By COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Justice Department lifted a school desegregation order in Louisiana this week, officials called its continued existence a “historical wrong” and suggested that others dating to the Civil Rights Movement should be reconsidered.

The end of the 1966 legal agreement with Plaquemines Parish schools announced Tuesday shows the Trump administration is “getting America refocused on our bright future,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said.

Inside the Justice Department, officials appointed by President Donald Trump have expressed desire to withdraw from other desegregation orders they see as an unnecessary burden on schools, according to a person familiar with the issue who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

FILE – A man plants a sign outside Woodlawn High School in Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana on Sept. 1, 1966 where five African Americans applied for registration for the first time in parish history. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, file)

Dozens of school districts across the South remain under court-enforced agreements dictating steps to work toward integration, decades after the Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in education. Some see the court orders’ endurance as a sign the government never eradicated segregation, while officials in Louisiana and at some schools see the orders as bygone relics that should be wiped away.

The Justice Department opened a wave of cases in the 1960s, after Congress unleashed the department to go after schools that resisted desegregation. Known as consent decrees, the orders can be lifted when districts prove they have eliminated segregation and its legacy.

The small Louisiana district has a long-running integration case

The Trump administration called the Plaquemines case an example of administrative neglect. The district in the Mississippi River Delta Basin in southeast Louisiana was found to have integrated in 1975, but the case was to stay under the court’s watch for another year. The judge died the same year, and the court record “appears to be lost to time,” according to a court filing.

“Given that this case has been stayed for a half-century with zero action by the court, the parties or any third-party, the parties are satisfied that the United States’ claims have been fully resolved,” according to a joint filing from the Justice Department and the office of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.

FILE – White and Black children mix freely on the playground outside a school in a racially mixed neighborhood, Oct. 18, 1957, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Alvan Quinn, File)

Plaquemines Superintendent Shelley Ritz said Justice Department officials still visited every year as recently as 2023 and requested data on topics including hiring and discipline. She said the paperwork was a burden for her district of fewer than 4,000 students.

“It was hours of compiling the data,” she said.

Louisiana “got its act together decades ago,” said Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, in a statement. He said the dismissal corrects a historical wrong, adding it’s “past time to acknowledge how far we have come.”

Murrill asked the Justice Department to close other school orders in her state. In a statement, she vowed to work with Louisiana schools to help them “put the past in the past.”

FILE – Students from Charlotte High School in Charlotte, N.C., ride a bus together, May 15, 1972. (AP Photo/Harold L. Valentine, File)

Civil rights activists say that’s the wrong move. Many orders have been only loosely enforced in recent decades, but that doesn’t mean problems are solved, said Johnathan Smith, who worked in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division during President Joe Biden’s administration.

“It probably means the opposite — that the school district remains segregated. And in fact, most of these districts are now more segregated today than they were in 1954,” said Smith, who is now chief of staff and general counsel for the National Center for Youth Law.

Desegregation orders involve a range of instructions

More than 130 school systems are under Justice Department desegregation orders, according to records in a court filing this year. The vast majority are in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, with smaller numbers in states like Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. Some other districts remain under separate desegregation agreements with the Education Department.

FILE – A white mother walks with her son past a group of African American students arriving for classes at formerly all-white Boothville Venice High School on Monday, Sept. 12, 1966 as racial barriers fell in Plaquemines Parish. (AP Photo/Jack Thornell, file)

The orders can include a range of remedies, from busing requirements to district policies allowing students in predominately Black schools to transfer to predominately white ones. The agreements are between the school district and the U.S. government, but other parties can ask the court to intervene when signs of segregation resurface.

In 2020, the NAACP invoked a consent decree in Alabama’s Leeds school district when it stopped offering school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The civil rights group said it disproportionately hurt Black students, in violation of the desegregation order. The district agreed to resume meals.

Last year, a Louisiana school board closed a predominately Black elementary school near a petrochemical facility after the NAACP said it disproportionately exposed Black students to health risks. The board made the decision after the NAACP filed a motion invoking a decades-old desegregation order at St. John the Baptist Parish.

Closing cases could lead to legal challenges

The dismissal has raised alarms among some who fear it could undo decades of progress. Research on districts released from orders has found that many saw greater increases in racial segregation compared with those under court orders.

“In very many cases, schools quite rapidly resegregate, and there are new civil rights concerns for students,” said Halley Potter, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who studies educational inequity.

FILE – Children smile from window of a school bus in Springfield, Mass., as court-ordered busing brought Black children and white children together in elementary grades without incident, Sept. 16, 1974. (AP Photo/Peter Bregg, File)

Ending the orders would send a signal that desegregation is no longer a priority, said Robert Westley, a professor of antidiscrimination law at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

“It’s really just signaling that the backsliding that has started some time ago is complete,” Westley said. “The United States government doesn’t really care anymore of dealing with problems of racial discrimination in the schools. It’s over.”

