National Roundup

Oklahoma
Federal lawsuit challenges ban on teaching race theory in schools

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of Oklahoma students and educators on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a law that bans the teaching of certain concepts of race and racism.

The law, HB 1775, also prevents colleges and universities from requiring students to undergo gender or sexual diversity training.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others filed the lawsuit on behalf of the group that also includes the American Indian Movement and the Oklahoma State Conference of the NAACP.

“H.B. 1775 severely restricts discussions on race and gender in Oklahoma’s elementary, secondary, and higher education schools without any legitimate pedagogical justification, using language that is simultaneously sweeping and unclear,” according to the lawsuit.

Plaintiff Regan Killacky is an English teacher in the Edmond school district in suburban Oklahoma City.

“H.B. 1775 limits my ability to teach an inclusive and complete history within the walls of my classroom, ultimately restricting the exact type of learning environment all young people deserve,” said Killacky, who is identified in the lawsuit as white.

The GOP-backed bill prohibits the teaching of “critical race theory”  and was passed by the Republican majority Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt this year. The hard-to-define theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in U.S. institutions, many of which function to maintain white dominance in society.

“It’s par for the course that when something goes against the left’s liberal agenda, activist groups attempt to come into Oklahoma and challenge our laws and our way of life,” Stitt spokesperson Carly Atchison said in a statement.
“Governor Stitt stands by his decision to sign HB 1775.”

Republican-controlled legislatures in more than a dozen states have considered or signed into law bills that would limit the teaching of certain ideas linked to “critical race theory,” which seeks to reframe the narrative of American history.

Oklahoma’s legislation was sponsored by Republican Rep. Kevin West, who said the law is “common sense” and guarantees that history taught in schools does not shame children into taking the blame for past problems.
“It is unfortunate, but not surprising, to see radical leftist organizations supporting the racist indoctrination of our children that HB 1775 was written to stop,” West said in a statement.

The lawsuit asks the federal court in Oklahoma City for a temporary injunction and to declare the law unconstitutional.


Nevada
Vegas lawyers: 2 sides to Flavor Flav domestic battery case

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Entertainer Flavor Flav will fight a misdemeanor domestic battery charge stemming from a scuffle with his girlfriend at home in suburban Las Vegas, his attorneys said Tuesday.

The 62-year-old former rapper, hip-hop and reality TV star, whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., was arrested late Oct. 4 after Henderson police were called to a report of a domestic disturbance at a home in the city’s Green Valley neighborhood, police said.

He was accused of grabbing or poking the woman in the face and wresting a phone from her hand, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Henderson Municipal Court.

Records show Drayton was freed from jail Oct. 5 on $3,000 bond with an Oct. 25 court date.

The alleged victim was identified in court and police documents as a person with whom Drayton has a dating relationship and a minor child in common. Her name was redacted.

Their son told police he stepped in to stop the scuffle when his parents separated and his mother lunged toward Drayton, according to a police report. Officers reported a small cut on the side of the woman’s face “consistent with an altercation taking place.”

Officer Katrina Farrell, a Henderson police spokeswoman, said she had no information about whether the alleged victim required medical treatment.

“In alleged domestic violence cases, there are often two sides to the story and we will explain our side in the courtroom,” Drayton’s attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, said in a statement. The arrest was first reported by celebrity website TMZ.

Flavor Flav’s public persona includes wearing a big clock on a chain around his neck. He was inducted with the group Public Enemy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. Public Enemy began in the New York area in 1986.

Drayton has a criminal history that includes arrests and convictions on traffic infractions; a month in jail for assaulting his then-girlfriend in 1991; and three months behind bars for shooting at a neighbor in New York in 1993.

An October 2012 incident led to his arrest on several felony charges after he was accused of wielding knives, chasing and threatening his then-fiancee’s 17-year-old son at their home in Las Vegas.

That case was closed in 2014, after Drayton pleaded guilty to reduced charges of misdemeanor attempted battery, served probation and completed a required domestic violence counseling course.


Florida
Slain woman’s family sues apartment, claiming negligence

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The family of a Florida college student who detectives say was killed by a handyman at an apartment complex where they both worked and she lived has sued the owners, saying management didn’t properly vet the employee and failed to provide adequate security.

The family of Miya Marcano filed the negligence lawsuit Monday in state court in Orlando against the Arden Villas Apartments and owners The Preiss Company, seeking an unspecified amount of money.

The 19-year-old woman’s body was found on Oct. 2, five days after her suspected killer, Armando Caballero, was found dead of an apparent suicide.

Marcano was a Valencia College student who lived and worked at the Orlando apartment complex where Caballero, 27, was employed as a maintenance worker. Investigators eventually determined that Caballero used a master key to enter Marcano’s apartment.

The woman was hired in June to work in the front office of the apartment complex, the complaint said.

According to the lawsuit, Caballero made unwanted advances to Marcano, who expressed her concerns to a man­a­ger at the apartment complex, but the manager “was not taking the safety concerns of the employees and tenants, very seriously.”

Marcano was never told about Caballero’s previous criminal history or other allegations of harassing women, and she didn’t know that he had unsupervised access to her apartment with a master key, the lawsuit said.