Next steps for men's prison delayed
Venhuizen's letter says extra time is needed to come up with a proposal with enough detail. Project Prison Reset is looking at how and where to recommend construction of a new prison facility or facilities in the state.
USD still weighing decisions with NCAA settlement
Greg Jamison is on that task force, and he says they still aim to have a proposal completed in July. He says a delay will not only benefit them, but the entire legislature.
'We're knee deep in all the details, but the other legislators are not,' Jamison said. 'And so, the concept of asking them to approve something that we know inside and out, and they've only maybe had a couple of weeks to digest that seems like a challenge.'
The group's next meeting is scheduled for July 8th, and a special legislative session was originally set for July 22nd.
Governor Larry Rhoden says in a statement, 'I will accept the task force's request and will consult with legislative leadership on a rescheduled date for the special session. I'm eager to see what the task force can accomplish in their next meeting.'
'It makes a lot of sense for him to do that,' Jamison said. 'As a former legislator, he understands the complexities of this decision and the enormity of building this new prison.'
Attorney General Marty Jackley, who is also on the task force, supports an extended timeline.
'I believe this project can get done for that $525 to $625 million, 1,500 to 1,700 beds. You know, whatever the legislature needs to get that done. I think it makes sense to give them that time,' Jackley said.
As for how long the delay might be, Jamison isn't sure. In the meantime, the delay can allow lawmakers to voice their concerns, and it also leaves the task force adequate time to adjust their proposal.
'So if we're getting feedback from the legislative body and they want changes to it or they won't pass it, well then we need to make changes because we need to pass it,' Jamison said. 'We've got to do something.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The Hill
4 hours ago
- The Hill
Trans athletes face uncertain future after Penn strikes deal with Trump administration
The University of Pennsylvania's decision this week to sign an agreement with the Trump administration committing to barring transgender athletes from its women's sports teams is raising questions about whether other schools might do the same faced with the weight of the federal government. Penn, President Trump's alma mater, is the first to sign such an agreement, which the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) proposed following an investigation that found the university violated Title IX, the federal law against sex discrimination in schools, when it allowed Lia Thomas to join the women's swim team for the 2021-22 season. Thomas broke three of the six Penn women's swimming and diving individual freestyle records that year, which the university removed from its leaderboard as part of its agreement with the Trump administration. An addendum to Penn's women's swimming all-time school records now reads, 'Competing under eligibility rules in effect at the time, Lia Thomas set program records in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle during the 2021-22 season.' Penn's agreement with the OCR also required it to issue a public statement, to be displayed 'in a prominent location on its main website,' pledging compliance with Title IX, which the administration has said prohibits transgender girls from girls' sports, and specifying that it would not allow transgender women to participate in women's sports or enter women's athletic facilities, such as locker rooms. The Ivy League institution was also made to personally apologize to Thomas's former teammates and adopt 'biology-based' definitions of the terms 'male' and 'female,' consistent with two executive orders Trump signed during his first weeks in office — one that proclaims the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes, and another stating the federal government opposes trans athletes' participation in girls' and women's sports. The NCAA, which oversees sports at more than 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide, barred transgender women from participating in women's college sports shortly after Trump signed the order on trans athletes. The organization's president, Charlie Baker, had testified before a Senate panel in December that fewer than 10 known NCAA athletes are transgender. 'There is nothing legitimate about what the Trump administration is doing here in targeting trans-inclusive sports policies,' said Shiwali Patel, director of safe and inclusive schools at the National Women's Law Center. 'I don't think we should be giving any sort of legitimacy — I don't think institutions should, by signing these resolution agreements,' Patel said. In a letter addressed to the Penn community on Tuesday, J. Larry Jameson, the university's president, wrote that the school's commitment to fostering a welcoming environment for its students is 'unwavering,' but that it is also bound by federal requirements, including executive orders and NCAA eligibility rules. 'This is a complex issue, and I am pleased that we were able to reach a resolution through the standard OCR process for concluding Title IX investigations,' he wrote. Jameson added that Penn has never had a transgender student-athlete policy of its own and was in compliance with federal law and NCAA rules when Thomas was a student. But refusing to sign the Trump administration's agreement 'could have had significant and lasting implications for the University of Pennsylvania,' he wrote. The administration had suspended $175 million in federal contracts awarded to Penn in March, citing Thomas's participation on the women's swim team three years ago. That money was released to the university after it signed the agreement,a White House official told The Hill. Patel said she worries Penn, by signing the agreement, is setting a precedent for other schools to follow, despite having what she said is 'a clear legal claim' to challenge the administration if it were to pull a college or university's funding over its trans athletes. 