BOYS PREP BASKETBALL=

Class AA Lower State=

Second Round=

Carvers Bay 71, Batesburg-Leesville 33

Marion 66, Silver Bluff 62

Class AA Upper State=

Second Round=

Gray Collegiate Academy 83, St. Joseph 31

Greenville Technical Charter 52, Central 42

Lee Central 76, Abbeville 48

W.J. Keenan 52, Landrum 50, OT

Class AAAA Lower State=

Second Round=

A.C. Flora 67, R.B. Stall 61

Berkeley 63, Hartsville 54

Lakewood 64, Colleton County 47

Wilson 67, Orangeburg-Wilkinson 54

Class AAAA Upper State=

Second Round=

Aiken 48, Greer 39

Ridge View 63, Eastside 45

South Aiken 64, Travelers Rest 57

Class AAAAA Lower State=

Second Round=

Blythewood 96, Socastee 61

Conway 62, Summerville 59

Irmo 45, Sumter 41

West Ashley 57, Spring Valley 53

Class AAAAA Upper State=

Second Round=

Dorman 90, Greenwood 50

Riverside 45, Boiling Springs 39

Wade Hampton (G) 51, James F. Byrnes 33

SCISA Class AAA=

First Round=

Heathwood Hall 55, Wilson Hall 33

Pinewood Prep 81, Augusta Christian, Ga. 65

SCISA Class AA=

First Round=

Hilton Head Prep 62, Thomas Sumter Academy 50

Palmetto Christian Academy 80, Dillon Christian 49

Shannon Forest Christian 60, Pee Dee Academy 35

Spartanburg Day 82, St. Andrew's, Ga. 35

Trinity Byrnes School 86, John Paul II 35

SCISA Class A=

First Round=

Anderson Christian 97, Coastal Christian Prep 31

Cathedral Academy 48, Holly Hill Academy 30

Clarendon Hall Academy 61, Laurens Academy 57

Newberry Academy 67, Andrew Jackson Academy 49

South Aiken Baptist 67, Conway Christian School 64

BOYS BASKETBALL=

Class A Lower State=

Quarterfinal=

C.E. Murray 46, Low Country Prep 42

Hemingway 69, Bethune-Bowman 50

Class A Upper State=

Quarterfinal=

Lewisville 69, Great Falls 63, OT

Ridge Spring-Monetta 68, High Point Academy 64

Class AA Lower State=

Quarterfinal=

Carvers Bay 58, Andrews 37

Marion 46, Kingstree 43

Class AA Upper State=

Quarterfinal=

Gray Collegiate Academy 96, Lee Central 64

W.J. Keenan 45, Greenville Technical Charter 43

Class AAA Lower State=

Quarterfinal=

Ridgeland-Hardeeville 68, Bishop England 61

Wade Hampton (H) 61, Loris 53

Class AAA Upper State=

Quarterfinal=

Southside 61, Camden 35

Walhalla 74, Chester 65

Class AAAA Lower State=

Quarterfinal=

A.C. Flora 57, Lakewood 47

Wilson 53, Berkeley 45

Class AAAA Upper State=

Quarterfinal=

Ridge View 77, Aiken 61

South Aiken 65, Westwood 64

Class AAAAA Lower State=

Quarterfinal=

Blythewood 71, Conway 58

Irmo 57, West Ashley 43

Class AAAAA Upper State=

Quarterfinal=

Dorman 51, Riverside 49, OT

Wade Hampton (G) 61, Nation Ford 59

SCISA Class AA=

Quarterfinal=

Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach 66, Hilton Head Prep 56

Palmetto Christian Academy 65, Shannon Forest Christian 51

Spartanburg Day 91, King's Academy 54

Trinity Byrnes School 78, Bethesda Academy, Ga. 61

SCISA Class A=

Quarterfinal=

Anderson Christian 78, South Aiken Baptist 46

Cathedral Academy 59, Richard Winn Academy 39

Clarendon Hall Academy 76, Covenant Christian 55

Newberry Academy 69, Francis Hugh Wardlaw Academy 44

___

Some high school basketball scores provided by Scorestream.com, https://scorestream.com/

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When the Texas Board of Education last produced history curriculum guidelines for public schools, experts decried its members for attempting to promote religious and conservative ideology over facts.

Now the state is considering revisions to the 2010 standards, which a group of academics slammed in a report Thursday. Among their complaints: lessons downplaying slavery as the Civil War's cause, exaggerating the influence of Moses on U.S. democracy and applauding the National Rifle Association and Newt Gingrich's Contract with America.

The report suggests some heavy editing, but it remains to be seen whether the board's 10 Republicans and five Democrats will comply when they begin voting on rewrites in November. For years, the panel has generated attention for such things as trying to limit lessons on evolution and climate change in science textbooks.

"The best we can hope for right now is the more egregious mistakes are rectified," one of the report's authors, Edward Countryman, a history professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said Thursday in a conference call. "I think it's possible."

The report was commissioned by frequent education board critic the Texas Freedom Network, but its authors say their objections are about facts, not politics.

Their report notes how one board member in 2010 described slavery as an "after issue" and how Texas' resulting curriculum standards suggested it was the Civil War's third cause behind sectionalism and states' rights. The board also asked the state's nearly 5.4 million public school students to compare ideas from Abraham Lincoln's inaugural address with those of the one by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which didn't mention slavery while championing small-government values.

Authors also fault Texas' standards for including Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson as an example of "effective leadership."

Last year's white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, and subsequent efforts to remove Confederate monuments around the country have underscored debates on how the Civil War is taught in different states. But Texas' Civil War lessons perpetuate "a historical mistruth promoted by southern apologists after the war," the report says.

It suggests instead asking students to examine the conflict's causes, "particularly the central role played by slavery" while recommending scrapping requirements that "glorify Confederate heroes."

The report also calls for removing curriculum standards listing Moses among the people whose principles "informed the American founding documents" while trimming language suggesting that the separation of church and state wasn't a fundamental ideal of the Constitution. It says that's "one of the most blatant examples" of using "Texas curriculum standards to promote a political argument that is unsupported by sound scholarship" and past court cases nationwide.

"The quibble over wording here could not be more misleading," said Emile Lester, a report co-author and political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.

The report faults education board member David Bradley, a Republican from Beaumont who isn't seeking re-election in November, for previously offering to make a $10,000 donation to charity if anyone can find the words "separation of church and state" in the Constitution.

Reached by phone, Bradley said, "I've still got the money in my pocket." The report notes that the Constitution's framers intended strong separation between religion and government policy, even if it's not specifically spelled out.

"What are the studies with university professors? That, generally, 90, 95 percent of them vote liberal Democrat?" Bradley responded. "And you're going to complain about ideology?"

The report also sees the current standards as cheerleading too much for free market economic systems, small government and low taxation. It recommends cutting lessons appearing to justify Sen. Joseph McCarthy's notorious hunts for communists and asking students studying groups like the United Nations to "evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U.S. sovereignty."

