SPLC teaching tolerance project

Alabama’s attorney general announced a civil investigation Monday into the Southern Poverty Law Center's fundraising practices in the wake of a federal indictment against the organization. AG General Steve Marshall said he has sent a subpoena to the center seeking information about its donations and payments to informants. He said he is seeking to determine if the organization violated state laws related to charitable organizations or deceptive trade practices.

Lawyers for the Southern Poverty Law Center will appear in court Thursday for the first time since the civil rights group was charged with defrauding donors by failing to disclose that money would be paid to informants inside extremist groups. The SPLC denies wrongdoing, and no individual is charged.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says it's the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and faces possible charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.

The Montgomery based Southern Poverty Law Center is responding to racist text messages invoking slavery. The notes were sent to Black men, women, and students, including at the University of Alabama and Alabama State University, as well as middle schoolers.

School children in Alabama and across the country are encouraged to branch out from their normal group of friends and sit with somebody different at…