Washington, D.C.

Fortune 500 firms support affirmative action programs

Dozens of big companies are backing the University of Michigan and its affirmative action policy before the Supreme Court, saying such programs help produce better workers of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

The University of Michigan case is the most significant affirmative action case to reach the court in decades. At issue is whether racial preference programs unconstitutionally discrimination against white students.

Microsoft, Intel, American Airlines, Proctor & Gamble, Eastman Kodak and PepsiCo are among more than 40 Fortune 500 companies siding with the University of Michigan.

Michigan

Former United Way official admits stealing $1.9 million

A former United Way executive pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing nearly $1.9 million to buy expensive show horses in what is believed to be the biggest embezzlement case in the agency’s history.

Jacquelyn Allen-MacGregor worked in the Capital Area United Way in East Lansing for 20 years before resigning as vice president for finance in November. Prosecutors said she stole the money over seven years, beginning in 1996, and used it to fund her quarter horse business.

Miami

Kidnapping that led to chase arose from custody dispute

A man accused of seizing a mail truck and forcing a postal worker on a nationally televised chase and standoff threatened to fire his two guns at an elementary school, a prosecutor said Thursday.

While fleeing police, Nevia Abraham threatened to shoot bystanders and to drive to an elementary school in Broward County “and shoot there as well,” prosecutor Bruce Brown said at a bond hearing in Miami.

Abraham said he planned to use the carrier as part of a ploy to get into his ex-girlfriend’s house and take his two children.

U.S. Magistrate John O’Sullivan refused to let Abraham out on bond.