And, it slammed as "inaccurate and biased" requiring Texas students to learn about the 1980s and 1990s "conservative resurgence" built on the efforts of things like the NRA and 1994's congressional Contract with America.

"What happened eight years ago was a political circus and a travesty," said Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller. "It undermined the education of our kids and turned Texas into a national joke."

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Andrew J. Hoffman, University of Michigan

(THE CONVERSATION) Academia is in the midst of a crisis of relevance. Many Americans are ignoring the conclusions of scientists on a variety of issues including climate change and natural selection. Some state governments are cutting funding for higher education; the federal government is threatening to cut funding for research. Resentful students face ever increasing costs for tuition.

And distrustful segments of society fear what academia does; one survey found that 58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.

There are multiple causes for this existential crisis, but one in particular deserves special attention. The web is fundamentally changing the channels through which science is communicated – who can create it, who can access it and ultimately what it is. Society now has instant access to more news and information than ever before; knowledge is being democratized. And as a result, the role of the scientist in society is in flux.

But rather than facing this changing landscape head on, research shows that many in academia are resisting its inevitability. In many ways, this response has parallels to that of the Catholic Church in the wake of the invention of the printing press and its role in hastening the Protestant Reformation. I hope this comparison offers a compelling provocation for the scientific community to come to grips with the cataclysmic changes we are now living through and ignore at our peril.

Developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-15th century, the printing press made books cheaper and easier to produce. Where a monk might be able to copy four or five pages a day, a printing press could produce as many as 3,600 a day.

Fifty years later, Martin Luther leveraged the printing press to bring about the Reformation, whereas others who previously lacked the technology could not. Building on his 95 theses, hundreds of thousands of his pamphlets were printed, offering interpretations of the Bible that differed from those of the Catholic Church. Others printed their own pamphlets, offering even more interpretations (of varying quality) on what the Bible can and did say. These pamphlets were consumed by an interested public who could now access the Bible directly, since it was one of the first books printed.

In response, the Catholic Church argued that the written word was reserved for “God’s chosen priests” and not for regular people and sought to put the genie back in the bottle by shutting down printing presses, labeling the purveyors of alternative views as heretical and publishing their own pamphlets.

As we all now know, it didn’t work. The world changed in ways that were unstoppable. The Catholic Church is now one of many authorities on the Bible, as there are now a variety of accepted approaches to interpreting scripture that build off of various traditions, often with interchange and collaboration among them. In the coming decades, it would be reasonable to expect the same fate for today’s notions of science.

The arrival of the World Wide Web has many parallels to the emergence of the printing press. By the mid-to-late 1990s, the web had grown in distribution and come into common usage.

One outcome of this wider usage, particularly as we entered the 2000s, was easier access to scientific information from a wider variety of sources. And, just as had happened to the Catholic Church, the academy and scientists are being displaced as but one arbiter of scientific knowledge among many. Though competing and questionable scientific findings are not entirely new – notably on the link between cigarettes and cancer in the 1960s – the web now makes it possible for the general public to mine the web for scientific information on a completely different scale and either draw their own conclusions or rely on other’s interpretations about what it says.

Ask any doctor today what it is like to offer a diagnosis with a proposed treatment plan and have the patient offer their own web-based diagnosis. Ask a parent who chooses not to vaccinate their child for fear of autism or someone who denies the science of climate change, and they can present a string of web-based scientific studies to defend their position.

There is now a proliferation of alternative science (of varying quality) through media outlets and pseudo-scientific journals that leave many within academia discouraged and demoralized.

The academy has, in effect, entered its own period of “reformation” with its authority in flux. Just as the Protestant Reformation was anchored in some very legitimate criticisms of the Catholic Church, notably indulgences, this reformation is anchored in some very legitimate criticisms of academia – rising tuition, perceptions of a liberal bias, charges that scientific research cannot be reproduced and thus verified, and questions of the social value of much academic research.

But, many scientists are responding to this reformation’s challenge by trying to question the validity or credentials of other voices, or dismissing misinformed people.

Research shows that many scientists do not see it as their role to educate the public and can be dismissive of both those who do and the channels with which they do it. Surveys show that only 24 percent, for example, admit to writing blogs and nearly 40 percent vow never to use Twitter or Facebook for academic purposes despite the reality that we have a president who has shown the rising influence of social media.

Indeed, there are many within the public who feel a distasteful level of condescension and disdain from academic scholars who see themselves as separate and superior. In the words of one scientist, writing in the comments section of an online essay on this topic, “I would love to explain (my research to the public) but I cannot. I cannot teach my pet hamster differential equations either.”

But this attitude only erodes the trust between the public and the academy. Just like the church’s failed response to the Reformation, this resistant and defiant response won’t work either.

In the face of the changes wrought by the web, the academy must evolve in multiple ways. For example, scientific research in the 21st century should find ways to break down the artificially narrow disciplinary silos that have come to dominate academic life, and link multiple disciplines in research that reflects the complexity of real-world issues.

Next, it must move toward transdisciplinary research to recognize the knowledge that emerges from interacting with communities outside the academy and resides in places other than academic journals, including the web. Local communities, for example, can be useful partners in urban research studies and business, and nonprofits can have much to offer in research projects that study the market.

Further, colleges and universities must accelerate teaching of how to become discerning consumers of online content, being able to distinguish rigorous and objective research from content that may have a political agenda and bias, or represents shoddy or unreliable methodology, data and review.

Next, scientists will be expected to communicate more effectively with consumers of scientific knowledge to explain not only what its research shows, but also how it arrived at its conclusions and the value those conclusions bring to society. This task will involve a new set of skills in communication, storytelling, narrative and the use of the web that scientists lack today.

Some within the academy are beginning to adapt. Indeed, studies find that some academics use the web to boost their professional presence, post content related to their work, discover related peers, find recommended research articles, test new ideas and participate in discussions on research-related issues. One study even found that social media platforms like Twitter increase exposure for academic research within the academy.

Such shifts will be impossible if they are not supported by new forms of training and rewards. And some signs of change are becoming visible. The American Sociological Association published a report on how tenure and promotion committees might consider researchers’ involvement in public communication and social media.

The Mayo Clinic and Michigan’s Ross School of Business have gone one step further, adding social media and professional impact, respectively, to their annual review processes. New metrics, like Altmetric and Impact Story are searching for ways to quantitatively measure such practical impact. And, going to the source, Responsible Research in Business and Management is seeking to promote more top-tier research that addresses problems important to business and society. These changes reflect the growing interests of a new cadre of doctoral students and junior faculty who want to have more real-world impact with their work.

In the end, the challenges that science and the scientist now face offer an opportunity to revitalize the academy by connecting it more deeply with the society and world it studies. It also offers the opportunity to revitalize our democracy by increasing the scientific literacy of an informed electorate. Both foretell an evolving role of the scientist that is more in line with what many have long seen as its special and honored place in society, not separate or above it, but part of it. In many ways, this is the fulfillment of the social contract that many believe the scientific community has always been obligated to honor.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/why-the-web-has-challenged-scientists-authori....

