Latest news with #Spokane
Fox News
6 hours ago
- General
- Fox News
High school girls stage protest after trans athlete wins 2nd straight state track championship
Veronica Garcia's state championship is being met with tons of backlash. Garcia, a senior at East Valley High School in Spokane, Washington, took home the girls' 400-meter 2A state title on Saturday. Garcia is a transgender female. Garcia, according to the Seattle Times, was heckled before the race and was booed after it. But the criticism did not end on Saturday. With students back at school after the weekend, high school girls decided to take matters into their own hands. Numerous girls from Tumwater High School in Tumwater protested during school hours with a large banner sign that read, "This is not a walk out (sic). We are not going anywhere." Other signs read "XX," "protest female sports" and other similar messages. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) issued the following statement to Fox News Digital: "The WIAA continues to proudly represent the 225,000+ student-participants across the state. The Association is aware of the protest by Tumwater HS students." The Tumwater girls' team finished in third place in the meet. Reese Heryford finished in 15th place in a preliminary run for the 400 meters, failing to be in the necessary top eight to qualify for the final. Garcia said the boos were "expect[ed]." "I'll be honest, I kind of expect it," Garcia told the Seattle Times. "But it maybe didn't have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in I wanted to give up, but angry as in I'm going to push. "I'm going to put this in the most PG-13 way. I'm just going to say it's a damn shame they don't have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people." Garcia, who ran the race in 55.70 seconds, won by over a full second. That time would have been the slowest by any boy, even in the preliminary rounds. Garcia also won a state championship last year and complained about the lack of sportsmanship from fellow competitors. Garcia's victory came roughly a week after the Quilcene School District in Washington voted, 3-2, to keep sports competition based on athletes' birth gender, a move that defies state law. The WIAA, enacted in 2007, allows transgender students to participate based on their gender identity. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February to keep biological boys out of girls' and women's sports, but Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, who once said it would be "inaccurate" to say there are only two genders, said the order defies state law. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
16 hours ago
- General
- Fox News
Trans athlete fires message toward critics after dominating girls' 400 for state title
Verónica Garcia, a transgender competitor, has been on top of the competition in the girls' 400-meter races during the Washington state outdoor season in 2025 and finished in first place during the state championships on Saturday. Garcia, who competes for East Valley High School in Spokane, took home the title in the 2A race for the second straight year. Garcia finished first in the 2A Greater Spokane League District Championship on May 23 and won several other regular-season races over the course of the year. On Saturday, Garcia told The Seattle Times there were boos from the crowd that didn't agree that biological males should compete against girls in sports. However, Garcia fired back with a defiant message after the race was over. "I'll be honest, I kind of expect it," Garcia told the outlet. "But it maybe didn't have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I'm going to push. "I'm going to put this in the most PG-13 way. I'm just going to say it's a damn shame they don't have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people." Garcia finished with a time of 55.70, more than a full second faster than the second-place finisher who clocked in at 56.75. Garcia also won a state championship last year and complained about the lack of sportsmanship from fellow competitors. Washington has been among the states to defy President Donald Trump's executive order to keep men out of women's sports. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA)'s Representative Assembly proposed two amendments to its policies earlier this year that would keep girls' sports to biological females only and potentially offer an open division if student-athletes were interested. The proposals were advisory votes only and no changes to the rules were made. Washington officials have cautioned that any proposed change would violate state law. BELOW VIDEO IS FROM 2024: Washington state law requires local educational agencies to allow transgender students to participate in interscholastic sports "that most closely aligns with their gender identity," according to the WIAA. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Transgender athlete sends defiant message to critics after dominating girls' high school track meet
A transgender athlete told their critics to 'get a life' after they were booed for dominating a girl's state track championship in Washington. Veronica Garcia of East Valley of Spokane won the 400m by nearly a second at the championships on Saturday. Garcia also helped their school win the 4x100m relay. In 2024, Garcia became the first transgender athlete in Washington State to win a state track title and this weekend the 17-year-old was heckled by fans for the second year in a row. As reported by the Seattle Times, supporters cheered loudly for every other athlete during the medal ceremony, only for boos to ring out when Garcia's took to the podium. Earlier, during the warm-up, a man - wearing a shirt that read 'Save women's sports' - shouted 'Let's go girls!' and 'girls' race!' But the defiant 17-year-old hit back at her critics, telling the Seattle Times that the abuse was 'expected'. Look at the girls on the podium when the rightful champ, Lauren Matthew, is announced vs when the boy who stole her state title is announced. She is applauded. He is booed. Audio on. — Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 31, 2025 'But it maybe didn't have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I'm going to push,' Garcia said. 'I'm going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I'm just going to say it's a damn shame they don't have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people.' The 17-year-old continued: 'I'm really proud of myself... I did what I came to do, and that's good enough for me.' Lauren Matthew, who came second in the 400m, was pictured holding a homemade sign which crowned her the 'real' champion. Before and after Garcia competed in the 4x400m relay, athletes from a rival school wore black T-shirts that read 'Keep Women's Sports Female.' In Washington, students are allowed to participate in sports based on their gender identity. That is despite Donald Trump signing an executive order - entitled 'Keeping Men out of Women's Sports' - and a string of controversial incidents involving transgender athletes this weekend. In California, AB Hernandez claimed gold in the high jump and triple jump at the state finals. A masked pro-trans protestor was also arrested at the event after being witnessed using a Progress Pride flag to attack a demonstrator. In Oregon, meanwhile, two female high jumpers refused to stand alongside a transgender rival on the podium at this weekend's high school state championships. Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School abandoned the medal ceremony in an apparent protest of a fifth-place finisher, who is reportedly transgender. Reese finished fourth in the state final while Anderson was third. Rather than taking their spots on the podium, footage obtained by Fox News showed the girls turning their backs to the crowd before being ushered away from the ceremony by an official.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Two arrested in northeast Spokane drive-by shooting
