West
DOJ intervening in California trans athlete controversy as Trump monitors girls' track and field championship
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Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice have turned their eye west in President Donald Trump’s battle to counter a wave of trans athletes competing in girls’ high school sports.
The DOJ announced an investigation into California’s high school sports league, the CIF, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, to determine whether the state has violated Title IX by enabling trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports since 2014.
“Title IX exists to protect women and girls in education. It is perverse to allow males to compete against girls, invade their private spaces, and take their trophies,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “This Division will aggressively defend women’s hard-fought rights to equal educational opportunities.”
California high school girls’ athletes wear ‘Protect Girls Sports’ shirts at a postseason track meet at Yorba Linda High School on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Courtesy of Reese Hogan)
The office of United States Attorney Bill Essayli, who previously served as a California state lawmaker and fought on the ground to support families opposing trans athletes in girls’ sports, is also involved in the investigation.
“The law is clear: Discrimination on the basis of sex is illegal and immoral,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “My office and the rest of the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect girls’ sports and stop anyone – public officials included – from violating women’s civil rights.”
The announcement cites a current lawsuit filed by the families of two girls’ high school athletes at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California. The announcement did not identify the plaintiffs by name.
The lawsuit, which was filed by the families of Taylor Starling and Kaitlyn Slavin, alleged the school’s cross-country team dropped Starling from her varsity spot in favor of a trans athlete, and that school administrators compared their “Save Girls Sports” t-shirts to swastikas, Fox News Digital has previously reported.
TEEN GIRLS OPEN UP ON TRANS ATHLETE SCANDAL THAT TURNED THEIR HIGH SCHOOL INTO A CULTURE WAR BATTLEGROUND
Starling even testified before the house legislature supporting a pair of bills that would have reversed California’s girls’ sports eligibility policy on April 1. Both bills failed to pass due to opposition from the Democrat Majority. But now, the lawsuit is being cited in a federal investigation.
Trump’s Department of Justice has already shown itself willing to sue a state for allowing trans athletes to compete in girls’ sports. Bondi announced a lawsuit against Maine on April 16 after weeks of warnings and tension, that included multiple federal funding pauses, which have been restored, and a public spat between Trump and Governor Janet Mills.
Starling’s father, Ryan Starling, previously told Fox News Digital that he supported Trump’s funding cuts to Maine, and would support similar sanctions against his state for allowing trans athletes in girls’ sports.
“Good,” Ryan Starling said in response to seeing the situation in Maine, knowing the same could soon play out in his state. “That’s the only thing they answer to, is when their funding is cut and when it actually affects their pocketbooks, that’s the only thing that will get it to change.
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The situation in Maine was prompted heavily by news of a trans athlete who won a girls’ pole vault competition after previously competing in the boys’ category.
Now, California faces a potential similar outcome in its state track and field championship.
The upcoming girls’ state title meet will feature a trans athlete competing in girls’ long jump and triple jump. The athlete, AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley High School, has dominated the girls’ postseason so far, taking first place in both events in the sectional final on May 17.
Trump’s Department of Education previously sent a warning to California and Jurupa Valley High School via an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital on May 15.
The high school has defended letting Hernandez compete in the girls’ category, as to follow current state law.
“JUSD continues to follow both California law and CIF policy regarding school athletics. Both state law and CIF policy currently require that students be permitted to participate in athletic teams and competitions consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records. JUSD remains committed to protecting the rights and safety of the students we serve, in accordance with applicable state and federal laws,” the district said in a previous statement provided to Fox News Digital.
Trump himself got in on the debate when he sent a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, warning the state and Governor Gavin Newsom of potential funding cuts, and orders to local authorities to prevent a trans athlete from competing in the girls’ category on Saturday.
Just hours later, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) announced it would make a slight rule change for this weekend’s championship. The change allows biologically female athletes who fell just shy of qualifying for the championship behind a trans athlete a chance to compete for the title this weekend.
Newsom’s office provided a statement to Fox News Digital supporting the CIF’s decision.
This change will result in at least two competitors qualifying to compete for the state title after falling just shy of the typical qualification threshold on Saturday.
“CIF’s proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness — a model worth pursuing. The Governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach,” the statement read.
Newsom previously admitted he thought biological males competing in girls’ sports was “deeply unfair,” during an episode of his podcast in March.
Jurupa Unified School District (JUSD) where Jurupa Valley High School is based, was included in the DOJ’s list of recipients of a letter informing of the incoming investigation, in the department’s official announcement on Tuesday. However, the school district claims it has not received any letter of complaint, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The DOJ has confirmed to Fox News Digital that the JUSD is named in the letter.
Bonta’s office has responded to investigation in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“We remain committed to defending and upholding California laws and all additional laws which ensure the rights of students, including transgender students, to be free from discrimination and harassment. We will continue to closely monitor the Trump Administration’s actions in this space,” the statement said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the CIF and Riverside Unified School District for a response.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
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2 Feet Of Snow Traps Drivers In Michigan
Do you think that Alaska is cold during winter? Of course it is! However, the type of cold the state is experiencing right now if unprecedented. How about having consecutive days of temperatures colder than 40 degrees below zero!
