Dress codes of yore are starting to crumble in the face of critiques about sexism and racial inequity.

Driving the news: School districts in California, Illinois and Oregon are explicitly allowing tank tops and short shorts, the AP reports. A suburban Houston school district in Texas is "reevaluating" a rule banning boys from wearing makeup. School districts nationwide are backing off rules that forbade hoodies.

Between the lines: The National Organization for Women's Oregon chapter created draft rules in 2016 that focused on ending rules "that reinforce gender stereotypes and minimize unnecessary discipline or 'body shaming,'" the AP notes.

• "Students in Alameda, Portland and Evanston have freedom to wear mostly anything as long as it includes a bottom, top, shoes, covers private parts and does not contain violent images, hate speech, profanity or pornography."
• "Vague language in the old Alameda policy caused confusion, which led to arbitrary enforcement, students and teachers said."
• "There was, for example, a 'three-finger' rule on the width of tank top straps and a ban on shorts and skirts shorter than 'mid-thigh' and a rule against 'low-cut tank tops.'"

Be smart: Many of these changes wouldn't be happening without social media. Viral Facebook posts featuring parents who are outraged by their kids facing dress code infractions are a dime a dozen, and they've put school administrators on their heels.

A woman rides a bicycle stroller with two children on an empty road during Yom Kippur in Tel Aviv, Israel.

1. President Trump says Jeff Sessions' rocky confirmation hearing scared him into needlessly recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Go deeper.
2. Jack Ma says Alibaba no longer plans to add one million U.S. jobs, which he had promised President Trump during a meeting in early 2017. Go deeper.
3. Trump hopes Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testifies to the Senate about her Brett Kavanaugh accusations, he said today. "[T]hat would be wonderful, if she doesn’t show up that would be unfortunate."
4. Hurricane Florence's death toll has risen to nearly 40, ranking as a rainfall event that had less than a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year. Go deeper.
5. Amazon is considering a plan to open 3,000 more cashierless "Amazon Go" stores within the next 3 years, Bloomberg reports.

Brexit has spooked Port wine producers in Portugal, the AP's Barry Hatton reports, because the U.K. is its second largest export market.

• "[T]he EU’s name-protection laws help ensure their livelihood by shielding them from industrial-scale, lower-cost copycats."
• "London conspicuously isn’t saying whether after leaving the EU next year it will keep the bloc’s name protection rules."
• "It is an ironic twist of Brexit that Britishness runs through the history of Portugal’s port wine... The port business was largely created by, and flourished because of, the British."

Pour a glass.