May 31—Two people were arrested for an early Saturday morning drive-by shooting in northeast Spokane, according to the Spokane Police Department. Officers responded shortly after 5:30 a.m. to a shooting in the area of Liberty Avenue and Market Street, police said in a news release. A vehicle was damaged from the shooting, but no one was injured. During the investigation, officers connected the shooting to an incident the day before when the alleged shooter, later identified as 32-year-old Zachary D. Gring, ran from police, according to police. It's unclear what the details of the incident were. Information about Saturday's shooting, including surveillance footage, went out to patrol units. About six hours after the shooting, an officer pulled over the suspect vehicle, and a man and woman got out and ran from the car, police said. The woman, 26-year-old Allie J. Alderson, was arrested nearby. She was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a Department of Corrections warrant relating to a riot charge, a warrant for driving without a valid license and two counts of drive-by shooting for Saturday's incident, according to officers. Shortly after Alderson was arrested, a resident reported the second suspect, Gring, hiding nearby. Police arrested Gring and booked him into jail on two counts of first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and two counts of drive-by shooting (domestic violence) for shooting Saturday at a house and car of a person he had a relationship with, police said. He was also booked on suspicion of attempting to elude police from Friday's incident. Additional misdemeanor charges will be referred to prosecutors, police said. Police continue to investigate.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump threatens Washington funding in executive order targeting sanctuary states
May 30—President Donald Trump sent a message to Washington state officials Friday when he signed an executive order designating nearly the entire state as part of what he called "sanctuary jurisdictions," for which he earlier had threatened to cut off federal funding. The list of "sanctuary jurisdictions" appears to name every Washington county except Adams. The list included Spokane County and also listed the cities of Seattle, Olympia, Tacoma, Everett and Yakima, but it did not name Spokane. The "Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens" executive order required the formation of a list of states and cities that Trump wrote were obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws. "Sanctuary jurisdictions including cities, counties, and states that are deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws endangering American communities," the order reads. "Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril." However, the order does not take the next step and say that Trump intends to withhold federal funding from those places, like he tried earlier this year with San Francisco, Santa Clara County, and 14 other cities and counties it deems "sanctuary jurisdictions." "This is an eye-roller, a head-scratcher, but it doesn't come to me as a surprise at all," said Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, who is chair of the state House Appropriations Committee. Trump's "whole interest is to have jurisdictions bend the knee to whatever fleeting rant he happens to be in." Spokane County Commissioner Al French said he believes Spokane County made the list solely because of state law and insisted it is not a sanctuary county. He said the commission will meet with legal experts Monday to consider how to proceed while being mindful of the executive order. "It's concerning, because the executive order could jeopardize our funding from the feds," French said. "And not by anything we did, but by association." Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said only that city officials continue to follow all applicable laws but did not directly address the executive order. Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, pointed to the situation in Adams County, which Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sued earlier this year and accused officials there of cooperating with immigration enforcement in violation of the Keep Washington Working Act, which lawmakers passed in 2019. That law protects the rights of immigrant communities from unnecessary contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As a result of the law, local police departments and sheriff's offices aren't supposed to share information with ICE or U.S. Border Patrol agents upon request, Aaron Korthuis, a staff attorney at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, told The Spokesman-Review in March. Korthuis said the law also prohibits local officials from transferring individuals in custody to federal authorities or detaining individuals based solely on their immigration status, or to ask about a person's immigration status. Based on that law, Brown filed suit in Spokane County Superior Court in March alleging that Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner held persons in custody based on their immigration status, gave federal agents confidential information and helped those agents question detainees in violation of the 2019 law. Following the filing of the lawsuit, Wagner said in a statement at the time that it was a "disappointing attempt to hinder our ability to uphold public safety." Schmick, of Colfax, and State Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, both sided with Wagner, when contacted Friday about the executive order. "I believe that we need to follow the federal law ... especially when people are in jail and ICE is looking for them," Schmick said. "They should be turned over to ICE so they can be deported. We do not want criminals on our streets." Asked if he feared that Trump may try to withhold federal funding to Washington, Schmick said local officials "better change the rules. I thought when they passed (Keep Washington Working) way back when, that we were setting ourselves up for problems. "Now we are the problem." Schoesler noted that states changed speed limits and drinking ages in the past based on threats from federal officials to withhold transportation funds. "If you look at the people being protected by sanctuary cities, they are some pretty bad people. I live in Adams County. They are not grabbing people from the fields and factories," Schoesler said. "We are talking about people who committed crimes. "Sheriff Wagner wants to follow the federal law. If you are a criminal and not here legally, he wants to cooperate. At this point, we'd do better if Nick Brown tried working with these people instead of having a lawsuit every week." Mike Faulk, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Trump's executive order "is merely a list, and one that appears to be riddled with errors and false claims," he wrote. "Our bottom line, based on the facts, is that Keep Washington Working does not interfere with federal immigration law." Ormsby, the lawmaker from Spokane, called the executive order just the latest in a litany of proclamations and assertions coming from Trump. "It changes regularly, daily and hourly," Ormsby said. "My reaction is I'm very pleased that we have an attorney general in Washington state who is actively participating in lawsuits to stop some of this silliness that is coming out. "This is just the latest in a long list of gobsmacking things that have come out of this administration," he continued. "While it's difficult to take it super seriously, because it's in the early stages and will have to go through a legal review, I don't think it's an immediate issue for us." Spokesman-Review reporters Nick Gibson and Emry Dinman contributed to this report.
