HARTFORD — Since it was first put on display in December 2009, the modern bronze copy of “The Genius of Connecticut,” with its steely face, prominent wings and flowing robes, has been a major attraction on the daily tours of the State Capitol.
Northeast
Federal judge pushes back on parents calling trans athlete 'a boy' in legal battle over pro-girls protests
New Hampshire Judge Steven McAuliffe presided over a case involving parents in the state who wore pro-girl armbands at a high school girls soccer game that included a transgender athlete. During the case, McAuliffe pushed back on the parents for repeatedly referring to the athlete as a boy.
“You seem to go out of your way to suggest there’s no such thing as a trans girl,” McAuliffe said during the hearing.
McAuliffe’s federal judicial service dates back to 1992, when he was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. On Thursday, McAuliffe heard arguments in a case in which plaintiffs Kyle Fellers and Anthony Foote sued the Bow School District after being banned from school grounds for wearing the wristbands at their daughters’ soccer game in September.
THE PRONOUN POLICE HAVE ARRIVED AND ARE COMING FOR YOU NEXT
The wristbands said “XX” in reference to the natural female chromosomes. The “XX” logo has become an unspoken symbol of the ongoing legal and political battle against transgender inclusion in girls and women’s sports across the country. Many consider it a women’s rights phenomenon.
The no-trespass orders have since expired, but McAuliffe is deciding whether the plaintiffs should be allowed to wear the wristbands and carry signs at upcoming school events, including basketball games, swim meets and a music concert, while the case proceeds.
A protester outside the Kansas Statehouse holds a sign after a rally for transgender rights on the Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, 2023, in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna)
They wore the wristbands because another federal judge in New Hampshire, Landya McCafferty, who was appointed to her seat by President Obama in 2013, ruled two transgender athletes would be allowed to play on high school girls soccer teams, overruling a state law in place to prevent that from happening.
Fifteen-year-old Parker Tirrell, a transgender athlete, was allowed to compete for Plymouth Regional High School. In a lawsuit filed by Fellers and Foote, they alleged they were told by school officials to remove the armbands or they would have to leave the game.
TRANS VOLLEYBALL PLAYER LEGAL HEARING OPENED WITH LONG AND HEATED DEBATE OVER WHAT PRONOUNS TO USE
Both of the fathers say the intention of the armband was not to protest Tirrell, but to support their own daughters in a game that featured a biological male.
McAuliffe questioned the notion that the wristbands were in support of their own daughters.
“Sometimes the message you think you’re sending might not be the message that is being sent,” he said.
McAuliffe asked Foote whether it occurred to him that a transgender person might interpret the pink XX wristbands as an attempt to invalidate their existence.
“If he’s a trans female, pink might be a color he likes,” Foote responded.
First lady Jill Biden, right, and Steven J. McAuliffe, widower of Christa McAuliffe, arrive at the Christa McAuliffe School in Concord, N.H., March 17, 2021. (Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Transgender inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports emerged as a mainstream political issue in the last few years. Instances of athletes discovered to be male and then legally protected to continue playing have emerged in rapid succession since the start of the Biden administration.
This includes instances like those involving Tirrell in New Hampshire and others in Virginia and California. At the college level, a situation at San Jose State University involving a transgender volleyball player has prompted multiple lawsuits and a media firestorm. It became a talking point of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign before his recent election win.
Trump and even his wife, Melania, who has admitted to disagreeing with Republicans on issues of LGBT rights, each announced they are opposed to letting biological males compete in girls and women’s sports. Trump advocated for a blanket ban during a Fox News town hall event on the campaign trail.
Multiple states filed lawsuits and enacted their own laws to address the issue after the Biden-Harris administration issued a sweeping rule that clarified that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation and “pregnancy or related conditions,” in April.
The administration insisted the regulation does not address athletic eligibility. However, multiple experts presented evidence to Fox News Digital in June that it would ultimately put more biological men in women’s sports.
