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California’s LGBTQ+ kids in the crosshairs as a surge of bills targeting gender identity reaches record high

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

For most of junior year, 16-year-old Ace Roman’s mornings have started inside the “Fit Closet” — a wardrobe in the parking lot of Skyline High School.Roman, who identifies as non-binary, would try on men’s pants, women’s skirts, and everything in between, experimenting with whatever felt best that day. Roman’s friends would do the same, with many pulling on clothing they never would have felt comfortable wearing at home.The Fit Closet, designed by Oakland nonprofit Youth Together, was created to help students explore their gender identity in a safe, comfortable space. But across the country, a record number of bills targeting LGBTQ+ youth has put programs like the Fit Closet at risk. There have been bills banning trans girls from competing in women’s sports at schools, prohibiting students from using bathrooms that don’t match their biological gender, and restricting discussion or education about gender and sexuality, among others.And according to young people and ...

Amid FBI investigation, Antioch police refuse to release use of force records, including a controversial neck hold that has since been widely banned

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

In the shadow of an FBI investigation into Antioch police’s use of force and other suspected misdeeds, the city is refusing to release records of a dozen cases that would shed more light on the force officers use on residents.The city’s decision this month to withhold the cases comes as the state continues to expand police transparency rules and with the FBI and county prosecutors probing alleged civil rights violations for on-duty uses of force, including when police dogs have been sicced on people.Of the 12 cases withheld, four involve police K9s causing an injury, including a man who suffered “obvious disfigurement” in 2016, and eight others concern officers who left suspects unconscious through use of a controversial neck hold technique that has since been banned statewide. In each case, the city insists the injuries are not serious enough to warrant disclosure.The refusal came in response to a request by the California Reporting Project, an alliance of various...

Is there reason to worry about the Warriors’ late-game execution?

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson slammed his cup on the podium, peeved to be answering questions from media about the Warriors’ late-game execution issue.Two costly turnovers and some unideal shot selections in the fourth quarter’s waning seconds flipped what should have been another Warriors home win into a 99-96 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night. Just as the Warriors looked to be rounding into playoff shape, some of their worst late-game habits kicked in.Yet, Thompson and his teammates won’t sound any alarms. Thompson scoffed at the idea that he should be concerned with his team’s late-game execution at this juncture.“No. It’s basketball, man,” Thompson said. “It’s hard. It’s really hard. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way. It’s really hard.”The Warriors had a gutty win in their hands until a series of mistakes in the game’s last 25 seconds. Up one point and Minnesota with a foul ...

2 men shot to death on Tennessee Street in Vallejo

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

(BCN) -- Two men were killed and another man was injured in a shooting in Vallejo on Sunday night. Vallejo police responded to reports of a shooting on the 500-block of Tennessee Street at about 10:52 p.m. Officers found three victims each suffering from one gunshot wound, according to a press release from the Vallejo Police Department. One of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene and another victim died after being taken to a hospital. Another victim was taken to a hospital and was recovering from his injuries on Monday morning. The shooting deaths mark the 4th and 5th homicides in Vallejo in 2023. The names of the adult males are being withheld until their next of kin can be notified. Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact Detective Ken Jackson at (707)-648-4280. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Biden Is Fulfilling Trump’s Cruel Policy on Wild Horses

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

The Biden administration was supposed to have been a reprieve from the Trump years, but for conservationists who want the wild horses of the American West to live long and prosper, this didn’t happen. The anti-horse policies formulated under Donald Trump have been dutifully carried out by his liberal successor.“We feel betrayed, because we thought this was an administration that really believed in wildlife protections,” Manda Kalimian, president of the wild horse and environmental advocacy group Cana Foundation, told me recently. “For all the hope we placed in Biden, it turns out he’s almost worse than Trump when it comes to wild horses.”The protections for horses are enshrined in federal law. The 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act mandated that the animals “are to be considered … as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands,” and as such, they “shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death.”Under Trump in 2018, the Department of the Inte...

