Louisiana
LSU settles case involving domestic violence, sexual assault charges against players
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU and 10 former students who sued the school over alleged mishandling of sexual assault and domestic violence complaints against football players and others at Louisiana’s flagship state university have settled the case.
“The Court has been advised that the parties in this matter have settled all of their claims and have agreed to amicably resolve this dispute,” US District Judge Wendy Vitter wrote in a March 28 order dismissing the case.
Settlement terms have not been disclosed.
Four of the plaintiffs in the 2021 civil case accused former star running back Derrius Guice of sexual misconduct. Another plaintiff, former LSU women’s tennis player Jade Lewis, said LSU failed to properly respond to reports that she was being beaten by former Tigers receiver Drake Davis while the two were in a relationship.
The lawsuit centered on federal Title IX laws which ban gender-based discrimination, harassment or violence.
The allegations from female students dating back about a decade caught up with former university leaders after they’d left the school.
Former LSU football coach Les Miles and ex-university President F. King Alexander were run out of subsequent jobs elsewhere.
Miles, who won a national title while coaching at LSU from 2005 to 2016, lost his job at Kansas in 2021.
Oregon State fired Alexander as its president. He had the same job at LSU when allegations that Miles made improper sexual advances toward female students working in the football office were kept private by the university and its law firm in 2013 — despite a recommendation by then-athletic director Joe Alleva that Miles be fired.
LSU hired the Husch Blackwell law firm to review the university’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints and its report was widely circulated in 2021.
The firm’s 148-page findings addressed problems campus-wide, also looking, for example, at complaints against fraternity members. But the higher-profile complaints involved football players including Guice, who in 2020 was cut by his NFL club in Washington following a domestic violence arrest.
Husch Blackwell concluded that LSU had come up short in committing resources to Title IX compliance and instead tended to offer more resistance than help to alleged victims.
Allegations of sexual misconduct or physical abuse were reportedly filed against nine players who competed under Ed Orgeron, who succeeded Miles as coach during the 2016 season.
Orgeron coached LSU to an unbeaten record and national championship in the 2019 season.
Some of the accused players were punished and ultimately left LSU, but others, including Guice, left the school in good standing and were selected in the NFL draft.
The Husch Blackwell review aimed criticism more at LSU administrators, noting that coaches generally lack the expertise to handle sexual misconduct complaints and should refer them to Title IX compliance officials.
The most severe punishment handed down to current LSU employees were suspensions of about a month to deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry and senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar. They were found to have mishandled multiple sexual misconduct complaints.
New York
Inmates sue to watch solar eclipse after state orders lock down of prisons
NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.
The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.
“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.
The celestial event, which was last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and won’t be seen in the country again until 2044, “warrant gathering, celebration, worship, and prayer,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit states that one of the named plaintiffs, an atheist, received special permission last month to view the eclipse using glasses that would be provided by the state, but that was before the system-wide lockdown was issued.
Four of the other plaintiffs subsequently sought permission but were denied by officials who ruled the solar eclipse is not listed as a holy day for their religions, the lawsuit states. The sixth inmate said he never received a response.
Thomas Mailey, a corrections department spokesperson, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but takes all requests for religious accommodations under consideration. He said those related to viewing the eclipse are currently under review.
Daniel Martuscello III, the department’s acting commissioner, issued a memo March 11 announcing that all state correctional facilities will operate on a holiday schedule next Monday.
That means incarcerated individuals will remain in their housing units except for emergency situations from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., which are generally the normal hours for outdoor recreation in prisons, according to the lawsuit.
There will also be no visitation at nearly two dozen prisons in the path of totality next Monday, while visitation at other correctional facilities will end at 2 p.m.
Martuscello said the department will distribute solar eclipse safety glasses for staff and incarcerated individuals at prisons in the path of totality so they can view the eclipse from their assigned work location or housing units.
Communities in western and northern reaches of the state are expected to have the best viewing of the total eclipse, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh.
The total eclipse is expected to be seen in those parts of New York around 3:15 p.m. and last mere minutes as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, temporarily blocking the sun and turning day into night.
LSU settles case involving domestic violence, sexual assault charges against players
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU and 10 former students who sued the school over alleged mishandling of sexual assault and domestic violence complaints against football players and others at Louisiana’s flagship state university have settled the case.
“The Court has been advised that the parties in this matter have settled all of their claims and have agreed to amicably resolve this dispute,” US District Judge Wendy Vitter wrote in a March 28 order dismissing the case.