The Supreme Court then voted 5-4 in August to reject an emergency request by the Biden administration to enforce portions of that new rule after more than two dozen Republican attorneys general sued to block the Title IX changes in their own states.
During the most recent election cycle, multiple Democrats, including Texas Rep. Collin Allred backtracked on past support for transgender inclusion in women’s sports.
That trend continued after the election when Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton spoke out against his party’s stance and actions in enabling transgender inclusion in multiple interviews, inciting fierce backlash and even a massive pro-transgender rally outside his office.
Now, multiple judges like McAuliffe across the country are presiding over cases about the eligibility of transgender athletes in sports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Connecticut
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ an allegorical statue, may never ‘return’ to the top of State Capitol
Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the state Office of Legislative Management, which runs the 14-acre State Capitol complex, in a file photo in 2024. A statue called ‘The Genius of Connecticut’ has no skeletal body inside, ‘so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,’ said Pencz.
While thousands have seen the 18-foot-tall sculpture up close and personal, the goal of Capitol historians and preservationists has been to put the replica atop the gold dome. The original ruled over the building’s Gothic architecture from 1878 until damage to its base was found after the Hurricane of 1938, when the statue was dismantled and removed piece-by-piece.
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Now, though, the discovery of a lack of interior framing inside the 5,500-pound daemon, the allegorical protector of Connecticut, is making the administrators who run the 14-acre State Capitol complex worry whether it would be safe to put the sculpture atop the 274-foot-tall gold dome after a $50 million rehabilitation of the building begins late this year.
“There’s no skeletal body inside, so it’s not stable enough to go up on top of the Capitol,” said Brian Pencz, facilities administrator for the Office of Legislative Management in Hartford. “That is what the X-rays that we had done show.”
‘The Genius of Connecticut’ statue in the central atrium on the State Capitol, in Hartford, Conn., on Sept. 28, 2023. A plan to move it to the top of the dome may not move forward because of structural concerns about the statute.
The half-million dollars budgeted to hoist “The Genius” atop the dome — with its crown of oak leaves representing the state tree, a wreath of dried flowers in her right hand and mountain laurel, the state flower, in the left — could increase dramatically if the 20 pieces have to be taken apart, an armature inserted and the pieces welded back together, he said.
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That’s the issue before the State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission. The advisory panel, along with the Office of Legislative Management, considers a remounted “Genius” the culmination of the $50 million cleaning and repair program at the Capitol that includes applying a 3/1000ths-inch of gold leaf on the dome and rehabilitating 522 windows.
That cost doesn’t include necessary repairs to the original base of the “Genius,” above the dome in the area called the “lantern” of the Capitol, itself a tribute to the nation’s role in the American Civil War.
Complicating the work on the “Genius” is that the Polich Tallix Foundry of Rock Tavern, N.Y. — where it was cast, based on the 2007 advanced laser imaging of the plaster copy of the original that resides in the Capitol’s north lobby — has been sold to another company.
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Pencz recently told the Capitol Preservation Commission that it will have to wait a year or more to see whether adding a new skeleton or armature is even possible.
“I reached out to that company and a competitor of theirs to have them come in and look at it so we can at least get the process started, and I have only heard back from one and they’re out until mid-summer next year,” he said.
‘The Genius of Connecticut,’ a copy of an identical statue that was atop the State Capitol between 1878 and 1938, is a regular stop for tours under the Capitol’s 257-foot-tall rotunda. Plans to move it to the dome are threatened by a structural assessment of the sculpture.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chair of the legislative Appropriations Committee who leads the Preservation Commission, said she would like to know the cost of a skeletal component for the “Genius.”
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“I think it’s important for us to kind of get there. Personally, I’d like to see the ‘Genius’ get back where it belongs,” she said. “That’s where I’ve been along and I’d like to see that happen.”
Before the 1938 hurricane, the original statue had previously been hauled down in 1903, for about a year, when officials were concerned about damage from high winds, according to a 2021 article by Central Connecticut State University Professor Matthew Warshauer.
