Latest news with #SierraNevada
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
AB Hernandez: The 16-year-old transgender girl at heart of sports row in California
California's best high school athletes are competing this weekend at the State Championships. The stadium in Clovis, a city in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, is dressed for the occasion. Huge banners welcome athletes from across the state, food stalls line the concourse and teenagers sell event programmes. "Good luck to all the athletes and their coaches," the inside of the programme reads. Many of the athletes have trained for years and, for some, receiving lucrative university scholarships rests on their performance here. But one issue, one competitor, is dominating the chatter. "Which one is she?" I hear a group of boys asking. They're talking about AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender girl, who is now the focus of a legal, political and cultural row. She was born a boy but has transitioned and now competes against the girls. Hernandez is favourite to win the long jump and the triple jump and is also competing in the high jump. Her inclusion in the girls category has become a national conversation. Read more: As she competes, a plane flies over the stadium trailing a banner, which reads "No boys in girls sports." It was organised and paid for by two women's advocacy groups. A small protest is also taking place on the road outside. "Save girls sports," one poster reads. "XX does not equal XY," reads another. Aurelia Moore is a local mum and sport fan. "These kids get up at the crack of dawn," she says. "They work out before school, they go to school, they work out after school, the weekends they work out. And for that just to be taken away so that we can make a boy feel better is just it's wrong. It's very wrong." Transgender inclusion is a thorny issue but a vote winner for President Trump, who campaigned with a promise to "kick out men from women's sport." He signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender women from female sport. Trump is now threatening to withdraw federal funding from California over Hernandez's participation in this athletics event. In a social media post he wrote: "As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable." 'No special advantage' Transgender rights activists attended the event to support Hernandez, cheering her efforts in the high jump. Jessica Schultz is a representative of the party for socialism and liberation, a communist political group. "All girls deserve to play in girls sports and trans girls are girls," she says. "So they don't have any extra extreme advantage than somebody who is naturally tall or has naturally wide wingspan like Michael Phelps. "I'm surprised that the president has time to concern himself with a high school athletic competition," she added, "but it is not surprising because he has a lot of hateful ideals." Hernandez has required security at previous events because of abuse against her. A video recently went viral showing her mother being harangued by mums of other student athletes. One of the voices in the video is Sonja Shaw, a school board president for Chino Valley, a district of California. "I said, boys are boys, girls are girls," she says, "And then, I turned to the stands and I'm like, 'is there anybody that's okay with a boy competing against the girls right now?'" Girls 'can't win' There are hundreds of thousands of high school students playing sport in California, but only a handful of publicised cases of transgender girls playing girls' sport. I ask Sonja if the issue is being overblown? "Absolutely not because it's growing," she says. "You have girls who should be on that first-place podium. They work their whole life. Their dream is to be a winner and they can't even win, they can't even compete against these boys." In response to the backlash about Hernandez's participation, California is now allowing more cisgender girls to compete here. They may also award two winners if Hernandez finishes first. It's a messy and controversial situation and it's not going away.
