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Kumbh Mela
A Naga sadhu, or naked Hindu holy man, performs rituals on the banks of the River Ganges during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, India, Saturday. Devout Hindus bathe in the Ganges during the months-long festival, expected to attract more than 10 million people, with the belief that it will cleanse them of their sins and free them from the cycle of life and rebirth. AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh
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ACLU sues Idaho prisons
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union sued state prison officials and a private company Thursday, claiming violence is so rampant at the Idaho Correctional Center that it’s known as “gladiator school” among inmates.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit against Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America in U.S. District Court in Boise.
The lawsuit says Idaho’s only private prison is extraordinarily violent, with guards deliberately exposing inmates to brutal beatings from other prisoners as a management tool.
The group contends the prison then denies injured inmates medical care to save money and hide the extent of injuries.
Steve Owen, Corrections Corporation of America’s director of public affairs, said the company would respond to the lawsuit through court filings. He said state officials have unfettered access to the prison and provide strong oversight at the facility, including daily on-site monitoring.
Better teachers, Obama vows
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is promising parents and their kids that with his administration’s help they will have better teachers in improved schools so U.S. students can make up for academic ground lost against youngsters in other countries.
A proposed overhaul of the education law championed by President George W. Bush will put the impetus for change on states, school districts and schools, Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday. “We set a high bar, but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it,” he said. At issue is the rewrite he intends to send Congress on Monday of the No Child Left Behind law that Bush signed in 2002. That law focused on accountability in the classroom, but has fallen short of its original goals.
Oregon quake unfelt
PORTLAND (AP) — The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo., reports a magnitude 4.9 quake Friday night off the Oregon coast. There were no immediate reports of it being felt or causing damage. Geophysicist Randy Baldwin says the quake was centered about 330 miles west-southwest of Portland at a depth of six miles — shallow in earthquake terms.
