Latest news with #Capital&Main
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico Appeals Court orders dismissal of oil and gas pollution lawsuit
A pumpjack operates north of Carlsbad, NM. The New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the state violated the state constituion and failied to protect residents from oil and gas pollution.(Photo by Jerry Redfern / Capital & Main) The New Mexico Court of Appeals ordered a lower court Tuesday to toss a case alleging that state officials failed to protect residents from oil and gas pollution in violation of the New Mexico State Constitution. In the order issued Tuesday, justices in the New Mexico Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling and concluded that the judiciary does not have the power to address the plaintiffs' claims. 'The relief Plaintiffs seek—as presented by their complaint—exceeds the boundary of that which the judiciary is authorized to grant,' wrote Chief Judge Jacqueline Medina. Justices ordered the lower court to dismiss the complaint. The civil lawsuit was first filed in May of 2023 on behalf of environmental groups, youth activists and individuals from the Pueblos, the Permian Basin and Navajo Nation against the Legislature, New Mexico's top officials and rulemaking bodies on oil and gas. The lawsuit alleged the state government failed to limit permitting of oil and gas production and did not adequately enforce pollution laws, which plaintiffs argued is a violation of a 1971 amendment to the state constitution, called the Pollution Control Clause. 'The protection of the state's beautiful and healthful environment is hereby declared to be of fundamental importance to the public interest, health, safety and the general welfare. The legislature shall provide for control of pollution and control of despoilment of the air, water and other natural resources of this state, consistent with the use and development of these resources for the maximum benefit of the people.' Further, the plaintiffs argued the state's actions around oil and gas production and pollution discriminated against Indigenous people, youth and frontline communities. Plaintiffs requested the courts rule that the state has a constitutional duty to prevent pollution — similar to landmark rulings in education and workers' compensation — and asked the courts to 'suspend additional permitting of oil and gas wells' until the state is in compliance. Moreover, plaintiffs asked the courts order state government to install a regulatory structure and plan to protect from pollution. Attorneys for the State of New Mexico argued the ruling oversteps separations of power between the branches of government, and that youth and frontline communities are not protected classes and there's no discriminatory intent. In June 2024, First District Judge Matthew Wilson dismissed the plaintiffs' claims against the Legislature, but allowed the case to continue moving through the courts to determine if a constitutional right to pollution control exists. On Tuesday, the Appeals Court determined the state Constitution does not grant any specific right 'to any individual or group, to be free from a given amount of pollution. Nor can it be inferred to create an enforceable right to a beautiful and healthful environment,' Medina wrote. Additionally, justices agreed with the state's arguments that frontline and youth are not classifications for discriminatory treatment. Gail Evans, lead counsel for the Center for Biological Diversity, said plaintiffs plan to appeal Tuesday's decision. 'New Mexicans amended our constitution 50 years ago to protect our residents from pollution. With this terrible ruling, the court has eviscerated our constitutionally protected rights,' Evans said in a written statement. 'This will lead to more air pollution, more contaminated land and water, and more sickness in our communities. We'll continue our fight against the filthy oil and gas industry on behalf of all New Mexicans and will be appealing this decision to the state Supreme Court.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Despite pro-Trump past, trans state champ's mom gives daughter unwavering support
CLOVIS, Fresno County — Nereyda Hernandez, the mother of transgender track and field athlete AB Hernandez, 16, who was recently crowned a California state champion in girls triple jump and high jump, told the Chronicle in an exclusive interview that she used to be a supporter of President Donald Trump. She raised her four daughters, including AB, in the Catholic faith. They regularly attended Sunday service in the small town of Jurupa Valley in Riverside County, which Trump won by a slim margin of 1.26% in the 2024 election. As reported by Capital & Main in April, Nereyda did not find out that AB, now a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, was trans until she was in the eighth grade. The journey they then embarked upon together led Nereyda, who did not specify in which election or elections she voted for Trump, to rethink her disposition toward the President. 'I just admired our President, I just thought, 'Oh OK, he's intelligent, he's a businessman,' and he had my initial vote,' Nereyda said. 'But just talking to AB … you start analyzing things in a different way.' AB was publicly outed as transgender in October, when Jessica Tapia, president of the Jurupa Unified School District Board of Education and who formerly taught physical education at Jurupa Valley High School, doxxed the teenager via a series of Instagram posts. Tapia was reportedly fired from the school in January of 2023 for refusing to acknowledge the pronouns of trans and nonbinary students, in violation of district policy. By February, Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified School District, joined Tapia in doxxing AB with an Instagram post that revealed her full name and the high school she attended. Nereyda sent a cease-and-desist letter to Tapia and Shaw, both of whom are part of the Save Girls Sports association, an organization dedicated to banning trans athletes from competing in California school sports. Three weeks ago, Tapia and Shaw showed up to a track meet at Yorba Linda High School to heckle AB and Nereyda, who still had yet to witness the full magnitude of criticism and national media attention her daughter would receive. Trump threatened in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that he would withhold federal funding from California if the California Interscholastic Federation followed its own rules and allowed AB to compete at the state meet. 