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A settlement has been reached in a bizarre lawsuit that accused four Connecticut high school educators of "indoctrinating" three sisters into a religious cult that celebrates death and causing the siblings to suffer severe personality changes.

The suit, which was filed nearly four years ago, was reported settled after a conference led by a federal judge in New Haven on Thursday, according to court documents. Terms were not disclosed. The settlement must be approved by the local school board.

The sisters' parents sued the school district in the wealthy Hartford suburb of Avon. They also sued four Avon High School educators, including three Spanish teachers and a guidance counselor. The names of the parents and their daughters were kept secret during the court proceedings. The sisters were ages 22, 19 and 16 when the lawsuit was filed in 2014.

The lawsuit said the two older daughters were "indoctrinated into a religious cult that promotes martyrdom and celebrates death," and that caused them to experience "fantasies of suicide ideation and martyrdom." The cult wasn't named. The youngest sister also was targeted for indoctrination by the educators, but she eventually "broke free," the suit said.

"All three girls experienced sudden and severe personality changes," the lawsuit said. "They became flat and distant, reclusive, secretive, and non-communicative. They lost their humor and their empathy. They began speaking in a bizarre new language. They became unable to think critically or independently."

The lawsuit also accused the educators of making the two older sisters believe their parents had abused them by planting "false memories" in their minds.

One teacher, the lawsuit said, "taught her students to believe in superstition, magic, and a non-scientific, anti-intellectual worldview."

The educators and school district denied all the allegations.

"It's a business decision and all the defendants ... continue to deny any liability," said Johanna Zelman, an attorney for the school district.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs declined to comment.

Debra Chute, chairwoman of the Avon Board of Education, said she expected the board to review the settlement and vote on it March 20. Details of the deal may then be released.

The lawsuit also had initially named Wellesley College in Massachusetts as a defendant, but the school was later dropped from the suit for undisclosed reasons. The two older sisters attended Wellesley and the Avon educators visited them there, the lawsuit said.

Court documents filed in December said the two older daughters had reunited with their parents and agreed to participate in family counseling.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are giving Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology $30 million to help improve the literacy skills of elementary school students across the nation.

The Reach Every Reader program will combine scientific research with methods of tracking and predicting students' reading abilities to develop a web-based screening tool to identify kindergartners at high risk of reading difficulties.

MIT President Rafael Reif said "struggling to read can be a crushing blow with lifelong consequences" and when millions of children struggle, it's "a crisis for our society."

Chan called the five-year effort "a unique combination of cutting-edge education and neuroscience research."

Zuckerberg created Facebook while a Harvard student but dropped out. Chan graduated from the Ivy League school in 2007.

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Jennifer Ruef, University of Oregon

(THE CONVERSATION) When I was teaching mathematics in the 90s, before the internet, I had a book of “women mathematicians.” This was helpful for sharing inspirational stories with my middle school students, but there were just six women in this short book.

These days, we have the internet – and more stories about women in mathematics. For example, the 2016 blockbuster movie “Hidden Figures,” based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterley, introduced the world to African-American women mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Christine Darden. The world recently lost Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win a Fields Medal (sort of like the Nobel Prize, but in mathematics).

But we still need more stories about women in mathematics. While many mathematicians know of my colleague Marion Walter, she isn’t known well outside her field. And she should be, for her own story and the lessons she brings to our understanding of mathematics.

Marion Walter will turn 90 years old this July, but when you ask her about growing up, she’ll tell you she hasn’t yet.

She was born in 1928 to a Jewish family in Berlin. She and her sister, Ellen, attended a Jewish boarding school 390 miles away, in Herrlingen, Germany.

In 1939, Marion and Ellen left Nazi Germany on a Kindertransport, the rescue operation that evacuated thousands of Jewish children to England before the outbreak of World War II. When the war began, her school – like many others on the south coast – was evacuated to the English countryside.

At Christmastime in 1944, the headmistress of Marion’s secondary school called her to ask if she knew yet what her plans were now that she had graduated. It was the middle of the winter, in the middle of the war, and the math teacher had just quit unexpectedly. So the headmistress offered Marion the position, for the salary of 10 shillings per week. This was enough for Marion to purchase fish and chips in the neighboring village, if she biked there.

Though Marion still had to sleep in the dormitory with her students, she was pleased to have access to the teachers’ lounge. At age 16, Marion taught math to students aged 5 to 16, and says that her graduating students all passed their school certificate examination.

Marion taught for two terms before moving on to her next adventure: academic studies in mathematics and education.

She arrived in London in the fall of 1945, where she began her formal study of mathematics at the Regent Street Polytechnic. After she attained her intermediate Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, she moved with her family to New York City. While there, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and education from Hunter College, then a master’s degree in mathematics from New York University.

She studied at night because she did computing work during the day. Marion worked on computations for research professors at New York University, using a Marchant calculator. This mechanical computing machine required the user to physically move a cylinder over when adding numbers with multiple digits.

Marion went on to earn her doctorate in mathematics education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and was hired to teach at Simmons College. While in Massachusetts, she founded the Boston Area Mathematics Specialists, a group focused on improving the teaching and learning of mathematics for school children. In 1977, she moved to the University of Oregon. I met her there in 2016.

Marion’s major mathematical line of study has been problem posing – the art of asking and refining mathematical questions.

Her most significant book is likely “The Art of Problem Solving”, co-authored with mathematics educator Stephen Brown. She has also written several articles and children’s books about mathematics.

Marion is also one of few people to have a theorem named after her, based on the following question: If the sides of a triangle are trisected, what is the resulting area of the hexagon that’s created?

Like Marion, we can benefit from cultivating a sense of wonder. Wonder at how people make sense of mathematics, and wonder at how mathematics can describe the world. Wonder keeps us learning and growing.

I asked Marion, who retired in 1993, if she had any advice to share. She was adamant on two counts. First, adults should never tell children, “I was not good at math.” And second, they should not tell children that they are wrong.

Research supports both claims. Telling students we’re not good at mathematics sends the message that they might not be either. And when children think they are not good at math, it hurts their ability to engage with it. On the second count, when someone has a “wrong” answer in mathematics, it’s often because they are thinking about a different problem, or the same problem in a different way.

That said, sometimes there are mathematically incorrect answers. So what do we say? Marion suggests asking, “How are you thinking about the problem?” When children are partners in problem-solving, they are invited into an apprenticeship as mathematicians.

The next time you have a reason to think about mathematicians, I hope you will remember Marion Walter. Women and girls have been told, in many ways, that there is no room in math and science for them. Representations matter. The more powerful women we see in mathematics, the more evidence we have that mathematics is for all people. Children who are learning about the world, and their potential place in it, benefit from visions of who they might become – perhaps a woman in mathematics.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/celebrating-marion-walter-and-other-unsung-fe....

