Page 7390 – 105.7 WDNY

‘X’ gender marker soon available on passports as part of push for inclusivity

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday that starting April 11 people applying for U.S. passports will be able to select “X” to mark their gender in a move designed to accommodate nonbinary, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals.

“The Department of State has reached another milestone in our work to better serve all U.S. citizens, regardless of their gender identity,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement released on Thursday, which marks Transgender Day of Visibility.

Blinken first announced the State Department’s intention to make this change in June and said that the option to select “X” for gender will also become available on other documentation in the coming year.

The White House introduced additional changes to travel-related policies, including replacing the Transportation Security Administration’s “gender-based system” with new and more precise technology aimed at reducing pat-downs and unnecessary additional screenings.

The Department of Homeland Security is also in the process of adding “X” gender markers to the systems to facilitate the check-in process for gender non-conforming travelers, the White House said.

“These updates to passports and TSA policy will make it safer for transgender, nonbinary, and intersex members of our community to travel and to walk through everyday life,” said the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation known as GLAAD in a statement on Thursday. “Everyone deserves the right to have identity documents that reflect who they are, and to go through airport security without harassment and public humiliation.”

The changes to the travel experience are part of a series of new policies and actions announced by the Biden White House on Thursday that address discrimination against transgender individuals and come as Republican lawmakers push a wave of transgender and LGBTQ legislation across the country that many see as discriminatory.

Most recently, Oklahoma and Arizona became the latest states to impose transgender sports bans. Similar legislation has been introduced in more than 30 states. On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law. The legislation, which is dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by LGBTQ activists, limits what classrooms can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity. Meanwhile, various states have introduced legislation banning and/or criminalizing gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The White House condemned anti-LGBTQ legislation and vowed to fight against it at the state level.

“The evidence is clear that these types of bills stigmatize and worsen the well-being and mental health of transgender kids, and they put loving and supportive families across the country at risk of discrimination and harassment,” the White House said. “As the President has said, these bills are government overreach at its worst, they are un-American, and they must stop.”

The White House vowed to provide additional mental health resources and investments in education for LGBTQ youth, their families and their support networks, as well as enhance federal services and benefits for the community.

“To everyone celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility, I want you to know that your President sees you. The First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Gentleman, and my entire Administration see you for who you are — made in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect, and support,” President Joe Biden said in a statement on Thursday.

“We’re committed to advancing transgender equality in the classroom, on the playing field, at work, in our military, and our housing and healthcare systems – everywhere, simply everywhere,” the statement said.

Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider, the first openly transgender individual to compete on the show, visited the White House for the Transgender Day of Visibility to meet with second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

Schneider, who won a historic 40-game streak, told ABC News she hopes that her visit would advance visibility for the transgender community.

“I think just the same thing that I have been accomplishing, which is being a trans person out there that isn’t monstrous, that isn’t threatening, and is just a normal person like we all are. So the more people like me can be seen, the harder it is to sustain the myths that are driving a lot [of] this hate and fear,” she said.

Many civil rights groups advocating for LGBTQ rights welcomed the changes announced by the White House.

“Today’s actions prove that transgender people have an ally in the White House, and come at a much needed time when transgender people – particularly young people – are under attack in statehouses across the country,” the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement on Thursday.

The National Center for Transgender Equality said in a statement that at a time when “transgender people are being attacked and targeted by state and local politicians,” the White House’s new policies show the community “that the president of the United States has their back.”

ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Conor Finnegan, Robert Zepeda and Luke Barr contributed to this report.

California county officials frustrated with pace of efforts to investigate Turpin case as probe continues

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif.) — Top officials in California’s Riverside County said this week that they continue to be frustrated in their efforts to find out why social services systems have “harmed” some of the 13 Turpin children who were rescued in 2018 from captivity and torture at the hands of their parents.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors had vowed to fix the system that broke down for some of the 13 Turpin siblings, but said this week that the process has been bogged down by a tangle of court-mandated confidentiality rules and other state laws that prevent information-sharing.