'I'm not surprised,' Nereyda said of Trump's post. 'Even on the first term, I had my own ideas about our President. But I was a Trump supporter, and I don't think people understand that. I feel like people think, 'OK, well, if you're allies with this community or you represent this community, you can't have this presidential vote.' And it's not like that. I always admired the President for being a businessman. I was like, 'OK, he could be good for our economy,' but when it comes to putting stuff out there (on social media), I've always thought it's immature of a person to have that leadership role, to put a lot of information.' In what appeared to be a response to Trump, the CIF announced mere hours later its new policy, that would allow the athlete with the next qualifying mark in triple jump, high jump and long jump to participate, also issuing a duplicate medal to the next-best finisher behind Hernandez in those three events. 'I wish they would have waited,' Nereyda said Sunday morning of the policy change. 'I mean, we can see that the girls weren't having a problem with it.' Despite expectations that protesters against AB's participation would show up at Veteran's Memorial Stadium, the site of the CIF state track and field championships, Nereyda said her daughter never considered skipping the event. A pair of transgender athletes qualified for the 2023 track and field championship, but both did not show up in the wake of harassment they received. Among the demonstrations across the two-day event this weekend was plane trailing the banner, 'NO BOYS IN GIRLS' SPORTS!' which was flown over the stadium at the start of prelims. Neither Nereyda nor AB noticed, according to Nereyda; they were both too focused on the meet itself. AB had an opportunity to achieve a goal she had first set for herself as a freshman, which marked her first year as a track and field athlete. She aimed to be a state champion. AB won a third-place medal at state in 2024. Amid the current political focus on this particular front in the long-simmering argument over transgender people's place in public life, Nereyda only hoped her daughter could compete in a safe environment as she looked to place in three events this time around. 'What I saw with that is a culture war, and I wasn't going to entertain it,' Nereyda said. 'We're here to support AB and the other kids.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
What we know about the trans high school student at the center of Trump's threat to remove California funding
A transgender high school student was pushed into the national spotlight this week after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California over her participation in this weekend's state track and field championships. A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, is at the center of controversy after she qualified in the long jump and triple jump in the upcoming meet, prompting the agency governing high school sports in California to change its rules to allow more cisgender girls to compete. The California Interscholastic Federation said in the announcement Tuesday it decided at the end of its track and field qualifying meets last weekend to 'pilot an entry process' for the championships, inviting those 'biological female' student athletes who would have otherwise earned a qualifying mark were it not for the participation of trans students in the competition, an automatic entry to compete in the finals. On Tuesday, President Trump said, 'Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to,' in a post on Truth Social. President Trump's statement alluded to his February executive order titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports,' which leans on compliance with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities receiving funding from the federal government. In an interview with the nonprofit news organization Capital & Main earlier this month, Hernandez said after competing on the team for three years, this is the first year her presence has received backlash. 'There's nothing I can do about people's actions, just focus on my own,' Hernandez told Capital & Main. 'I'm still a child. You're an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person.' The Hernandez family declined to comment for this story when contacted by CNN. Here's what we know about the student athlete and why her participation in women's sports events has drawn controversy: In its statement, the federation said the rule change only applies to this weekend's competition without specifying whether it will be set in place for all future sports events. Coach Keinan Briggs, a club coach who is not affiliated with specific schools, coaches two student athletes – from Calvary Chapel High School in Santa Ana and Woodbridge High School in Irvine – who took lower places in the last weekend's competition due to A.B.'s participation. At the Southern Section Masters Meet, A.B. finished first in the triple jump and long jump, qualifying her for the upcoming championships. Briggs' student Skyler Cazale, from Santa Ana, finished third in the triple jump last weekend but her third-place finish behind AB drew significant ire from the community, he told CNN. According to the Capital & Main report, A.B. is ranked third in California in the triple jump but she's not highly ranked nationally. A.B.'s placement also had a 'trickle effect,' which bumped his student from Irvine down because she did not make the qualifying list for the championships in the long jump, effectively ending her season, Briggs said. The coach added he felt for the student and her parents because he 'couldn't give her the emotional support that I typically would give because it wasn't us, it was the way the system set up that put her in a position to where she couldn't continue.' 