Oregon puts debate over race in vaccine rollout to test

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The role that race should play in deciding who gets priority for the COVID-19 vaccine in the next phase of the rollout is being put to the test in Oregon as tensions around equity and access to the shots emerge nationwide. An advisory committee that provides recommendations to...

San Francisco to strip Washington, Lincoln from school names

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The names of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and other prominent figures including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will be removed from 44 San Francisco public schools, a move that stirred debate Wednesday on whether the famously liberal city has taken the national reckoning on...

Maryland Episcopal church commits $500,000 to reparations

(RNS) — A historic Episcopal church in Baltimore has committed to setting aside $100,000 to reparations, an initiative that will contribute to local racial justice causes. Memorial Episcopal Church also pledged to contribute an additional $400,000 for reparations and justice over five years. “Our...

Montana man faces $9.9M fine for racist, harassing robocalls

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man is facing a $9.9 million fine from the Federal Communications Commission after he sent racist, anti-Semitic and harassing robocalls to tens of thousands of phones across eight states. Scott D. Rhodes' calls in 2018 targeted Black and Jewish politicians, a journalist,...

Racial profiling by French police challenged in class action

PARIS (AP) — Three leading rights organizations joined with grassroots groups Wednesday to launch France’s first class action suit targeting the country’s massive police machine, contending that it lawfully propagates a culture leading to systemic discrimination in identity checks. The NGOs,...

Report: Israeli settler population surged during Trump era

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's West Bank settler population has grown at a far higher rate than the country as a whole over the last four years, a pro-settler group said Wednesday, a period that coincides with the Trump administration's unprecedented acceptance of settlement activity. The report by West Bank...

Auschwitz survivors mark anniversary online amid pandemic

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Jewish prayer for the souls of the people murdered in the Holocaust echoed Wednesday over where the Warsaw ghetto stood during World War II as a world paused by the coronavirus pandemic observed the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Most International Holocaust...

Hungarian FM in Ukraine to push for ethnic minority rights

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Hungary's top diplomat visited Kyiv Wednesday to try and defuse a rift over the rights of Ukraine's Hungarian minority, which has clouded bilateral relations for years. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto suggested that the two countries set up a working group to solve a dispute over...

Rittenhouse, mother fixated on social media treatment

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An Illinois teen accused of killing two people during unrest in Wisconsin and the teen's mom were fixated on social media comments about them in the hours after his August arrest, newly released police video shows. Police in Antioch, Illinois, on Monday released four hours of video...

Groups launch first class-action lawsuit against France for systemic racial discrimination by police in ID checks