“We’re trying to do what we can do because we all take this very serious,” county Supervisor Karen Spiegel said Tuesday of the ongoing investigation into revelations first reported in 2021 by ABC News that many of the Turpin children were not given access to many of services and resources they were guaranteed by the system. “There are things that our hands are totally tied on.”

The 13 siblings were rescued in January 2018 from their home in Perris, California, where their parents had subjected them to brutal violence and deprived them of food, sleep, hygiene, education, and health care.

In 2021, Jennifer and Jordan Turpin spoke to ABC News’ Diane Sawyer for the first time about the challenges and hardships they and their siblings have faced in the years since sheriff’s deputies rescued them from a life of home imprisonment.

An ABC News investigation found that some of the Turpin children continue to face challenges and hardships since they were rescued, and some of them had even faced danger again.

In the wake of ABC News’ 20/20 report, Riverside County hired an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation into the county’s care of the Turpin children. The firm, headed by retired federal Judge Stephen Larson, was due to deliver its finding this week on March 31. But on Tuesday his team announced the findings would be delayed by two months as investigators continue to press for access to “vital” court and county records that underpin the Turpin cases.

“These records are vital to ensure that … the final report comprehensively addresses each area of inquiry,” Hillary Potashner, a partner at Larson LLP helping lead the investigation, told the board on Tuesday. “The process to require the records nonetheless remains slow moving.”

In the meantime, Potashner reported to the Board that the team has already reviewed more than 2,600 documents and conducted over 85 interviews — including with two of the Turpin siblings and two staffers with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. District Attorney Mike Hestrin went public with his concerns that the county had “failed” the Turpin siblings in the ABC broadcast.

Also interviewed by the outside investigators were 11 members of the Riverside County Public Guardian’s Office, which was responsible for helping the seven oldest Turpin children obtain critical medical, educational and life-skill resources after their parents were arrested.

Still, the supervisors expressed frustration that other aspects of state and federal law have blocked them — as well as other county departments — from sharing information with each other, which has led to what Riverside County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries said was a “disconnected — and I’m being generous — a disconnected level of service to our children.”

“It is the most frustrating experience in my time I’ve had on the Board of Supervisors,” Jeffries said, “to be told you’re responsible as an elected official to make sure all these things run smoothly and you have the right people in place, but you can’t ask any questions about how they do their job, or how effective they are, or the problems they face.”

Last week, a separate Board of Supervisors committee that was formed in the wake of the ABC News report found that “more must be done” to improve care and services to the vulnerable for which they are responsible, including the Turpin siblings.

“Although much work is already in process to continue to improve on our delivery of services to children and adults, leaders recognize that more must be done,” according to a five-page report issued Friday.

Among the changes the supervisors are eyeing, according to the report, is a change to the “legislative hurdle that prevents departments from sharing information.” The report said the committee is pushing to change state law to “allow for the disclosing of information between county adult protective agencies and county child welfare agencies.”

Additionally, the report said the county has created a new “multi-department, multi-disciplinary team” to oversee the care of the 13 Turpin children — one of the first reforms since the probe was enacted.

Pence releases policy agenda for Republican Party, paving way for 2024 candidacy

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday a multi-pronged policy agenda for the Republican Party, the latest in a series of indicators he’s planning to mount a run for the presidency in 2024.

Pence sees his “Freedom Agenda” as “focused on the future” and said it “offers a clear and compelling choice to the American people,” according to a statement on his political advocacy group’s website.

While he didn’t say it outright, the timing suggests the choice he’s referring to is between far-right conservative grievances over the 2020 election championed by former President Donald Trump and Pence’s nod toward the future.

In a speech earlier this year, Pence forcibly broke from Trump, saying it was “wrong” for the former president to have pushed him to reject Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden. The pair have publicly grown apart since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol at which Trump supporters called for Pence’s head, forcing him to hide in a secure location.