'That's been hard for her,' Briggs said. 'She also understands that the mark was the mark, she needed to hit that, but it comes down to the fairness of the event – the way it's set up – there was one less biological girl able to compete.' While many parents and community members are upset, Briggs says he agrees with those who believe A.B. should be competing because there is not a specific category for transgender athletes. He doesn't believe the Trump administration should take away California funding, but says the bigger question should be: 'How do we give support for all athletes to be able to feel welcome, included, to where they're able to compete?' Rather than taking away federal funding, Briggs said the federal funds should be used to create resources and opportunities for more student athletes in general. A.B. has been training rigorously, said Briggs, who added he's watched her 'progression throughout the years. She is getting better; she's doing a great job. However, right now, the debate is where she should be competing.' At a track meet earlier this month, A.B. was accompanied by campus security guards and deputies from the Orange County Sheriff's Department as she faced heckling and protesters in the crowd, Briggs said. During a break at the meet, A.B. said in an exclusive interview with Capital & Main she has the support of most of the athletes she competes against. 'Girls were just shocked that people would actually come to do that, and really bully a child,' A.B. told the news organization. 'I've trained so hard. I mean, hours of conditioning every day, five days a week. Every day since November, three hours after school. And then all of summer, no summer break for me,' she said in the interview. 'A few people think I'm brave and strong and they hope to be like me one day. I say, don't just hope, make it happen.' Sonja Shaw, a candidate for California superintendent of instruction in the 2026 election and an activist with the advocacy group Save Girls Sports, which is pushing for a ban on trans girl athletes from girls' athletics in the state, had a heated exchange with A.B.'s supporters and her mother, Nereyda Hernandez, according to Capital & Main reporting. 'What a coward of a woman you are, allowing that,' Shaw told A.B.'s mother, according to the Capital & Main report. In a statement on Instagram earlier this month, A.B.'s mother said A.B.'s identity 'doesn't give her an advantage; it gives her courage. It takes immense bravery to show up, compete, and be visible in a world that often questions your very right to exist, let alone to participate.' Nereyda Hernandez said in the post the actions of those who have 'doxed, harassed and violated my daughter A.B.'s privacy' are 'not only shameful, but they are also abusive,' and have created a 'hostile and unsafe environment for a minor.' At the core of disagreements over transgender athletes' participation in sports, which prompted more than half of US states to implement bans on trans athlete participation since 2020, is whether transgender women have unfair physical athletic advantages. Few trans athletes have reached elite levels of sports competition and even fewer have taken home top prizes, but their limited success has fueled the growing movement to ban them from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity, CNN has reported. Research on trans people's athletic performance is scarce, and there have been no large-scale scientific studies on the topic or on how hormone therapies may affect their performance in specific sport categories, such as running or wrestling. Trans athletes and advocates say trans people deserve the right to compete alongside their peers and reap the proven social, physical and mental benefits of sports. Even among cisgender athletes, bodies and physical abilities vary widely, and traits that may be an advantage in one sport – such as grip strength or bone density – may not be an advantage in others, experts say. A day after Trump's threat to withhold federal funding from California over A.B.'s participation in the sporting event, the Justice Department announced it was investigating whether California's School Success and Opportunity Act, which in part prohibits public schools from blocking transgender students from participating in school sports, violates Title IX. Letters were sent by the Justice Department to the California Attorney General and the superintendent of public instruction, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation and the Jurupa Unified School District. In a statement to CNN, the school district said it is required to follow California law and the state federation's policy regarding school athletics. 'Both state law and CIF policy currently require that students be permitted to participate in athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records,' the Jurupa Unified School District said. A spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said the CIF's proposed pilot rule change for the upcoming championships is 'reasonable.' Newsom has recently taken aim at a number of causes popular among progressives and previously said transgender girls and women competing is 'an issue of fairness' in a break from many Democrats' position on the topic. 'Well, I think it's an issue of fairness. I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness. It's deeply unfair,' Newsom said in a podcast episode with conservative activist Charlie Kirk in March. Leandra Blades, president of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District board of education, introduced a resolution last week she said would make the district compliant with Title IX, only allowing 'biological females' to compete in women's sports, but it failed on a 3-2 vote by the district's trustees. She told CNN the issue of trans student athletes has 'been a low roar in our community for the last couple of years,' but complaints started to accelerate after A.B. competed at Yorba Linda High School within the school district. The board of education president said she believes the federal government should take away funding from the state if trans women are allowed to compete in women's sporting events moving forward and if the new CIF rule only applies to the one championship meet. Despite misgendering A.B. throughout her interview with CNN, Blades said she doesn't have 'any issues' with the LGBTQ+ community, adding: 'I just believe in fairness in women's sports, and we should follow Title IX.' The school district prohibits harassment against any student, saying it has done a 'very good job with bullying policies and being inclusive to all students.' CNN's Samantha Waldenberg, Stephanie Elam, Jen Christensen and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Rages at Gavin ‘Newscum' in Rant About Women's Sports
