Nevada
Nevada cancels volleyball match with San Jose State after clashing with own players over transgender controversy
The University of Nevada, Reno officially announced on Friday that its women’s volleyball team will forfeit its game against San Jose State on Saturday.
Nevada is the fifth team to forfeit its match against San Jose State amid an ongoing national controversy over a transgender player, Blaire Fleming, on the team and another player engaged in a lawsuit over never being told that player was a biological male, according to the lawsuit.
Nevada cited not having enough players to compete in the match for forfeiting after its players expressed a desire and intention not to compete against San Jose State.
“Due to not having enough players to compete, the University of Nevada women’s volleyball team will not play its scheduled Mountain West Conference match at San José State on Saturday, Oct. 26. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the match will be recorded as a conference loss for Nevada,” Nevada announced in a statement early on Friday morning.
San Jose State responded to the forfeit in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and they are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students while they pursue their earned opportunities to compete,” the statement read.
Nevada players, including team captain Sia Liillii, spoke out against the notion of competing against a transgender player in the weeks leading up to the cancelation after voting to forfeit it on Oct. 14. The players even went so far as to schedule a press conference alongside OutKick contributor and women’s athlete activist Riley Gaines to go on at the same time as the game on Saturday.
“We were pretty upset after that statement came out from our university,” Liilii told Yahoo Sports. “It just hit us that we needed to talk about what we wanted to do as a group, make a decision and stand by it.”
However, Nevada would not officially forfeit the game until Friday morning, citing state law.
“The vast majority of our team decided this is something we wanted to take a stand on,” Liilii told the website. “We didn’t want to play against a male player.
“In all of our team meetings it just kept coming back to the fact that men do not belong in women’s sports. If you’re born a biological male, you don’t belong in women’s sports. It’s not even about this individual athlete. It’s about fair competition and safety for everyone.”
The Nevada state constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections. Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a Democrat from North Las Vegas who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law has helped transgender people maintain their identity.
“The university made the decision not to declare a forfeiture and move forward with hosting the match as scheduled based on several factors. As a public university, the university is legally prohibited by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations to declare a forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression,” a Nevada spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.
On Tuesday, both Nevada and San Jose State announced that the match would be moved from Nevada’s campus in Reno to San Jose State’s campus in the Bay Area in California, claiming the location change was “in the best interest of both programs and the well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators.”
San Jose State would have needed to be at the site of the match, however, in order to receive a forfeit victory if no Nevada players end up playing. By moving the site of the match to the San Jose State campus, then the Spartan players would not have to make the trip to Nevada in order to secure the forfeit victory. So, by making this change, San Jose State will get to claim a forfeited victory if no Nevada players choose to play, without leaving their home state.
Now that the match has been officially forfeited, no one will have to do any traveling.
Nevada joins Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, which all have officially forfeited their scheduled games against San Jose State.
San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit headed by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA due to its policies on gender identity. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims that she has had to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with her teammate Fleming without having ever been told that Fleming was a biological male.
Security concerns and threats against San Jose State players have made traveling for matches a high-risk endeavor for the lady Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection had been assigned to the team, shortly after getting the first news of an opponent forfeiting, when Southern Utah announced that it would not play its match against the Spartans in September.
“One of my teammates got a DM, basically saying that she, and then my team, needed to keep my distance from me on gameday against Colorado State, because it wasn’t going to be a good situation for me to be in and that my team needed to keep their distance,” Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “They needed to keep their distance from me during the game, because something was going to happen to me.
“This was the first physical threat when we could easily see that they wanted to physically harm one of us.”
In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex.
Sixty-five percent answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.
The United Nations released study findings that say nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of the podium because they were beaten out by transgender athletes.
The study, titled “Violence against women and girls in sports,” said that more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling over 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males,” the report said.
Former President Donald Trump has gone so far as to advocate for a ban, in a recent town hall event on Fox News.
“We’re not going to let it happen,” Trump said of the issue. “We stop it, we stop it, we absolutely stop it. We can’t have it.
“You just ban it. The president bans it. You don’t let it happen. It’s not a big deal.”
Nevada
Nevada DMV testing new “turbo title” system
CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO) – The Nevada DMV is unveiling a new online service in certain portion of the state.
Their new “turbo titles” launched at the Elko and Sahara Las Vegas DMV offices last Monday.
The Nevada DMV says the new system is designed to speed up the process of applying for new and duplicate titles faster for eligible residents of Nevada. Customers will be able to upload documents remotely through a DriveNV portal and fast pass their initial trip to the Nevada DMV office.
“The Nevada DMV processes about 285,000 standard titles a year,” stated Public Information Officer Paolo David. “Turbo Titles will speed up the titling process for our customers, which will provide greater convenience to our community.”
Those who are eligible to participate in this service are:
- Customers who have purchased or leased a vehicle from an out-of-state dealer or private party
- Customers who have received a vehicle from a private party or family member as a gift
- New residents to Nevada with an existing vehicle
- Customers in need of a duplicate Nevada title
“Our Turbo Titles release is very similar to our last release, Rapid Registration, which means it is the very first phase of this service,” said Public Information Officer Hailey Foster. “Customers will still need to make an appointment to pay and verify the title documentation they submitted.”
