Good morning! The weatherman says today will be partly cloudy with a high of 87°. Tonight, we will see lows in the mid 60s.

Here’s what’s brewing in the news:

Is affirmative action a negative?

Does Affirmative Action actually hinder minorities? A California law professor believes it does. UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander says preferential admissions policies place some minorities in top law schools where they are unable to compete effectively, decreasing their chances of passing the bar and becoming lawyers.

The California Supreme Court will decide whether or not the State Bar must release the documents that may prove or disprove Sander’s theory.

The bar collects racial information from test-takers, promising confidentiality and that only overall results for racial and ethnic groups will be published. But Sander wants 25 years of individual information -with names deleted - from private universities with minority admissions programs.

The bar argues that its files are like internal court deliberations and exempt from disclosure. The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled in June, saying the bar is not a court, and its records, like those of other agencies, are presumed to be open for inspection.

The state's high court agreed to grant a review of the State Bar's appeal. No hearing date has been scheduled.
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Teen gets shot in butt on way from candy store

A Memphis man shot a teenager in the butt following an argument over sagging pants. Kenneth Bonds, 45, allegedly approached two 17 year olds expressing his disapproval of their sagging pants. Instead of pulling up their pants, the boys reportedly responded by calling Bonds a “fat a**” and proceeded on their way to a candy store. Police say that when the boys came back they passed Bonds again and that he had left and returned with a hand gun. Bonds allegedly fired several shots at both of the teens, hitting one the butt. (Read more)
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Does the abortion industry target minority communities?

In the report “Racial Targeting and Population Control,” a group of black pro-lifers assert that Planned Parenthood and the U.S. abortion industry are targeting African American and Hispanic Americans by placing abortion or abortion referral facilities in communities with disproportionately high minority populations. The report also indicates that multiple abortion referral facilities are placed in communities that are predominantly black or Hispanic.

“This pattern is repeated in state after state,” the researchers noted. “We identified 116 ZIP codes with more than one [abortion or abortion-referral facility]. Of those, 84 were disproportionately black and/or Hispanic. What this means is that, when the American family planning industry places multiple facilities in a ZIP code, that ZIP code is more than two-and-a-half times as likely to be disproportionately minority as not.”

The group says the report validates the claims that abortion advocates have purposely placed abortion centers in urban areas to target black and Hispanic residents and that it is the modern equivalent of population control, particularly against African Americans.

The researchers say they prepared the new report to respond to the criticism of the claims abortion advocates have made to the racial charges — and to point out a hypocrisy.

“In the end, this data speaks for itself and does not require a lot of analysis. The numbers make it clear that the African-American and Hispanic communities have been targeted and logic makes it clear that this did not happen coincidentally or unintentionally,” they concluded.
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Attack of the mutant bird flu

The United Nations is warning of a possible resurgence of the deadly avian flu virus, saying there are indications of a mutant strain spreading in Asia.

The Food and Agriculture Organization says a variant strain of the H5N1 avian influenza virus has surfaced in Vietnam and China. During the month of August, eight people in Cambodia died after becoming infected with the virus this year, according to the FAO.

The avian flu is not only deadly, but it is also an economic nightmare. It has cost an estimated $20 billion across the 63 countries it has infected by directly killing or requiring the culling of over 400 million poultry.

"Preparedness and surveillance remain essential," warns FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth. "Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it.”

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