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Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Five big issues looming over the final days of the legislative session
Jun. 1—Some of the thorniest and most divisive policy issues of the session stand between Maine lawmakers and their plan to adjourn on June 18. While the biggest outstanding item on the agenda is finalizing a two-year state budget, other major issues remain unresolved, as well. Here's a look at what lies ahead. TRANSGENDER ATHLETES When Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, he issued two executive orders targeting people who are transgender, including an order prohibiting transgender girls from participating in girls sports. Those orders put Maine in the administration's crosshairs because the state allows transgender athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity — a stand state officials say is consistent with Title IX, which grants equal opportunity to females in education and sports, and with the Maine Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. That dynamic led to a high profile confrontation between Gov. Janet Mills and Trump at the White House, efforts by the Trump administration to cut Maine's funding, the censure of Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, for a social media post identifying a transgender high school athlete, a U.S. Supreme Court intervention, and a hotly contested and emotional debate in the State House, where Republicans have offered a slate of bills that would restrict participation by transgender athletes and students. None of those have yet been taken up by the full Legislature. Lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee deadlocked 6-6 on two bills that would eliminate funding from school districts that allow transgender girls to participate in girls sports. Democratic Rep. Dani O'Halloran of Brewer joined Republicans in backing LD 233, sponsored by Richard Campbell, R-Orrington, and LD 1134, sponsored by Sen. Sue Bernard, R-Caribou. Two other bills were voted "ought not to pass" by the committee, but still face floor votes. LD 868, sponsored by Rep. Liz Caruso, R-Caratunk, which would have required sports to be male, female or coed and required students to use restrooms and changing rooms consistent with their gender assigned at birth, was narrowly defeated in committee, 7-5. And LD 1432, sponsored by Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, which would have removed gender identity from the Maine Human Rights Act, was opposed, 11-2. CHILD CARE The budget presented by Gov. Janet Mills proposes rolling back some recent investments in child care, including stipends to attract workers, but pending legislation would boost support for the struggling industry. Child care advocates presented a show of force early in the session, calling on lawmakers to protect the investments targeted by Mills. And while lawmakers are still negotiating the budget, additional standalone bills have been working through the Legislature. One of those bills, LD 1955, is sponsored by Senate President Mattie Daughtry, D-Brunswick. It calls for $1 million a year in child care provider stipends, plus a onetime appropriation of $3.8 million and an annual appropriation of $2 million to help qualifying families pay for child care. HOUSING The affordable housing shortage in Maine has been front and center again this session. LD 1829, sponsored by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, aims to make it easier to build housing in communities by reducing minimum lot requirements, loosening regulations on in-law apartments or accessory dwelling units, streamlining municipal review for smaller housing developments, and allowing a single-story high bonus for qualified affordable housing. Lawmakers have also taken up bills that would provide funding to allow residents of mobile home parks to purchase those parks when offered for sale. Mobile home residents own their homes, but not the land underneath them. In recent years, parks have changed hands, leading to an increase in lot fees, and increasing the housing instability of of tenants. IMMIGRATION Immigration enforcement has been another focus of the Trump administration that spilled into the Legislature this year. Lawmakers are still considering bills that would define the relationship between federal authorities and state, county and local police. One bill, LD 1656, sponsored by Soboleski, would prohibit any restrictions from being placed on assisting with federal immigration enforcement. But two Democratic bills — LD 1259, sponsored by Rep. Ambreen Rana, D-Bangor, and LD 1971, sponsored by Rep. Deqa Dhalac, D-South Portland — take the opposite approach. Rana's bill would prohibit state and local law enforcement from entering into contracts for federal immigration enforcement, while Dhalac's bill would go further by adding additional restrictions on state and local law enforcement's ability to enforce immigration laws, while emphasizing the rights of detained immigrants. TAX BILLS With state revenues flattening, lawmakers are considering a range of proposals to support state programs and provide tax relief to families. One bill likely to come to the floor is LD 1089, sponsored by Rep. Cheryl Golek, D-Harpswell. It would create a so-called millionaire's tax to support K-12 education. Adding a 4% surcharge to incomes above $1 million could generate over $100 million a year, according to advocates who celebrated the positive committee recommendation. Copy the Story Link
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Woke state's insane plan to get round Trump's rules and reward transgender athlete for beating biological girls