During a call with a handful of news outlets prior to the plan’s release, Pence subtly highlighted the contrast with Trump.

“Elections are about the future, and frankly the opposition would love nothing more for conservatives to talk about the past or to talk of the mess they’ve made of the president,” Pence told reporters, according to Politico. “And I think by relentlessly focusing on the future we can stop the radical left, we can turn this country around, we can win the Congress and statehouses back in 2022, and we can win back America in 2024 and beyond.”

Pence’s plan is organized into three pillars — American opportunity, American leadership and American culture — that strike largely at conservative cultural issues that helped rising stars like Virginia’s Glenn Youngkin flip blue states red. Some of those agenda items include promoting “patriotic” education, a clear reference to critical-race-theory rhetoric in the classroom, which many Republicans oppose; protecting individuals from being “censored”; “protecting female athletic competition” by barring transgender women from playing in certain sporting events; honoring “God-given worth” by ending taxpayer funded abortion and abolishing Planned Parenthood.

Pence’s plan calls for a version of election reform but doesn’t mention the fallacy pushed by Trump and his allies that the 2020 election was “stolen.” Nevertheless, Pence’s agenda pushes for a voting system in which identification is required, in-person voting is preferred and encouraged and mail-in voting is “rare.”

The Pence agenda also includes anti-Russian sentiments as the invasion of Ukraine barrels on, saying Putin “undermines freedom and democracy at home and abroad” while calling for the creation of private-sector led energy production centered around the export of American-produced natural gas that would cut Europe’s dependency on Russian oil.

According to Pence’s political group’s website, the former vice president collaborated with several dozen prominent conservatives to create his plan, including former administration officials Kellyanne Conway, Betsy DeVos, and David Bernhardt. One notable contributor is outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a frequent target of Trump’s harsh criticism, who drew ire from the former president for distancing himself from the Arizona audit of the 2020 election — another indicator of the daylight between Trump and Pence.

Pence is now one of two high-profile Republicans who have released formalized policy proposals for the GOP as the party attempts to secure the advantage in the upcoming midterm elections. Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, announced his controversial 11-point plan in February. Other rumored GOP 2024 candidates, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ariz., have made public their priorities for the midterms and beyond.

Pence’s advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, rolled out his plan with a video narrated by Pence, which closely resembles a campaign tease, Thursday morning.

“Our best days are yet to come,” said Pence, “for renewing American culture, American opportunity, and American leadership, for a more perfect union for the people.”

DOJ charges 9 anti-abortion protesters, police say 5 fetuses found in one’s home

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has charged nine anti-abortion protesters with conspiring to obstruct access to a women’s reproductive health facility in Washington, D.C., in October 2020, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday afternoon.

Prosecutors say Lauren Handy, Jonathan Darnel, Jay Smith, Paula Harlow, Jean Marshall, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman and Joan Bell all invaded the unnamed health facility on Oct. 22, 2020, and created a blockade to prevent patients from receiving abortions and other reproductive health services.

All have been charged with two counts of engaging in a conspiracy against individuals’ civil rights and clinic access obstruction. If convicted, they could each face a maximum of 11 years in prison. Attorneys for each defendant were not listed on their court docket as of Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police Department raided a home — where Handy, a prominent anti-abortion activist who has previously faced state charges for carrying out a similar clinic protest in Michigan, lives, she told WUSA. The charges in Michigan were dropped after a lack of evidence.

Police said they were acting on a tip that biohazardous material was at the house.

The department said officers found five fetuses at the home. “Upon further investigation, MPD located five fetuses inside a residence at the location,” MPD said in a statement. “The fetuses were collected by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.”

Handy told WUSA she expected the raid to “happen sooner or later.”

According to the indictment, all the individuals traveled to D.C. to participate in the blockade under direction from Handy. The group calls itself Red Rose Rescue; during their demonstrations at clinics, they commonly hand out red roses to women in clinic waiting rooms.

