Chicago

Case of black youth slain in ’50s reopened

A half-century after the slaying of 14-year-old Emmett Till shocked a nation and galvanized the civil rights movement, his body will be exhumed as authorities attempt to determine who killed him, the FBI said Wednesday.

Till’s body, buried in a cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Alsip, will be exhumed within the next few weeks for an autopsy, said Deborah Madden, spokeswoman for the FBI office in Jackson, Miss.

The Justice Department announced plans last year to reopen the Till investigation.

Till, who was raised in Chicago, was abducted from his uncle’s home in the tiny Mississippi Delta community of Money on Aug. 28, 1955, reportedly for whistling at a white woman at a grocery store. His mutilated body was found three days later.

Washington, D.C.

Report: Army knew earlier how Tillman died

Army officials knew within days of Pat Tillman’s death that the former NFL player had been killed by fellow Rangers during a patrol in Afghanistan but did not inform his family and the public for weeks, The Washington Post reported.

A new Army report shows that Gen. John P. Abizaid, the theater commander in Afghanistan, and other top Army officials were aware an investigation had determined the death was caused by an act of “gross negligence” four days before a nationally televised memorial service.

Tillman, 27, turned down a multimillion-dollar contract with the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army after the 9-11 attacks. He was taking cover behind a boulder along a canyon road near the Pakistani border when a firefight erupted at twilight on April 22, 2004.

The documents show that officers erroneously reported that Tillman was killed by enemy fire, destroyed critical evidence and initially concealed the truth from his brother, also an Army Ranger, who was near the attack, the Post reported.

Texas

House seeks restriction on sexy cheerleading

After an alternately comic and fiery debate, punctuated by several lawmakers waving pompoms, the state House on Tuesday approved a bill to restrict “overtly sexually suggestive” cheerleading to more ladylike performances.

The bill would give the state education commissioner authority to request that school districts review high school performances.

“Girls can get out and do all of these overly sexually performances, and we applaud them, and that’s not right,” said Democratic Rep. Al Edwards, who filed the legislation.

Edwards argued bawdy performances were a distraction for students resulting in pregnancies, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

Ribald performances are not defined in the bill. “Any adult that’s been involved with sex in their lives, they know it when they see it,” he said.

The bill passed on a 65-56 vote. It still must be approved by the Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Rick Perry.

Washington, D.C.

2 Republicans removed from DeLay probe

Republicans backtracked in an ethics controversy Wednesday for the second time in two weeks, deciding that two GOP members of the ethics committee should withdraw from any investigation of Tom DeLay because they contributed to the majority leader’s legal defense funds.

The decision followed months of Democratic complaints that Speaker Dennis Hastert appointed Republicans Lamar Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma to make the panel more favorable to DeLay, R-Texas.

Smith and Cole replaced two Republicans who voted to admonish DeLay on three separate matters in 2004. Hastert also had refused to reappoint the former Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. Joel Hefley of Colorado, who presided over the rebukes. Hefley had asked to remain chairman this year even though his term had ended.

Houston

Schools to fire teachers in test scandal

Administrators in Texas’ largest school district said Wednesday they plan to fire six teachers and demote three administrators after finding evidence of cheating on state tests.

Houston Independent School District Superintendent Abe Saavedra said three other district employees, including a principal, would receive formal reprimands.

A Dallas Morning News review of standardized test scores throughout the state prompted a handful of school districts to investigate statistical irregularities in test results at individual schools from recent years.

Two months into the investigation, Saavedra announced the district had identified two teachers at an elementary school who assisted students on the state exam. The district has recommended those teachers be fired and has demoted the school’s principal.