PRESTON, Idaho (AP) — Threats have been made to an Idaho school where a biology teacher was accused of feeding a puppy to a snapping turtle and police in response stepped up school security.

Police Chief Mike Peterson in the small, southeastern town of Preston said Friday the threats were vague but connected to the allegation that the puppy was fed to the turtle March 8 at the junior high school in front of students.

Officers were posted outside the town's schools this week.

There was no school Friday but Peterson said officers may return Monday.

Two parents have said the teacher fed the turtle a sick puppy. The teacher has not been named.

A prosecutor is investigating and Idaho officials seized the turtle Thursday, saying it's an exotic species requiring a permit.

PRESTON, Idaho (AP) — The Latest on turtle eats puppy (all times local):

12:15 p.m.

Idaho officials have euthanized a snapping turtle at the center of an investigation over whether a biology teacher gave it a sick puppy to eat in front of students.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture in a statement Friday says snapping turtles are an invasive species in Idaho requiring a permit. Officials seized the turtle Tuesday and euthanized it Wednesday.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials say they stepped up security for three schools in the Preston School District in eastern Idaho this week following vague threats connected to an allegation that the puppy was fed to the turtle March 7 at the junior high school.

There was no school Friday but Preston Police Chief Mike Peterson says officers may return Monday.

Two parents have said the teacher fed the turtle a sick puppy. The teacher has not been named.

A prosecutor is investigating.

___

This item has been corrected to show the day turtle was seized and euthanized.

____

10:50 a.m.

Threats have been made to an Idaho school where a biology teacher is suspected of feeding a puppy to a snapping turtle and police in response stepped up school security.

Police Chief Mike Peterson in the small, southeastern town of Preston said Friday the threats were vague but connected to the allegation that the puppy was fed to the turtle March 7 at the junior high school in front of students.

Officers were posted outside the town's schools this week.

There was no school Friday but Peterson said officers may return Monday.

Two parents have said the teacher fed the turtle a sick puppy. The teacher has not been named.

A prosecutor is investigating and Idaho officials seized the turtle Thursday, saying it's an exotic species requiring a permit.

___

These items have been corrected to show the turtle was seized Tuesday, not Thursday.

AVON, Conn. (AP) — A school board will debate a proposed settlement of a lawsuit that accuses four educators of "indoctrinating" three sisters into a religious cult that celebrates death.

The Avon Board of Education in Connecticut is scheduled to discuss and possibly vote on the proposal Tuesday. Settlement terms have not been disclosed. Lawyers revealed earlier this month that an agreement had been reached.

The sisters' parents sued the Avon school district, three teachers and a guidance counselor in federal court nearly four years ago. They alleged the Avon High School educators indoctrinated their daughters into a cult, causing them to suffer severe personality changes, become secretive and speak a strange language.

School officials denied the allegations.

The lawsuit alleged the girls' civil and constitutional rights were violated and sought undisclosed damages.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — When the morning bell rings at Myers Park High, 16 girls are in the auto shop at the back of campus, ready to pop some hoods and get under the chassis.

"If you're not getting your hands dirty, you're not doing it right," beams 17-year-old Miley Chavez, who dreams of opening her own garage and calling it The Lady Wrenchers.

Myers Park High, nestled in one of Charlotte's most prestigious neighborhoods, is best known for producing International Baccalaureate graduates who compete for top scholarships and Ivy League Schools.

But the booming auto shop there — the all-girls introductory class is the latest addition — illustrates a crucial part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' strategy: All schools should offer pathways to hands-on careers as well as college. And those career-technical classes should try to attract students who might not traditionally sign up.

Women are underrepresented in automotive jobs, some of which are in high demand in Charlotte. And as the founder of Girls Auto Clinic wrote in the Washington Post, they often dread going to male-dominated auto shops, where a study has shown they may face higher bills.

Kristina Carlevatti, who has taught automotive classes at Myers Park for six years, hopes to make young women more confident about their own cars and put them on a career path. She had thought her presence might encourage girls to enroll.

She traces her own interest back to her teen years, when she broke a serpentine belt on her Jeep Wrangler doing doughnuts in the snow. Rather than face her dad's disapproval, she read up, bought a $14 replacement belt and did the repair herself. Now she's certified to teach pre-engineering technical education — and yes, she was in a distinct minority taking automotive classes in college.

But while Carlevatti has built enrollment to the point her classes had waiting lists, the overwhelming majority of her students were still male. This semester Myers Park hired a second automotive teacher, and Carlevatti added the all-girl class.

Evelyn Harris, a 17-year-old junior, says she'd always been interested in how cars work but hesitated to sign up for a typical class. "Guys tend to think they know everything," she said. In the girls' class, she's comfortable learning to use tools, do auto inspections and check brakes.

"I actually want to make it my career," she said.

Carlevatti is eager to see young women like Harris enroll for more advanced classes, which won't be separated by gender. Once they've mastered the basics, they're likely to have more confidence, she says — and discover that many of the boys don't arrive with much automotive experience either.

The expansion of career and technical education, often abbreviated to CTE, hasn't gotten as much attention in CMS as the focus on academic magnet programs. But it's an essential part of meeting the state's mandate to prepare graduates for careers and college.

Myers Park is among six of the district's 18 neighborhood high schools that offer an automotive program; Independence will join the list next year. Myers Park will add a STEM academy that features computer programming, engineering and biomedical classes.

CTE students who complete a four-course track and take the ACT WorkKeys exams can leave high school with credentials for immediate employment. But many CTE students are college-bound, sometimes using their high school skills to earn money while they pursue two- or four-year degrees.

Carlevatti says more of her students go into engineering than straight to work for auto shops. But she's proud to have recently placed two students into part-time jobs doing state inspections while they finish high school. Her shop is licensed to do North Carolina vehicle inspections, and the school will pay for students who are old enough to get certified.

The new crop of female students are also being exposed to the fun side of auto mechanics. Myers Park students, male and female, are rebuilding an engine for a donated 1977 Chevy pickup truck that they'll race in "24 Hours of LeMons," an endurance race for clunkers being held in Kershaw, S.C., in April. Students will serve as drivers, pit crew and cheering section. Last year Carlevatti says her group was the only high school team.

Even if they don't pursue automotive careers, Carelvatti says she's excited to see young women getting their hands greasy and learning skills that, at the very least, will make them smarter about their own cars.

"Just being able to use their hands and use their minds, brainstorming and troubleshooting, is going to be huge for them," she said.

___

Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com

AVON, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut school board has approved a settlement of a lawsuit that accused four educators of indoctrinating three sisters into a religious cult that celebrates death.

The insurer for Avon High School will pay the $62,500 settlement, Avon School Superintendent Bridget Carnemolla said Thursday.

"The decision to settle the claim was made for purely business reasons only," Carnemolla said.

She said she could not comment further on the deal, which was approved by the town's school board on Tuesday.