This is true for much of the Alaskan interior, particularly near Fairbanks and in between the Alaska and Brooks mountain ranges.
Over the last four days in Fairbanks, temperatures have struggled to reach 40 degrees below zero, with organizers in Fairbanks even postponing their annual New Year’s Eve fireworks show due to the extreme cold.
The temperature in the final few minutes of 2025 in Fairbanks was 43 degrees below zero.
In other words, conditions are unbearably and dangerously cold, even by local standards in Central Alaska.
In Chicken, Alaska, located near the Canadian Border, temperatures dropped as low as 62 degrees below zero! Numerous other locations in the eastern Alaskan Interior have seen temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees below zero.
On top of bringing dangerously cold minimum temperatures, this most recent cold snap has also been more prolonged than usual.
Temperatures in much of Alaska have been largely colder than usual since roughly December 5th, 2025
Some regions in eastern Alaska and the neighboring Yukon Territory in Canada have seen combined December temperatures up to 30 degrees below the climatological average.
For reference, the average December temperature in Fairbanks from 1904 to 2025 is 22 degrees below zero with much of central Alaska having similarly cold December temperatures on average. The city has seen a temperature departure of 18.5 degrees below average for December 2025, ranking as the 8th coldest December on record.
This means that much of east-central Alaska has been stuck between 40 and 50 degrees below for nearly an entire month!
While many factors affect the severity of winters in Alaska, one notable statistic is the unusually high snowfall in portions of Alaska this past December. Fairbanks saw more than double its usual snowfall for the month of December.
Juneau, Alaska’s capital, located in far-southeast Alaska, has seen nearly its entire annual snowfall in December alone, at over 80 inches.
Snowfall promotes cold temperatures by reflecting light from the sun back to space. In Alaska, there is already very little sunlight during the winter due to its positioning on and near the Arctic Circle.
What little sunlight snow-covered portions of Alaska have seen has been quickly reflected back to space by the unusually heavy snowpack.
In Central Alaska, located between the Alaska and Brooks ranges, the heavy snowpack, lack of sunlight, and lack of transport of air from warmer locations have led to the development of an arctic high pressure system, leading to stable conditions and light winds. These conditions cause the land to rapidly lose heat, becoming even colder. With this arctic high pressure is in place, central Alaska has remained cold. However, a slight breakdown in the strength of the high will allow temperatures to warm somewhat (see forecast for next 3 days below).
Fortunately, this pattern will break down as we approach mid-January. A more active storm track from the Pacific is poised to bring wetter and warmer conditions to portions of Alaska, especially towards the middle to second half of the month. While this wetter pattern means snow for most, temperatures will improve, being far more bearable than the current temperatures in the 40 to 50 degree below zero range.
Hayden Marshall is a meteorologist intern and First-Year-Master’s Student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been following weather content over the past three years as a Storm Spotter and weather enthusiast. He can be found on Instagram and Linkedin.
On today’s Digital Pregame Show presented by Little Caesars, J.B Long, D’Marco Farr, and Maurice Jones-Drew preview the Los Angeles Rams’ Week 18 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium. The trio discuss key players to watch, game predictions, and more. Tune in for kickoff at 1:25pm PT on FOX.
CORTE MADERA, Calif. (AP) — Crews cleared mud from key California highways as forecasters warned Sunday that more thunderstorms were…
CORTE MADERA, Calif. (AP) — Crews cleared mud from key California highways as forecasters warned Sunday that more thunderstorms were on the way after downpours and high tides caused flooding, road closures and rescues of people trapped in cars.
Five northern counties remained under a flood watch, with up to three inches (7.6 cm) of rain possible through Monday night in areas that have been drenched off and on since around Christmas, said the National Weather Service office in Eureka. At least a foot (.3 meters) of snow was likely in the mountains.
To the south near the San Francisco Bay Area, waters were slowly receding after roadways from Sausalito to San Rafael were flooded during heavy rain that coincided with record-breaking “ King Tides.” Such tides occur when the moon is in its closest position to the Earth, creating a stronger gravitational pull.
Some people kayaked along swamped streets, while others waded through water above their knees. Authorities were called to assist when cars got stuck in water as high as 3 and 4 feet (1.1 and 1.2 meters), Marin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Dobbins said Saturday.
“I’ve been around here for the King Tides and I’ve never seen it this high. Never,” Jeremy Hager of San Rafael told KTVU-TV.
Flooding was reported across Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco counties.
While the tides were waning, lingering thunderstorms on Sunday could cause additional problems throughout low-lying areas, forecasters said. “For anyone driving, slow down and allow extra time to reach your destination,” the Bay Area office of the weather service warned on social media.
Farther south in Santa Barbara County, a key highway was reopened Sunday after it was blocked for most of the weekend near Goleta due to a series of mudslides. A man died after he was swept into a creek during the storm, the sheriff’s office said Saturday.
Parts of Santa Barbara County received more than four inches (10 cm) of rain over two days, the weather service said Sunday.
After a mostly dry autumn, California has been hit by a series of powerful winter storms that brought the wettest holiday season to the state in years.
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© 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
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