Midwest
Minnesota state lawmaker calls bill keeping males out of girls' sports 'state-sanctioned genocide'
A Minnesota state representative insisted that a bill keeping trans athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports was “state-sanctioned genocide” during a hearing on Monday.
During arguments for the Preserve Women’s Sports Act in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Rep. Alicia Kozlowski, of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, made remarks that have since gone viral and incited backlash for her labeling of the bill as “genocide.”
“Members, make no mistake that this is just another version of state-sanctioned bullying and genocide,” Kozlowski said. “And I don’t say that lightly.”
Footage of Kozlowski’s comments have spread across various social media platforms, prompting harsh responses.
One user on X directed critics to the representative’s profile on the platform on Monday.
However, by Tuesday afternoon, Kozlowski’s X account had been deactivated.
It is not even the first time in the last two weeks that a state Democrat lawmaker deactivated their X account after facing backlash for an aggressive push to protect trans inclusion in girls’ sports.
Ryan Fecteau, the Maine House of Representatives’ Democratic speaker, deleted his X account last Thursday, just days after censuring Republican Rep. Laurel Libby.
Libby was censured by the Democratic majority Tuesday evening for a recent social media post pointing out that a transgender high school athlete won a girls’ competition. The censure resolution passed by a 75-70 vote and revoked Libby’s speaking and voting privileges.
Meanwhile, Fecteau’s Facebook and Bluesky accounts were flooded with angry comments from users who condemned the censure, and supported Libby.
And like Fecteau, Kozlowski has been bombarded with angry comments on her other social media accounts that are still active.
The most recent post on Kozlowski’s Instagram account alone already has more comments than any other post on her profile.
“You should look up the word genocide and educate yourself before you use it lightly,” one user wrote.
HOW TRANSGENDERISM IN SPORTS SHIFTED THE 2024 ELECTION AND IGNITED A NATIONAL COUNTERCULTURE
Another user commented, “Why do you hate girls having fair competition? Biological males 100% of the time will have an advantage… It’s literally in their DNA, which can’t be changed. You know own, science and all that.”
Kozlowski was one of the 66 Democrats who voted against the bill, keeping it one vote shy of reaching the necessary 68-vote threshold for passage.
The act stated that “only female students may participate in an elementary or secondary school level athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted to women and girls.”
“Female means a female as biologically determined by genetics and defined with respect to an individual’s reproductive system,” the bill states.
In contrast with Kozlowski, many Republicans spoke in favor of the ball, citing the desire to protect women’s spaces from biological males.
“We cannot allow our girls to be vulnerable to losing their spot on the team, being on the podium, or to injury by a male teammate or male competitor,” said state Rep. Peggy Scott. “That is not safe and that is not fair to our girls.”
Former Minnesota Vikings player Jack Brewer joined Riley Gaines at the Minnesota state Capitol on Monday to support the bill. Brewer told Fox News Digital last week that he believed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was “disgusting” for continuing to allow biological males in girls’ sports in the state.
“It’s absolutely disgusting, and it’s why, when you see him and you see his mannerisms and the way he carries himself, you know this guy doesn’t appeal to real men and boys who have battled it out on the gridiron, man. I have nothing in common with this guy,” Brewer said.
“I think he’s a disgrace to the football world to be honest.”
The Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul (Google Earth)
The Minnesota State High School League is one of many state scholastic conferences that announced it would continue letting trans athletes participate in girls’ sports, defying President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to prevent it.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, though, wrote a letter late last month warning of the consequences of not passing the “Preserving Girls’ Sports Act.”
“The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has begun a Title IX investigation into the Minnesota State High School League,” the letter from Bondi read. “If the Department of Education’s investigation shows that relevant Minnesota entities are indeed denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law.”
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Illinois
April in Illinois Was Warm, Wet, & Wild
The preliminary statewide average April temperature was 58.6 degrees, 6.4 degrees above the 1991–2020 normal, 7.1 degrees above the 20th Century average, 5.8 degrees above the most recent 30-year average, and the second warmest April on record statewide. The preliminary statewide total April precipitation was 6.37 inches, 2.13 inches above…
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Indiana
7 Indiana legislators face Trump-backed primary challengers after bucking him on redistricting
Seven Indiana Republican state senators are facing off Tuesday against primary challengers backed by President Donald Trump as he seeks to exact revenge over a failed redistricting plan.
