Alabama State University celebrated 148 years of educational excellence Friday with its Founders' Day Convocation. Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray, a 1951 graduate of ASU was the keynote speaker. Gray challenged ASU students to make a positive impact on society. The convocation's theme was "Onward and Upward, Opportunity is Here."
FOCUS South
Montgomery city and county officials focused their attention on neighborhoods in south Montgomery at a FOCUS group session held at the new fire station on McGhee Road. It was the second gathering in a series of FOCUS group events. Montgomery city officials say two more FOCUS group events are planned for north and east Montgomery.
False Claims
An Ohio man is being returned to Alabama to face charges of filing false claims with the state Medicaid agency. The Alabama Attorney General's office said 30-year-old Darnell Nash of Cleveland is also charged with trafficking in stolen identities. State prosecutors said a grand jury indicted Nash on 69 charges. He is scheduled to go on trial March 9th in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
School Officials Sued
A federal appeals court in Atlanta has agreed to hear oral arguments in a federal lawsuit filed by a north Alabama man who says Huntsville school district officials used his daughter as bait for a teen with a history of sexual harassment. The lawsuit says in 2010 a teacher's aid asked the 14-year-old girl to go into a middle school bathroom so the 16-year-old could be caught trying to have sex with her and disciplined. Evidence shows she was raped before school officials could get into the bathroom. Federal court documents filed by the Department of Justice say school officials knew of the attacker's history of sex offenses.