Judge won’t readmit 4 students involved in slavery petition

RIVERSIDE, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has declined to lift the expulsion or suspensions handed out to four suburban Kansas City high school students who were disciplined for their involvement in an online petition to “start slavery again.” Radio station KCUR reports that U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough ruled Tuesday that the four Park Hill South High School students’ lawsuit was unlikely to succeed on its merits if it went to trial. The ninth-graders sued, saying the petition was a joke started when one of them was bantering with a Black student. One was expelled and the other three each were suspended for 180 days. Their lawyer said he hasn’t decided yet whether to appeal.