The ruling came in a lawsuit asserting that the use of standardized test scores are broadly biased — and particularly detrimental to students with disabilities who seek to take the test during the coronavirus crisis.

Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman said in his Monday ruling that plaintiffs had shown sufficient cause to stop the tests for now because applicants with disabilities had virtually no access to test-taking sites or legally required accommodations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seligman said little data existed to show whether the tests were even valid or reliable indicators of their future college performance. He set a case management conference for Sept. 29.

The injunction on the use of SAT and ACT results will affect all UC applicants.

“The SAT and ACT are dead and gone as far as the UC system is concerned,” said Mark Rosenbaum, a Los Angeles attorney who helped file the lawsuit as director of Public Counsel’s Opportunity Under Law project.

UC officials had no immediate comment Monday.

Russia passes 1 million COVID-19 cases as epidemic simmers

Russia became the fourth country to pass 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, joining the U.S., India and Brazil, on the day schools across the country reopened for the new academic year.

The Russian government’s virus response center reported 4,729 new coronavirus infections Tuesday, bringing the total to 1,000,048. The number of new daily cases has gradually declined from a peak of more than 11,000 in May.

The death toll increased by 123 to 17,299, a mortality rate that remains much lower than that of many other large nations. The number of fatalities is also significantly lower than those reported by the Federal Statistics Service, which said there were nearly 25,000 COVID-19 related deaths in May and June alone, the most recent data available.

While a strict nationwide lockdown in the spring helped tame the initial surge, new infections have remained stubbornly high and averaged more than 5,000 per day in August. Several countries in Europe are now facing a second wave of the epidemic, raising concerns that Russia could see a spike in infections as schools reopen.

Officials have been more optimistic about containing COVID-19 as Russia prepares to start the first mass shipments of a vaccine this month that was approved for use before fully completing trials. The vaccine, developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund, together with the Defense Ministry, is currently undergoing Phase 3 trials to determine whether it is safe and effective.

Baltimore gives destroyed Columbus statue back to Italian American organization that donated it

BALTIMORE — After protesters toppled a towering statue of Christopher Columbus and dumped it into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, a group of Italian Americans organized to fish the chunks of marble out of the water.

They moved what was left of the statue to a private warehouse for “safekeeping,” far from the piazza where it stood for more than three decades. The group is now working to restore it to its original form.

Even so, city officials have decided that they will not be taking it back.

The Board of Estimates is poised to approve Wednesday a termination agreement that officially reverts ownership of the statue to Italian American Organizations United Inc., the group that gave it to Baltimore in 1984.

Cities across America have been reckoning in recent years with who they choose to honor and why. Baltimore removed its four Confederate-era monuments three years ago, and some believe monuments dedicated to Columbus should come down, too.

The 15th-century Italian explorer, who was long been credited in classrooms as a hero who discovered America, violently enslaved native people. The Baltimore protesters who tore down his statue on July 4 said they were demanding the removal of all monuments “honoring white supremacists, owners of enslaved people, perpetrators of genocide, and colonizers.”

Bill Martin, an officer of Italian American Organizations United, said he understands people’s views on Columbus have shifted.

For him, the statue is about honoring Italian American history locally. He said Columbus was a figure that Italian immigrants could look up to when they moved to America to start a new life. That was why it was important to him and others to “rescue” the statue from the water and raise money to restore it.

Trump denies ‘mini-strokes’ after a visit to hospital last year

President Donald Trump denied having “a series of mini-strokes” Tuesday as he sought to respond to a bombshell new report that he was poised to hand over power to Vice President Mike Pence during a mysterious visit to Walter Reed Medical Center last year.

Exclaiming “It never ends!” the president asserted that he did not suffer the brain-injuring condition following reports that aides prepared to put Pence temporarily in charge of the nation as Trump faced possible general anesthesia.

“Never happened to THIS candidate — FAKE NEWS,” Trump tweeted.

Trump was responding to explosive excerpts of a book by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt that shed new light on the extraordinary measures taken during the still-unexplained trip to the hospital, CNN reported.

The report never claims that Trump suffered a “mini-stroke” or any other specific medical condition.

“In the hours leading up to Trump’s trip to the hospital, word went out in the West Wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure,” Schmidt wrote in his book, CNN reported Tuesday.

Schmidt does not name or even characterize the sources who revealed the claims.

Trump was rushed to Walter Reed, the destination of choice for presidential medical treatment, on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2019, without any of the usual notifications to hospital staff or media that would accompany a routine visit.

Schmidt says Pence was told to be ready to take the reins of office even as Trump asserted that he was undergoing nothing more than routine tests.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.