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Catholic group asks SCOTUS to block California law against revealing students’ gender identities to parents

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Catholic group asks SCOTUS to block California law against revealing students’ gender identities to parents

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A Catholic legal group has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a California law that prevents public schools from notifying parents of transgender students’ gender identities.

The Thomas More Society filed an emergency appeal on Thursday asking the Supreme Court to reinstate a ruling issued last month by a federal judge who said parents with religious objections can opt out of the law’s restrictions. The challenged provisions bar teachers from informing parents if a student wishes to change their pronouns or gender identity, according to reporting by POLITICO.

“Parents only relinquish authority needed for the school to carry out its ‘educational mission’ … they do not delegate the authority to make decisions regarding whether their child is a boy or a girl,” attorneys for the Thomas More Society wrote in the appeal.

FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN ‘GENDER SECRECY’ POLICIES IN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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The law prohibits teachers from telling parents if a student wants to use new pronouns or adopt a different gender identity. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The law, signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2024 and in effect for the past year, also bars teachers from disclosing a student’s sexual orientation. That provision, however, is not directly at issue in the current legal challenge. 

The measure was adopted after several school districts in the Golden State implemented policies requiring teachers to contact parents if students wanted to change their name, pronouns or gender identity – policies that critics labeled “forced outing.” 

The law allows disclosure of a student’s gender identity in “compelling” circumstances, a standard opponents argue is vague and insufficient. 

There are exceptions under the law allowing schools to disclose a student’s gender identity in “compelling” circumstances.

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U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez issued a permanent injunction last month blocking parts of the law, siding with two Escondido Union School District teachers — Elizabeth Mirabelli and Lori Ann West — who argued their district’s policies violated their constitutional and religious rights.

OREGON EDUCATORS WIN 650K SETTLEMENT AFTER SCHOOL DISTRICT FIRED THEM OVER GENDER POLICY COMMENTS

The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“Parents have a right to receive gender information and teachers have a right to provide to parents accurate information about a child’s gender identity,” Benitez wrote in the ruling. “Parents and guardians have a federal constitutional right to be informed if their public school student child expresses gender incongruence.” 

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later paused Benitez’s ruling while California appeals the decision, keeping the law in effect for now.

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In addition to seeking emergency relief from the nation’s highest court, lawyers challenging the law said they plan to ask a larger panel of Ninth Circuit judges to allow Benitez’s injunction to take effect.

The law was adopted after several school districts in the state approved policies requiring teachers to contact parents if students wanted to change their name, pronouns or gender identity. (Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said the state would continue defending the law.

“We look forward to continuing to make our case in court,” a spokesperson for Bonta’s office told POLITICO.

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The case comes amid broader scrutiny of California’s education policies. In March, the Trump administration announced the Education Department had launched an investigation into the state’s enforcement of the law.

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San Francisco, CA

Supervisors urge California to expand S.F. speed-camera program

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Supervisors urge California to expand S.F. speed-camera program


San Francisco supervisors authorized a resolution Tuesday urging California lawmakers to expand the city’s automated speed camera program, which currently has 33 cameras operating in the city under a state pilot.

The board’s 10-to-1 vote on Tuesday, with District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton voting against it, will not add cameras immediately, but formally asks the state to explore changes to the program. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has identified at least 80 additional high-need locations that could benefit from automated enforcement, according to a report filed with the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.

Richard Zieman, whose son Andrew, a paraeducator, was killed in November 2021 by a speeding driver outside Sherman Elementary School on Franklin Street, told Mission Local that city officials should do more. “They waited for a tragedy,” Zieman said. Parents and school leaders had repeatedly asked the city to slow traffic on Franklin Street, where drivers barreled downhill toward the Marina, said Zieman.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who introduced the resolution, has said the city’s first year of automated speed enforcement shows that the technology works. The SFMTA reported nearly an 80 percent reduction in drivers traveling at least 10 miles per hour over the speed limit at camera locations after the program launched in March 2025. San Francisco was the first city to implement the pilot authorized under Assembly Bill 645.

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The pilot, however, is capped by state law at 33 camera locations. Tuesday’s resolution asks California lawmakers to consider allowing more, prioritizing corridors on San Francisco’s High Injury Network, including Franklin Street.

Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy group which spent roughly eight years advocating for the state legislation that created the pilot, called the resolution an important first step toward broader expansion.

“Thirty-three cameras is nowhere near the number of cameras we need for people to realize that San Francisco is a safe-speed city,” said executive director Jodie Medeiros. “This tool is working. People are lowering their speeds.”

District 6, represented by Dorsey, currently has seven of the city’s 33 cameras, most of them in SoMa. The district also records the highest number of crashes involving injuries or fatalities in San Francisco, making it a focal point in the debate over expanding automated enforcement.