Handy allegedly called the clinic days before their protest, telling them she was a woman named Hazel Jenkins who needed care and made an appointment for the morning of Oct. 22, according to the indictment.

While in the D.C. clinic, prosecutors say the demonstrators blocked two doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and rope while broadcasting their actions live on Facebook.

Darnel began the livestream by saying, “We have people intervening physically with their bodies to prevent women from entering the clinic to murder their children,” the indictment states.

Planned Parenthood sues Idaho over abortion ban

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BOISE, Idaho) — Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit Wednesday that seeks to reverse Idaho’s new abortion law.

The law bans abortions once cardiac activity in a fetus is detected, which happens at approximately six weeks of pregnancy. Many women are unaware at six weeks that they are pregnant.

The suit was filed in Idaho’s Supreme Court on behalf of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky and Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, a health care provider who performs abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics, according to court documents.

The bill, set to go into effect on April 22, was signed by the governor last week, making Idaho the first state to model legislation after Texas’ abortion ban.

“It should be clear to everyone that the Idaho state legislature intentionally abandoned the ordinary rule of law when they passed this six-week abortion ban. Then the governor joined their effort to deny his constituents their constitutional rights when he signed the abortion ban into law — despite his own acknowledgement that it was wrong,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a press release.

The law would also allow the father, grandparents, siblings, uncles or aunts of the fetus to sue a medical provider that performs the procedure and collect a reward of at least $20,000 for a successful claim filed within four years of an abortion, according to Planned Parenthood.

The law’s “enforcement mechanism and substance are blatantly unconstitutional, so much so that Idaho’s Attorney General’s Office released an opinion to this effect, and the Governor emphasized similar concerns upon signing,” the lawsuit states.

In a letter to Janice McGeachin, the lieutenant governor and president of the state’s senate, Idaho Gov. Brad Little criticized the bill, saying, “I stand in solidarity with all Idahoans who seek to protect the lives of preborn babies.”

He then added, “While I support the pro-life policy in this legislation, I fear the novel civil enforcement mechanism will in short order be proven both unconstitutional and unwise.”

Planned Parenthood is asking the court to rule that the bill is “unlawful and unenforceable” and forbid Idaho courts from implementing civil cases as the bill allows.

Without intervention from the court, the law would go into effect, “wreaking havoc on this State’s constitutional norms and the lives of its citizens,” according to the lawsuit.

“The abortion ban blatantly undermines patients’ right to privacy. It also improperly and illegally delegates law enforcement to private citizens, violating the separation of powers and allowing plaintiffs without injury to sue, in violation of the Idaho Constitution,” Planned Parenthood said.

Added Rebecca Gibron, the interim CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky: “This law is a cruel overreach by politicians so intent on controlling the lives of their constituents that they’re willing to compromise our constitutional rights and compromise our health and safety, all in order to ban abortion.”

The lawsuit requests emergency relief by April 21 to prevent the implementation of the abortion ban before it becomes law.

“Unless this abortion ban is stopped, Idahoans will watch in real time as their government strips them of the very rights they were sworn to protect. Everyone deserves to make their own decisions about their bodies, families, and lives — and we’re going to keep fighting to make sure that is a reality,” McGill Johnson said.

ABBA releasing box sets, picture-disc collections to celebrate opening of virtual concert experience in London

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

ABBA Voyage, the concert experience featuring digital avatars of the Swedish pop icons’ four members, is set to open in London on May 27, and in celebration of the premiere, ABBA has announced plans to release a number of special audio collections.

Coinciding with the show’s premiere, career-encompassing 10-disc box sets featuring all nine ABBA studio albums, including 2021’s reunion project, Voyage, as well as a bonus disc of tracks that originally were only issued as singles, will be released May 27 on CD and vinyl.

