Playing to win (and help): Tri-B wins EC's first Biz Olympics

Advocates say schools increasingly are removing children with disabilities from the classroom because of behavior issues related to their disability but not recording the actions as suspension. The practice is known as informal removal, which advocates say amounts to a form of off-the-books, de facto denial of education that evades accountability. Because the removals aren’t recorded, there’s no way to quantify how often they happen. But the assistant secretary for the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, Catherine E. Lhamon, says the practice has "taken hold in a way that is dangerous for students and needs to be addressed.”

A Delaware judge says cigarette manufacturer ITG Brands assumed liability for tobacco settlement payments to the state of Florida when it acquired four brands from Reynolds American in 2015. Vice Chancellor Lori Will also said in Friday's ruling that ITG must compensate Reynolds American for losses due to that assumed liability. Reynolds sold the Kool, Winston, Salem and Maverick brands to ITG in 2014 to gain federal regulators' approval of Reynolds’ acquisition of Lorillard Inc. Before the sale closed, Reynolds American affiliate R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was making payments under a preexisting settlement agreement with Florida for reimbursement of smoking-related health care costs.

North Carolina’s State Board of Elections is directing county election officials not to engage in signature matching when reviewing absentee ballot envelopes this fall after a judge rejected the GOP appeal of a state board ruling prohibiting the practice. According to a directive sent to county election directors from the board’s legal counsel Paul Cox, the judge’s ruling maintains the status quo outlined in state law. Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell ruled from the bench Monday afternoon, denying the party’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preventing the use of signature matching in the 2022 general election, state board spokesperson Pat Gannon said.

William Wellema drove all the way from New Jersey to Florida's Gulf Coast to see if his vacation home on Fort Myers Beach survived Hurricane Ian. But after four days, he's still waiting for permission to cross the bridge to Estero Island. His wait is a reminder that the death toll from the storm, already at 101, could still grow. Fort Myers Beach officials have said allowing more people onto the island would hinder their efforts to search for those injured and killed in the storm. Florida has recorded 92 storm-related deaths so far. Five people were also killed in North Carolina, three in Cuba and one in Virginia.

A judge says an Ohio law that bans virtually all abortions will remain blocked while a state constitutional challenge proceeds. Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins took the action from the bench Friday after a daylong hearing. The 2019 “heartbeat” abortion ban was briefly able to take effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, but it was later put on temporary hold. Jenkins’ decision means abortions through 20 weeks’ gestation may continue in Ohio for now. Abortion providers who have sued will try to prove through their litigation that the law violates protections contained in Ohio’s Constitution.

Wall Street lost more ground on worries that a still-strong U.S jobs market may actually make a recession more likely. The S&P 500 fell 2.8% Friday after the government said employers hired more workers last month than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also fell sharply, and Treasury yields rose. Markets are worried the Federal Reserve could see the jobs report as proof the economy hasn’t slowed enough yet to get inflation under control. That could clear the way for continued, aggressive hikes to interest rates, something that risks causing a recession if done too severely.

Uvalde school leaders have pulled its embattled campus police force off the job four months after the Robb Elementary School shooting. The decision Friday follows a wave of new outrage over the hiring of a former Texas state trooper who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response during the May attack that killed 19 children and two teachers. School leaders also put two members of the district police department on administrative leave, one of whom chose to retire.  A total of 400 officers responded to the shooting, including five school district police officers. The city’s police, county sheriff’s deputies, state police and U.S. Border Patrol agents were among others who responded.

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Jurors concluded their first full day of deliberations without reaching a verdict Friday in a trial to determine how much conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay for spreading the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting was a hoax.

A Connecticut jury is deliberating on how much conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company must pay victims’ families for calling the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School a hoax. The jury didn’t reach a verdict Friday and is scheduled to resume work next week. Jones last year was found liable for damages to the 15 plaintiffs who sued him for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and other claims. Twenty children and six educators were killed in the shooting. Jones could be ordered to pay as little as $1 in damages or possibly tens or hundreds of millions, based on what the jury decides.