Sky News
2 days ago
- General
- Sky News
AB Hernandez: The 16-year-old transgender girl at heart of sports row in California
California's best high school athletes are competing this weekend at the State Championships. The stadium in Clovis, a city in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, is dressed for the occasion. Huge banners welcome athletes from across the state, food stalls line the concourse and teenagers sell event programmes. "Good luck to all the athletes and their coaches," the inside of the programme reads. Many of the athletes have trained for years and, for some, receiving lucrative university scholarships rests on their performance here. But one issue, one competitor, is dominating the chatter. "Which one is she?" I hear a group of boys asking. They're talking about AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old transgender girl, who is now the focus of a legal, political and cultural row. She was born a boy but has transitioned and now competes against the girls. Hernandez is favourite to win the long jump and the triple jump and is also competing in the high jump. Her inclusion in the girls category has become a national conversation. As she competes, a plane flies over the stadium trailing a banner, which reads "No boys in girls sports." It was organised and paid for by two women's advocacy groups. A small protest is also taking place on the road outside. "Save girls sports," one poster reads. "XX does not equal XY," reads another. Aurelia Moore is a local mum and sport fan. "These kids get up at the crack of dawn," she says. "They work out before school, they go to school, they work out after school, the weekends they work out. And for that just to be taken away so that we can make a boy feel better is just it's wrong. It's very wrong." Transgender inclusion is a thorny issue but a vote winner for President Trump, who campaigned with a promise to "kick out men from women's sport." He signed an executive order seeking to ban transgender women from female sport. Trump is now threatening to withdraw federal funding from California over Hernandez's participation in this athletics event. In a social media post he wrote: "As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable." 'No special advantage' Transgender rights activists attended the event to support Hernandez, cheering her efforts in the high jump. Jessica Schultz is a representative of the party for socialism and liberation, a communist political group. "All girls deserve to play in girls sports and trans girls are girls," she says. "So they don't have any extra extreme advantage than somebody who is naturally tall or has naturally wide wingspan like Michael Phelps. "I'm surprised that the president has time to concern himself with a high school athletic competition," she added, "but it is not surprising because he has a lot of hateful ideals." Hernandez has required security at previous events because of abuse against her. A video recently went viral showing her mother being harangued by mums of other student athletes. One of the voices in the video is Sonja Shaw, a school board president for Chino Valley, a district of California. "I said, boys are boys, girls are girls," she says, "And then, I turned to the stands and I'm like, 'is there anybody that's okay with a boy competing against the girls right now?'" Girls 'can't win' There are hundreds of thousands of high school students playing sport in California, but only a handful of publicised cases of transgender girls playing girls' sport. I ask Sonja if the issue is being overblown? "Absolutely not because it's growing," she says. "You have girls who should be on that first-place podium. They work their whole life. Their dream is to be a winner and they can't even win, they can't even compete against these boys." In response to the backlash about Hernandez's participation, California is now allowing more cisgender girls to compete here. They may also award two winners if Hernandez finishes first. It's a messy and controversial situation and it's not going away.
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The easy way to see Andalusia's beautiful, history-packed villages
On my first evening in the Alpujarran village of Mairena (population 150), I met the mayor. Rafael Marzon was herding 80 sheep down the lane and stopped to chuckle with the owner of the guesthouse where I was staying about how he had originally bought eight to 'keep his hand in' as a shepherd. He wasn't the only mayor I met on my Inntravel walking holiday, roaming between the whitewashed villages of the serrated Sierra Nevada, southeast of Granada. A phone call to request access to a little museum dedicated to the British author Gerald Brenan in the village of Yegen (population 300) resulted in Mayor José Antonio Gómez turning up to personally greet me and unlock the door. That's the way things are done in the Alpujarra, a historical region that unfurls across the famous mountain range in Andalusia, a place where a vanishing way of life still clings to the precipitous slopes. Here, close-knit communities eke out a living below the snowline, valleys are scented with wild thyme and rosemary, and until recently mules were still a preferred mode of transport. In fact these villages have long shaped our idea of romantic rural Spain, largely thanks to the generations of writers who fell in love with