The sisters' parents sued the school district, three teachers and a guidance counselor in federal court in 2014. They alleged educators at the school indoctrinated their daughters into a cult, causing them to suffer severe personality changes, become secretive and speak a strange language.

The names of the parents and their daughters were kept secret during the court proceedings. The sisters were ages 22, 19 and 16 when the lawsuit was filed. They were indoctrinated while attending Avon High School, the lawsuit alleged.

The two older daughters were "indoctrinated into a religious cult that promotes martyrdom and celebrates death," and that caused them to experience "fantasies of suicide ideation and martyrdom," the suit alleged. The cult wasn't named. The youngest sister also was targeted for indoctrination by the educators, but she eventually "broke free," the suit said.

School officials denied the allegations.

The lawsuit alleged the girls' civil and constitutional rights were violated and sought undisclosed damages.

Court documents filed in December said the two older daughters had reunited with their parents and agreed to participate in family counseling.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Warren Hervey Wheeler was only 15 when he fell in love with flying.

An airplane salesman flew to Durham to try to sell his sister and her boyfriend a small plane.

Wheeler, the son of the now-deceased John H. Wheeler who led Durham-based Mechanics and Farmers Bank and was a leading civil rights and political figure, reluctantly tagged along on the demonstration flight.

"I didn't want to go," said Wheeler, who was more interested in boating at the time. "When we came down, they didn't buy the airplane but I was sold on flying."

Fast forward nearly 60 years, and Wheeler, one of the nation's first black commercial pilots, the first African American to fly for Piedmont Airlines and the first to own and operate an air service in the U.S. -- Wheeler Airlines -- until its closure in 1991, is still in love with flying.

Wheeler Airlines carried some 40,000 passengers per year in its 1980s heyday.

Wheeler, now 74, doesn't get to fly much these days, but he's sharing his knowledge, resources and love of flying with area students as part of the Airolina Young Aviators Program (AYA). The nonprofit is a S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program for high school students in Durham.

Wheeler said the program can help students perform better in the classroom.

"No, you just have to want to fly," Wheeler answered when asked if students had to be super smart in math to learn to fly. "You just have to want to fly, then the part you may not be so good at in school, you'll become good in it because you want to fly."

Wheeler said it took him a while to realize that what he was learning in flight school was math being taught in a different way.

"I'm doing these equations and triangles to figure out where the wind is and everything else, and I realize that, wait, this is geometry," Wheeler said. "When you gave it to me in a book and said this is geometry, learn this, it was boring and I couldn't figure it out. But when they gave it to me as a practical problem, the wind versus the course, and then all of sudden, it made sense. I fault the school system for not making math interesting and relevant."

In AYA, students receive introductory flight training, mentoring and can earn a basic (Private) Pilot Certificate after they complete the four-year program, which they start as high school freshmen. The program is in its third year, so no student has yet earned a pilot's license.

And while the program is open to all students, Wheeler believes its important to help prepare the next generation of black aviators for the opportunities that will present themselves over the next two decades as thousands of commercial pilots reach the mandatory retirement age of 65.

In the next 20 years, airlines in North America are going to need 117,000 new pilots, according to industry reports. In the past, the airlines could rely on the military and regional airlines to fill pilot jobs, but they too are struggling to find and keep aviators.

"That's not known," Wheeler said of the looming pilot shortage. "This shortage of pilots is coming and the opportunity that comes with it. Just tell me how many opportunities do kids have coming out of high school and going into college and coming out of college that will produce the returns that this one will."

Commercial airline pilots can earn good pay, particularly at the larger airlines. According to Glassdoor, a website where employees and former employees anonymously review companies and their management, the average U.S. airline pilot salary is $113,709. The larger airlines such as American, Delta and United Airlines pay more.

Wheeler said American Airlines, the nation's largest, will retire about 40 percent of its pilots over the next 15 years. He said that's less than the time it would take a freshman in his program this year to become qualified for one of those jobs.

"He's sitting there, they have to hire him," Wheeler said. "That's the best sales pitch I have."

But learning to fly is expensive, and once students move to the phase of training where they actually board an airplane for lessons, it can become too costly for many families.

AYA has stepped in to help defray the costs, but has found that increasingly difficult to do in recent months.

"We started off trying to pay for the flying training, but once we go to the airport, we have to try to get the families to come up with something," Wheeler said. "We can supplement it but we can't provide it for everybody. We have eight kids who should be out there flying every week but we can't do it."

Today, flying lessons cost about $180 an hour, compared to the $14 an hour Wheeler paid for lessons after he caught the flying bug in the early 1960s.

At $180 an hour, it would cost a student $7,200 to earn a basic pilot's license. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires 40 hours of flight time in addition to passing the FAA Private Pilot written exam and the Private Pilot Oral and Practical (Flying) Exam to earn a pilot's license.

AYA has 22 students in its program now, eight of whom are either taking flying lessons or eligible to do so. The others practice on a flight simulator in the basement of the Hayti Heritage Center on Fayetteville Street.

Jordan Griffith, a junior at Hillside High School, already has a little more than 60 hours of flying time under his belt and holds a student pilot certificate, which allows him to fly solo, but he cannot carry passengers. He hopes to earn his full pilot's license this summer.

Griffith, whose license plate reads, "BLK Pilot," made his first solo flight last summer and first solo flight across North Carolina in January.

"It was a little nerve wracking, but once I leveled off and became comfortable in the air, I knew what I was doing and my instructor trained me well, it became easier," Griffith said, shortly before he demonstrated a short flight on the simulator. "There were no mishaps. Everything went as planned and the flight was a success."

Griffith most recently flew solo to Kinston, Wilmington and back.

"That flight alone cost over $400 for a four-hour flight," Griffith said. "That was a big expense but I was able to do it myself because I have money saved in advance."

AYA was helping Griffith with his expenses, but had to stop about two months ago because it no longer had the money to do so.

"The program was helping but that got cut off and I've been paying on my own," Griffith said "I have money saved up and I'm able to do that and finish on my own."

Griffith said that he is fortunate to be able pay for his flying lessons en route to what he hopes turns into a career as a commercial pilot after he graduates college.

He wants the students in the program coming behind him to have the same opportunity.

"Any donation to the program would definitely be a great help to other students who may not be able to pay for their own flying lessons," Griffith said.

Griffith said he would like to see Durham Public Schools offer an aviation program, but only to students who are serious about pursuing aviation as a career.

"There's such a big focus on going to college but more attention needs to be paid on careers and what students are going to do after college," Griffith said. "No one seems to know what they want to do after college. That's what I think DPS should be focused on."

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Information from: The Herald-Sun, http://www.herald-sun.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The results of the latest Nation's Report Card are in and the news isn't good.

Fourth-graders made no improvements in math or reading, while eighth-graders' scores were flat in math and only slightly improved in reading, according to results released Tuesday on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Overall, only roughly a third of American eighth-graders are proficient in reading and math along with about 40 percent of fourth-graders.

