Latest news with #JasonMarks
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experts deploy 'Trojan' strategy to save rare species from extinction: 'We're excited'
A rare trout species native to Colorado is making a comeback with a surprising strategy called "Trojan trout." According to Denver Water, efforts to restore the green lineage cutthroat trout — a rare subspecies of Colorado River cutthroat — are showing signs of success. These fish have been in decline since the mid-1800s because of human activities like mining and logging. Invasive brook trout were also outcompeting native cutthroats. At one point, there were fewer than 40 of them counted in streams. But a collaborative project between the water company, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the U.S. Forest Service has more than tripled those numbers. Recent counts show more than 1,400 cutthroats in the creeks, thanks to years of electrofishing (a method that stuns and removes the invasive fish) and dam upgrades designed to block brook trout from swimming upstream. A new method being tried for the first time in Colorado is also helping — introducing "Trojan trout," or fish that only produce male offspring. Over time, biologists say this technique could naturally eliminate brook trout without harming other species. Restoring native fish like the cutthroat trout helps protect the balance of entire ecosystems. Unlike the invasive brook trout, the native green lineage cutthroat trout evolved with and has an important role in the local ecosystem. Losing them could throw the food chain out of balance, impacting other species, water quality, and local communities — all because nature is a web of interconnectivity. The project also shows how human-made problems can be solved through collaborative, innovative efforts. In Colorado, conservationists will continue to restore the native cutthroats with electrofishing, releasing "Trojan trout," and monitoring the population. On a broader scale, governments, conservation groups, and the public are working together to restore threatened species like bison, seabirds near Madagascar, and Australia's Gilbert's potoroo, a marsupial that was thought to be extinct. Individuals can help by educating themselves about critical climate issues, supporting clean water policies, and following Leave No Trace principles when enjoying the great outdoors. "We're excited to be able to help out with this effort to protect the cutthroat trout," said Jason Marks, an environmental planner at Denver Water. "This project is a great example of how multiple agencies can work together and we're all looking forward to more projects down the road." Should the government be able to control how we heat our homes? Definitely Only if it saves money I'm not sure No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
District Court strikes down ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth
The Missoula County Court House pictured on December 20, 2020. A Montana District Court struck down a law on Tuesday banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth. Missoula County District Court Judge Jason Marks permanently enjoined SB 99, from the 2023 Legislative session, and declined to hear remaining claims from the plaintiffs in the case, Cross et al vs. State of Montana. The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of minors and providers as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2024 the Montana Supreme Court upheld an injunction against the law being put into place. 'I will never understand why my representatives worked so hard to strip me of my rights and the rights of other transgender kids,' Phoebe Cross, a 17-year-old transgender boy who was a plaintiff in the case, said in a release. 'It's great that the courts, including the Montana Supreme Court, have seen this law for what it was, discriminatory, and today have thrown it out for good. Just living as a trans teenager is difficult enough, the last thing me and my peers need is to have our rights taken away.' Mark's order said SB 99 was discriminatory, prevented trans people from accessing medical information and that it infringed on the plaintiffs' right to privacy, among other issues the court found with the law. The law would have banned the use of treatments like puberty blockers and surgeries, which are gender-affirming care. The law also would not have banned the same sort of treatment for cisgender children. 'The Montana Constitution protects the privacy and dignity of all Montanans,' Akilah Deernose, ACLU-MT Executive Director said in a release. 'In the face of those protections, cruel and inhumane laws like SB 99 will always fail. Today's decision should be a powerful message to those that seek to marginalize and harass transgender Montanans.' Defendants in the case also pointed to 'detransitioners' as an argument to support their case that the law was protecting minors. The court said it would lead to 'absurd' results. 'Under Defendants' reasoning, the State could infringe on minors' fundamental rights whenever any minor was protected at the expense of the majority of minors,' the order reads. 'For example, the State could categorically ban all influenza vaccines for all minors in an effort to protect the small percentage of minors who experience allergic reactions to that vaccine. This line of reasoning would lead to absurd results.' The court also said the state's interest in the case was 'political and ideological.' Lambda Legal, which helped bring the lawsuit, also pointed to another case it's supporting, with the U.S. Supreme Court expected to soon rule on U.S. v. Skrmetti. That case challenges a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming hormonal therapies for transgender youth, saying the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The state could appeal the decision to the Montana Supreme Court, but representatives from the AG's office did not respond to a request for comment about the ruling. May13CrossOrder