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Any attempt to drop further cases would face heavy opposition in court, said Raymond Pierce, president and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation.

“It represents a disregard for education opportunities for a large section of America. It represents a disregard for America’s need to have an educated workforce,” he said. “And it represents a disregard for the rule of law.”

Associated Press writer Sharon Lurye contributed from New Orleans.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO and DIDI TANG

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers can expect higher prices and delivery delays when the Trump administration ends a duty-free exemption on low-value imports from China Friday.

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The expiration of the so-called de minimis rule that has allowed as many as 4 million low-value parcels to come into the U.S. every day — mostly from China — is also forcing businesses that have built their models on sourcing production in China to rethink their practices in order to keep their costs down.

But some might actually benefit from the termination of the duty exemption. For instance, companies that make their goods in the U.S. may feel relief from the competition of cheap Chinese imports, and likely experience a brighter sales outlook.

The move, which applies to goods originating from mainland China and Hong Kong, comes on top of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs totaling 145% on China. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of 125% on the U.S., fueling a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Sellers are already seeing cautious consumers.

On Wednesday, Trump called the de minimis exemption “a big scam going on against our country, against really small businesses.”

“We put an end to it,” he said.

What’s the de minimis provision?

Introduced in 1938, the de minimis exception was intended to facilitate the flow of small packages valued at no more than $5, the equivalent of about $109 today. The threshold rose to $800 in 2016. But the rapid rise of cross-border e-commerce, driven by China, has challenged the intent of the decades-old customs exception rule.

Chinese exports of low-value packages soared to $66 billion in 2023, up from $5.3 billion in 2018, according to a February report by the Congressional Research Service. And the U.S. market has been a major destination.

Former President Joe Biden proposed a rule last year that said foreign companies can’t avoid tariffs simply by shipping goods that they claim to be worth $800 or less. Trump tried in February to end the exception but his initial order was called off within days when it appeared the U.S. was not prepared to process and collect tariffs on the deluge of parcels coming in.

What’s the impact on shoppers?

Consumers will face higher prices and delivery delays now that parcels will go through a more complicated customs process to enter the U.S. involving declaration and duty payment.

Businesses could factor tariffs into the final price, or they can list them separately in the same way as sales taxes. For instance, Temu, which is owned by the Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, now lists “import charges” that have reportedly doubled many items’ prices. (The retailer also has a “local warehouse” option for some products, which are shipped from within the U.S. and therefore avoids the import charge.)

Meanwhile, Shein, now based in Singapore, has a checkout banner that reads, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay. You’ll never have to pay extra at delivery.”

FILE – A made in China sticker is displayed on a hat at a store in Chinatown in San Francisco, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Amazon says it’s not planning to display added tariff costs next to product prices on its site — despite a report that sparked speculation the e-commerce giant would soon show the new import charges, and the White House has made fiery comments denouncing the purported change.

What about sellers and carriers?

Parcel carriers will be burdened with collecting duties, and the paperwork to comply with the new rule could result not only in higher prices but also delays and even disruptions to delivery, said Ram Ben Tzion of the vetting platform Publican.

Major commercial carriers such as UPS and FedEx have said they are well-equipped and prepared to collect duties on international parcels in compliance with local laws, including the new U.S. rule.

Commercial carriers will be collecting 145% tariffs on declared values. The U.S. Postal Service, a government agency that offers international mail service, can choose either to charge a 120% tariff on low-value packages or a flat fee of $100 per shipment, which is set to rise to $200 on June 1.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it “stands ready to fully implement the restrictions on de minimis shipments and collect all revenue owed for these shipments on May 2, 2025.”

However, experts have expressed concerns that the surge in the workload could be a serious challenge.

In January and February, more than 70% of the 216 million packages coming into the U.S. were originating from China, according to CBP.

What’s the impact on businesses?

Those that relied on the de minimis exemption are now having to adjust.

John Curry, owner and chief executive officer of HAPARI International, an Arizona-based swimwear business, had switched from bulk shipping to de minimis shipping about six months ago to improve cash flow, speed up delivery, and eventually eliminate U.S.-based warehousing. His company makes its products in China and sells them directly to U.S. customers via its own online storefront.

Curry said he planned to stay the course and pay the additional 145% duty — one parcel at a time — while waiting for the U.S. and China to work out a more sustainable approach.

“There has to be a solution because both countries cannot survive this way,” Curry said.

Izzy Rosenzweig, founder and CEO of the logistic company Portless, helps businesses like HAPARI to ship goods from its China-based warehouse using the de minimis exemption. He says U.S. businesses are likely to stay in China for now given the competitiveness of the manufacturing base and of the supply chain in China but can be expected to raise prices.