Both collections — CD Album Box Set and Vinyl Album Box Set — feature the band’s classic eight original albums, spanning from 1973’s Ring Ring through 1981’s The Visitors, the aforementioned Voyage and the singles compilation, which is titled ABBA Tracks. The CD box set also comes with a 40-page booklet features information about the albums and a variety of photos. The LP set features discs pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

ABBA also will be releasing a limited-edition bundle featuring picture-disc versions of all of their studio albums on June 10. The collection will be available as a discounted eight-LP bundle featuring the group’s first eight albums and as a nine-disc set that adds a picture of Voyage. The picture discs also will be available for purchase individually.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a new series of lyric videos was launched at ABBA’s YouTube channel that will eventually see clips for all of the songs from group’s classic ABBA Gold compilation premiering over the next 12 months. The first video, “Chiquitita,” debuted on March 18, while the second, “Waterloo,” premieres April 6.

The ABBA Voyage show will take place at the specially built ABBA Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Visit ABBAVoyage.com for full details.

Kentucky, Arizona move forward on 15-week abortion bans

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Arizona and Kentucky are moving forward on 15-week abortion bans before a Supreme Court decision in June could decide the fate of the procedure in the United States.

In Arizona, Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill into law Wednesday after it passed the Arizona legislature last week without a single Democrat vote.

The Arizona legislation only includes exemptions for medical emergencies when continuing with the pregnancy would “create serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” for the mother.

It does not include any exemptions for rape or incest.

“In Arizona, we know there is immeasurable value in every life — including preborn life,” Ducey, a Republican, wrote in a letter announcing the signing of the bill. “I believe it is each state’s responsibility to protect them.”

Ducey has been very vocal about his opposition to abortion and he has signed every piece of anti-abortion legislation that has crossed his desk since he took office in 2015.

“This bill stigmatizes and shames our patients who are making choices about their bodies and their lives,” Brittany Fonteno, president of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, told ABC News. “We know this is just a political move to strip people of their rights. It’s not based on any medical evidence and politicians should not play doctors.”

Under the legislation, women cannot be prosecuted for having an abortion, but doctors who perform abortions after 15 weeks would face felony charges and could see their medical licenses suspended or revoked.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky state legislature passed a similar ban Tuesday as well as other abortion restrictions.

Under what is known as HB3, any drugs used for a medication abortion — a nonsurgical procedure typically used up to 10 weeks in pregnancy — must be provided by a physician licensed to practice medicine and in good standing with Kentucky.

An in-person examination needs to be had at least 24 hours prior, during which women are informed about any risks. The drugs cannot be sent through the mail.

Abortion advocates say this will prevent many women, particularly low-income, from accessing abortion if they have to go to a clinic to receive it.

“Those with the means will always be able to access abortions; they can afford the planes, the hotel rooms,” Tamarra Wieder, state director of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates – Kentucky, told ABC News. “But those who are poor, live in rural communities, so far away from care, already are going to be further disenfranchised. It’s a massive burden for those who have time off work or school, find child care and make sure they can afford gas.”

Additionally, the bill requires the names of physicians who provide medication abortions to be published and a state-run “complaint portal” will be set up so people can anonymously report abortion providers who are violating the program.

Meg Stern, director of the abortion support fund for Kentucky Health Justice Network, an advocacy group, said this could lead to complaints filed by people who have personal vendettas against abortion providers.

She added that she has experienced harassment herself as a volunteer clinic escort at EMW Women’s Surgical Center, one of only two abortion providers in Kentucky.

“I’ve been physically assaulted, I’ve been followed, I’ve had my picture published on social media, I’ve had my address published — and I’m just a volunteer escort and an abortion funder,” Stern said. “I’m not giving people medicine, I’m not doing abortions, but I’m accessible, so what do we think will happen to the providers? It’s creating a headhunter type of situation.”

Wieder agreed, calling it “a hit list” that could put abortion providers in harm’s way.

Several other states, including Texas and Idaho, have passed abortion bans.

Currently, it is unconstitutional to pass abortion bans before a fetus is viable – anywhere from 22 to 26 weeks. The states are hoping the Supreme Court will change this.