'I'm worried that other schools might follow, but I hope they push back,' she said. 'If they don't challenge it, then I think that this is going to make the Trump administration think, 'Well, this is a winnable approach, you know, let's keep at it and be more aggressive.' I worry that they'll continue on this.' Since Trump's return to office in January, the Education Department has opened more than two dozen investigations into states, school districts and athletic associations that it says are violating Title IX by allowing transgender students to compete. In April, the department joined forces with the Department of Justice to establish a Title IX 'special investigations team' in response to what either agency described as a 'staggering volume' of new complaints. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also initiated Title IX investigations related to transgender athletes under the second Trump administration, one of which found the state of Maine in violation of the federal civil rights law. That investigation was later referred to the Justice Department, which filed a civil lawsuit against the state's Education Department in April. The Justice Department is also investigating California, whose funding Trump threatened in May over a transgender 16-year-old's participation in a state track-and-field championship. While several universities have also seen their federal funding threatened or frozen by the Trump administration, Penn is so far the only school to have its funding paused over its handling of transgender athletes. On separate issues, schools have challenged the administration: Harvard University and the Trump administration continue to lock horns in an escalating battle that began in April, when the White House froze more than $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard over the school's refusal to implement policies that it claims exceed the government's lawful authority and violate its constitutional rights. Penn's agreement with the administration on Tuesday signals that other schools may not have the desire, or the resources, to enter costly and high-profile litigation with the government. They may also lack the appetite to go to bat for transgender students at the risk of losing hundreds of millions in federal financial assistance. 'No school wants to lose their federal funding, so I do think that we're going to see schools probably adopt more restrictive eligibility policies around transgender athlete participation, particularly in states that already have laws that exclude trans athlete participation,' said Leah Reynolds, principle consultant at Distinct Consulting Solutions, which advises schools on Title IX compliance. Twenty-seven Republican-led states since 2020 have adopted laws that bar trans students from competing in line with their gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, which tracks LGBTQ laws. Court orders are blocking six of them, in Arizona, Idaho, Utah and West Virginia, from taking effect, and a narrow ruling in New Hampshire allows only the two students challenging the law to continue competing on their schools' girls' sports teams. A federal judge allowed the two high school students to expand their legal challenge to include the Trump administration in February. 'Right now, if you're following the industry, you can see there's a clear divide,' said Reynolds. 'Some schools, like schools in California or Maine, appear to be resistant to federal pressure to restrict trans athletes. There's probably going to be a divide until some of the court cases that are happening right now start resolving themselves.' On Thursday, the Supreme Court agreed to weigh during its next term whether state laws banning transgender athletes from girls' and women's school sports teams violate Title IX and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The court's conservative majority ruled last month that a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors does not violate the U.S. Constitution or discriminate based on sex or transgender status.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court takes up bans on transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports
Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will consider whether states can prohibit transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports, setting up a high-profile clash that could have far-reaching implications across the country. The justices agreed to decide whether laws from Idaho and West Virginia that prevent transgender girls and women from competing in female athletics violate the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and Title IX. The cases involving transgender rights come after the court's conservative majority upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors last month. Beginning in its next term in October, the Supreme Court will review lower court decisions in favor of transgender athletes from Idaho and West Virginia who challenged the bans in their respective states. The Idaho case involves the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, while the dispute over West Virginia's law involves the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection and Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education. The issue of transgender athletes participating in girls' and women's sports has exploded at the state level in recent