them. In the 1920s, recently released from the British Army after the First World War, Brenan hiked to Yegen, rented a house and lived there on and off between 1920 and 1934. He promptly invited his friends in the Bloomsbury Group to visit — Lytton Strachey wasn't such a fan but Virginia Woolf thoroughly enjoyed her stay — and eventually wrote South from Granada about village life. In the 1990s the former Genesis drummer Chris Stewart's book Driving over Lemons convinced us all that, with a little tenacity, maybe we too could buy a remote farm and a flock of sheep, and set about living a self-sufficient life. I read both books many years ago and loved the idea of ranging across the Sierra Nevada, exploring isolated villages built in the Berber style with sugar cube houses tumbling down hillsides. The Moors retreated here after the fall of Spain's last Muslim kingdom in Granada in 1492 and their influence can still be felt everywhere. Their terraced farms and acequia irrigation channels, funnelling the snow melt from higher altitudes, remain. Their crops — almonds, figs and olives — are still mainstays, as are the saffron and cumin used to flavour dishes. So blended are the layers of culture and jumbled traditions that the Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca called the Alpujarra 'the land of nowhere'. • Read our full guide to Granada Inspired by Brenan but looking for rather less adventure than his days-long hikes up and down Andalusia's mountains, my boyfriend and I opted for a more sedate walking holiday. One where we would have a village base and could simply head out to follow different routes each day, ranging from morning strolls of a couple of miles to longer, full-day hikes, always with a brief stop for a tapas lunch. The walking holiday expert Inntravel found the perfect hosts to run Sierra Nevada: An Alpujarran Village Experience in the British couple David and Emma Illsley. For more than 20 years the Illsleys have lived in the village of Mairena, running Casa Las Chimeneas, which incorporates a guesthouse, a separate restaurant and even a yoga pavilion with the most meditative of valley views. They raised their sons here and fell in love with the way of life. You can feel it as soon as you check in: Casa Las Chimeneas is the kind of place that immediately folds you into Alpujarran living. Soon we were nodding buenos dias to the locals as we crossed the square for breakfast in the restaurant. As the sun set and the restaurant's log fire chased away the chill of an early spring evening, we joined fellow guests to exchange stories of favourite walks over dinner. • I've been going on walking holidays for 20 years. These are Europe's best And what dinners they were. Local produce whipped into hearty three-course meals by the villagers Conchi and Fernanda: broad beans with aged serrano ham, fried aubergine with molasses, stuffed mushrooms and red peppers. All was washed down with Alpujarran wine and followed with desserts of chocolate-dipped figs and oranges with mint and dates. So popular is the food that it has become the subject of another book eulogising the Alpujarran experience, Las Chimeneas: Recipes and Stories from an Alpujarran Village, written by the Illsleys. We had opted for a rental car through Inntravel so had the freedom to explore further afield but there was no need. A web of walking trails fans out from Mairena, following old mule tracks and linking together neighbouring villages. And Casa Las Chimeneas can always organise a taxi for adventures. Inntravel's detailed walking guide, sent before our trip, gives history lessons, tips on where to eat and detailed route information so you never get lost. Each morning we would pore over our guide, choosing our route for the day. David and Emma would chime in with their recommendations and were quick to organise additional activities, whether it was helping us to pick up the key to the Brenan museum or the chance to learn more about traditional silk weaving from Lola, a neighbour in Valor, the next village over. Late one afternoon we strolled with David to their smallholding, tasting wild asparagus, fennel and fresh oranges as we explored. Another time, we walked a mile up the road to the next village along from Mairena, Jubar, where just 14 people live full-time. • 12 of the most beautiful places in Spain Here, the church, set on a precipice overlooking the valley, is a remnant of the many cultural layers that blanket these mountains. It follows the design of a mosque and is topped with a Star of David and a cross. Inside, 16th-century frescoes have been uncovered, combining images of Catholic saints and what is believed to be a local curandera (healer), standing at the right hand of Jesus. On the way back to Mairena we popped in on neighbour Isabel, a local beekeeper who delivered a litre of pure Alpujarran honey to David for the princely sum of £7. Wherever we went, a quick phone call from David and Emma opened doors to the communities we visited. At the Brenan museum in Yegen, Mayor Gomez showed us black-and-white photos taken by Vagn Hansen, a Danish photographer affectionately called Juan el Dinamarca (Juan the Denmark) by locals as he returned over the decades to capture their way of life. Just down the hill, Isabel Muñoz and her daughter Carmen welcomed us to Casa Muñoz, their third-generation family business curing serrano ham for