California Governor Gavin Newsom has hatched a plan to award multiple winners at the state's high school track-and-field championships this weekend as President Donald Trump 's Department of Justice investigates the state over a potential Title IX violation. California opened the event to more girls after a transgender athlete drew criticism for qualifying for the meet. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) will now permit an extra competitor in three events featuring transgender high school junior AB Hernandez. The rule change is temporary, according to the CIF, and not a direct response to Trump's recent online criticism of California state policy, Governor Newsom and the 16-year-old Hernandez. 'California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow "MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN'S SPORTS,"' Trump wrote on his social media platform. 'This week a transitioned Male athlete, at a major event, won "everything," and is now qualified to compete in the 'State Finals' next weekend. 'As a Male, he was a less than average competitor,' Trump continued in an apparent reference to Hernandez. 'As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable. THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.' Trump then threatened to withhold federal funding 'permanently' if his executive order forbidding transgender athletes in girls and women's sports isn't followed. The rule change is temporary, according to the CIF, and not a direct response to Trump's recent online criticism of California state policy, Governor Newsom and the 16-year-old Hernandez The President also ordered 'local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in the State Finals.' Wednesday, the CIF said it's extending access for more 'biological female' athletes to participate in this weekend's championships. However, the change only applies to this competition. 'Under this pilot entry process, any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section's automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet, was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships,' the CIF statement read. 'The CIF believes this pilot entry process achieves the participation opportunities we seek to afford our student-athletes.' A recent Associated Press poll found that 7 in 10 American adults want transgender female athletes banned from girls and women's sports at the high school, college or professional level.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
DOJ investigating California for potential Title IX violations over trans athlete policies
The Brief The DOJ is investigating California for potential Title IX violations because of its policies regarding transgender athletes in sports. This weekend, a transgender athlete will compete in the state track and field championship. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull federal funding from California if the state allows that student to compete. JURUPA VALLEY, Calif. - The U.S. Department of Justice announced a new investigation in California to determine whether the state is violating Title IX by allowing trans athletes to compete in girls' sports. "By allowing a boy to go on the girls' team is a violation of Title IX," said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. What we know On Wednesday, Essayli and the Justice Department launched an investigation over possible Title IX violations in Jurupa Valley, and a trans athlete taking first place in girls track in field events. "Title IX is clear, you cannot discriminate based on sex," said Essayli. The federal offices are also joining an ongoing lawsuit against Riverside Unified School District after a trans athlete displaced a girl for a varsity spot on a high school cross-country team. SUGGESTED: Students, parents react to California's transgender high school sports controversy Currently, California law requires schools to allow transgender athletes to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity. t What they're saying "Everyone [in these California cases] is violating [Title IX]," said Essaylli. "The school district is violating it, CIF, and the state law is violating it." Later this week, AB Hernandez, a transgender athlete at Jurupa Valley High School, will compete in several events at the track and field state championship. Hernandez has been the center of the Title IX debate in recent weeks and spoke with "Capital & Main" about the backlash at meets. "I'm still a child and you're an adult," Hernandez told Capital and Main News. "For you to act like a child, shows how you are as a person. There's nothing I can do about peoples' actions, just focus on my own." The backstory In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from competing in girls' sports. Then on Tuesday, he posted a lengthy message to Truth Social referencing the Hernandez case without mentioning a name. In the post, Trump threatened to stop federal funding in California if Hernandez competes this week in the state finals. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Trump threatens to cut California's federal funding over transgender athlete controversy Following Trump's post, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) changed the rules ahead of this week's track and field state championship. On Wednesday CIF told FOX 11, if a trans athlete wins an event at this week's championship they'll receive a gold, as will the first biological female. "That's strange and doesn't solve the problem," said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillion. "The problem is a boy being allowed to compete against girls." According to Dhillion, the new Title IX investigation in California could set a precedent for 21 other states with similar trans athlete laws. "You look at why Title IX was ever needed," said Dhillion. "It was needed so girls could have an equal opportunity to compete. They don't have an equal opportunity to compete when boys are competing against girls." The Source Information in this story is from U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the California Interscholastic Federation, an interview AB Hernandez gave to "Capital & Main," and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillion.
