In brief: Cross will return in park service swap

Los Angeles – A veterans group can restore a memorial cross in the Mojave Desert under a court settlement that ends a decade-old legal battle, the National Park Service said Tuesday.

A federal judge approved the lawsuit settlement on Monday, permitting the park service to turn over a remote hilltop area known as Sunrise Rock to a Veteran of Foreign Wars post in Barstow and the Veterans Home of California-Barstow.

The park will give up the acre of land in exchange for five acres of donated property elsewhere in the 1.6 million acre preserve in Southern California.

The last cross was ordered removed by the park service in 2010 because of a court order.

Transgender workers protected

Washington – In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the agency that enforces the nation’s job discrimination laws has ruled that transgender people are protected from bias in the workplace.

The decision late last week from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that a refusal to hire or otherwise discriminate on the basis of gender identity is by definition sex discrimination under federal law.

While some federal courts have reached the same conclusion in recent years, employment law experts say the EEOC decision is groundbreaking because it sets a national standard of enforcement that offers employers clear guidance on the issue.