Schools may be liable in harassment WASHINGTON (AP) - Educators who fail to stop students from sexually harassing other students may be violating a federal anti-bias law and can be forced to pay the victims, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 5-4 decision in a Georgia case is enormously important for all schools - from elementary to university levels - that accept federal money. The court ruled that a Georgia school district can be held financially responsible for the sexual harassment of a fifth-grade girl if officials with the authority to help her knew about the harassment but were "deliberately indifferent" to it. Such harassment has to be severe and pervasive, the court said as it revived a Georgia girl's lawsuit against her school district and sent the case back to a lower court for more study. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559665337-8fc> *** Monday's Supreme Court rulings, see full st! ory <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559665407-1d0> Whaling officials gather in Grenada ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada (AP) - International whaling officials have gathered in Grenada to hear calls to ease a worldwide ban on commercial whaling in the wake of a widely publicized Makah whale hunt. The 1986 ban has helped raise the numbers of large whales, and some species now number more than 1 million. But most types remain endangered, with humpbacks numbering around 8,000, bowhead whales between 6,000 and 9,000, and blue whales no more than 1,000. At a five-day conference beginning Monday, Japan, Norway and many Caribbean allies plan to argue that growing gray and pilot whale populations should no longer be protected. See full story <http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559659650-638>