The figures are in line with recent trends. Students made big gains in the 1990s and early 2000s, but there have been no major improvements since then.

The results show that racial disparities persist. African-American students were out-performed by their white peers at both grade levels.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says the country needs to do better for its students, citing the stagnating reading and math scores.

"More alarmingly, the gap between the highest and lowest performing students is widening," DeVos added.

She singled out Florida's results for praise. Fourth-graders there improved in math, and eighth-graders had gains in both math and reading.

DeVos said Florida has a strong publicly funded charter and private school program — a strong priority for the Trump administration.

"Florida's results show what is possible when we focus on individual students," DeVos said.

In eighth grade, the average U.S. reading score was 267 out of 500, 1 point higher than in 2015, but 7 points higher than when the reading test was first administered in 1992. For math, the average score was 283, similar to two years before.

Peggy Carr, associate commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics, said the increase for eighth-grade reading was due to improvement among higher-performing students. Lower-performing students had similar results in 2017 as in 2015.

The picture was different for fourth-graders. Low-performing students did worse in math and reading, while higher-performing students stayed at the same level.

"There is still much work to be done to close achievement gaps and ensure that our young people are ready for success in college, careers and life," said Carissa Miller, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. "It is clear we as a country must do better by all of our students, especially our lowest-performing kids."

The results were the first since the test was changed from paper to computer-based.

States that saw improvements in eighth-grade reading included California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Washington. Meanwhile, Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Louisiana, among others, saw lower results for fourth-grade math.

NBA-PLAYOFF PICTURE

Only one spot left

UNDATED (AP) — There's only one spot left in the NBA playoffs, and it'll go to either Minnesota or Denver.

New Orleans, San Antonio and Oklahoma City all clinched playoff berths by winning on Monday night. The Spurs did so for the 21st consecutive year, tying Portland for the second-longest run in NBA history and moving one shy of tying Philadelphia's league record.

Monday's triple-clinchings didn't change the standings; the order of the top eight remains the same, going into the next-to-last day of the regular season. But it won't saty that way.

Portland and Utah can still get to No. 3. The Blazers, Jazz, Pelicans, Thunder and Spurs are in the mix for No. 4. The Spurs could also fall as far as No. 8. The Thunder, who are in seventh, cannot finish seventh. There's at least a dozen more scenarios.

In the East, five seeds remain unclaimed. Cleveland won the Central Division and locked Indiana into the No. 5 seed with a win at New York.

Milwaukee is now up to No. 6 in the East, flip-flopping spots with now-No. 7 Miami. The Bucks beat Orlando, while the Heat lost to the Thunder.

The Bucks wrap up No. 6 with a win at Philadelphia on Wednesday night. But the 76ers will go into the final day with a chance at the No. 3 spot, regardless of whether they win in Atlanta on Tuesday.

MLB-NEWS

Cubs place 1B Rizzo on DL with back tightness

UNDATED (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have placed first baseman Anthony Rizzo on the 10-day disabled list with lower back tightness.

The move was made retroactive to Friday. Infielder/outfielder Efren Navarro was promoted from Triple-A Iowa to take Rizzo's spot on the roster.

The 28-year-old Rizzo is a key part of Chicago's lineup, hitting 32 homers and driving in 109 runs in each of the past two years. He is off to a slow start this season, batting .107 in his first six games.

The Cubs announced the move before Tuesday's home opener against Pittsburgh.

Navarro is a .243 hitter with three homers and 22 RBIs in 153 career major league games with the Angels and Tigers.

In other baseball news:

— Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo says he regrets his choice of words that set off St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina and triggered a benches-clearing incident. Lovullo came out of the dugout to argue with plate umpire Tim Timmons in St. Louis on Sunday. He blamed the umpire for a called third strike he claimed was influenced by the All-Star catcher's pitch framing. Lovullo used a profanity that set off Molina, and the manager was ejected. Lovullo says he "made a mistake with some of the wording" that he used.

— Pirates closer Felipe Rivero has changed his name to Felipe Vazquez. Vazquez told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he legally changed his surname to match that of his sister, Prescilla. He says his uniform will reflect the change soon. He apologized on Twitter to fans who purchased his No. 73 jersey with his name on the back.

TENNIS-WILLIAMS SISTERS-EQUAL PAY

Venus, Serena Williams join Billie Jean King equal pay push

UNDATED (AP) — Venus and Serena Williams are adding their names and voices to the push for equal pay championed by the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.

The two current tennis stars are joining the advisory board of the group founded by the former player.

Tuesday's announcement about the sisters was timed to coincide with Equal Pay Day, which approximates how far into a new year a woman must work to earn what a man made by the previous Dec. 31.

Says King: "Venus has always had the courage to step up. And Serena's the same way. They step up."

Venus Williams played a vocal role in Wimbledon's decision to start awarding equal prize money to men and women in 2007.

She calls King "a prime example" that "your work on this earth never ends as long as there is inequality."

WRESTLING TEAM-ABUSE ALLEGATION

Lawsuit: Catholic school covered up wrestling coaches abuse

ORADELL, N.J. (AP) — A former wrestler has sued his Catholic high school, claiming the New Jersey school and church officials conspired to cover up sexual and verbal abuse in its nationally recognized wrestling program.

The suit filed Monday alleges Bergen Catholic High School wrestling coaches shared pornographic images with team members, watched wrestlers strip naked and sent athletes inappropriate text messages. It also claims school and Archdiocese of Newark officials worked to shield the coaches.

In a statement issued Monday, Brother Brian Walsh — president of the school in Oradell — said the suit was "based on allegations that are unfounded, frivolous and untrue." He said the school would vigorously defend itself.

School and archdiocese officials say they reported the abuse allegations to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office when they learned about them.

PISTORIUS-APPEAL DISMISSED

South African court dismisses Pistorius appeal

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Legal experts say Olympian Oscar Pistorius has finally run out of options to appeal his 13-year prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend.

South Africa's highest court dismissed Pistorius' request to review the prison sentence on Monday, closing a five-year legal saga surrounding the man who was once one of the world's most celebrated athletes.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal more than doubled Pistorius' six-year sentence for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot four times through a locked bathroom door in his home on Valentine's Day 2013.

OLYMPICS-TOKYO 2020-TORCH RELAY

2020 torch relay to highlight Japan's recovery from disaster

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo Olympic organizers say the torch relay for the 2020 Games will help showcase Japan's recovery from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Upon its arrival in Japan, the Olympic flame will be put on display at various locations in the Tohoku region to help underscore Japan's recovery from the disaster that took more than 18,000 lives and triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The torch relay will spend three days in Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi, the three prefectures hit hardest by the disaster.

While reconstruction from the disaster is making steady progress, more than 70,000 people are still displaced from their communities.