sale across Spain and Europe. About 20,000 jamones pass through their bodega each year; it's quite an eerie experience wandering among hundreds of silently hanging legs. After a tasting, we picked up some pre-sliced jamon and chorizo for the road and made like Brenan would have done in the 1920s, following his favourite post-prandial walk alongside the springs that feed the village. On another day, we followed a mule track down to the buzzing market town of Ugijar. The seven-mile round trip from Mairena took us via a rippling stream and past badlands landscapes of rust-red soil, all the while glimpsing views of the ever-present snow cap the Sierra Nevada wears. A rolled ankle prevented a final day of walking. The accident was the result not of a strenuous hike — I was distracted by watching the lavender sunset roll across the valley and misstepped on my way to dinner. So instead, we opted for a half-hour drive along serpentine roads to Laujar de Andarax, just across into Almeria but still part of the historic Alpujarra. It's a handsome little town where the last sultan of Granada, Boabdil, retreated after losing his kingdom. We visited the remnants of his alcazar (fortress), the 17th-century Cathedral of the Alpujarra, and joined locals enjoying a sunny spring Sunday with coffee and churros in the main square. The surrounding countryside is stitched together with vines, and when we realised that the wine we'd been enjoying at Casa Las Chimeneas came from the vineyard Bodega Fuente Victoria nearby, we popped in unannounced. The Suárez family, who own the winery, are recuperating once-lost vines here and while we only showed up to the shop to buy a bottle (from £6), they gave us an impromptu tour of their wine cellar. Just another example of that oh-so-welcoming way of life in the mountains. I had settled into the Alpujarran way of life but Inntravel offers an add-on two-night city break. After following the Moors across the Sierra Nevada, it felt apt to explore the grandeur of their final kingdom in Granada. Our destination was the Casa Morisca hotel in the city's oldest neighbourhood, the Albaicin, which was the Moorish quarter. It sits on San Cristobal Hill looking across to the Alhambra, which in spring glows pink against the last winter snow of the Sierra Nevada. To discover the opulence of the Alhambra's Nasrid Palaces, from where Boabdil reigned, you need to book tickets well in advance (from £16, It's worth it to wander among the brilliant white marble courtyards and through keyhole doorways, taking in the intricate plaster work and flamboyant, colourful ceilings. It was said that as Boabdil headed to exile in the Alpujarra, he turned to take one last look at all he'd lost and shed a tear, only to be told by his mother: 'You do well, my son, to cry like a woman for what you couldn't defend like a man.' It's the kind of story that sums up this evocative corner of Andalusia. Where tales swirl of kingdoms won and lost, and where every corner seems to whisper stories almost lost to history. No wonder it has inspired so many generations of Gordon was a guest of Inntravel, which has three nights' half-board from £470pp, including car hire, route notes, maps and some extra meals ( A two-night add-on in Granada costs from £260pp. Fly to Granada or Malaga
Forbes
24-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
A Biologist Highlights The Tragedy Of Converse Basin Grove, Where One Company Chopped Down Over 8,000 Giant Sequoia Trees
For close to 30 years, the Sanger Lumber Company systematically cut down thousands of giant sequoias ... More in Converse Basin. The Converse Basin Grove is a prominent giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) habitat located in the Sierra Nevada of Fresno County, California, approximately five miles north of General Grant Grove, just outside Kings Canyon National Park. Covering some 4,600 acres, it once harbored the densest population of giant sequoias on Earth, with trunks reaching over 20 feet in diameter and crowns soaring above 250 feet. By the late 19th century, however, the pristine old-growth forest faced unprecedented exploitation. Beginning in 1892, the Kings River Lumber Company — later reorganized as the Sanger Lumber Company — began a decade-long campaign of clear-cutting in what has been called 'the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world.' The removal of these keystone organisms devastated the grove's structure, soil composition and hydrology, effectively collapsing the entire old-growth ecosystem. And today, over a century after logging ceased in 1918, Converse Basin Grove remains a patchwork of young conifer plantations and open meadows dotted with massive stumps. Between 1892 and 1918, the Sanger Lumber Company conducted extensive clear-cutting operations in Converse Basin Grove, targeting the largest and oldest sequoias for timber. Early 20th-century trains haul massive sequoia logs — part of one of the most devastating ... More clear-cutting campaigns in American history. Over roughly a decade, approximately 8,000 giant sequoias — some aged over 2,000 years — were felled using cross-cut saws, axes, steam donkeys and elaborate flume systems that transported logs to distant mills. This industrial-scale harvest left only 60 to 100 of the original mature giants standing in the basin and triggered a cascade of ecological consequences. (Sidebar: While