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New Hampshire parents sue school district for banning them over 'silent protest' against trans soccer player

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New Hampshire parents sue school district for banning them over 'silent protest' against trans soccer player

A group of New Hampshire parents and a grandparent filed a lawsuit against a school district on Monday over their removal from a girls soccer game for holding a protest against a transgender player.

Kyle Fellers, Anthony Foote, Nicole Foote and Eldon Rash filed the federal lawsuit against the Bow School District, Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, Principal Matt Fisk, Athletic Director Mike Desilets, Bow Police Lieutenant Phil Lamy and soccer referee Steve Rossetti.

The lawsuit says Fellers and Anthony Foote were banned from a Sept. 17 girls soccer game between Bow High School and Plymouth Regional High School in which they were wearing pink wristbands with “XX” displayed to symbolize the female chromosome structure and express their support for biological female athletes.

The “silent protest” at Bow High School, the lawsuit says, intended to “show solidarity” with the Bow team and oppose a policy that allowed a transgender girl to play on Plymouth’s team.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PARENT BANNED FOR WEARING ARMBANDS IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS TO DAUGHTER’S SOCCER GAME

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A group of New Hampshire parents sued a school district over their removal from a girls soccer game for protesting against a transgender player. (Getty Images)

Bow school officials and a police officer confronted the plaintiffs during the game and instructed them to remove the wristbands, the lawsuit says. But when the plaintiffs refused to remove them, a referee allegedly paused the game and said Bow would be forced to forfeit the game if the wristbands were not removed.

Fellers and Anthony Foote were given “No Trespass Orders” banning them from school grounds and events after the incident, which included barring them picking their children up from after-school practices. Anthony Foote was banned until September 23, while Fellers was prohibited from returning for the remainder of the fall term.

“Parents don’t shed their First Amendment rights at the entrance to a school’s soccer field,” Fellers said in a statement. “We wore pink wristbands to silently support our daughters and their right to fair competition. Instead of fostering open dialogue, school officials responded with threats and bans that have a direct impact on our lives and our children’s lives. And this fight isn’t just about sports—it’s about protecting our fundamental right to free speech.”

The “silent protest” at Bow High School, the lawsuit says, intended to “show solidarity” with the Bow team and oppose a policy that allowed a transgender girl to play on Plymouth’s team. (ALLISON DINNER/AFP via Getty Images)

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The lawsuit seeks to prevent the “unconstitutional application” of several school policies, including those that require “mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct” and that prohibit actions that “injure, threaten, harass, or intimidate” or “impede, delay, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any school activity or function.”

The plaintiffs asked the court to enjoin the school from using these policies to restrict non-disruptive expression of political or social views at school events, including silently wearing wristbands or displaying signs in the parking lot in opposition to allowing transgender girls to compete on girls’ sports teams.

“The idea that I would be censored and threatened with removal from a public event for standing by my convictions is not just a personal affront—it is an infringement on the very rights I swore to defend,” Anthony Foote said. “I spent 31 years in the United States Army, including three combat tours, and the school district in the town I was born in—the one my family has seven generations of history in—took away those rights. I sometimes wonder if I should have been here, fighting for our rights, rather than overseas.”

GOP GOVERNOR REVEALS WHY HE ORDERED SCHOOLS TO BAR TRANSGENDER ATHLETES FROM GIRLS SPORTS

The lawsuit seeks to prevent the “unconstitutional application” of several school policies, (Getty Images)

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Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily blocked a New Hampshire law prohibiting transgender females from playing on sports teams based on their preferred gender identity.

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Boston, MA

When did Southie get richy-rich? – The Boston Globe

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When did Southie get richy-rich? – The Boston Globe


Write to us at startingpoint@globe.com. To subscribe, sign up here.


Born and raised in Southie, Heather Foley has seen her neighborhood morph over the past three decades of scrubbing, renovation, and new construction for higher-income new arrivals.

But even Foley was surprised to discover that her South Boston, where kids once went to the corner to buy milk and cigarettes for parents, has emerged with the city’s second-highest average income, even ahead of Charlestown and Beacon Hill.

Her first thought?: “I gotta start being nicer to my neighbors if that’s the kind of money they’re making.”

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What’s a household?

Decades ago, when “Good Will Hunting” was filmed in the neighborhood and Southie was known as a working-class area, there were more kids around and maybe just a single breadwinner in some homes.

Since then, Southie saw more two-earner households, fewer kids, and spiffier rental units where three or four roommates could contribute to a “household.” The changes, along with spillover from the adjacent, pricier Seaport, or South Boston waterfront, are factors in Census data showing more than 40 percent of Southie households earn more than $200,000 a year.

Staying put

Foley, 46, a photo shoot producer, considers herself lucky. She didn’t move out to the South Shore like many neighborhood longtimers. She’s living in a family home on a block with residents — oldtimers and newer arrivals — who aren’t flipping properties for big bucks.

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Another blessing, particularly valuable this winter? She has a driveway.

As a kid, she went to church and school at Gate of Heaven, St. Brigid, and St. Peter, and jokes that she’s “so sad I didn’t buy a three-decker with my First Communion money, because I probably could have.”

Waves of gentrification

She remembers the earlier waves of newcomers, when glassy sports bars like Stats Bar & Grille muscled in among longtime restaurants like Amrheins.

But now, even the popular Stats is moving out at the end of the month. The property owner is developing a five-story, mixed-use residential building at the site.

