Midwest
Kansas judge rules keeping biological sex on IDs does not harm transgender people
A Kansas judge ruled in favor of the state’s conservative attorney general on Monday and determined that prohibiting sex changes on state IDs and driver’s licenses does not violate the rights of individuals who identify as transgender.
In a memorandum, District Judge Teresa Watson kept in place an existing ruling she previously made in July 2023 to prohibit the Department of Revenue from allowing transgender individuals to change their biological sex on ID cards.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach first sued Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly in 2023 after a law passed by the legislature suspended sex changes on ID cards. Kelly vetoed the bill – SB 180 – sparking the lawsuit. The court then issued a temporary restraining order.
WOMEN’S PRO GOLF TOUR UPDATES POLICY TO ONLY ALLOW BIOLOGICAL FEMALES, BANNING TRANS GOLFER HAILEY DAVIDSON
Tree Crane, 17, poses after a rally where hundreds gathered in support of transgender youth at the Utah state Capitol, Jan. 24, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/AP Images)
“This decision is a victory for the rule of law and common sense,” Kobach said in a statement. “The Legislature wisely stated that state agencies should record biological sex at birth, and today the court held that the meaning of the law is clear.”
Watson permitted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to represent transgender individuals in the case. They argued the law would violate the state’s constitution, which the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 grants a right to bodily autonomy. At the time, the SCOTUS ruling pertained to abortion access.
RILEY GAINES BLASTS NCAA AS ‘COWARDS’ OVER TRANS ATHLETE POLICIES AMID CALLS FOR CHANGE: ‘DISHEARTENING’
A Florida DMV office in Miami and a person holding a transgender flag. Kansas and Florida are the only two states that currently prevent sex changes on state-issued ID cards. (Monique O. Madan/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/Reuters/Demetrius Freeman)
“Information recorded on a driver’s license does not interfere with transgender persons’ ability to control their own bodies or assert bodily integrity or self-determination,” Watson wrote on Monday. “It does not prevent them from “mak[ing] their own decisions regarding their bodies, their health, their family formation, and their family life.”
Watson wrote in the 31-page memorandum that to apply the SCOTUS ruling to the no-change policy on state-issued IDs would be “an unreasonable stretch.”
CALIFORNIA CITY BANS NON-GOVERNMENT FLAGS, ANGERING LGBTQ GROUPS
This image from the Kansas Department of Revenue shows a sample driver’s license issued by the state’s Division of Vehicles.
“It did not say Kansans have a fundamental state constitutional right to control what information is displayed on a state-issued driver’s license,” Watson continued. “And the Intervenors’ testimony at the hearing was that producing a driver’s license indicating a sex different than their expressed gender did not result in physical violence, verbal harassment, loss of employment, loss of benefits, refusal of service, or negative interaction with law enforcement. Rather, Intervenors testified about feeling embarrassed, humiliated, or unsafe if someone gave them a puzzled look, hesitated, or questioned their identity when looking at their driver’s license.”
Kansas and Florida are the only two states that currently prevent sex changes on state-issued ID cards.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, ACLU’s LGBTQ+ legal fellow D.C. Hiegert said they were “disappointed” about Monday’s ruling and the decision would lead to transgender “people experiencing harassment, denial of services, or worse.”
“We remain unconvinced that the imaginary injury to the state could ever outweigh the enormous harm our clients and other transgender Kansans have and will continue to experience by being forced to carry,” the statement read.
Read the full article from Here
DETROIT – What started as a seemingly routine home repair quickly unraveled into something far more troubling for one Detroit family.
A man appeared to be posing as a contractor — arriving in construction gear and accompanied by two teens — showed up April 7 at a west side Detroit home, offering to do brick work for about $300. But according to the homeowner’s daughter, the situation started to seem fishy — and expensive — fast.
Tameka Kelly said the trio told her 76-year-old mother they were with “State Line Construction” and began working almost immediately.
“I just felt used and taken advantage of,” Kelly said, looking back at the situation.
“They kept working — kept putting cement down, I said, ‘you might want to tell them to stop.’ He said, ‘well right now it’s $1129.’ I said, ‘my mother‘s not paying you $1000,’” Kelly said.
At one point, the man even offered to repair the bottom of the home’s wheelchair ramp — something Kelly said her sister, who lives with her mother, relies on daily. But she refused because something just didn’t sit right.
“I gave him the $300,” Kelly said, hoping they would just leave. “I thought, well, he knows where my mom lives. I don’t want him coming back trying to do something to my mom‘s house or something to our vehicles.”