The relay will also spend three days in each of the four prefectures hosting multiple competitions during the Olympics and 15 days in the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

While the precise starting point and route has yet to be announced, the torch relay will cover all 47 prefectures in Japan.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Public Schools have agreed to a land swap with the city's professional soccer team so the club can build a new $200 million stadium on the site where a high school stadium now sits.

The school board approved the swap Tuesday. As part of the deal, FC Cincinnati agreed to build Taft High School a new $10 million stadium near the school's current stadium in the city's west end.

The deal is contingent on the minor league team getting an invitation to join Major League Soccer.

The school board initially rejected the offer because the team was seeking to make reduced property tax payments on the new stadium. The team later agreed to pay about $25 million over the life of the stadium.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — To most spectators, the term "Olympics" means world-class swimming competitions, downhill skiing or the 100-meter dash.

But near the Arctic Circle, a different type of Olympics for young people pays homage to the region's subsistence hunters and the methods they've used for centuries to feed their families and stay alive in harsh conditions.

This week, more than 400 high school students from across Alaska will gather in Anchorage for the Native Youth Olympics state championships, where 10 events will test their strength, endurance and agility.

The games include the Seal Hop, where competitors bounce for as long as they can on their knuckles and toes, mimicking the act of sneaking up on a sleeping seal; the Indian Stick Pull, where two contestants fight for a greased dowel, simulating grabbing a slippery salmon from the water by the tail; and the Scissor Broad Jump, a half-long-jump, half-scissor-kick event that replicates leaping from one ice floe to the next in the Arctic Ocean.

Towns and villages in Canada, Greenland and Russia also have Native Youth Olympics. Participants compete locally and at larger international gatherings such as the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics and the Arctic Winter Games.

The events teach competitors to respect their fellow athletes, which can have real-life applications in the circumpolar north, where severe weather can force people to rely on each other.

Athletes do not compete against each other as much as they always try for their personal best, and it's tradition for competitors in the same event to give each other pointers and encouragement. So is always shaking hands with opponents and judges.

Students do not have to be Alaska Native to compete in the Alaska Games, even though the events are designed from cultural activities, said Tim Blume, spokesman for Cook Inlet Tribal Council, an Anchorage-based nonprofit organization that organizes the games.

"That's really the catalyst of sharing the culture and creating awareness of the differences for all the attendees and the students to share their unique heritage, and learn a little about each other and come together under the aspect of sportsmanship," he said.

The Alaska Games draw athletes from towns and villages across the nation's largest state, including a team from Juneau — the first competitors from the state capital in nearly three decades.

Coach Kyle Demientieff-Worl, himself a highly decorated athlete from national and international competitions, is bringing 10 athletes from Juneau in his inaugural team.

He is trying to reinvigorate Native Youth Olympics in Juneau, where it's had a presence at the grade school level but nothing in higher grades in nearly 30 years. He recruits and encourages students at both of Juneau's high schools and began organizing the first team late last year. He raised money for the team's pricy trip to Anchorage, and even made posters on his downtime.

His uncle, Ricardo, was coach when Juneau fielded its last team, around 1990, when athletes' interest waned.

"Kyle took the games here in Juneau to a whole new level right out of the gate," his uncle said. "In that short amount of time, he was able to make all these major accomplishments."

Among those financially supporting the team is the Sealaska Heritage Institute, a Juneau nonprofit whose mission is to preserve and enhance the cultures of southeast Alaska's Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian tribes. Its president, Rosita Worl (Ricardo's mother and Kyle's grandmother), said a survey of more than 400 Native Youth Olympics athletes from across Alaska found a connection to social development, academic achievement and good cross-cultural relationships among native and non-native populations.

"And I said, 'We've got to have it here,'" she said.

One of Juneau's team members is Bryan Johnson, an 18-year-old senior. He joined for a simple reason: In his first three years of high school, he didn't really participate in any sports.

"I didn't do anything, so I'm like, 'I kind of need to get moving,'" he said.

Johnson, who is part Tlingit and part Filipino, was soon feeling the burn. "It's using muscles that you normally wouldn't use, and since I'm just kind of getting into it, I'm starting to really work out all the parts of my body to get a little higher each time," he said.

That was his goal in January, after he picked up a few second-place medals in kicking events.

"I really want to try and keep pushing myself and getting higher," he said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Mick Ruis packed his suitcases for his first trip to the Kentucky Derby as an owner and trainer.

The 57-year-old high school dropout stuffed more than clothing and toiletries in his bags. He feels so strongly about Bolt d'Oro's chances — the colt is the co-fourth choice at 8-1 — Ruis packed plenty of cash.

"When he dropped from first to fifth or sixth now after he lost the Santa Anita Derby, every week I just put more money in a suitcase to come here to bet on him Saturday," Ruis said. "That's how confident we are."

Ruis said he also wagered $1,200 on Bolt d'Oro in Las Vegas when he was 40-1 last year.

"But you can't put a money value on winning the race," he said.

Ruis is an anomaly in the sport because he owns, trains and handles much of the work around the barn, all with his horses.

He first came to love racing on a 1979 visit to Agua Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico. Leaving high school, he worked his way up from entry level positions in construction and shoring. He started his first company with $3,000 and sold it six years later for $2.5 million.

Ruis used the stake to go into training and racing thoroughbreds, but crashed out in the middle of the last decade. He earned $467,981 in purses over three years before finding himself $1 million in debt. "Never worked so hard to lose so much money in my life," he said.

He turned full-time attention to his San Diego-based company American Scaffolding, which has contracts on ships in five states and with the Navy. Driven to find a path back into racing, he built up the company and sold it for a reported $78 million two years ago while keeping a 20 percent stake.

Ruis is faring much better his second time back in the sport.

He spent about $2 million on horses to get Ruis Racing underway. One of his purchases — for $635,000 — in 2016 was Bolt d'Oro, named for retired Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt and the colt's sire Medaglia d'Oro.

Some of his family is along for the ride, including wife Wendy. The couple married 23 years ago after knowing each other for three weeks. He was divorced with three kids and she was widowed with two. Together, they had two more. His 25-year-old daughter, Shelbe, is his assistant.

Most owners with a horse in the Derby for the first time revel in seeing their silks during the post parade as the 100,000-strong crowd sings "My Old Kentucky Home."

Once again, Ruis is going his own way.

Jockey Victor Espinoza will wear the colors of Spendthrift Farm aboard Bolt d'Oro on Saturday. Ruis sold 50 percent of the colt's future breeding rights to 84-year-old Spendthrift owner B. Wayne Hughes, while keeping the rest for himself. The change in Derby silks was a gift to Hughes, the billionaire owner of Public Storage.

"I'm not in here to be the center of attention," Ruis said.

He admits the hubbub of his first Derby week has been stressful.

"You're thinking about the high, what could be," he said.

To escape, Ruis went back to his roots. He headed across the Ohio River to visit a wrestling club in New Albany, Indiana, on Wednesday. A gold medalist in the Junior Pan Am Games as a high school wrestler, Ruis likes to quote Olympic champion Dan Gable and credits the sport for teaching him a work ethic and respect.