One payment is complete, customers will get the title via mail to the address provided.
If a lienholder is on the title, the lienholder will receive the paper or electronic title based on information supplied to the DMV.
Copyright 2025 KOLO. All rights reserved.
Nevada
'All the lads want to go': Wigan rookies push for Vegas selection
Wigan’s rookie brigade put their hands up for Vegas selection after the Warriors did what Allegiant Stadium rivals Warrington could not and registered a win in their opening pre-season clash.
“I’d love to go to Vegas – with the squad we’ve got over here at Wigan it’s a big fight for places,” said back rower George Hirst after Sunday’s 28-16 defeat of Oldham.
Wunderkind half Jack Farrimond pulled the strings and non-stop lock Harvie Hill seemed to take every second hit-up as coaches rewarded the players who’ve been back in training since last year while Australian-based stars and England internationals took a break.
Hirst returned to the club he helped win promotion to the Championship last year and impressed in Arctic conditions at Boundary Park. Another former Roughyed, Tyler Dupree, scored Wigan’s first try.
“It’s down to me really,” Hirst said. “Train well, play well. I’d love to go but it’s not my choice.
“All the lads want to go. We’ll find out closer to the time. There’ll be a few lads disappointed.”
One man who might sneak onto the plane is 18-year-old Taylor Kerr, who played alongside Farrimond in the halves but can also handle hooker and back row.
“It’s just a sign of a quality player,” said assistant coach Thomas Leuluai, a renowned utility in his 40 Test career for the Kiwis and 448 NRL and Super League appearances.
“They’re all in that squad for a reason. We’ve got good depth. The guys today, they haven’t done themselves any harm, have they?
“Who’s going to Vegas? I don’t know when he (head coach Matty Peet) is picking that, but the guys today have made a good account of themselves and should be happy.”
Super League rivals, Huddersfield and Salford, joined Warrington – beaten 36-22 by Widnes – in being toppled by Championship teams over the weekend.
“It’s good to be the only ones who won,” said Hirst.
Nevada
Missing pilot’s plane found near Mount Jefferson, authorities say
After weeks of searching, the plane of a pilot who went missing earlier this month was found near Mount Jefferson on Saturday.
Authorities had not been able to get more than a couple of miles away from the scene as of Sunday afternoon, and the condition of pilot Michael Martin, who was the only person onboard, remains unknown.
Nye County Director of Emergency Management Scott Lewis was just returning from the scene Sunday afternoon when he spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and said that there was “significant damage” to the aircraft.
“We just need to get the resources and get them up there as quickly as we can. It was very windy during our search just now, very treacherous area, very steep area. We have a lot of things to overcome, but we’re working on it,” Lewis said.
The elevated position made the scene unreachable by foot, and Lewis said the team needed to wait for helicopters to reach the scene.
Martin, an experienced, licensed pilot, took off from North Las Vegas Airport the morning of Jan. 2 without telling anyone. His location last showed him as near Mount Jefferson, about 50 miles from Tonopah. His family reported the 65-year-old pilot missing on Jan. 5.
Authorities searched hundreds of square miles for Martin but suspended search and rescue efforts Thursday after finding no physical evidence, Lewis said.
Local resources were still looking in the area, and late Saturday, a game warden using special glasses found the plane, Lewis said. The search team had already looked in the area, but the snow previously covering it had melted.
Mystery departure
The circumstances of Martin’s disappearance remain unclear. The day he went missing, he told the owner of the company where he works that he’d be taking an early lunch but would return by 12:30 p.m. for an important meeting, according to his daughter-in-law Kathleen Martin.
Martin, an aerospace engineer, is employed as president of Erickson International, a window film manufacturer in Las Vegas, according to his family and LinkedIn page. Erickson operations employee Don Gist previously said the two had discussed working on a project together that afternoon.
Martin’s plane took off at 10:51 a.m., but his flight transponder stopped transmitting at 11:15 a.m. At 12:06 p.m., Martin’s daughter-in-law said, his phone last pinged near Tonopah, and at 12:26 p.m., his iPad — which he used as a navigation aid — and his Apple Watch last showed him near Mount Jefferson, about 50 miles from Tonopah.
She said his family initially believed he’d had a stressful holiday season and was taking a one- or two-day break in a local hotel, but they reported him missing the evening of Jan. 5 because they couldn’t get in touch with him.
Martin did not appear to have established a flight plan, according to Lewis,
Cathy Martin, his wife of 40 years, previously told the Review-Journal that Michael Martin had left without explanation years ago for one or two days.
“We had a little tiff Wednesday night, but it wasn’t a huge one,” she said. “I just asked him a question and we discussed it and it was done. He wasn’t upset.”
If he survived a crash, he had the skills to take care of himself in the wilderness, his wife said.
A missing person report released by police indicates Martin might have been upset and carried a handgun in his work bag the morning he left.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ktfutts on X and @katiefutterman.bsky.social. Review-Journal staff writer Noble Brigham contributed to this report.
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