principal about an issue involving her child.
Police say witnesses told the investigators that Lawrence was unhappy with the assistant principal's final decision on the matter. Police say Lawrence hit the assistant principal in the head, causing her to lose consciousness. Police were called, but Lawrence left before an officer arrived.
Police say they don't believe any children witnessed the altercation.
Lawrence was arrested at her home and charged with assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
Texas
Dad who took away daughter's phone not guilty
DALLAS (AP) - A Texas father who was accused of theft after he confiscated his 12-year-old daughter's cellphone over an inappropriate text has been acquitted of the misdemeanor charge.
A judge in Dallas found Ronald Jackson not guilty Tuesday, citing insufficient evidence.
Grand Prairie police arrested Jackson a few hours after he commandeered his daughter's cellphone and refused to return it. The 36-year-old father says a text he found on the phone was rude.
The girl's mother says she owns the cellphone and reported the confiscation as theft.
Jackson posted $1,500 bail to get out of jail, but later received a mailed citation for theft. He refused to pay.
The father went to court and successfully fought the citation involving his now-15-year-old daughter.
Jackson also kept the cellphone.
Massachusetts
Man who got arrested after recording cursing cop gets $72K
BOSTON (AP) - A Massachusetts man who got arrested after videotaping a foul-mouthed police officer has been awarded more than $72,000 in a settlement.
George Thompson had recorded Fall River police Officer Thomas Barboza loudly and repeatedly cursing on his cellphone while working a traffic detail in front of Thompson's home in January 2014.
Barboza threatened and arrested him. He took Thompson's phone, and police later deleted its contents.
Charges against Thompson were eventually dropped.
Thompson filed a civil rights lawsuit later that year. His attorney said Tuesday that Fall River paid him $72,500.
Virginia
Court to consider Christian prayers at meetings
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A federal appeals court is poised to examine whether county commissioners in North Carolina should be allowed to open their meetings with Christian prayers.
Wednesday's arguments before a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals were the first time a federal appeals court considered government prayer practices since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 upheld Christian prayers at local town council meetings in New York.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Rowan County Commission in 2013 on behalf of three people who said the practice of starting meetings with prayers that almost always referred to Christianity was coercive and discriminatory.
A federal court sided with the ACLU in May, saying the prayers violated the Constitution's ban on mixing church and state.
New Jersey
Cheerleaders' wage lawsuit settled for $324K
HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) - The New York Jets have agreed to pay nearly $324,000 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by cheerleaders over wages.
The suit was filed in Bergen County, New Jersey, where the NFL team plays.
The 52 women said they were paid $150 per game and issued uniforms. But they said they were not paid for practices and other work and were forced to pay for their makeup, hair care and transportation.
The Record newspaper reports the women will receive $2,559 to $5,913 each, depending upon whether they worked one or both of the 2012 and 2013 seasons and whether they took part in calendar photo shoots.
The team denied the claims but earlier said it agreed to settle to avoid the expense and distraction of litigation.
Illinois
Judge tells nuns to rework lawsuit over strip club
CHICAGO (AP) - A convent in suburban Chicago plans to move forward with an effort to close a neighboring strip club even after a legal setback.
Cook County Circuit Judge Peter Flynn on Tuesday told the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo to rework their lawsuit against Club Allure in Stone Park alleging it violates prostitution regulations and is a nuisance. But Flynn also dismissed claims that the club violates zoning laws.
He asked the nuns' lawyers to provide specific, detailed examples of nuisances or lewd behavior.
After the hearing, Sister Noemia Silva said her order is called to "protect our values, and we will not change them."
Attorney Robert Itzkow, who is former owner of the club, says it's a legal business.
Published: Thu, Jan 28, 2016
