CAMBRIDGE, Md.

Four decades ago, a federal advisory panel released a prominent report on the causes of race riots in seven U.S. cities. Now, researchers are planning a follow-up.

The study is being overseen by two universities, including North Carolina A&T State University.

The new study will examine the current racial climate, jobs, housing and education in the same cities: Philadelphia; Birmingham, Alabama; Cambridge, Maryland; Detroit; Los Angeles; Newark, New Jersey and Tampa, Florida.

Observers say the 1968 report concluded that race riots in those cities were caused, in part, by unemployment in black communities, unequal funding for schools, and strained relations between black citizens and white police officers.

--Associated Press