The resolution advanced unanimously from the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee last week, where Dorsey said the cameras have made streets “feel safer” and argued the early results show “why we should have even more of this life-saving technology.”

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Zieman, whose son’s death prompted traffic-calming improvements and eventually a speed camera near Sherman Elementary, said the issue is urgent. 

“There are probably other Franklin streets out there,” he said. “I just hope they don’t wait for someone else before they expand the program. It’s too late for Andrew.”





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Denver, CO

Five Points affordable housing building honors Dr. Justina Ford | Rocky Mountain PBS

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Five Points affordable housing building honors Dr. Justina Ford | Rocky Mountain PBS


DENVER — Dr. Justina Ford’s name adorns plaques and statues across Denver, where she delivered more than 7,000 babies as the city’s first licensed Black woman physician. Now, an affordable housing building in Five Points, the neighborhood where she lived and worked for 50 years, bears her name.

The newly christened Justina at Five Points, formerly Brunetti Lofts, offers a rare commodity in Denver’s housing market: family-sized affordable housing units.The 23-unit building, built in 2005, has 19 three-bedroom units. Rents range from $840 to $1,893 per month. Residents must make between 30% and 60% of Denver’s area median income, and specific income requirements vary depending on the unit.

“I do believe that in the last, five, ten years, maybe a little longer, housing here in Colorado has just gone crazy. I mean, I have a little two-bedroom townhouse, and I can’t afford to move back in the neighborhood I grew up in because of the pricing. And it’s just crazy,” said Daphne Rice-Allen, chair of the board at the Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, which is housed in Ford’s historic home in Five Points.

Rice-Allen grew up in Clayton, which is northeast of Five Points. This cluster of neighborhoods in north Denver — Five Points, Cole, Whittier and Clayton — were among the areas deemed “hazardous” and “definitely declining” on the city’s 1938 “Residential Security Map,” which redlined neighborhoods with Black, Mexican and lower-income residents.

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At that time, Five Points flourished as a cultural and entertainment hub, known as “the Harlem of the West” and serving as “the seat of Denver’s African American community.” Black social clubs, such as the Owl Club, emerged. And Ford, who arrived in Denver in 1902 and was not allowed to work in a hospital, continued to provide medical care out of her house and deliver babies at her patients’ homes. 

“This was a family neighborhood, Rice-Allen said about Five Points during that period.

“There were a lot of families that lived in the area and lived in the neighborhood.”

But Five Points’ demographics have changed a lot since Ford died in 1952. About 30% of households in the neighborhood were families in 2020. By 2024, that percentage dropped to about 20%. 

The neighborhood experienced a drastic shift in racial demographics as well. In 2000, about 27% of the residents were white, 26% Black and 43% Hispanic. The 2020 census told a different story: 64% white, 10% Black and 17% Hispanic.

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What was once a Black cultural hub is now a majority-white neighborhood, which raises concerns about gentrification and displacement of long-time residents. Despite the large supply of affordable housing units in the area — 2,796 in 2024 — about half of renters in Five Points are cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing.



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Seattle, WA

Seattle weather: Hot and sunny day Wednesday, highs in the 80s

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Seattle weather: Hot and sunny day Wednesday, highs in the 80s


Wednesday will be another warm day with highs in the mid to upper 80s for parts of western Washington. Eastern and central Washington will reach near 100F with high fire danger. The coast and north interior will be cooler, only in the 60s to 70s.

Today's Highs

Wednesday will be another warm day with highs in the mid to upper 80s for parts of western Washington. 

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Fire Weather Watch

A Fire Weather Watch goes into effect Wednesday evening through Thursday evening for thunderstorms and gusty winds. Lightning strikes could create new fire starts and, with very dry conditions in place, any new fire could spread quickly.

Fire Danger

A Fire Weather Watch goes into effect Wednesday evening through Thursday evening for thunderstorms and gusty winds. 

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What’s next:

An upper level low will move into the Pacific Northwest, bringing scattered showers and a chance of thunderstorms. The heaviest showers will be in the morning hours and will turn more scattered into the evening hours.

Thursday Showers

An upper level low will move into the Pacific Northwest, bringing scattered showers and chance of thunderstorms. 

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Looking Ahead:

High pressure will build again Friday and into the weekend, increasing temperatures and sunshine. We will start to see highs reach the upper 80s to low 90s by early next week.

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Seattle Extended

High pressure will build again Friday and into the weekend, increasing temperatures and sunshine. 

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The Source: Information in this story came from the FOX 13 Seattle Weather Team and the National Weather Service.

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