Midwest
New Mexico mom moves to Missouri after school installs 'gender-inclusive closets': 'Enough is enough'
Rachael Hein made the bold move to relocate her family from New Mexico to Missouri after learning about a local high school’s gender-inclusive “closet” and other controversial ideas.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Hein explained how she discovered what she called “the transgender closet” at Las Cruces Centennial High School where her daughter attended.
“There’s the transgender closet, which really was the last straw. I think we saw that pop up on Facebook, and I looked into it because I’m not one that’s like ‘oh, it’s on Facebook. It’s truth.’ I went on Google and I see this. Yeah. Las Cruces, New Mexico, Centennial High School transgender closet. They were approved for this grant,” Hein said.
She added, “And I thought, no, enough is enough. We’re not going to subject our daughter to that. I don’t want my kids who knows what hearing different messages pushed by counselors or teachers within a setting that I don’t have ears in. I do know some teachers, but it doesn’t mean that my kids will always have a trusted teacher that’s unbiased or not pushing that agenda.”
Rachael Hein called the addition of “gender-inclusive closets” a breaking point. (iStock)
A COALITION OF STATES CALL ON THE SUPREME COURT TO RECOGNIZE PARENTS’ RIGHTS REGARDING TRANSGENDER POLICIES
The It Gets Better organization previously gave the high school a grant in 2022 to “[b]uild a gender-inclusive closet providing affirming supplies and clothes for trans and gender non-conforming students.”
Hein explained that the gender-inclusive closets came after years of frustration with the public education system. Beginning with the pandemic, she became more involved with her four children’s education, alternating between homeschooling and online learning. Once her kids returned to school, she began paying greater attention to their education.
One initiative she took issue with included the school district’s addition of 10 extra school days to the 2022-2023 calendar to make up for the pandemic shutdowns. Hein and other parents were frustrated with the decision, referring to them as “party days” where there was no real schoolwork.
When defending the extra days during a town hall meeting, New Mexico Public Education Department’s Deputy Secretary for Teaching, Learning & Assessment, Gwen Warniment, also said that kids needed to spend “more time with the adults who matter” and that “the adults who matter are the teachers in their classrooms.”
Hein called her move to Missouri a “positive change” for her kids. (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Hein added that the school boards did not respond to their complaints and were not helpful after voting in favor of the extra days.
“It felt like [school boards] heard you, but they really weren’t listening. They would say the platitude of ‘I hear your concerns and I might be concerned about that too.’ But really, they were just on their own path, their own trajectory, and didn’t really matter. What community members said didn’t really matter what students or teachers even wanted,” Hein said.
By contrast, Hein complimented Missouri for the schools and community being more open to parents and her younger children.
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“It’s been completely different for us here. I’m not saying that it’s not going to be coming this way, or there aren’t certain districts that are moving in that same direction. But I think there’s a lot more willingness to listen to parents and teachers and students in this area than there were in New Mexico,” she said.
Hein added, “It’s been a positive change, for sure. Very different here in the sense that the neighborhood we’re in. My kiddos can just go out and play with neighbors and it’s safe. It’s just very much more of a togetherness.”
She noted that she still knows some parents and teachers who have remained at the Las Cruces schools.
The It Gets Better nonprofit organization gave Las Cruces Centennial High School a grant to build a gender-inclusive closet. (Screenshot/Photo by Robert Alexander/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
“I would really encourage them to be involved. Volunteer, go to school board meetings. I knew teachers, people who love their kids in Las Cruces, but they wouldn’t set a foot within the school board meetings. And it’s sad because that’s the only way you’re going to see change is if you are a voice instead of just someone sitting disgruntled in the background,” Hein said.
“It’s going to impact the future generation, and there’s going to be so much confusion if we’re not willing to stand and say, no, enough is enough. This is not what we want within our schools. And it’s not about hate. It’s not about wanting to keep others out. It’s about using school for the purpose that it’s intended,” she concluded.
Fox News Digital reached out to Las Cruces Centennial High School for a comment but has yet to receive a response.
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(InvestigateTV) — Sometimes sports are about more than the final score.
For Jack Burke, a high school football player in Nebraska, a medical diagnosis at birth has never stopped him from competing — and a touchdown catch in his first play back from open heart surgery proved it.
Born with a rare heart defect
Burke was born with Scimitar syndrome, a rare heart defect in which babies are born with an underdeveloped right lung and pulmonary artery. The condition also affects blood flow to the right lung. Treatment often includes surgery, and many adults with the condition go on to live healthy lives.
“As a kid, I never really understood,” Burke said. “It was always natural for me that I had to push myself harder to keep up.”
His mother, Bridget Burke, says the condition was not initially considered dangerous for sports participation.