And while businesses with good profit margins probably will continue to ship from China, those that run on razor-thin profit margins are likely to “go local”, setting up more U.S.-based warehouses to defray tariff costs, he said.

Who benefits?

Trade groups representing flag manufacturers and bike dealers said they expect to benefit from the end of the duty exemption.

In written comments on the U.S. Trade Representative portal, for instance, the Flag Manufacturers Association of America said its members have been bombarded by an onslaught of American flag imports mostly made in China that are falsely marketed and significantly discounted. The group cited a drop of 25% to 35% in industrywide sales of American-made U.S. flags last year.

Larry Severini, CEO of Embroidery Solutions Manufacturing LLC, which makes the star fields for U.S. flag manufacturers, had to shutter one of his two plants in South Carolina earlier this year because of stiff competition from cheap imports. He noted sales have fallen 20% since 2021 in part because of the de minimis exemption.

“We need duties to level the playing field to make it fair,” Severini said.

The National Bike Dealers’ Association’s Heather Mason said shoppers often check out $2,000 bike from a trusted brand like Trek and then they find a lookalike online for $1,200 — often with lower quality parts, no warranty, no service, and safety risks.

“Reputable brands follow strict safety, labor, and warranty standards,” she said in an email to The Associated Press. “De minimis allowed bad actors to dodge these.”

Tang reported from Washington.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Sister Inah Canabarro, a Brazilian nun and teacher who was the world’s oldest person, died on Wednesday just weeks short of turning 117, her religious congregation said.

Canabarro died at home of natural causes, said her Teresian nun congregation, the Company of Saint Teresa of Jesus. She was confirmed in January as the world’s oldest person by LongeviQuest, an organization that tracks supercentenarians around the globe.

She would have turned 117 on May 27. According to LongeviQuest, the world’s oldest person is now Ethel Caterham, a 115-year-old British woman.

Canabarro said her Catholic faith was the key to her longevity, in a video taken by LongeviQuest in February 2024. The smiling Canabarro can be seen cracking jokes, sharing miniature paintings she used to make of wild flowers and reciting the Hail Mary prayer.

“I’m young, pretty and friendly — all very good, positive qualities that you have too,” the Teresian nun told the visitors to her retirement home in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

As a child, Sister Inah Canabarro was so skinny that many people didn’t think she would survive into adulthood, Cleber Canabarro, her 84-year-old nephew, told The Associated Press in January,

Her great-grandfather was a famed Brazilian general who took up arms during the turbulent period following Brazil’s independence from Portugal in the 19th century.

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She took up religious work while she was a teenager and spent two years in Montevideo, Uruguay, before moving to Rio de Janeiro and eventually settling in her home state of Rio Grande do Sul. A lifelong teacher, among her former students was Gen. Joao Figueiredo, the last of the military dictators who governed Brazil between 1964 and 1985. She was also the beloved creator of two marching bands at schools in sister cities straddling the border between Uruguay and Brazil.

For her 110th birthday, she was honored by Pope Francis. She was the second oldest nun ever documented, after Lucile Randon, who was the world’s oldest person until her death in 2023 at the age of 118.

Canabarro took the title of the oldest living person following the death of Japan’s Tomiko Itooka in December, according to LongeviQuest. She ranked as the 20th oldest documented person to have ever lived, a list topped by Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122, according to LongeviQuest.

“Her long and meaningful life touched many, and her legacy as a devoted educator, religious sister, and a supercentenarian will be remembered with great admiration,” LongeviQuest said in a statement.

The wake for Canabarro will take place on Thursday in Porto Alegre, the capital of southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, her order said.

Come July, nearly 200 people will be out of work as a storied St. Paul recycling facility closes permanently.

Smurfit WestRock, a global packaging company, announced Wednesday that it will lay off roughly 189 employees in the permanent closure of its St. Paul coated recycled board mill at 2250 Wabash Ave., off Interstate 94 and Minnesota 280, according to a notice filed with the state.

Layoffs are expected to occur June 30 with affected positions including, but not limited to, chemical attendant, paper tester, refiner operator, loader, electricians, managers and supervisors, according to the notice.

Of the employees affected, some are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW Local 110), the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE Local 70) and the United Steelworker of America (USW Local 264).

Bumping rights will follow applicable collective bargaining agreements and there are no trade implications at this time, per the notice.

In addition to the St. Paul facility, the company will discontinue production at its containerboard mill in Texas and permanently close two converting facilities in Germany totaling some 650 job losses, according to a company news release.

“While closing facilities is never an easy decision, it is based on a realistic expectation of current and future capacity needs, operating costs and an unrelenting focus on improving our business,” said Tony Smurfit, president and group chief executive officer of Smurfit WestRock, in the release.

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