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Ex-SJSU trans athlete makes disputed claims about female teammate’s eating disorder and academic setback
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EXCLUSIVE: Prominent transgender athlete Blaire Fleming has made allegations about former teammate Brooke Slusser’s lifestyle and academics. Slusser has disputed the allegations.
Last Sunday, on the one-year anniversary of their final college volleyball game together for San Jose State, a conference championship loss, Slusser told Fox News Digital she developed an eating disorder, which led to anorexia and the loss of her menstrual cycle.
Slusser said the ailments stemmed from the emotional distress suffered during her final season with Fleming in 2024. Slusser waged multiple lawsuits after discovering Fleming was transgender and that the two had shared changing spaces and bedrooms during their first season together in 2023.
Slusser also fled the San Jose State campus and later dropped her classes in her final semester this past spring. She said constant in-person harassment by students who opposed her stance made her feel “unsafe” there. She and her family said she is still working on finishing her degree.
Fleming responded to Fox News Digital’s social media inquiry for a response to Slusser’s revelations.
Blaire Fleming of the San Jose State Spartans during the third set against the Air Force Falcons on Oct. 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
“She’s been anorexic and struggled with food since I’ve known her[,] aka since 2023. She literally would weigh herself 2-3x a day and keep track of it on her whiteboard in her room…. So I really don’t care or feel bad for her. And she didn’t drop her classes[,] she failed out[,] hope that helps!” Fleming wrote. “Now please stop hitting me up.”
Slusser has provided a statement to Fox News Digital disputing Fleming’s allegations.
“These statements are just not true. I have always lived a very healthy lifestyle. Before these events took place[,] I was very disciplined in fueling myself for athletics and [kept] track to make sure I was where I need to be[,] to be the best athlete. It wasn’t until all the craziness started that my healthy lifestyle turned very unhealthy into not eating the amount I should,” Slusser said.
“As for school[,] I decided to stay home after fall 2024 to better myself and heal. So no[,] I did not return to San Jose and enroll myself in more courses at an institution that didn’t have my best interest.”
Former SJSU volleyball star Brooke Slusser and her parents Paul and Kim Slusser at a game on Sept. 8, which Kim claims is “the last fond memory we have of her playing.” (Courtesy of Kim Slusser)
Fox News Digital’s initial inquiry to Fleming began with a reference to Slusser’s response to Fleming’s claim of being “suicidal” during the 2024 season, reported in a New York Times Magazine profile in April. The outlet also reported that Fleming cried “almost every night,” during the scandal.
Slusser said of Fleming’s suicidal thoughts, “If that’s what [Fleming] was going through, that’s terrible.”
Fleming previously said that Slusser “needs to get a life.” That statement came in response to claims by former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose about Fleming getting special treatment by head coach Todd Kress.
“Brooke Slusser and Melissa need to get a life,” Fleming told Fox News Digital on Oct. 1.
Slusser responded, “I have a great life.”
Who is Blaire Fleming?
Fleming, a biological male, was born in 2002 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, just south of Omaha, per the athlete’s SJSU Athletics profile. But Fleming grew up in Virginia.
According to The New York Times, Fleming discovered transgenderism in the 8th grade. Then, at 14 years old, Fleming reportedly worked with a doctor and therapist to “socially and medically” transition.
Fleming played girls’ volleyball at John Champe High School. At a listed height of 6-foot-1, Fleming is four inches taller than the average women’s college volleyball recruit of 5-foot-9, according to NCSA College Recruiting.
In November 2018, Fleming posted a highlight reel for college recruiters on the high school sports social media site Hudl. Most of the clips show the same type of play over and over again — Fleming leaping high above the net and slamming the ball down, as trap music blared in the background.
As a senior, Fleming led John Champe to a historic 19-win season in 2019, was named first-team all-district and set the school’s single-season record for kills in a season, per Fleming’s SJSU profile page.
Fleming’s college career began at Coastal Carolina during the COVID-affected 2020 season.
After a 9-1 regular season, Coastal Carolina reached the Sun Belt Conference championship game against Texas State, but lost in five sets.
Fleming transferred to SJSU ahead of the 2022 season.
How did it get to this point between Slusser and Fleming?
Brooke Slusser #10 and Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans call a play against the Air Force Falcons on Oct. 19, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)
Slusser transferred to SJSU for the 2023 season – one year after Fleming did. Slusser has alleged in her lawsuits against the NCAA and Mountain West Conference that she was never told Fleming’s birth sex, and that the two regularly shared hotel rooms on away trips.
