WASHINGTON – A serving U.S. Army officer who went to court to keep his beard for religious reasons notched a significant victory Thursday, when a federal judge blocked special tests for the decorated veteran while the case is pending.
Federal District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington ruled that the Defense Department can't impose "any non-standard or discriminatory testing" on Capt. Simratpal Singh, who had faced what he called "discriminatory" tests to determine whether his beard or a turban he wears would interfere with a gas mask or helmet. Singh is a devout Sikh, a South Asian religion whose adherents sometimes wear beards and turbans in keeping with its core tenets.
BOSTON – A majority of Massachusetts voters support scrapping Common Core educational standards and raising the legislative cap on Bay State charter schools, according to a new poll by WBZ and UMass Amherst.
Two citizens' initiatives, one of which would direct the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to repeal Common Core and another which would allow the Board the flexibility to increase the number of public charter schools in the Bay State, are headed toward the November ballot.