Warshauer, in a phone interview Monday, said he would also like to see the new version of the “Genius” atop the dome. But Warshauer also said he’d prefer that a statewide, grassroots citizen-fundraising effort pay for it, rather than state funds. He cited the importance of civic engagement, particularly in this semiquincentennial year of celebrating — and discussing — the 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
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“I wholeheartedly support raising the ‘Genius’ to the center of the Capitol and its towering heights,” Warshauer said. “But what will such an action mean if it’s done only by the General Assembly and not the public? Today we have to decide what our symbols are and what they can mean. It’s up to the people to decide, with the help of civic leaders and historians. It’s more meaningful if done with intention by the people and different groups of people.”
A woman died Monday after a fire on East Main Street in Fort Kent.
Woman Died after Fire in Fort Kent
Fort Kent Fire and Rescue said “Upon arrival, Chief Pelletier was unable to confirm that all tenants of the apartment building were accounted for.”
Fire at the Front of the Building and Second Floor
Firefighters battled the blaze at the front of the building and another crew attacked the second floor.
First Floor Fire Put Out
The fire on the first floor was quickly extinguished.
Crews Learned Someone was Still in the Building
Crews got information that there was someone inside the building.
ALSO READ: One Person Died & One Injured after Rollover ATV Crash
Woman was Located in the Building and First Responders Tried Resuscitation
“Shortly thereafter, firefighters located a civilian victim and rescued her, unfortunately resuscitation efforts by ASI and Fort Kent firefighters were unsuccessful,” said Chief Pelletier with Fort Kent Fire and Rescue.
Maine Fire Marshal’s Office Investigating the Cause of the Fire
The Maine Fire Marshal’s Office responded to the scene and is investigating the cause of the fire.
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Name and Age Not Released Pending Family Notification
The woman’s name and age were not released pending notification of the family.
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Multiple Agencies Responded and Assisted with the Fire
Assisting Fort Kent Fire and Rescue were the Eagle Lake Fire Department, ASI, Fort Kent Public Works and the Red Cross.
LOOK: Are These 16 Classic American Meals Finally Making a Comeback?
From casserole-night favorites to full-on beige-on-beige comfort, these American dinners fell out of fashion — but could they be on their way back?
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: 21 Candies From the ’80s That You Probably Haven’t Thought About in Years
How many of these over-the-top ’80s candies — sweet, sour, and sometimes downright ridiculous — do you remember from your childhood?
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
Massachusetts
More than half of Massachusetts voters say they’ve weighed leaving the state, new Suffolk/Globe poll finds. Here’s why. – The Boston Globe
Roughly one in four of the 500 voters polled said they’ve “seriously considered” a move and another 28 percent said they’ve weighed it from time to time. That’s despite the vast majority — at least 70 percent — also saying they had enough money to live comfortably right now or weren’t concerned about losing their jobs.
The seemingly contradictory results could be explained by what David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, referred to as the United States’ “K-shaped economy,” in which different economic classes experience different financial outcomes. In Massachusetts, the gap is widening between the state’s richest and its lowest-paid workers.
Voters in lower income brackets were more likely to say they had seriously considered moving, and they were far more likely to be very concerned about losing their jobs.
“The people who are making low incomes are really being punished by inflation and the high cost of food and groceries,” he said.
Those financial concerns were especially pronounced among respondents in the 35-49 age category, whom Paleologos said are “really being pulled in a lot of different directions” by juggling careers, children, and aging parents.
About 40 percent of those who weighed leaving cited the cost of living as their primary issue, while another 18 percent pointed to Massachusetts’s taxes. Some business groups are simultaneously pushing a ballot question this fall that would slash the state’s income tax — and, lawmakers warn, could prompt deep cuts in the state budget if passed.
That proposal is nonetheless proving popular: Nearly 66 percent of poll respondents said they would support the measure, compared to 21 percent who said they would oppose it.
The Suffolk/Globe poll was conducted over five days last week, and its margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Live callers reached respondents via mobile and landline phones, and the Globe spoke with several of those respondents after the poll was conducted.