“His Scimitar Syndrome never really came into play as being dangerous for him to play sports,” she said.
The decision to operate
That changed in the spring of 2025, when Burke’s family and doctors decided it was time for a surgery that had been anticipated for years.
“I’ve kind of known I’ve had to get surgery my whole life,” Burke said. “Once I knew I could get the surgery sooner, I was all in. I wanted to get it so I could get back to sports.”
His father, Ryan Burke, says the timing was deliberate.
“This will be done before school gets started, and still have a chance to do almost everything you want to do,” Ryan Burke said.
Jack Burke underwent open-heart surgery, leaving a visible reminder of what he went through.
“There’s a six-inch scar in the middle of his chest that represents a pretty big thing that happened,” Ryan Burke said.
For Bridget Burke, the moment her son was taken to the operating room was difficult.
“When the rubber hits the road and your kid is being wheeled back to the OR, it is scary and emotional,” she said.
The comeback
Burke eased back into football following his cardiologist’s recommended recovery timeline. His return came in week three of the season.
“Before the Schuyler game I talked to his dad and he’s like, ‘I think we might be ready,’” said coach Jay Landstrom.
Bridget Burke says the family approached the return with caution.
“I mean, I was nervous. We didn’t really know how much he would play. It was going to be some cautious situations,” she said.
Those concerns were set aside — at least for a moment — when Burke caught a touchdown pass on his very first play back.
“All the parents were high-fiving everybody and they were like, ‘Was that really Jack?’” Bridget Burke said.
Landstrom called it a special moment.
“It was just meant to be and that was really special,” he said.
For Burke, the touchdown meant something beyond the scoreboard.
“I just remember one of my teammates came up to me and said, ‘He’s back. He’s back,’” Burke said. “It kind of shows something that tried to stop me — I hurdled that obstacle.”
Burke says the surgery has given him a new sense of freedom.
“Now I can do whatever I want. Nothing can hold me back,” he said.
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(KNOX) – The North Dakota Board of Higher Education is being asked to weigh in on the reconstruction of Ray Richard’s Golf Course in Grand Forks. The upgrades and deferred maintenance improvements are the result of the pending DeMers Avenue/42nd Street Underpass project.
UND sold 6.5 acres of the nine hole course to the North Dakota Department of Transportation for the grade separation. During the road construction the golf course will be realigned and reduced to a par 34 course. UND will also address underground utilities and irrigation systems. The total cost is around 4.5 million dollars.
The course will close for the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The goal is to reopen in 2028. SBHE is expected to approve the design at its April 30th meeting.
Crews are expected to begin preliminary work on the $90 million dollar underpass project this week. The initial phase will have minimal impacts to traffic on both 42nd Street and DeMers Avenue. Larger impacts are expected later this summer.
By banning ranked choice voting and penalizing communities that consider it, Ohio leaders have limited local control and signaled a lack of trust in voters to shape their own elections.
When Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 63 into law, he didn’t just ban ranked choice voting in Ohio. He sent a clear message: Ohio voters cannot be trusted to make decisions about our own elections.
That should concern everyone, regardless of where you stand on ranked choice voting.
This is not really about a specific voting system. It is about whether communities have the right to explore new ideas, debate them openly, and decide for themselves what works. Senate Bill 63 shuts that door completely. It tells cities and counties across Ohio that even considering a different approach is off-limits.
Worse, it punishes them for trying.
When policy becomes coercion
The law threatens to withhold Local Government Fund dollars from any community that adopts ranked choice voting. That is not guidance. It is coercion. It forces local leaders to choose between representing their voters and protecting their budgets.
In a state that has long valued local control, that should raise serious red flags.
Here in Greater Cincinnati, we pride ourselves on collaboration, innovation, and civic pride. We bring people together across industries, neighborhoods, and perspectives to solve problems and build something stronger. That spirit does not come from the top down. It comes from people who are trusted to show up and participate.
Senate Bill 63 undermines that spirit.
Ranked choice voting is already used in cities and states across the country. Some have embraced it. Others have rejected it. That is exactly how democracy is supposed to work. You try something. You evaluate it. You adjust.
Ohio does not even get that chance.
Who gets to decide our elections?
Instead of trusting voters to decide, state leaders decided for them. Instead of allowing debate, they ended it. Instead of encouraging participation, they shut it down.
If we believe in democracy, we have to believe in the people who make it work.
We have to trust Ohioans to think critically, to weigh options, and to choose how our elections should function. Taking that choice away does not protect democracy. It weakens it.
Gov. DeWine had an opportunity to stand up for that principle. He chose not to.
Now it is up to Ohio voters to decide what kind of voice we want to have moving forward and whether we are willing to accept it being taken away.
Tyler Minton is a Cincinnati resident and Ohio native who works in the meetings and events industry.
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