Kelly later tried to confront the man, who identified himself as Brian Lopez, and called the number on the invoice.
“When I called he was like, ‘no no no brickwork no brickwork’ I said, ‘yes you did. You were just here. I said I don’t forget a voice,’” she said.
But the biggest red flag came when she looked closer at the address listed on the invoice.
The address — 70 West Maple in Troy — turned out to be a McDonald’s.
“I really got upset when I found out that address was to a McDonald’s,” Kelly said.
Initially, Kelly said when she tried to file a report with Detroit police, she said they told her the situation was a civil matter and she could not file one. She then filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Now, Detroit police tell Local 4 they will be taking Kelly’s fraud report, and once that is completed, an investigation will follow.
State Line initially told Local 4 they were not familiar with a Brian Lopez, then an attorney for State Line construction told Local 4 that, after checking the company’s records, there is no Brian Lopez that works for the company. As a matter of fact, the attorney said, State Line Construction does not do cement or residential construction. He said they focus on electrical work.
Attempts by Local 4 to reach the man going by the name Brian Lopez with the number given were unsuccessful.
Kelly said she felt compelled to speak up to prevent others from falling victim.
“I’m really upset about it, and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
Marvin Bynum, adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School, was named to BizTimes Milwaukee’s list of Notable Leaders in Law.
Bynum, shareholder and real estate attorney with Milwaukee-based Godfrey & Kahn, teaches a course on real estate transactions at Marquette. He has experience with a range of property types, from sports facilities to manufacturing plants and office spaces, and works to help clients navigate transactions including development, financing, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and low-income housing tax credit-financed projects.
Notable Leaders in Law is part of BizTimes Milwaukee’s Notable series, which recognizes leaders in the southeastern Wisconsin business community.
Six alumni were also named to the list:
- Jim Brzezinski, managing partner and CEO of Tabak Law
- Adam R. Finkel, partner at Husch Blackwell
- Jeremy Guth, shareholder and attorney at O’Leary-Guth Law Office S.C.
- Keith Kopplin, shareholder at the Milwaukee office of Ogletree Deakins
- Isioma Nwabuzor, associate general counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Modine Manufacturing Co.
- Joe Pickart, partner at Husch Blackwell
Minneapolis, MN
Man convicted of murdering Mariah Samuels set for sentencing Monday after skipping previous court date
A Minneapolis man convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend is set to learn his fate Monday after he skipped his original sentencing date on Friday.
A jury found 51-year-old David Wright guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, first- and second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm last week. The premeditation conviction automatically triggers a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Wright was scheduled to be sentenced Friday afternoon, but did not show up to court. The judge asked Wright’s attorney if he was ill or refusing to show up, but the attorney declined to answer on grounds of attorney-client privilege.
Monday’s sentencing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
Wright killed 34-year-old Mariah Samuels in September outside her home in the Willard-Hay neighborhood of Minneapolis, minutes after she posted about his abuse on social media. Family members said Samuels had broken up with him after a few months of dating. She had a restraining order against him.
Samuels’ sister Simone Hunter called Wright “a dangerous person” who “should never see the light of day again” after his conviction.
Friends and family say Wright acted out throughout the trial, including missing previous court dates and removing himself from the stand.
Both Samuels’ family and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty criticized the court for not doing more to ensure Wright showed up at the sentencing.
“This is why people think they can murder people in front of their dad’s house and get away with it. There’s no repercussions for these things, they don’t care about these women who are dying on a daily basis. And the least that they could have done is demanded that he come over here in shackles like the monster that he is,” Hunter said Friday. “I’m astounded.”
Samuels’ family has also accused the Minneapolis Police Department of not doing enough to keep her safe. Chief Brian O’Hara last year ordered her case to be reviewed and officers to be retrained on domestic violence.
For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
-
New York36 minutes agoGotti Grandson Is Sentenced to 15 Months for Covid Relief Fraud
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoWhy a Detroit family’s $300 brick repair job turned into a fraud investigation
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoSea lion pup found in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset malnourished but ‘feisty’
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoDallas Cowboys 2026 NFL Draft debate heats up
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoMan arrested in Miami for alleged sexual battery on 10-year-old girl – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoFormer BYU star Clayton Young crushes lifetime best in Boston — on short notice
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoColorado boasts two of the best coffee shops in the Americas, according to new ranking
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoDelta flight from Seoul to Atlanta diverted to Seattle after report of suspicious package