He spoke to the group of boys ranging from age seven to 18 and then donated $10,000 to their club.

"They're building character," he said. "These guys will make it out in the world."

Ruis wasn't done, either.

If Bolt d'Oro wins the Derby, he promised to hand over $50,000. The winning owner receives $1.43 million.

"I got a bunch of guys rooting for Bolt to win," Ruis said, smiling.

After the colt's morning workout, Ruis headed out of town to decompress Thursday, this time down Interstate 64 to Lexington, where he bought a farm near Keeneland.

A Derby win can generate more clients with good horses for a trainer. But Ruis isn't interested.

"Right now, we're really happy where we're at," he said, anticipating the 20 yearlings he has coming into his stable.

However, he would like to see other owners expand their choice of trainers beyond the sport's big names of Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen and Chad Brown.

"There's so many good horsemen on the backside, give some of these guys a chance back here," Ruis said. "I don't understand why these mega-owners just go with the big name. I don't think it's the best thing for racing."

While careful not to criticize the high-profile trainers, Ruis sees himself as the person to stand up for the little guys.

"I would hope if we do good, that's the message Bolt d'Oro can give," he said.

Ruis isn't planning much of an upgrade to his trademark white T-shirt and jeans for Derby day. He took advantage of a buy-one-get-one-free deal at a men's store and will wear a $220 sport coat over the shirt.

Explaining his attire to his wife, he said, "I made my money with a white T-shirt."

She replied, "The rest of us are going to look good."

They all will if their colt is in the winner's circle wearing the garland of red roses.

EAST HANOVER, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey high school is facing heat from students and parents over a new policy that either everyone makes the cheerleading squad or no one does.

Hanover Park High School in East Hanover enacted the change after a parent complained his or her child didn't make the team after tryouts last month.

The school says the goal is to make the squad more inclusive. But student Stephanie Krueger recently told board of education members all her hard work "has been thrown out the window."

Some parents say when they complained about the new policy the principal threatened to disband the 10-member squad.

The board is reviewing the policy. It's unclear when a final decision will be made.

NAGRIG, Egypt (AP) — The cafe began to fill up more than two hours before kickoff. By the time the match began, some 200 men and boys — some as young as five — huddled around two large TV screens at a cafe Mohamed Salah frequents when he's back visiting his village deep in Egypt's Nile Delta.

Salah didn't score, but almost everyone at the cafe let out a joyous scream and clapped enthusiastically at the final whistle: Liverpool, the English club for which Salah has scored more than 40 goals since he joined this season, has reached the final of the Champions League for the first time since 2007. On the night, Liverpool lost 4-2 to Roma, but advanced 7-6 on aggregate to set up a clash with Real Madrid in the May 26 final in Kiev.

"We are victorious, we are victorious," screamed a boy at the end of a game that induced everyone in the cafe to carry a deeply anxious look as Roma kept on chipping away at Liverpool's first leg lead. "Come on Salah!" and "run, Salah!" they implored the 25-year-old every time he had the ball.

The scene at the cafe in Salah's village of Nagrig has been duplicated across this country of 100 million ever since the winger rose to global stardom after joining Liverpool from Roma last summer and almost single handedly led Egypt to qualify for this summer's World Cup in Russia, the country's first appearance in the tournament since 1990.

There is perhaps no place in Egypt that shows more passion for the English Premier League and the Champions League than Nagrig, a typical Nile delta village where water buffalos, cows and donkeys share dirt roads with cars, motorbikes and horse-drawn carts. Many of the village's teenagers play barefooted and the pitch in the youth center where Salah is known to have played the game as a young boy is strewn with litter and accessible through a collapsed part of its outer wall.

"Five or six years ago, only a few people in the village were interested in European football," said Shady Dawoud, a 30-year-old man from Nagrig and a distant Salah relative. Speaking as he watched the May 2 Roma-Liverpool match, he said: "Now, almost the entire village, old and young alike, know about Liverpool and Roma as well as the schedule for Salah's matches."

"So much has changed here because of Salah, may God protect him."

The adulation is on clear display. A large number of children and teenagers wear Salah jerseys, his image is on a wall mural at the village's sports and youth center and residents are deeply appreciative of their hero and protective of his name.

Salah, residents boast with pride, has poured millions of pounds into the village, with the beneficiaries' list including a school, a mosque, the youth center, a dialysis machine at a nearby hospital and financial aid to poor families. His success as a footballer in Europe's most attractive league has inspired many parents in Nagrig, as elsewhere in Egypt, to send their children to football academies in the hope that maybe one day they can emulate his success.

"He has done so much for the village. Some things that people know about, and many things that people just don't know anything about," said Ibrahim Ramadan, who owns an eatery at Nagrig. "Honestly, his family has not changed one bit since Salah became a star. They are still humble."

But Salah's impact in Egypt goes way beyond the money he has poured into his village or the 5 million Egyptian pounds (nearly $285,000) he donated to a development fund set up by Egypt's leader, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

This year, his image is on lanterns which are traditionally given to children or used as an ornament during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which has just begun. Traders have given his name to a kind of date, which many Muslims eat to break their dawn-to-dusk fast during Ramadan. His appearance in a short film supporting a government anti-drugs campaign has sent through the roof the number of calls addicts made to help lines. In downtown Cairo, a cafe with a giant wall mural of him has become a major attraction, and the definitive image of the adulation he enjoys.

But more importantly, many Egyptians and commentators believe Salah — the second of three children born to a government employee — is giving his compatriots hope and joy at a time when the majority is struggling to make ends meet amid acute economic hardships caused by an ambitious economic reform program to revive the battered economy.

"Salah is no longer just a talented and skilled football player. He is a symbol of efficiency, thoroughness, respect, learning, morals and moderate religion," wrote Imad Hussein, editor of the independent Al-Shorouk daily. "He presents a glowing picture of Egyptians, Arabs and Muslims. It's an image that most of us are incapable of offering."

Anecdotally, many Egyptians believe that some of the 1.76 million spoilt ballots in presidential elections held in March were invalidated because voters scribbled Salah's name as their choice. The unusually large number of invalid ballots was more than twice the votes that went to el-Sissi's challenger, a little-known politician who supports the president, and are widely believed to have been spoilt as a form of protest against the government. El-Sissi won the election with 97 percent of the votes.

Last month, Egyptians rallied behind Salah in a commercial dispute with Egypt's soccer association over the use of his image, declaring their support for the player on social media networks and seizing the chance to air criticism of the association and the government.

"The goals he scores ease the burden of living under these tough economic conditions," said Maher Said, a 50-year-old security guard in Cairo. "Watching him play helps me get over tough days."

Another Egyptian, 30-year-old engineer Shereef Suliman, said: "Salah has virtually become the only thing that gives people hope and pride that they are Egyptians."

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Associated Press writers Menna Zaki and Samy Magdy contributed to this report from Cairo.