John Borders, a 49-year-old insurance analyst from Stow, praised Massachusetts’ governance in several areas, including “services for individuals,” public safety, and “pretty good job opportunities.” But Massachusetts’ high cost of living is one area he doesn’t feel the state’s elected officials have handled “much at all.”
As a parent of two high-school-aged kids, however, Borders said he’s been reluctant to leave Massachusetts and its highly regarded public education system for cheaper states to the south.
“As the kids get a little older, the taxes in Massachusetts are a little bit high . . . and it’d be nice to maybe look into an area that didn’t quite have the same kind of taxes,” said Borders, an unenrolled voter.
Many Massachusetts voters, similar to Borders, held a much more optimistic view of their state as compared with the country at large: More than half of respondents, or about 51 percent, said they believed Massachusetts was headed in the right direction. Meanwhile, less than 20 percent said they believed that to be true for the United States as a whole.
But they also had a somewhat dimmer view of the state’s financial footing. Just 5 percent said they considered Massachusetts’s economy to be excellent — 71 percent said it was either “good” or “fair” — and 60 percent said they were very or somewhat concerned about their personal financial situation, indicating an uncertainty about the future.
Some voters said their feelings about politics in other states were part of what kept them from leaving Massachusetts.
Virginia Bilz, a 70-year-old Monson resident, said downsizing from her Massachusetts home feels “almost impossible,” financially speaking. She visits Florida in the summer and has thought about moving south, but ultimately weighed against it.
“I like a lot of other people in Massachusetts, and when they ask me what the biggest stress in my life is right now, I have to say it’s the federal government,” said Bilz, a registered Democrat. “The housing is a lot cheaper in Florida, and the income tax would be less, but it’s not worth it to be in that political climate.”
About 16 percent of those surveyed said their highest source of stress was inflation, the cost of living, or the economy. Another 14 percent said finances or money were most concerning.
A plurality of voters — 33 percent — pointed to the cost of food and groceries as the biggest strain on their personal finances.
What’s causing you the most stress right now?
Melissa Tarjick, a part-time educator in Cheshire, said as a parent of 11, including foster and adopted children, it has become “increasingly challenging” to raise children here.
Tarjick, a 50-year-old unenrolled voter, laid blame on the Trump administration for driving up grocery and fuel costs. But she’s “always a bit nervous” that areas where Massachusetts has been “pretty responsive,” such as child care and health care, could face cuts.
“We also receive some subsidized health care, so I am quite concerned about what changes will mean for us,” she said.
State lawmakers have tried to address financial pains that voters have for years urged their elected leaders to tackle. In 2023, for example, the Massachusetts Legislature passed, and Governor Maura Healey signed, a law promising $1 billion in tax relief by increasing tax credits for parents and seniors, cutting the state’s capital gains tax, and other measures.
But only a fraction of those surveyed in the Suffolk/Globe poll — under 10 percent — said they felt the law had helped them. More than half, or 52 percent, said they couldn’t tell if it had made a difference.
“What are the taxpayers getting? More and more taxes — it’s not even worth being here anymore,” said Albert Thomas, a 59-year-old Ashland resident who has weighed leaving the state. Thomas, an unenrolled voter, said he also has not seen the benefit of state officials’ moves to temporarily slice utility rates. “We’re sold a bill of goods saying, ‘Oh, your electricity price is going to go down with all this stuff.’ Well, it ain’t going down, it’s going up faster.”
To William Haskell, a 30-year-old insurance broker, politicians “sign bills that grab headlines but don’t do anything, and it all seems like a giant waste of money.”
“I’m making enough money to where I’m kind of getting screwed across the board by taxes, and it’s squeezing me thin,” said Haskell, a Democrat who moved to Boston nearly a decade ago. He said there are other low-tax states where he would have “$1,000 to $2,000 more in my pocket each month.”
Still, Haskell said, he’s torn.
“It’s a nice place to live in at the same time,” he said, “so it’s definitely an internal mental battle.”
Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com.
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