the giant sequoia is the world's largest tree, it's not the oldest. That title belongs to another tree from California that was born before the pyramids — read about it here.) The loss of canopy cover altered microclimates, increasing sunlight penetration or temperature fluctuations at ground level. Soil erosion intensified as root networks decayed and stream channels became clogged with sawdust and debris, disrupting aquatic habitats. Additionally, the elimination of the sequoias' fire-resistant structure left the basin vulnerable to subsequent high-severity fires. Public outcry over the destruction of Converse Basin's giants helped galvanize the early conservation movement, contributing to the establishment of national parks and driving forest policy reforms. Yet, despite this legacy, the grove remained in private hands until 1935, when the federal government finally acquired the land and integrated it into Sequoia National Forest. While a few old-growth sequoias remain, most of Converse Basin is still dominated by younger trees — ... More a reminder that true forest recovery can take centuries. Following federal acquisition in 1935, managers sought to rehabilitate the denuded basin. Early efforts focused on planting single-species conifer plantations — primarily white fir and ponderosa pine — to quickly reforest the landscape. Concurrently, fire exclusion policies aimed to protect young stands but inadvertently led to unnatural fuel accumulation beneath regenerating trees. The unintended result was heightened wildfire risk. And in 1955, the McGee Fire burned through much of Converse Basin, consuming second-growth sequoias and demonstrating the dangers of suppressing all fires. Decades later, the Rough Fire of 2015 re-burned parts of the basin, though most notable specimens, like the Boole Tree, were spared. These wildfires, while destructive, have also provided researchers with insights into giant sequoia ecology, revealing that moderate-severity burns can stimulate seed release and create favorable germination conditions. Despite more than 80 years of restoration work, however, old-growth conditions have not returned. Young stands remain uneven in age and composition, and soil and hydrological processes continue to reflect past disturbances. Despite the setbacks, Converse Basin now serves as a living laboratory for studying forest resilience, guiding adaptive management strategies that incorporate prescribed burns, mechanical thinning and mixed-species plantings to better mimic giant sequoia regeneration dynamics. Towering sequoia trunks in the Monument today stand as both survivors and symbols of a renewed ... More commitment to forest conservation. One of the bigger recent victories in the battle for the conservation of these majestic trees came in the form of President Bill Clinton's proclamation of the Giant Sequoia National Monument on April 15, 2000. Encompassing 328,315 acres within Sequoia National Forest, this designation brought 33 of the forest's groves — including Converse Basin — under a unified management framework aimed at protecting old-growth remnants, restoring degraded stands and facilitating scientific research. The Monument is divided into two sections: the northern portion, administered by the Hume Lake Ranger District, includes parts of Kings Canyon National Park and groves such as General Grant and Converse Basin. The southern portion, which lies adjacent to Sequoia National Park, encompasses groves like Freeman Creek and Belknap. Visitors can hike interpretive trails, such as the Boole Tree and Chicago Stump loops, witnessing firsthand the legacy of logging and the ongoing journey of forest restoration. Today, the Giant Sequoia National Monument not only safeguards these ancient trees but also promotes public education and scientific inquiry while fostering resilient sequoia ecosystems that will endure for millennia to come. Do you feel like being close to nature reduces your stress and makes you happy? Do you feel a deep sense of belonging and relationship with the natural world? Take this test to see if you are one with Mother Nature: Connectedness To Nature Scale.
CBS News
23-05-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
Inn Fire forces evacuations in Mono City, closes Highway 395
MONO CITY – The Inn Fire in Mono County forced mandatory evacuations in Mono City and shut down Highway 395 ahead of Memorial Day weekend. The fire broke out on Thursday around 3:30 p.m. and has burned 538 acres while jumping Highway 395 near Mono Lake. Crews said erratic winds caused the fire to spread quickly. No containment has been reported. The evacuation order, which is still in effect as of Friday afternoon, included an area stretching from Tioga Lodge to Mono Inn, north of Lee Vining. An evacuation center was established at Bridgeport Memorial Hall on North School Street. Highway 395 is closed from Lee Vining to Highway 167. It's unknown when it will reopen, as many people are expected to hit the road for the Memorial Day weekend. Drivers can take Highway 167 if heading south, whereas northbound travelers can take Highway 6 in Bishop to avoid the closure. Mono City is about 200 miles southeast of Sacramento on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It's home to about 300 people. Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America and is more than two times as salty as the ocean.
