The Associated Press is reporting that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is investigating a swim club outside of Philadelphia on accusations of racial discrimination.

The Valley Club allegedly told a group of visiting minority children to get out of the pool and not to return. They are denying this claim and saying that overcrowding was the problem.

The Creative Steps camp is from northeast Pennsylvania and had planned to come to The Valley Club every Monday this summer. The alleged incident occured on June 29. Some of the children claim they heard racial comments.

One 9-year-old member, who was upset about the incident, was asked if she would return if allowed. "I don't want to swim here anymore," she responded.

Senator Arlen Specter called the sitution "extemely disturbing" and is also investigating the matter.

A jury found the longtime Republican lawmaker guilty in October on seven counts of lying on financial disclosure forms about gifts, including renovations that doubled the size of his home in Girdwood, Alaska. A judge dismissed the case in April, saying prosecutors withheld evidence that might have been favorable to Stevens at trial.

The disclosures filed this week are the same type of annual reports used against Stevens in his corruption case. The forms, which cover 2008, show that Stevens also owes $50,000 to $100,000 to another Washington law firm, Utrecht and Phillips.

The case from New Haven, Conn., pits white firefighters, who showed up at the court Wednesday in their dress uniforms, against the city over its decision to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results.

As is often the case with closely fought social issues at the court, Justice Anthony Kennedy appeared to hold the key to the outcome. He seemed concerned that New Haven scuttled the test without determining that there were flaws that might have led to the racially disproportionate results.

"So shouldn't there be some standard that there has to be a significant, a strong showing after the test has been taken that it's deficient? Before it can be set aside?" he said.

Kennedy often frowns on racial classifications, yet he is not as opposed to drawing distinctions on the basis of race as his more conservative colleagues.

But where Kennedy saw shades of gray, the rest of the court seemed to view the case clearly in terms of black and white.