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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — It's the first time in 17 years that the Confederate flag isn't casting a shadow over the observance of the Martin Luther King holiday outside the South Carolina Statehouse. It was taken down over the summer, after the shooting deaths of nine black church members during a bible study in Charleston. The state NAACP says there is still more work to do to honor King. The theme of this year's rally is "education equity."
NEW YORK (AP) — There are calls for a boycott of the Oscars, because there are no African-Americans among this year's acting nominees. Director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith each say they won't attend. Writing on Instagram on the Martin Luther King holiday, Lee said he was fed up. And Pinkett Smith -- whose husband Will Smith wasn't nominated for his role in "Concussion" -- said, "Begging for acknowledgement, or even asking, diminishes dignity."
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is making Flint's water crisis a political issue. Clinton said during last night's Democratic debate that Snyder has "acted as though he didn't really care" about the crisis. But Snyder told The Detroit News today after speaking at a Martin Luther King Day event in Flint that "politicizing the issue doesn't help matters." The Republican also reiterated he's focusing "on the solution and how to deal with the damage that was done."
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Authorities in Morocco say a man they've arrested had a "direct relationship" to the attackers who carried out the Paris attacks in November. The man is from Belgium, and is of Moroccan descent. Officials say he traveled to Syria with one of the Paris suicide bombers. There, they say, he received military training and built relationships with Islamic State field commanders, including the "mastermind" of the Paris attacks.
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York man is facing trial on charges of vehicular homicide and manslaughter for an accident that killed a police officer. But James Ryan wasn't involved in the crash in 2012, and wasn't even behind the wheel at the time. Prosecutors say he was charged because he was involved in a pair of initial accidents while drunk. At least five minutes later, the officer who arrived to investigate was killed by an SUV that hit the original wreckage. Ryan's attorneys say the charges are a stretch.
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