President Donald Trump lashed out at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, threatening to withhold federal funding from the state over a transgender high school athlete who qualified for the state championships. 'California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow 'MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN'S SPORTS,'' Trump posted Tuesday on Truth Social. Newsom broke with the Democratic Party in March when he called it 'deeply unfair' for transgender athletes to compete in women's sporting events. Trump seized on that comment in his post. 'The Governor, himself, said it is 'UNFAIR.' I will speak to him today to find out which way he wants to go???' he wrote. The president's outburst appeared to be a reaction to Tuesday's Fox & Friends segment about AB Hernandez, a Jurupa Valley High School junior who won the long jump and triple jump at a regional meet in Southern California over the weekend. Hernandez, who identifies as a girl, has become the latest lightning rod in the campaign to ban transgender athletes from competing in women's sporting events. With no public events scheduled for Tuesday, the president launched an attack the 16-year-old. 'As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable,' he wrote. 'THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.' Trump, who has issued an executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in women's sports, threatened to yank federal funding from California if the state refuses to fall in line. He also vowed to personally direct local authorities to block Hernandez from competing in the state championships, set to begin on May 30. Trump's claims that Hernandez is unbeatable doesn't square with her record. According to Capital & Main, she has been beaten by over 2 meters in her jumps by girls in other states. And at a meet two weeks ago, Hernandez placed first in triple jump, eighth in high jump, and third in long jump. That hasn't stopped some high schools and school district officials from pushing to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports, arguing they have an unfair advantage. Elana Redfield, federal policy director of the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, told Capital & Main, 'We're not seeing a dramatic increase in trans people winning competitions or a dramatic increase in injuries or other potential risks to other participants.'
NBC News
27-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Trump demands California stop trans girl competing in state high jump finals
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding if California did not stop a transgender girl in high school from competing in state track and field finals, and said he would discuss it with Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. Trump, in a social media post, appeared to be referring to AB Hernandez, 16, who has qualified to compete in the long jump, high jump and triple jump championship run by the California Interscholastic Federation at a high school in Clovis, California, this weekend. The CIF is the governing body for California high school sports, and its bylaws state that all students 'should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.' California law prohibits discrimination, including at schools, based on gender identity. Trump, a Republican, referred in his social media post on Tuesday to California's governor as a 'Radical Left Democrat' and said: 'THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.' He said he was ordering local authorities not to allow the trans athlete to compete in the finals. Under the U.S. and California constitutions, state and local officials and individuals are not subject to orders of the president, who can generally only issue orders to agencies and members of the federal government's executive branch. Trump threatened that 'large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently,' if his demands are not met. Such a move would almost certainly lead to a legal challenge by California, which has already sued over multiple Trump actions it says are illegal or unconstitutional. Trump also referred to comments Newsom made on his podcast in March when the governor also said he believed competition involving transgender girls was 'deeply unfair.' A spokesperson for Newsom declined to comment on Trump's remarks, but referred to comments Newsom made in April when he said overturning California's 12-year-old law allowing trans athletes to participate in sports was not a priority. 'You're talking about a very small number of people,' Newsom told reporters. Out of the 5.8 million students in California's public school system, there are estimated to be fewer than 10 active trans student athletes, according to the governor's office. A CIF spokesperson did not respond to questions, and Hernandez could not be immediately reached for comment. Some local school officials and parents have sought to prevent Hernandez from competing; others have spoken in support of Hernandez and condemned what they say is bullying of a teenager. In an interview with Capital & Main, Hernandez dismissed claims she has an unfair biological advantage in sports, noting that while she had placed first in a triple jump event this month, she came in eighth in the high jump and third in the long jump. 'All I thought was, I don't think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash,' Hernandez said of her mixed showing.