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A small silver lining

Foley notes that some of the onetime “newcomers” have been here for three decades — and in some ways, have stabilized the place. Many have raised kids, who, like her son, may return to the neighborhood as young adults (albeit splitting a rented apartment with friends). Stats, the sports bar, says it will also return to the neighborhood’s thriving food scene.

“We have a lot of great restaurants now,” Foley says, “and everyone cleans up after their dog.”

Read: These maps show Boston’s wealthiest and most populous neighborhoods — plus other key trends.


🧩 6 Across: More scarce | 🌧️ 42° Another storm

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Grand New Party: How do you build a statewide slate of Republicans in a Democratic state? Nearly half of the Mass. GOP candidates didn’t use to be Republicans.

Farewell advice: After nearly 15 years of health system leadership, the departing CEO of Beth Israel Lahey Health offers this advice to others.

Hitting the brakes? After an ambitious state law, Lexington welcomed a wave of new housing. Now, people there are having second thoughts.

Hyde Park fatal bus crash: The driver has been indicted.

Patriots, strippers, and hookahs: A downtown restaurant’s liquor license is in jeopardy after it allegedly hosted Patriots players and guests after their AFC Championship in January. A decision is expected today.

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‘Culture of secrecy’: In a scathing report, R.I. authorities accused the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence of decades of “inaction, concealment, and revictimization” in complaints of clergy sexual abuse of hundreds of children.

Centers of suffering, campaigning: Federal immigration facilities have become backdrops for Democratic politicians seeking to fight President Trump’s immigration policies.

‘The best time to remember God’: Amid crackdowns, the Somali community leans into faith during Ramadan.

When is a reno worth it? Here’s how to judge the return on a home investment.


TED — TV fun in the 1990s, Framingham. Pictured, from left: Max Burkholder as John, Seth MacFarlane as the voice of Ted, Scott Grimes as Matty.Peacock

🧸 ‘Ted’ talk: Seth MacFarlane and the “Ted” cast talk Massholes, potty-mouthed teddy bears, and why Boston may have “the worst accent”

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🩰 A ‘Black Swan’ premiere: That’s among 30 sparkling arts events happening this spring around New England. Plus, why are more artists being banned from America?

🎥 Quiz: Test yourself with the Globe’s Academy Awards quiz.

⚽ Will $7.8 million stop the World Cup from coming here? Can Foxborough’s insistence on up-front security payments force the world’s soccer governing body to send matches somewhere else this summer?

♯ Teenage dreams: The future rock stars were teenagers when they wrote songs, influenced by David Bowie and Stevie Wonder, about a fictional nightclub. A half-century later, Squeeze has reworked and is releasing those songs.

💻 Death by chatbot? A new lawsuit alleges Google’s chatbot sent a man on missions to find an android body it could inhabit. When that failed, it set a suicide countdown clock for him. (WSJ)

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🍕 And a red cup, please: Fans are tracking down the few Pizza Hut Classic red-roofed restaurants that remain in the 6,200-store chain. (NYT)


Thanks for reading Starting Point.

This newsletter was edited by Heather Ciras and produced by Ryan Orlecki.

❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at startingpoint@globe.com.

✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can sign up for your own copy.

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📬 Delivered Monday through Friday.


Dave Beard can be reached at dave.beard@gmail.com. Follow him on X @dabeard.





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Pittsburg, PA

As his polarizing Pitt career winds down, a banged-up Cam Corhen has saved his best for last

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As his polarizing Pitt career winds down, a banged-up Cam Corhen has saved his best for last






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Connecticut

Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings

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Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings


The Hartford community is grappling with two police shootings that happened within eight days of each other. Both started off as mental health calls about someone in distress.

People came together to remember one of the men killed at a vigil on Wednesday evening.

With hands joined, a prayer for peace and comfort was spoken for the family of Everard Walker. He was having a mental health crisis when a family member called 211 on Feb.19.

Two mental health professionals from the state-operated Capitol Regional Mental Health Center requested Hartford police come with them to Walker’s apartment on Capitol Avenue.

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A scuffle ensued, and police said it looked like Walker was going to stab an officer. The brief fight ended with an officer shooting and killing Walker.

The family is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

“All I will have now is a tombstone and the voicemails he left on my phone that I listen over and over again at night just so I can fall asleep,” Menan Walker, one of Walker’s daughters, said.

City councilman Josh Michtom (WF) is asking whether police could have acted differently.

“To me, the really concerning thing is why the police were there at all, why they went into that apartment in the way that they did, in the numbers that they did,” he said.

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The president of Hartford’s police union, James Rutkauski, asked the community to hold their judgment and wait for a full investigation by the Inspector General’s office to be completed.

A different tone was taken in a statement released about another police shooting on Blue Hills Avenue on Feb. 27.

Rutkauski said the union fully supports the officer who fired at 55-year-old Steven Jones, who was holding a knife during a mental health crisis.

In part, the union’s statement says that Jones “deliberately advanced on the officer in a manner that created an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. This was a 100% justified use of deadly force.”

The Inspector General’s office will determine if the officer was justified following an investigation.

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The officer who shot Jones was the fourth to arrive on the scene. Three others tried to get him to drop the knife, even using a taser, before the shooting.

“It just feels like beyond the conduct of any one officer, we have this problem, which is that we send cops for every problem,” Michtom said. “I don’t know how you can de-escalate at the point of a gun.”

Jones died from his injuries on Tuesday.  

The union’s statement went on to say that officers should not be society’s default for mental health professionals. The statement said in part, “We ask for renewed commitment from our legislators to remove police from being the vanguard of what should be a mental health professional response.”

The officers involved in both shootings are on administrative leave.

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