BRICKBATS.

AuthorOliver, Charles

Juniors at New York City's Edward R. Murrow High School told the New York Post they were told to read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "The Tortoise and the Hare" for their American literature course. They were asked to answer basic questions and write a onesentence summary of each work. A Department of Education spokesman declined to answer questions about it, but he tweeted that the assignment was preparing students for tougher work, to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and answer similar questions. Students in the class told the newspaper they didn't actually read The Scarlet Letter but a sevenpage summary of the novel.

While attorney Matt Tucker was in a hospital bed recovering from a stroke, Clayton County, Georgia, Judge Shana Rooks Malone was attacking him on national TV on the Law & Crime network, saying she was going to hold him in contempt for missing court. Tucker was representing a woman in a murder case. He had a stroke two days before jury selection was supposed to begin. Tucker claims his office emailed the judge to let her know. His client told the judge in court about Tucker's medical emergency, and Tucker said he doesn't understand why Malone didn't believe the client.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed and other elected officials have criticized the city Elections Commission's decision not to renew the contract of Elections Director John Arntz. By their account, he took over a troubled department 20 years ago and turned it around, running smooth and fair elections. "Our decision wasn't about your performance, but after twenty years we wanted to take action on the City's racial equity plan and give people an opportunity to compete for a leadership position," said commission President Chris Jerdonek in an email to Arntz, who is white. The commission eventually changed course and is set to vote in...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT