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Federal judge strikes down ‘gender secrecy’ policies in California public schools

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Federal judge strikes down ‘gender secrecy’ policies in California public schools

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A federal judge on Monday struck down California school policies that prevent schools from revealing a student’s gender identity to their parents.

The class-action suit, filed by California teachers and parents, sought to overturn policies that barred K-12 educators from informing parents when students used names or pronouns different from those assigned at birth.

San Diego U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled in favor of two Escondido Union School District teachers, Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West, who argued that their school district’s policies “flatly prohibit teachers from respecting parents’ wishes.”

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A demonstrator holds a transgender pride flag during a President’s Day protest near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2025. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In the suit, filed in April 2023, the middle school teachers named several district officials and claimed that the district’s policies violated their constitutional and religious rights.

The California state officials named in the suit included State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, Attorney General Rob Bonta and the State Board of Education.

The judgment handed down by Benitez applies to all California public schools, not just the district the suit was filed in. The judge wrote in his order granting summary judgment that the California public school system placed a “communication barrier between parents and teachers.”

“Parents and guardians have a federal constitutional right to be informed if their public school student child expresses gender incongruence,” Benitez wrote. “Teachers and school staff have a federal constitutional right to accurately inform the parent or guardian of their student when the student expresses gender incongruence.”

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A transgender rights supporter takes part in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in a case on transgender health rights on Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor this summer was referenced by Benitez in his ruling. The Supreme Court’s decision granted public school parents the right to opt out of materials and discussions that are at odds with their religious beliefs.

As reported by EdSource, while Benitez’s ruling referenced guidance that the California Department of Education shared with school districts, he stated that this case is not focused on California Assembly Bill 1955, which prohibited forcing teachers from disclosing the gender identity of their students. 

In response to more than a dozen California school boards adopting parental notification policies that required school staff to inform parents if a student asked to be referred to by a name or gender different from that assigned at birth, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth — known as the SAFETY Act — in 2024.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a rally with Harris County Democrats at the IBEW local 716 union hall on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Houston. (Karen Warren/AP Photo)

The Chicago-based conservative Catholic law firm that took the case, the Thomas More Society, issued a statement about the ruling on Monday and hailed the decision as a “landmark class-action ruling.”

“Today’s incredible victory finally, and permanently, ends California’s dangerous and unconstitutional regime of gender secrecy policies in schools,” said Paul Jonna of the Thomas More Society.

Following Benitez’s ruling, the California Legislative LGBTQ caucus issued a statement arguing that the judge’s decision “deliberately injects confusion into the public understanding” of the state’s SAFETY Act and “signals an alarming willingness to undermine long-standing constitutional rights to privacy and nondiscrimination protections across California law.” 

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The ACLU of Southern California criticized the ruling, writing, “This case is part of a nationwide, coordinated attack on trans people and all those who stand up for trans youth. California must remain steadfast in its commitment to supporting trans youth and we look forward to seeing state leaders stand up for trans and gender nonconforming students by promptly pursuing an appeal.”

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Attorney General Bonta also responded to Benitez’s ruling, filing a brief on Monday to stay the court’s injunction. EdSource reported that a spokesperson for Bonta said the district court misapplied the law and that the decision would eventually be reversed on appeal.

“We are committed to securing school environments that allow transgender students to safely participate as their authentic selves while recognizing the important role that parents play in students’ lives,” Bonta’s office said in a statement.

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San Francisco, CA

Supervisors urge California to expand S.F. speed-camera program

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Supervisors urge California to expand S.F. speed-camera program


San Francisco supervisors authorized a resolution Tuesday urging California lawmakers to expand the city’s automated speed camera program, which currently has 33 cameras operating in the city under a state pilot.

The board’s 10-to-1 vote on Tuesday, with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton voting against it, will not add cameras immediately, but formally asks the state to explore changes to the program. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has identified at least 80 additional high-need locations that could benefit from automated enforcement, according to a report filed with the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.

Richard Zieman, whose son Andrew, a paraeducator, was killed in November 2021 by a speeding driver outside Sherman Elementary School on Franklin Street, told Mission Local that city officials should do more. “They waited for a tragedy,” Zieman said. Parents and school leaders had repeatedly asked the city to slow traffic on Franklin Street, where drivers barreled downhill toward the Marina, said Zieman.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who introduced the resolution, has said the city’s first year of automated speed enforcement shows that the technology works. The SFMTA reported nearly an 80 percent reduction in drivers traveling at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit at camera locations after the program launched in March 2025. San Francisco was the first city to implement the pilot authorized under Assembly Bill 645.

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The pilot, however, is capped by state law at 33 camera locations. Tuesday’s resolution asks California lawmakers to consider allowing more, prioritizing corridors on San Francisco’s High Injury Network, including Franklin Street.

Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group which spent roughly eight years advocating for the state legislation that created the pilot, called the resolution an important first step toward broader expansion.