Fox News
4 days ago
- General
- Fox News
West Virginia gov vows to protect women's sports as trans athlete competes for girls' state championship
Print Close By Ryan Gaydos Published May 28, 2025 West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey vowed to keep up the fight to protect women's and girls' sports as a transgender athlete competing against girls in the state championship. Becky Pepper-Jackson, a 13-year-old freshman at Bridgeport Senior High School who has been the subject of a Supreme Court case about their participation in girls' sports, finished in third place in the discus event and eighth in the shot put competition. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON As Pepper-Jackson took part in the meet, Morrisey urged officials to keep separate scores. "A boy is currently competing in girls' sports at the high school state track meet in West Virginia," Morrisey wrote on Facebook. "It's wrong and unfair. I'm again urging officials to keep separate scores so that the true winners can be awarded once we win in court. "We will not stop fighting to protect girls' sports." A federal appeals court blocked a West Virginia law that would have kept biological males from competing against girls and women in sports last year. The court said the law cannot lawfully be applied to a middle school-aged trans girl who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since the third grade. West Virginia has since made an appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the appeals court's ruling. CALIFORNIA TRACK STAR'S FAMILY REACTS TO TRUMP SHAKING UP GIRLS' CHAMPIONSHIP MEET AMID TRANS ATHLETE DRAMA In 2023, Supreme Court justices refused to disturb an appeals court order that made it possible for the girl to continue playing on her middle school's track and cross-country teams. As the West Virginia high school track and field moved into the postseason, Morrisey called on coaches to let athletes "take a stand" against transgender participating in girls' sports. "I believe what is going on right now in West Virginia – with boys playing sports against girls – to be abhorrent and contrary to law," he wrote on Facebook. "While we wait for the Supreme Court to issue their ruling in this case, I'm calling on all coaches involved to let these brave athletes take a stand for what is right without unfair punishment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "As we all work toward removing the wrongly-decided injunction in upcoming months, I ask for all tournament officials to keep a full set of results so that true winners of each event may be recognized when the Supreme Court rules in our favor." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter . Print Close URL
Fox News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Maine teens battling state Democrats on girls' sports bill after enduring trans athlete chaos in high school
A four-woman squad of Presque Isle High School student athletes helped lead a march on Maine's state Capitol building in Augusta last week. They went to spar with state legislature Democrats over three bills that would ban biological males from girls' sports – an issue that has sent their state and sports seasons spiraling into chaos in 2025. For three of them, it was their first political rally, and they were taking center stage. They had to wade through pro-transgender counter-protesters outside the building, and dismissive liberal lawmakers inside it. "It was a little intimidating knowing they don't have the same beliefs as us," Hailey Himes, a first-time protester, told Fox News Digital. But Himes said she realized she had to join the fight to protect girls' sports from trans athletes when her English teacher assigned her an essay on the subject on March 12. Just one month before that, Himes and other female athletes witnessed the pole vault jump that plunged their state into a national conflict, when a trans athlete won first place in girls' pole vault for Greely High School in early February. "I watched this male pole vaulter stand on the podium and we were all just like looking we were like 'We're pretty sure that's not a girl. There's no way that's a girl,'" Himes said. "It was really discouraging, especially for the girls on the podium not in first place. So that motivated me to fight for them." So Himes, along with her track and field teammates Lucy Cheney and Carrlyn Buck, marched on Augusta, following the lead of fellow Presque Isle track athlete Cassidy Carlisle, who has already taken part in two marches in Augusta and trips to Washington, D.C., to meet with GOP leaders on the issue. The group had gained plenty of experience in dealing with controversies involving trans athlete, close to home for years together. Years earlier, the girls saw their high school rocked by a situation involving a trans athlete, when a biological male joined the girls' tennis team. "We all heard of it from friends and none of us do tennis so it was just kind of a word of mouth kind of thing," Cheney said. "At that point we couldn't really do anything about it because the administration agreed to let them play so we really just had to accept it, and really no one else on the team really wanted to accept it, but they had to." All four girls added that it quickly became one of the most-discussed topics in Presque Isle High School when it first happened, and it continued throughout the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, before the trans athlete graduated last summer. Now, this year, they've all had to compete under the shadow of a national conflict between their state and President Donald Trump because Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic majority have committed to keeping trans athletes in girls' sports. Mills' stance risks costing the state's high schools federal funding, while