Settlement terms have not been disclosed.
Four of the plaintiffs in the 2021 civil case accused former star running back Derrius Guice of sexual misconduct. Another plaintiff, former LSU women’s tennis player Jade Lewis, said LSU failed to properly respond to reports that she was being beaten by former Tigers receiver Drake Davis while the two were in a relationship.
The lawsuit centered on federal Title IX laws which ban gender-based discrimination, harassment or violence.
The allegations from female students dating back about a decade caught up with former university leaders after they’d left the school.
Former LSU football coach Les Miles and ex-university President F. King Alexander were run out of subsequent jobs elsewhere.
Miles, who won a national title while coaching at LSU from 2005 to 2016, lost his job at Kansas in 2021.
Oregon State fired Alexander as its president. He had the same job at LSU when allegations that Miles made improper sexual advances toward female students working in the football office were kept private by the university and its law firm in 2013 — despite a recommendation by then-athletic director Joe Alleva that Miles be fired.
LSU hired the Husch Blackwell law firm to review the university’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints and its report was widely circulated in 2021.
The firm’s 148-page findings addressed problems campus-wide, also looking, for example, at complaints against fraternity members. But the higher-profile complaints involved football players including Guice, who in 2020 was cut by his NFL club in Washington following a domestic violence arrest.
Husch Blackwell concluded that LSU had come up short in committing resources to Title IX compliance and instead tended to offer more resistance than help to alleged victims.
Allegations of sexual misconduct or physical abuse were reportedly filed against nine players who competed under Ed Orgeron, who succeeded Miles as coach during the 2016 season.
Orgeron coached LSU to an unbeaten record and national championship in the 2019 season.
Some of the accused players were punished and ultimately left LSU, but others, including Guice, left the school in good standing and were selected in the NFL draft.
The Husch Blackwell review aimed criticism more at LSU administrators, noting that coaches generally lack the expertise to handle sexual misconduct complaints and should refer them to Title IX compliance officials.
The most severe punishment handed down to current LSU employees were suspensions of about a month to deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry and senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar. They were found to have mishandled multiple sexual misconduct complaints.
New York
Inmates sue to watch solar eclipse after state orders lock down of prisons
NEW YORK (AP) — Inmates in New York are suing the state corrections department over the decision to lock down prisons during next Monday’s total solar eclipse.
The suit filed Friday in federal court in upstate New York argues that the April 8 lockdown violates inmates’ constitutional rights to practice their faiths by preventing them from taking part in a religiously significant event.
The plaintiffs are six men with varying religious backgrounds who are incarcerated at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Woodbourne. They include a Baptist, a Muslim, a Seventh-Day Adventist and two practitioners of Santeria, as well as an atheist.
“A solar eclipse is a rare, natural phenomenon with great religious significance to many,” the complaint reads, noting that Bible passages describe an eclipse-like phenomenon during Jesus’ crucifixion while sacred Islamic works describes a similar event when the Prophet Muhammad’s son died.
The celestial event, which was last visible in the U.S. in 2017 and won’t be seen in the country again until 2044, “warrant gathering, celebration, worship, and prayer,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit states that one of the named plaintiffs, an atheist, received special permission last month to view the eclipse using glasses that would be provided by the state, but that was before the system-wide lockdown was issued.
Four of the other plaintiffs subsequently sought permission but were denied by officials who ruled the solar eclipse is not listed as a holy day for their religions, the lawsuit states. The sixth inmate said he never received a response.
Thomas Mailey, a corrections department spokesperson, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but takes all requests for religious accommodations under consideration. He said those related to viewing the eclipse are currently under review.
Daniel Martuscello III, the department’s acting commissioner, issued a memo March 11 announcing that all state correctional facilities will operate on a holiday schedule next Monday.
That means incarcerated individuals will remain in their housing units except for emergency situations from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., which are generally the normal hours for outdoor recreation in prisons, according to the lawsuit.
There will also be no visitation at nearly two dozen prisons in the path of totality next Monday, while visitation at other correctional facilities will end at 2 p.m.
Martuscello said the department will distribute solar eclipse safety glasses for staff and incarcerated individuals at prisons in the path of totality so they can view the eclipse from their assigned work location or housing units.
Communities in western and northern reaches of the state are expected to have the best viewing of the total eclipse, including Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Lake Placid and Plattsburgh.
The total eclipse is expected to be seen in those parts of New York around 3:15 p.m. and last mere minutes as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, temporarily blocking the sun and turning day into night.
