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WASHINGTON (AP) - An Army private charged in the biggest leak of classified material in U.S. history is set to tell a military judge today how he did it and why.

Pfc. Bradley Manning will answer questions from the judge who is considering whether to accept his offer to plead guilty to some charges.

Manning's only public explanation for giving classified material to WikiLeaks can be found in logs of an online chat with a confidant-turned-government informant. In those chats, Manning wrote that he engineered the leak because "information should be free" and he wanted "people to see the truth."

Even if a judge accepts his guilty plea, prosecutors can still pursue more serious charges against Manning. One charge is aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.

Three public schools and more than 130 staff members, including 82 teachers, are facing the budget ax in the cash-strapped St. Louis public school district.

At Wednesday night's school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Kelvin Adams recommended closing Sherman Elementary, L’Ouverture Middle School, and the Cleveland NJROTC Academy. Scores of students and parents attended the meeting in support of the military magnet school.

Adams also proposed increasing class sizes at the remaining schools.

The proposed cuts would trim $14 million from the district's budget.

The Special Administrative Board will vote next month on the recommendations.

District officials will gather feedback on the proposals at two forums this Saturday. The first will be from 10 a.m. to noon at Vashon High School, 3035 Cass Avenue. The second will be from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Central Visual Performing Arts High School, 3125 South Kingshighway.

Washington University officials say members of a campus fraternity crossed a line Tuesday when they allegedly hurled racial slurs at a group of African-American students. The incident reportedly involved students pledging the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Washington University’s Student Life newspaper reports that a group of African-American students were having dinner in the Bear’s Den dining facility when a few students approached and took a photo of them. The fraternity pledges then returned with a larger group of people, and began reciting the words to a rap song that contained repeated use of the "N-word."

University officials have suspended the fraternity while they investigate the incident.

Mike Zissman, president of the Wash U chapter of SAE apologized on Facebook for the incident, calling it "detestable" and "completely unacceptable."