years. Idaho was the first state to pass a law prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in women and girls' sports, and two dozen have since followed suit. Roughly half of the states have also passed laws that bar certain medical treatments for minors experiencing gender dysphoria. At the federal level, President Trump signed an executive order in February that aimed to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity. The president's order directs that under Title IX, educational institutions that receive federal funds cannot "deny women an equal opportunity to participate in sports." On the heels of Mr. Trump's executive order, the NCAA announced it had updated its participation policy for transgender athletes to bar student-athletes who were assigned male at birth from competing on women's teams. On Wednesday, the University of Pennsylvania said it would no longer allow transgender athletes to participate in women's sports as part of an agreement to resolve Title IX violations. The Trump administration had opened an investigation into the school after it awarded Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer, a spot on the women's swimming team. "Categorically excluding kids from school sports just because they are transgender will only make our schools less safe and more hurtful places for all youth," said Joshua Block of the ACLU, which is representing the athletes in the cases, Lindsay Hecox and Becky Pepper-Jackson. "We believe the lower courts were right to block these discriminatory laws, and we will continue to defend the freedom of all kids to play." West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said he is confident the Supreme Court will uphold his state's law. "It's a great day, as female athletes in West Virginia will have their voices heard," he said in a statement. "The people of West Virginia know that it's unfair to let male athletes compete against women; that's why we passed this commonsense law preserving women's sports for women." Idaho's law Idaho's measure, called the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, requires athletic teams or sports to be designated based on biological sex, and says those for women or girls "shall not be open to students of the male sex." If there is any dispute about a student's sex, the law says schools must ask for a health examination and consent form verifying the student's biological sex. After Idaho's GOP-led legislature passed the legislation, Hecox, a transgender woman who was attending Boise State University, sued, arguing the law violates Title IX and the Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law. Hecox was a freshman when she filed her lawsuit in April 2020, and she said she wanted to try out for the women's track and cross-country teams as a sophomore, but couldn't do so because of Idaho's ban. Hecox has received treatment for gender dysphoria since 2019, including testosterone suppression and estrogen, according to court papers. A federal district court blocked enforcement of Idaho's law, finding that Hecox was likely to succeed in her challenge. U.S. District Judge David Nye wrote in August 2020 that the ban "on its face discriminates between cisgender athletes, who may compete on athletic teams consistent with their gender identity, and transgender women athletes, who may not compete on athletic teams consistent with their gender identity." Additionally, Nye found the measure discriminates against transgender women by categorically excluding them from female sports and subjects participants in female athletics to a "potentially invasive" process for verifying a student's biological sex. As a result of the district court's order, Hecox tried out for the women's NCAA running teams at Boise State, but did not qualify. She instead participated in women's club soccer and running at the university, according to court filings. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the district court's injunction as applied to Hecox, finding that Idaho's ban targets all transgender girls and women regardless of their testosterone levels or whether they have received certain gender-transition treatments. The appeals court said that the record in the case doesn't back "the conclusion that all transgender women, including those like Lindsay who receive hormone therapy, have a physiological advantage over cisgender women." The West Virginia law West Virginia's legislature passed its law, the Save Women's Sports Act, in 2021, which restricts participation on girls' sports teams based on biological sex, defined as a student's "reproductive biology and genetics at birth." The law prohibits transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports at every level, including club and intramural activities. State officials have argued the law aims to protect equality in girls' sports, and it does not prevent anyone from trying out for men's, boys' or co-ed teams. "It is only when students are playing skill and contact sports — where biological sex has a direct effect— that biological males (again, however they might identify) cannot compete with females," they wrote in a Supreme Court filing. Before the law took effect, Pepper-Jackson, who was then 11 years old, challenged the measure, arguing it is unconstitutional and violates Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or programs that receive federal funding. Pepper-Jackson, now a teenager, was born male but began identifying as female at "an early age," lawyers wrote in court papers. She has received puberty-delaying treatment and estrogen hormone therapy. When Pepper-Jackson was a rising sixth grader and preparing to begin middle school, she was informed by her school's principal that she could not participate in girls' school sports because of West Virginia's