Slusser and Batie-Smoose, who is leading her own lawsuit against the university, have told Fox News Digital that Fleming allegedly requested to be roomed with Slusser, and was allegedly granted that request by team leadership.
“Blaire wanted to room with Brooke Slusser, and that’s who Blaire felt comfortable with, so Blaire gets what Blaire wants,” Batie-Smoose said.
Fox News Digital has previously reached out to Fleming and SJSU for a response to these allegations.
Slusser has alleged in her lawsuits against the NCAA and Mountain West that Fleming confessed to being transgender during a conversation over ice cream with another teammate in April 2024.
Slusser then joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA in September 2024. What followed was a series of forfeits by opposing teams. Each forfeit compounded growing attention in an election-season media cycle, putting SJSU’s volleyball players and their opponents under a massive political spotlight.
President Donald Trump even mentioned the scandal on his campaign trail in October of that year, during a Fox News Channel all-woman town hall event.
Police protection was assigned to the team on a regular basis.
Slusser has alleged in her lawsuit against the Mountain West, which was filed in November, that she was allegedly informed by teammates of an alleged conversation Fleming had with an opposing player, discussing a plan to have Slusser spiked in the face during a match. Batie-Smoose reported those same allegations in a Title IX complaint against the school, and was later suspended and did not have her contract renewed in January.
The Mountain West commissioned a third-party investigation into the allegations against Fleming, and determined that sufficient evidence could not be found to assign discipline.
Fox News Digital has reported extensively on the conditions of that investigation and its handling, prompting critical responses by the White House, U.S. Department of Justice and members of congress.
EX-SJSU STAR BROOKE SLUSSER MAKES NEW ALLEGATIONS ABOUT PROBE INTO TRANS TEAMMATE’S ALLEGED PLOT TO HARM HER
In the waning weeks of the 2024 regular season, Slusser and 10 other plaintiffs in her lawsuit against the Mountain West filed a request for preliminary injunction to have Fleming be ruled ineligible to continue playing, and to have the forfeits to SJSU reversed. Federal judge Kato Crews, appointed by former President Joe Biden, denied the request, keeping Slusser and Fleming on the court together for practice and games.
Slusser and Fleming were ultimately named to the Mountain West all-conference team, as SJSU’s only honorees.
They finished the season with a 14-7 record, aided by six conference forfeits, then advanced to the Mountain West championship game after Boise State forfeited in the divisional round.
But they lost in the title game to Colorado State, three sets to one. The loss ensured that the Spartans wouldn’t take their scandal into the NCAA tournament.
Slusser left campus shortly after that at the insistence of her parents. According to The New York Times, Fleming also resumed classes remotely the following semester from Virginia.
Slusser said she came close to returning to play NCAA beach volleyball this past spring, and even had discussions with coaches at other schools about recruitment. But she ultimately decided not to, and moved to North Carolina, where she has served as a youth volleyball coach.
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Slusser and her family say she has recovered from her anorexia, and is working on finishing her degree. She aspires to start her own business in dietetics.
Fleming appeared to celebrate graduation from SJSU in a post on her Instagram Stories in May.
The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating the university for potential Title IX violations.
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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A recent Civil Grand Jury report has identified wildfire risks in San Francisco’s Glen Canyon, warning that vegetation management is needed to reduce the potential for a fire in an area not typically associated with wildfire danger.
The report focuses on the canyon’s large population of Blue Gum eucalyptus trees, an invasive species originally imported from Australia.
Historical photographs show Glen Canyon was largely treeless in the late 1800s, when the land was used primarily as a dairy farm.
The eucalyptus trees were planted after investors believed the fast-growing species could be harvested for timber.
“And these people were so stupid, they didn’t realize they were going to build railroad ties and use the wood for building, and it’s worthless. It warps, it splits. it has no commercial value,” said Rick Carell, a member of the Civil Grand Jury.
While the timber venture failed, the trees remained.
Today, their flammability is a concern for fire safety officials and grand jury members.
MORE: 600 goats graze Poplar Beach in Halfmoon Bay to reduce wildfire risk
“The leaves have a lot of oil in them, and so actually, if it’s very hot, and it’s been very, very dry, they actually explode, because it’s highly flammable. And so, you can see here, look at all the debris right next to this road. So somebody throws a cigarette out into there, and you have a potential fire,” Carell said.
Carell said assessments of the trees have raised additional concerns.
“They evaluated something like 427 eucalyptus trees and 80% of them, back in 2012, were in bad shape,” he said.