Scotland to get 1st Muslim leader as SNP elects Humza Yousaf

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Scotland’s governing Scottish National Party elected Humza Yousaf as its new leader on Monday after a bruising five-week contest that exposed deep fractures within the pro-independence movement.The 37-year-old son of South Asian immigrants is set to become the first person of color and the first Muslim to serve as Scotland’s first minister since the post was established in 1999.Yousaf, who currently is Scotland’s health minister, beat two other Scottish lawmakers in a contest to replace First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. She unexpectedly stepped down last month after eight years as leader of the party and of Scotland’s semi-autonomous government.Yousaf, who is due to be confirmed as first minister by Scottish lawmakers on Tuesday, faces the challenge of uniting the SNP and reenergizing its campaign for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom.“Just as I will lead the SNP in the interests of all party members, not just those who voted for me, so I will lead Scotland i...

Whitney Houston’s family wants to highlight her gospel roots

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Whitney Houston’s brother remembers when his young sister listened to their mother during gospel rehearsals before she mimicked every tune that was sung.As Houston rose to pop superstardom, her exceptionally talented vocals were rooted in gospel music. And now, her family — led by her sister-in-law Pat and brother Gary Houston — wants the foundation of her musical legacy to continue to live on through her new posthumous gospel album and documentary under the same name, “ I Go to the Rock: The Gospel Music of Whitney Houston. ”“Gospel was in her heart,” said Gary Houston, who recalled his sister around the age of 5 wearing their mother Cissy Houston’s wig and high heels while using a broom as a microphone. “We woke up to and went to sleep to gospel. She would sing exactly what she heard my mother and her siblings. No secular music. It was all gospel.”Pat Houston, the executor of Whitney Houston’s estate, said she’s excited for listeners to hear the six-time Grammy-...

Sheriff: Man who fled traffic shot shoots officer in Florida

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A man who sped away from a traffic stop in Florida last week shot and critically wounded a sheriff’s officer before killing himself following a standoff at his home, officials said.The shooting early Sunday morning left Officer Malik Daricaud, 25, in “tenuous condition” and “fighting for his life,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a news conference. When no one answered the door at Tyliko Maduro’s home, the officers contacted the 32-year-old man’s mother, Waters said, describing the body cam footage. She agreed to come over, and approached the front door with one officer, while another was stationed around the corner of the house and Daricaud stayed a few feet back. She knocked a couple of times and yelled, “hello,” before unlocking and pushing open the door. A dog came out the door and a volley of shots rang out.Daricaud fell backwards and collapsed onto the ground, Waters said. The other officers and Maduro’s mother wer...

Louvre staff block entrances as part of pension protest

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed to the public on Monday when its workers took part in the wave of French protest strikes against the government’s unpopular pension reform plans.Dozens of Louvre employees blocked the entrance, prompting the museum to announce it would be temporarily closed.The demonstrators toted banners and flags in front of the Louvre’s famed pyramid, where President Emmanuel Macron had celebrated his presidential victory in 2017. They demanded the repeal of the new pension law that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. The showbusiness, broadcasting and culture branch of the CGT union tweeted an image of the Mona Lisa with an aged and wrinkled face, with the words: “64 it’s a No!”The action comes on the eve of another nationwide protest planned for Tuesday against the bill — and as Macron holds a meeting with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to discuss the way forward. The Louvre is always closed on Tuesdays, so staff protested a da...

Anti-government protesters in Kenya march in Nairobi streets

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 19:08:09 GMT

Nairobi, Kenya (AP) — Thousands of anti-government protesters marched on the streets of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, on Monday despite the government’s declarartion that the protests are illegal.Opposition leader Raila Odinga joined protesters on the western side of the capital where his convoy attracted thousands of supporters and he addressed them at various stops calling for electoral justice and reduced prices for food items.Police used a water cannon and teargas to disperse supporters. Police chief Japheth Koome insists that the protests are illegal but Odinga says Kenyans have a right to demonstrate.Odinga and his party, Azimio la Umoja–One Kenya Coalition, are leading the protests against the rising cost of living and calling for President William Ruto’s resignation saying he wasn’t validly elected in last year’s election.More than a dozen civil society groups have in a joint statement expressed concern over police declaring Monday’s protests ...