law. A federal judge in July 2022 temporarily blocked West Virginia from enforcing the law only against Pepper-Jackson, ruling its application would likely violate Title IX and the Constitution. As a result of the injunction, she was able to participate in her middle school girls' cross-country and track-and-field teams. In early 2023, U.S. District judge Joseph Goodwin ruled for the state and upheld the law. He also lifted the earlier injunction that had blocked enforcement against Pepper-Jackson. "A transgender girl is biologically male and, barring medical intervention, would undergo male puberty like other biological males. And biological males generally outperform females athletically," he wrote. "The state is permitted to legislate sports rules on this basis because sex, and the physical characteristics that flow from it, are substantially related to athletic performance and fairness in sports." Pepper-Jackson appealed and asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit for emergency relief, which would've allowed her to participate in the spring 2023 track-and-field season. The appeals court granted her request, after which West Virginia officials sought the Supreme Court's intervention. The high court then denied the state's bid to allow it to enforce the law against Pepper-Jackson, with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting. A divided 4th Circuit issued a ruling on the merits of the case in April 2024, finding West Virginia's law violated Title IX by discriminating against Pepper-Jackson on the basis of sex. Citing Pepper-Jackson's years-long identity as a girl, social transition, name change, updated birth certificate listing her as a female and medical treatments, the 4th Circuit's majority said offering her a "'choice' between not participating in sports and participating only on boys teams is no real choice at all." "By participating on boys teams, B.P.J. would be sharing the field with boys who are larger, stronger, and faster than her because of the elevated levels of circulating testosterone she lacks," Judge Toby Heytens wrote. "The act thus exposes B.P.J. to the very harms Title IX is meant to prevent by effectively 'exclud[ing]' her from 'participation in' all non-coed sports entirely." But in their appeal to the Supreme Court, West Virginia officials argued that the 4th Circuit's decision threatens Title IX's promise of equal athletic opportunity for women and girls. "In the Fourth Circuit, females must now compete against biological males — and all the physiological advantages they possess — in all athletic events," lawyers for the state wrote. Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argued it's too soon for the Supreme Court to weigh in, as the 4th Circuit's decision is the first and only from a federal appeals court to address Title IX's protections for transgender athletes. Supreme Court takes up case on bans for transgender athletes in girls' and women's sports Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota killed in car crash in Spain, officials say What to know about Rep. Hakeem Jeffries hours-long House speech ahead of budget bill vote
Fox News
3 days ago
- Fox News
Riley Gaines calls on NCAA to amend Lia Thomas' records after UPenn submits to Trump on issue
After the University of Pennsylvania agreed to erase all program records set by former transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, questions arose about how the NCAA will address Thomas' NCAA title. Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championships with a time of 4:33.24. Thomas also finished in the top 10 in a number of other events, denying higher finishes to female competitors. While UPenn has wiped those records from its books, Thomas' finishes still stand nationally. Former University of Kentucky swimmer and OutKick host Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth place against Thomas in that year's 200-yard freestyle, is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA for its policies that allowed Thomas to compete. One of the demands in Gaines' lawsuit is that the NCAA rescind all of Thomas' championship finishes. Fox News Digital has reached out to the NCAA inquiring if and when it plans to make any changes to Thomas' 2022 championship finishes but has not received a response. Gaines sent a message to the NCAA about this issue during an interview on "Dont @ Me With Dan Dakich" Wednesday. "While the Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania will have to rescind his records from their account and their record boards, the NCAA, as I understand it, does not have to. So, we will see what the NCAA does," Gaines said. Gaines doesn't expect the NCAA will amend those records willingly. "These 'leaders,' if you will, have remained spineless and weak-kneed and morally bankrupt and just total cowards over the last three years," Gaines said. At an April 18 press conference, while discussing Maine's defiance on the issue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted President Donald Trump's order and Title IX as federal law, noting that violators could be "prosecuted." Gaines previously told Fox News Digital she would support prosecution as a response to the issue. "I would love to see prosecution because I believe what is happening is criminal," Gaines said. "The way that we have been told that a man's feelings matter more than our physical safety, than our rights to participate, to call ourselves champions, I believe that is a criminal action. Therefore, I believe it is a criminal offense. "Someone somewhere has to be made an example of, otherwise you will have the woman-hating Democratic Party continue with full steam ahead. … I believe university officials should be charged." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
