Four Boys Charged with Sexually Assaulting 8-year-old
Phoenix Police have charged four boys, all children of Liberian immigrants, with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl, whom they allegedly lured into a vacant storage shed with chewing gum. Police say that the suspects – ages 9, 10, 13 and 14 – restrained the girl and sexually assaulted her on July 16. The boys all live in the same apartment complex, police said. The 14-year-old is being charged as an adult. The girl has been placed in the custody of Phoenix Child Protective Services because of her parents’ attitude toward her, police said.

Judge Says NYC Fire Dept. Discriminates
Because of discrimination within New York City’s Fire Department, Blacks and Hispanics account for only 10 percent of its workforce, despite the fact that most residents are minorities, a judge ruled Wednesday. “These numbers stand in stark contrast to some of the nation’s other large cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston, where minority firefighters have been represented in significantly higher percentages,” U.S. District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis wrote, agreeing with U.S. Department of Justice and a fraternal order of Black firefighters. Justice and the Black firefighters group found that disparities among those taking firefighter recruitment exams in 1999 and 2002 were so wide that no trial was needed to rule against the city. The city used the exams to appoint more than 5,300 entry-level firefighters between 1999 and 2007, “cheating at least 1,000 minority firefighters of chances to join a force of roughly 11,000 at the Fire Department of New York,” The Associated Press reported. Some 3,100 exam candidates were Black and 4,200 were Hispanic; still, the city appointed only 184 Black firefighters and 461 Hispanic firefighters, he said. “Black and Hispanic applicants had disproportionately failed the written examinations and those who passed were placed disproportionately lower down the hiring lists than Whites.” He said he must now consider remedies.

Black Women Don’t Stick with Law Firms
Three in four Black women lawyers will leave their firms within five years after slamming into the proverbial glass ceiling, a new study has found. “Those who leave often report experiencing institutional discrimination and unwanted and or unfair critical attention, which combine to create an exclusionary and challenging workplace,” according to the report by Catalyst, a women’s research group. Citing earlier studies, Catalyst noted that employers pay dearly when they lose an attorney. In fact, the group said, the cost is equal to or greater than the departing lawyer’s annual salary and benefits. Among the challenges unique to non-White women, according to Catalyst, are limited growth opportunities and a heightened sense of “outsider status;” more racial and gender stereotyping and experiences of sexism; lack of access to high-profile client assignments; and missed opportunities for candid feedback, the report said.