Although CAL FIRE has repeatedly rated San Francisco’s wildfire risk as low because of the city’s cool, foggy climate, the grand jury report points to the 2025 Pacific Palisades fire in Los Angeles as an example of how fires can occur in urban areas where vegetation management is inadequate.
The report notes that Glen Canyon has only two fire hydrants, one near the Glen Park Recreation Center and another near a day camp building.
However, San Francisco’s Emergency Firefighting Water System provides additional resources through reservoirs, high-pressure hydrants and underground cisterns.
One nearby cistern at Chenery and Surrey streets can supply 75,000 gallons of water. Based on a fire engine’s typical pumping rate of 1,500 gallons per minute, that amount of water would be exhausted in about 50 minutes. Additional cisterns are located in surrounding neighborhoods.
MORE: CAL FIRE urging Bay Area residents to create defensible space as wildfire season begins
Despite the concerns, the report concluded that removing all eucalyptus trees is not a practical solution because of the canyon’s steep terrain. Large-scale removal could increase the risk of landslides. Instead, the report recommends managing vegetation by clearing brush and fallen debris and removing diseased trees.
“To remove any brush that might be a fire hazard, if something could really ignite quickly. We’re going to raise up the branches, the lower branches of the tree because that’s where a lot of the problem is for the spread of the fire, and if there are any dead trees that are really hazardous or branches that may hang over the roadway, that we can take them out as well,” said Rachel Gordon of the San Francisco Department of Public Works.
Public Works officials are expected to coordinate closely with CAL FIRE on vegetation management efforts.
“CAL FIRE guys, they train in the type of environment, and so what they do, they get their chainsaws out, they eliminate. They limb the trees, they bring out the debris and that sort of stuff so this is an ideal training site for them,” Carell said.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages a small portion of the canyon, has already removed trees on its property to prevent them from falling across O’Shaughnessy Avenue, a potential emergency evacuation route.
The agency has also hired habitat experts to remove non-native vegetation and replace it with fire-resistant native species, including coast live oaks.
“That has all these tannins in the foliage that resist fire. You can put a lighter right under that thing in the middle of the hottest day of the year, and it will not burn like these willows. They will not burn, and so that’s what we want to load our parks with instead of having things like the eucalyptus and the pine — which, as we all know, they just burn like a crazy Christmas tree fire,” said Habitat Specialist Josiah Clark.
The majority of the 66-acre canyon is managed by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, which agrees that improved coordination among city agencies is essential to maintaining fire safety in the area.
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The Regional Transportation District’s BroncosRide buses, running from Park-n-Ride lots around metro Denver to Broncos football games, will be back this fall after a five-year suspension.
RTD directors this week voted 10-5 to reinstate the service.
The agency suspended the service before the Broncos’ 2020-21 season due to bus driver shortages and agency concerns about public transit equity.
Despite RTD’s current budget crisis, the directors decided that the BroncosRide — which will cost $1.6 million, according to information that agency staff provided to directors — will help boost RTD’s lagging overall ridership and increase the appeal of public transit.
If the buses are full, Director Chris Nicholson said, fare revenues estimated at $497,855 will offset the cost.
“At RTD, we make lives better through connections, and there’s nothing better than seeing (Broncos quarterback) Bo Nix connect for a touchdown,” Nicholson said. “Previous boards didn’t see it as a fundamental part of service. We do.”
Before the Broncos’ Aug. 21 preseason home game against the Green Bay Packers, RTD officials plan to announce detailed plans to run about 92 buses from about 18 locations around metro Denver, including stations near Denver International Airport, East High School, the Highlands Ranch Town Center, Interstate 25/Broadway, Broomfield, Longmont, Littleton and Parker.
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Seattle, WA
FOLLOWUP: Sound Transit Board finalizes $400+ million spending installment for West Seattle light rail
Two weeks ago, we reported on the Sound Transit Board‘s System Expansion Committee recommending approval of actions to allot $406 million toward West Seattle light rail – the first big commitment after the ST3 plan revision that cemented ST commitment to WS. At this afternoon’s meeting of the full board, the actions all got final approval, as did a much-smaller installment of spending on Ballard light-rail planning.
(Here’s the full slide deck as presented at the committee meeting, also including the current WS light-rail cost estimate of around $5 billion.)
On the horizon, according to the most-recent ST email update, is work to advance the plan for the new cross-Duwamish River light-rail bridge, shown in this rendering:
(Sound Transit rendering)
That work on the south end of Harbor Island (in a parking lot at 1001 Klickitat, according to city docs) will see crews drill a test bridge shaft approximately 10 feet wide and 250 feet deep to better understand ground conditions,” ST says, to obtain “key information needed to finalize the bridge design.”
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