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Student unearths 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil on first day of Montana dig: ‘Very exciting’

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Student unearths 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil on first day of Montana dig: ‘Very exciting’

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A 150-million-year-old fossil from the Jurassic era turned up at a Montana dig site this year — unearthed not by a scientist but by a Connecticut high school student. 

Aidan Connor, a senior at Cheshire Academy in New Haven County, found the ancient bone in Red Lodge, Montana, this summer, according to a news release from the academy. 

With funding from the Rizzolo-Larson Venture Grant program, the student traveled west with the Elevation Science Institute as part of a dig that involved teenagers across the country.

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On the first day of the excavation, Connor spotted a pinkie-sized finger bone that likely belonged to a small dinosaur during the Jurassic period.

It took the high school senior about an hour to extract the fossil, which is considered relatively quick. The teenager described the experience as “very nerve-wracking.”

Aidan Connor’s summer dig in Red Lodge, Montana, became memorable after he uncovered a Jurassic-era fossil during an expedition. (Aidan Connor/Cheshire Academy)

“A lot of field work, especially paleontology, is trying your hardest not to break very important things,” Connor said, according to the release.

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After finding the bone, the student spent the rest of the week “jacketing” other fossils, a process that involves plastering them in order to prevent damage during transport.

“[W]hat we’re most proud of is his polyglot love of learning, and his willingness to combine passion with patience, practice and process.”

Speaking to Fox News Digital, Connor said the whole experience was “quite exciting.”

“[It was] very fulfilling for my inner child,” he added.

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“It was definitely rewarding to finally get it, and many other fossils in the area, prepped for removal.”

Marc Aronson, dean of academics at Cheshire Academy, told Fox News Digital the school community is extremely proud of the diligent student.

The week-long excavation allowed the Cheshire Academy student to practice careful fossil handling while preparing specimens for safe removal. (Aidan Connor/Cheshire Academy)

“Our pride in Aidan goes beyond the discovery he made,” said Aronson.

“What we’re most proud of is his polyglot love of learning, and his willingness to combine passion with patience, practice and process.” 

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“Those are essential elements of learning.”

The dean added that Connor is looking at schools offering majors like paleontology and museum studies and is still considering his options ahead of his graduation next spring.

“[It was] very fulfilling for my inner child,” Connor told Fox News Digital. (Aidan Connor/Cheshire Academy)

The Rizzolo-Larson Venture Grant is the school’s way of letting students “do cool stuff,” allowing them to travel across the globe to pursue their passions. 

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Students have worked on projects in countries like South Africa and Bangladesh, Aronson said.

“Aidan’s work this summer is an excellent example of the ways in which Cheshire Academy helps students unlock not just their potential but themselves,” he added.

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New Hampshire

Trans athletes drop lawsuit to gain access to girls’ sports in New Hampshire after SCOTUS ruling

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Trans athletes drop lawsuit to gain access to girls’ sports in New Hampshire after SCOTUS ruling


A pair of trans athletes in New Hampshire have dismissed their lawsuit to challenge the state law that protects girls’ sports after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Title IX ruling on June 30.

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The trans teenage plaintiffs, Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle, originally filed the lawsuit in 2024 to challenge a current New Hampshire state law prohibiting trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports. The lawsuit later expanded to add President Donald Trump’s administration to the defendants after Trump signed the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5, 2025.

The lawyers for the trans athletes claimed Trump’s executive order, along with parts of a Jan. 20 executive order that forbids federal money from being used to “promote gender ideology,” subjects the teens and all transgender girls to discrimination in violation of federal equal protection guarantees and their rights under Title IX.

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A transgender athlete and the Supreme Court (Getty Images)

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire then ruled last year that female athletes represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys were permitted to intervene in the case to defend the state’s women’s sports law and the administration’s executive orders.

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Now, after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, which protects state laws that ensure only females compete in girls’ sports, there is no room for the trans teens to fight the law in New Hampshire.

“Women and girls deserve privacy, safety, and equal opportunities. That can’t happen when males are competing in women’s sports, taking spots on women’s athletic teams, and winning women’s championships,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

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“President Trump’s executive orders and New Hampshire’s law recognize common sense and track Title IX, the federal law that ensures equal opportunities for women in athletics. We are grateful this case is coming to an end and that New Hampshire is free to protect its female athletes.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Tirrell and Turmelle’s attorneys at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) for a response.