leaving Carlisle, Himes, Cheney, Buck and their teammates facing the anxiety of competing against trans athletes in the state's track and field playoffs. When the four teens got into the Capitol on Thursday, they came face to face with the individuals who were fighting to keep trans athletes in their sports. The Maine legislature's Democratic majority has been actively and aggressively resisting the Trump administration for months over the president's "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order. But now three Republican-backed bills – LD 868, LD 233 and LD 1134 – were on their own floor to reverse its policy, and over a dozen Maine high school girls' athletes were there to fight the Democrats for it. "They definitely asked a lot less questions to the people who they didn't agree with than the people who they did agree with, and you could tell they did not feel as compassionate," Cheney said of the Democratic leaders. "They got emotional just when [pro-trans speakers] were sharing, and it seemed like they really cared for them, and they wanted to support them, and it didn't feel as much as they wanted to hear our side." Buck said that when the Democrats did come to them with questions, they seemed "hostile." "They just seemed more hostile toward our testimonies when they did ask questions," Buck said. "It felt like a lot of questions were being pestering." Still, the teens made sure to let everyone in the chamber know what it was they were dealing with, as the trans athletes competing in Maine's track and field playoffs threaten to upend their entire season. A trans-identifying athlete who competed for North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine, recently dominated the girls' 800-meter and 1600-meter events at the Poland-NYA-Yarmouth-Seacoast meet, prompting national outrage. "For my teammates, and some of my best friends on the team that are in the events with [the trans athletes], it's really unfortunate for them, and just our team as a whole because those points will impact our team ranking," Himes said, adding that another local girl suggested her parents won't allow her to compete in the same event with a trans athlete. Buck added, "It's not just about the points, it's also that our teammates are going to feel discouraged when placed in an event against them because they're going in already knowing that the outcome is decided, with playing against a biological male who is biologically stronger than them, so they have no chance." Carlisle is already very familiar with that feeling of defeat, having lost to the same athlete who dominated the Poland-NYA-Yarmouth-Seacoast meet in past running and skiing competitions, dating back to 2023. On top of that, she first had to experience changing in the same locker room with a male in seventh grade when a trans student was in her gym class. But even now, as an ascending crusader against trans inclusion in girls' sports, having attended marches, meetings of GOP attorneys general and even a Department of Justice press conference announcing a lawsuit against Maine over the issue, she says she still has a friend who is transgender. "I communicate with them almost on the daily, we never have negative interactions," Carlisle said. "For people that want to say we're not accepting, that's not the problem. We don't have a problem in general with trans people. We have a problem when it starts to impact our lives." Carlisle has saved her resentment, not for trans people, or even the trans athletes, but for Mills. "She is directly looking at us and saying 'I don't care about you,'" Carlisle said. "When I vote next time, I'll absolutely take that into consideration." All four teens plan on making regular trips to the state Capitol to lobby on behalf of LD 868, LD 233, and LD 1134 until they are signed into law, as they seek to keep males out of their sports, and keep federal funding going to their schools. "Our schools need federal funding," Carlisle said. "So for [Mills], now she's not just looking at Maine girl athletes and saying 'I don't really care about you.' She's looking at students in Maine and saying 'I don't care about you and I don't care if your school gets funding, because I'm going to pick a fight that really doesn't need to be picked.'" The DOJ has accused the state of "openly and defiantly flouting federal anti-discrimination law by enforcing policies that require girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions designated exclusively for girls," according to a complaint obtained by Fox News Digital. Mills, the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Principals' Association have held firmly in support of continuing to enable trans inclusion in girls' sports across the state, citing the Maine Human Rights Act as the precedent for determining gender eligibility. Meanwhile, two Maine school districts have already taken matters into their own hands, as MSAD No. 70 and RSU No. 24 have each moved to amend their own policies to keep trans athletes out of girls' sports. And in addition to those school districts and young women like Carlisle, Buck, Himes and Cheyney, Mills and the Democrats may ultimately end up facing more internal resistance than external. A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said that school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is "only fair to restrict women's sports to biological women." The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women's and girls' sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18. But so far, the governor has remained firm in opposing Trump on the issue, even at the cost of taxpayer-funded legal fees. "I'm happy to go to court and litigate the issues that are being raised in this court complaint," Mills told reporters in April. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