Associated Press
14-05-2025
- Health
- Associated Press
Montana judge finds transgender care ban unconstitutional
A state district court judge in Missoula on Tuesday ruled that a 2023 state law banning many gender transition-related medical services for transgender minors is unconstitutional, prohibiting its enforcement. The 59-page ruling from district court Judge Jason Marks found that Senate Bill 99, backed by Republicans largely along party lines during the legislative session two years ago, violates the Montana Constitution's rights to privacy, equal protection and free speech. The law had been temporarily enjoined before it was scheduled to take effect. The Montana Supreme Court upheld that block in 2024. The court found that plaintiffs, including transgender teen Phoebe Cross and other minor patients, their parents and medical providers, successfully presented evidence that the law undermines their constitutional rights by curbing access to medical treatments for gender dysphoria, such as puberty blockers and hormones. The ruling said state attorneys, meanwhile, failed to meet the legal burden of proof that SB 99 properly responded to a legitimate medical risk or was narrowly tailored to achieve the government's interests. 'Defendants are unable to clearly and convincingly establish that a bona fide health risk exists. They have not put forth any evidence showing major medical organizations in the United States have changed their stance on gender-affirming medical care. Instead, they argue that no medical consensus exists on the benefits of gender-affirming care. This is the incorrect standard. The question is whether a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk exists,' Marks wrote. All parties agreed that the banned treatments, like all medical services, pose some degree of risk to patients, the judge found. But allowing the state to interfere in medical decisions because of the presence of any risk would be irrational, Marks noted. Similarly, he dismissed the state's arguments that some medical professionals disagree about the proper course of care for gender dysphoria. 'If some disagreement among medical professionals were enough to create a medically acknowledged, bona fide health risk, every medical treatment would … be subject to state interference,' he ruled. The decision referenced a long history of Montana court rulings supporting bodily autonomy and privacy in medical decision-making, many of which arose from litigation about abortion restrictions. Those rulings created and have reinforced a high bar for the state to interfere with medical care. Marks specifically referenced the 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling in Armstrong v. State that found abortion access is protected by the Constitution's right of individual privacy. 'Importantly, the 'legal standards for medical practice and procedure cannot be based on political ideology, but, rather, must be grounded in the methods and procedures of science and in the collective professional judgment, knowledge and experience of the medical community acting through the state's medical examining and licensing authorities,'' the judge wrote, quoting Armstrong. Marks also found that SB 99 unconstitutionally infringed on the free speech of medical providers by prohibiting the use of state funds to promote or advocate for the banned procedures. Among other provisions, the law would have barred physicians from referring a patient for gender transition-related treatment, even in other states. 'Therefore, the Court must find that SB 99 is a content-based regulation and invidiously discriminates on the basis of viewpoint,' the judge found. 'This goes beyond any permissible regulation of conduct. It unconstitutionally bars providers from telling minors and their parents that gender-affirming medical care, which is endorsed and cited as authoritative by major medical associations in the United States for treating gender dysphoria, is an option.' Representatives from the ACLU of Montana and Lambda Legal, civil rights groups that represented the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling in Tuesday evening statements. Cross, the lead plaintiff, said he would 'never understand' why lawmakers passed the law. 'It's great that the courts, including the Montana Supreme Court, have seen this law for what it was, discriminatory, and today have thrown it out for good,' he said. Press secretaries for Attorney General Austin Knudsen, whose office represented the state in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment about the ruling. The state could appeal the decision to the Montana Supreme Court. ___ This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