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A protester waves a transgender pride flag outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on June 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Advocates organized a rally in response the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in US v. Skrmetti, in which the justices ruled to uphold state bans on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The SCOTUS rulings in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox, the high court upheld state laws requiring student-athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond with their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity, in a 6-3 decision.

However, there are still 23 states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, that don’t have any such laws, and some of those have laws to protect trans athletes in girls’ sports.

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New Jersey

Family describes frantic moments delivering baby on the NJ Turnpike

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Family describes frantic moments delivering baby on the NJ Turnpike


JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Mile marker 113.3 on the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus will forever be an incredible memory for one family, who scrambled to deliver their baby boy right on the side of the road.

Kristen Fast was in labor last week, with her husband driving her to the hospital on the turnpike, but when they got to the mile marker, baby Archer couldn’t wait any longer and had to be delivered on the highway.

Archer insisted on arriving three days before he was due, and maybe it was because his lovely big sister, 4-year-old Zelda, was waiting for him.

He was in such a hurry, he didn’t even let mom and dad get to the hospital for him to be born, although they tried.

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“The doula said, ‘pull over, hang up, call 911.’ So we did that. We called 911. The operator started walking him through what to do,” said Archer’s mother, Kristen Fast.

“Next thing I know, I get in the back seat, and we’re making sure she’s comfortable, and I look down, and that baby is ready to go,” said Archer’s dad, Alex Fast.

New Jersey State Trooper Freddie Guacamaya responded to Alex’s 911 call.

“Cop comes, puts on his gloves, and he was fantastic,” Alex Fast said.

“I said, ‘Are you the EMT?’ And he didn’t answer. So I said, ‘You are not an EMT. I’m in danger.’ But he was fine, he was being very calm,” Kristen Fast said.

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“They said, ‘you got to clamp that cord right away. If you have anything, if you have a string.’ So I panicked and just looked in the front and we just had an iPhone cable. So we just clamped the cord with an iPhone cable,” Alex Fast said.

“The EMTs came, and they said, ‘What is this?’” Kristen Fast said.

The loving, kind courtesies extended to the family just continued, helping to make their emergency experience flawless.

“There were three policemen who showed up. I said, ‘I’d love to be with her in the ambulance.’ And they were amazing. They drove our car to the hospital for us, which was so nice. They paid for our valet,” Alex and Kristen Fast said.

They were all welcomed to Hackensack University Medical Center with a healthy baby and a hearty story, backed by Archer’s exact birthplace, recorded accurately: New Jersey Turnpike I-95, mile marker 113.

“Archer’s healthy. He’s thriving. He’s a Jersey boy through and through. I don’t think you get more Jersey than being born on the New Jersey Turnpike,” Kristen Fast said.

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Pennsylvania

PA state rep. wants to force the York State Fair to change its name

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PA state rep. wants to force the York State Fair to change its name


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Will the York State Fair have to change its name?

State Rep. Catherine Wallen of the 193rd House District, which stretches from Shippensburg to New Oxford, plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit fairs from using the title “state fair” in their name or advertising.

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She noted that “a wave of a few fairs” recently has started using the word “state” in their name. There isn’t a statute that allows the use of a “state fair” title in Pennsylvania.

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“This legislation would change that to keep all fairs across the state on the same level and not allude that they are recognized as the Official State fair of Pennsylvania,” Wallen wrote. “The only event that truly has claim to that title is the Pennsylvania Farm Show that is held annually in Harrisburg.”

The annual agricultural fair in York County, formerly known as the York Fair, added the word “state” to its name in 2020. The event, which was set to move to July that year, had to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The Agricultural Society Board of Directors voted in 2019 to change the name to join other large fairs across the country that include “state” in the name, according to a news release at the time.

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“We are as big as many state fairs across the country in terms of attendance, entries, entertainment, amusement rides, facilities, staffing and budget so the question became why not recognize ourselves as a state fair level event by calling ourselves the York State Fair,” then-CEO Bryan Blair said in the release at the time.

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Patrick Ball, the fair’s current CEO, said fair officials are trying to learn more about the proposed legislation.

Teresa Boeckel is a reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Contact her at tboeckel@ydr.com.



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