“Thirty-three cameras is nowhere near the number of cameras we need for people to realize that San Francisco is a safe-speed city,” said executive director Jodie Medeiros. “This tool is working. People are lowering their speeds.”

District 6, represented by Dorsey, currently has seven of the city’s 33 cameras, most of them in SoMa. The district also records the highest number of crashes involving injuries or fatalities in San Francisco, making it a focal point in the debate over expanding automated enforcement.

The resolution advanced unanimously from the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee last week, where Dorsey said the cameras have made streets “feel safer” and argued the early results show “why we should have even more of this life-saving technology.”

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Zieman, whose son’s death prompted traffic-calming improvements and eventually a speed camera near Sherman Elementary, said the issue is urgent. 

“There are probably other Franklin streets out there,” he said. “I just hope they don’t wait for someone else before they expand the program. It’s too late for Andrew.”





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Denver, CO

Five Points affordable housing building honors Dr. Justina Ford | Rocky Mountain PBS

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Five Points affordable housing building honors Dr. Justina Ford | Rocky Mountain PBS


DENVER — Dr. Justina Ford’s name adorns plaques and statues across Denver, where she delivered more than 7,000 babies as the city’s first licensed Black woman physician. Now, an affordable housing building in Five Points, the neighborhood where she lived and worked for 50 years, bears her name.

The newly christened Justina at Five Points, formerly Brunetti Lofts, offers a rare commodity in Denver’s housing market: family-sized affordable housing units.The 23-unit building, built in 2005, has 19 three-bedroom units. Rents range from $840 to $1,893 per month. Residents must make between 30% and 60% of Denver’s area median income, and specific income requirements vary depending on the unit.

“I do believe that in the last, five, ten years, maybe a little longer, housing here in Colorado has just gone crazy. I mean, I have a little two-bedroom townhouse, and I can’t afford to move back in the neighborhood I grew up in because of the pricing. And it’s just crazy,” said Daphne Rice-Allen, chair of the board at the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, which is housed in Ford’s historic home in Five Points.

Rice-Allen grew up in Clayton, which is northeast of Five Points. This cluster of neighborhoods in north Denver — Five Points, Cole, Whittier and Clayton — were among the areas deemed “hazardous” and “definitely declining” on the city’s 1938 “Residential Security Map,” which redlined neighborhoods with Black, Mexican and lower-income residents.

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At that time, Five Points flourished as a cultural and entertainment hub, known as “the Harlem of the West” and serving as “the seat of Denver’s African American community.” Black social clubs, such as the Owl Club, emerged. And Ford, who arrived in Denver in 1902 and was not allowed to work in a hospital, continued to provide medical care out of her house and deliver babies at her patients’ homes. 

“This was a family neighborhood, Rice-Allen said about Five Points during that period.

“There were a lot of families that lived in the area and lived in the neighborhood.”

But Five Points’ demographics have changed a lot since Ford died in 1952. About 30% of households in the neighborhood were families in 2020. By 2024, that percentage dropped to about 20%. 

The neighborhood experienced a drastic shift in racial demographics as well. In 2000, about 27% of the residents were white, 26% Black and 43% Hispanic. The 2020 census told a different story: 64% white, 10% Black and 17% Hispanic.

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What was once a Black cultural hub is now a majority-white neighborhood, which raises concerns about gentrification and displacement of long-time residents. Despite the large supply of affordable housing units in the area — 2,796 in 2024 — about half of renters in Five Points are cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing.



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Seattle, WA

Seattle weather: Hot and sunny day Wednesday, highs in the 80s

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Seattle weather: Hot and sunny day Wednesday, highs in the 80s


Wednesday will be another warm day with highs in the mid to upper 80s for parts of western Washington. Eastern and central Washington will reach near 100F with high fire danger. The coast and north interior will be cooler, only in the 60s to 70s.

Today's Highs

Wednesday will be another warm day with highs in the mid to upper 80s for parts of western Washington. 

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Fire Weather Watch

A Fire Weather Watch goes into effect Wednesday evening through Thursday evening for thunderstorms and gusty winds. Lightning strikes could create new fire starts and, with very dry conditions in place, any new fire could spread quickly.

Fire Danger

A Fire Weather Watch goes into effect Wednesday evening through Thursday evening for thunderstorms and gusty winds. 

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What’s next:

An upper level low will move into the Pacific Northwest, bringing scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms. The heaviest showers will be in the morning hours and will turn more scattered into the evening hours.

Thursday Showers

An upper level low will move into the Pacific Northwest, bringing scattered showers and chance of thunderstorms. 

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Looking Ahead:

High pressure will build again Friday and into the weekend, increasing temperatures and sunshine. We will start to see highs reach the upper 80s to low 90s by early next week.

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Seattle Extended

High pressure will build again Friday and into the weekend, increasing temperatures and sunshine. 

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The Source: Information in this story came from the FOX 13 Seattle Weather Team and the National Weather Service.

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