Trump’s intervention in the typically quiet local primary races have brought a flood of money and national attention to the state. Roughly $12 million has been spent on advertising across the seven contests, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, most of which has come from Trump-allied outside groups opposing the incumbents.
The Republican-led state Senate dealt Trump a rare rebuke when it voted down a redrawn congressional map he backed that was designed to result in two additional seats for the GOP. It was part of a broader mid-decade redistricting battle playing out across the country ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, when control of the narrowly divided U.S. House will be up for grabs.
But ultimately, the heavy-handed pressure campaign from Trump and his allies backfired. Now, they are revisiting similar lines of attack in their bid to unseat the seven lawmakers, turning the contests into another test of Trump’s grip on the Republican Party.
The most expensive of the primaries is for the seat represented by state Sen. Spencer Deery, who’s facing a challenge from Paula Copenhaver, an aide to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. More than $3 million has been poured into ads in a district of approximately 135,000 people. Deery served as an aide to former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels when he was the president of Purdue University.
State Sen. Greg Goode is running in a three-way primary against two unrelated candidates with the same surname: Vigo County Council member Brenda Wilson, who has Trump’s endorsement, and Alexandra Wilson, a network engineer.
As NBC News reported last month, White House officials and Trump allies aggressively sought to push Alexandra Wilson out of the race, fearing she’d act as a spoiler in the race and help Goode survive.
State Sen. Travis Holdman, who’s been in office since 2008, serves in leadership as the third-most powerful Republican in the chamber. He is facing challenge from Blake Fiechter, a real estate agent who is backed by Trump. Fiechter briefly left the race in February, telling local media he was overwhelmed, but changed his mind after a White House visit in March.
State Sen. Greg Walker was set to retire last year after 20 years in the chamber, but reversed course amid the redistricting fight, where he notably broke down in tears speaking about his fear for the future if his party caved to Trump’s intimidation. State Rep. Michelle Davis, who was already planning to run for his seat, stayed in the race after his reversal and won Trump’s support. Walker’s campaign has spent just $73,000 on ads, while outside groups have funneled more than 1.3 million in ads in support of Davis.
State Sen. Jim Buck, 80, has served in the state Legislature since 1994, first in the state House before heading to the state Senate in 2008. He’s facing his first primary since joining the state Senate from Tipton County Commissioner Tracey Powell. Powell has Trump’s endorsement, while Buck has the backing of former Vice President and former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Elsewhere, state Sen. Linda Rogers, who owns and manages a golf course and a home building company, is running against Dr. Brian Schmutzler, an anesthesiologist who said on his campaign website that he opposes “government health mandates” and tax hikes. He’s also said he was motivated to run by the redistricting fight.
And state Sen. Dan Dernulc, who represents a district in the northern part of the state near Chicago, has faced far less outside spending in his fight against two challengers, Trump-endorsed Trevor De Vries, an insurance broker, and financial analyst Nader Liddawi. While the six other races have each seen more than $1 million in ad spending, Dernulc’s primary has only hit $346,000.
Trump also waded into one of the open primaries for the seat currently held by retiring state Sen. Eric Bassler, who voted against the redistricting effort. The president backed former state Rep. Jeff Ellington, who is facing two Republican opponents on Tuesday.
Iowa
VP JD Vance visits Iowa during Tuesday visit
WASHINGTON (TNND) — Vice President JD Vance is headed to Iowa on Tuesday, expected to speak at a manufacturing facility. Tuesday’s visit will mark the first since taking office last January.
Vance is making the trip to campaign on behalf of Rep. Zach Nunn, who will be facing off in a competitive race to keep his seat in the Des Moines area in the November midterm elections. He is accompanied by his son Vivek on the trip, making a stop in Cincinnati to vote in Ohio, where he previously served as Senator, and then made an appearance in Oklahoma City to hold a fundraiser as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee.
Vance’s visit to Iowa was originally slated for last week, but the timing was changed because the House moved to pass a farm bill that Nunn was due to vote on.
He also had been prepared to appear last week at an Iowa State University event with Turning Point USA. However, the organization said it was not able to reschedule the event with the university until the fall.
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Vance’s visit to Iowa also offers him the chance to test his reception before Iowa voters, who make up a crucial voter bloc for the next presidential election.
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