Nevada

Murdoch succession battle to play out in Nevada courtroom

Published

2 years ago

September 12, 2024

Murdoch succession battle to play out in Nevada courtroom

By Dawn Chmielewski

RENO, Nevada (Reuters) – A closed-door court battle over control of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire begins Sept. 16, and could determine the future of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.

Murdoch, 93, is attempting to change the terms of the family’s irrevocable trust to ensure his newspapers and television networks remain under control of his eldest son and chosen heir, Lachlan Murdoch, according to the New York Times, which obtained a sealed court document detailing the succession drama.

Reuters and other news organizations are attempting to gain access to sealed court records, and to open the court hearings in Reno, Nevada, before probate commissioner Edmund J. Gorman Jr.

The trust lays out a scenario on how a potential takeover could occur, according to a source who has seen the documents. The trust is the vehicle through which the elder Murdoch controls News Corp and Fox, with roughly a 40% stake in voting shares of each company. Murdoch also holds a small amount of shares of the companies outside the trust.

Upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, News Corp and Fox voting shares will be transferred to his four oldest children – Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. Potentially, three of the heirs could out-vote a fourth, setting up a battle over the future of the companies, even as Lachlan Murdoch runs Fox and is sole chair of News Corp.

Rupert Murdoch’s proposed amendment to the trust would block any interference by three of Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, the Times reported, citing a sealed court document.

Lachlan Murdoch is viewed as ideologically aligned with his conservative father. James Murdoch, who has donated to progressive political groups, resigned in 2020 from the News Corp board, citing disagreements over editorial content. James also has criticized the U.S. media for amplifying disinformation about the 2020 election results ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He hosted a fundraiser for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021, before the Democrat ended his re-election campaign.

A hearing to determine whether Rupert Murdoch’s proposed changes to the trust would benefit his heirs will take place in a Reno courtroom, well outside the media hubs from which the conglomerate operates in New York, Los Angeles, London and Sydney.

“He’s going to have to prove that these changes are being made in good faith,” said Shane Jasmine Young, a Nevada attorney who specializes in estate planning. That means demonstrating any changes would not “sacrifice the rights, or discriminate against, any of the parties that this trust was intended to protect.”

A group of news organizations, including the New York Times, CNN, The Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post and Reuters, have asked to intervene in the matter, arguing that the court should unseal the records and provide access to the proceedings.

“Though some litigants may desire secrecy and some courts indulge this desire, this level of sealing does not pass constitutional muster,” attorneys for the Access Coalition of news organizations wrote in a memo to the court, arguing the First Amendment calls for civil judicial proceedings and records to be open to the public.

The news organizations say the public has immense interest in which of Murdoch’s children will succeed him at the helm of the influential media empire, an outcome that will affect thousands of jobs, millions of worldwide media consumers and the political landscape.

Spokespeople for Lachlan, James and Elisabeth Murdoch declined comment. A spokesman for Rupert Murdoch referred inquiries to his attorney, who did not respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing James, Elisabeth and Prudence also could not be reached for comment.

“The reason this is interesting is the outsized role that Fox (News) has played in the political landscape, in the U.S. and around the world,” said Paul Hardart, director of the Entertainment, Media and Technology Program at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “I think this is a reflection of the future of not only the business, but also how conservative media is handled going forward.”

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Nevada

Best Nevada high schools for athletes? One study has revealed a top 25

Published

4 hours ago

May 15, 2026

Press Room

Best Nevada high schools for athletes? One study has revealed a top 25

Nevada has a rich history of producing athletic legends.

Total number of sports: 24

1. Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)

Total number of sports: 14

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Nevada

Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive

Published

16 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

Nevada designates more than 119,000 voters inactive

CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – The State of Nevada says it has designated more than 119,000 voters as inactive ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar says that in the spring of this year, counties updated 14,164 voter records, designated 119,533 voters as inactive and canceled the voter registrations of 7,583 people.

This is in addition to 2025 voter roll maintenance efforts that registered more than 138,000 voters inactive and canceled nearly 177,000 voter registrations.

“State and local election officials are working hard to prepare voters for the upcoming June Primary, and keeping Nevada’s voter rolls up to date is a critical part of that process. County election officials have dedicated significant resources to make sure Nevada’s voter registration records are accurate, so that all eligible Nevadans – and only eligible Nevadans – can cast a ballot,” said Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar. “Mail ballots are being sent to active, registered voters across the state now. Voters can support their local officials’ work by checking and updating their registration information on VOTE.NV.gov.”

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Nevada

Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title

Published

1 day ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

Arbor View beats rival Centennial for 5A boys volleyball state title

The Arbor View boys volleyball team has embodied the mindset that it would take the efforts of all 16 players to win the school its first boys volleyball title.

It proved to be the case on Wednesday night against rival Centennial in the Class 5A state championship match, and the Aggies’ efforts all season showed up in the biggest game of the season.

No. 3-seeded Arbor View claimed its first boys volleyball title with a 25-20, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19 victory over top-seeded Centennial at Sunrise Mountain.

“It feels amazing. The boys have worked hard, I don’t even know if I could put it into words,” Arbor View coach Nicole Adarme said. “Our big goal was to stay calm and collected the entire time. I just wanted to reflect that for them.”

Arbor View (28-13-1) let its emotions out after the final point on an Owen Wenger kill. The Aggies huddled and jumped for joy, helped carry injured teammate Gunnar Robinson off the bench, and eventually moved the celebration into the stands with a sea of red from the Arbor View student section.

“It feels absolutely great,” junior middle blocker/outside hitter Risden Miller said. “We trust each other so much. We’re best friends in and out of volleyball, and that really helps us on the court with just competing as a team.”

Even though the two team’s previous meeting on April 14 was a three-set win in league play by Centennial (32-6), Adarme said she knew the fourth meeting of the season for the two northwest rivals wasn’t going to be a sweep on either side.

Arbor View won a back-and-forth first set on a kill from Miller. Then it looked like the Aggies were going to win a close second set, but Centennial got a point for Arbor View being out of rotation, and the Bulldogs won four of the last five points to even the match score to one set apiece.

“That’s the traditional thing (when we play) Centennial (to play long matches), so for us, we just treated it like another set,” Adarme said. “We knew they were going to fight, so how do we respond to that? Our constant conversation was responding to the negative and moving forward in a positive direction.”

Arbor View scored six straight points in the third set to take a 20-15 lead, and the Aggies never let up to get to the fourth set with a chance to win the title. The Aggies took advantage of several Centennial errors to take the lead in the third set on their way to the title.

“We took three deep breaths and reset and recollected ourselves as a team,” Miller said of closing out the final two sets. “That’s just completely huge for rebounding from a lost set.

“For me, personally, just looking at all my best friends on the court, that truly calms me down and I know it calms them down as well.”

Miller recorded 18 kills and Wenger was key at the net with eight kills and eight blocks. The Aggies also got contributions from Graham Blanchard, Kenyon Wickliffe and Robinson before he went down with a lower left leg injury in the fourth set.

Lincoln Larson led Centennial with 19 kills. It’s the first boys volleyball state title for Arbor View and first appearance in the title game after the program reached the state semifinals four previous times.

“We can’t (win) with six, we have to do it with all 16,” Adarme said. “We’ve been training all of them to be ready for big moments and it was an amazing moment for Cooper (Ball, coming in for an injured Robinson) to be able to come in for us.

“We just had to know we couldn’t be outside of ourselves. Where we fell short in the past was trying to be more instead of focusing on what our role is and what our job is.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.

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