In June, the court will review a 15-week ban in Mississippi and whether or not it is constitutional. If the court determines the bill is constitutional, this could mean Roe v. Wade is either overturned or fundamentally weakened.

“My personal opinion is that Kentucky lawmakers are confident SCOTUS will gut, if not destroy, Roe v. Wade,” Stern said. “And they’re counting on, even if doesn’t happen, Texas has showed a way to ban abortions despite Roe.”

Lizzo introduces Yitty, a new body-positive shapewear line

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Lizzo is known for making fans feel “Good as Hell” with her music, and now she is doing the same with an upcoming shapewear line called Yitty.

“This is a dream 5 years in the making” the Grammy Award-winning superstar wrote on Instagram about her newest venture, which is slated to launch on April 12.

In partnership with Fabletics, the “no-shame, smile-inducing shapewear” is designed for all body types and will include undergarments ranging in size from XS to 6X.

“I was tired of seeing this sad, restrictive shapewear that literally no one wanted to wear,” Lizzo said in a statement. “I had an epiphany like, ‘Who can actually do something about this?’ I decided to take on the challenge of allowing women to feel unapologetically good about themselves again.”

Regarding her own journey as a body-positive advocate, Lizzo said she felt she was always told, through social constructs, that her body wasn’t good enough.

“And, in order to be considered ‘acceptable’ I had to inflict some sort of pain upon it to fit into an archetype of beauty,” she said. “Because of this, I’ve been wearing shapewear for a long time, maybe since I was in fifth or sixth grade.”

The collection will include three different drops, including Nearly Naked, which is a lightweight seamless collection designed to comfortably shape and firm your natural curves; Mesh Me, which will include smoothing mesh styles that can be worn as underwear or outerwear; and Major Label, which will be an assortment of everyday lifestyle pieces that are super soft.

Additionally, everything included in the lineup has a musical spin with vibrant names such as Tempo Lavender and Headliner.

Yitty, which is named after Lizzo’s childhood nickname, comes on the heels of another dream fulfilled for Lizzo. The star says she was “crying in an ice bath” on the day her body-positive dance reality show “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” premiered.

“Instead of thinking about size in this linear way, we’re thinking about it on a spectrum where everyone is included,” Lizzo said. “Everyone’s size is just their size. It’s not high, it’s not low. It’s not big, it’s not small. It’s just your size.”

Lawsuit filed against Florida’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law within days of signing

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A lawsuit has been filed against the State of Florida over the newly signed Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by critics, just three days after it was signed.

“Through H.B. 1557, Florida would deny to an entire generation that LGBTQ people exist and have equal dignity,” the complaint reads. “This effort to control young minds through state censorship — and to demean LGBTQ lives by denying their reality — is a grave abuse of power.”

The complaint was filed in a Tallahassee court Thursday by LGBTQ rights organizations Equality Florida, Family Equality and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, as well as several Florida families.

The complaint alleges that the law violates the constitutionally protected rights of free speech, equal protection and due process of students and families.

“We made a promise to defend the rights of all students to have a healthy environment to learn and thrive and for all parents to know their families are included,” Equality Florida said in a statement.

The law will ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade or instruction on those topics “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the legislation, HB 1557.

Under this law, parents can also decline any mental, emotional and physical health services available to their children at school.

Schools will be required to notify parents of their child’s use of school health services unless there is reason to believe “that disclosure would subject the student to abuse, abandonment or neglect.”

Parents could sue their school district if they believe there is a violation of any of these requirements or restrictions.

“This lawsuit is a political Hail-Mary to undermine parental rights in Florida,” a spokesperson from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office told ABC News. “This calculated, politically motivated, virtue-signaling lawsuit is meritless, and we will defend the legality of parents to protect their young children from sexual content in Florida public schools.”

His office slammed the lawsuit, stating that the complaint claims are “erroneous.”

“This law does not chill speech — instead it returns speech on these topics to the parents,” the office said. “The law does not prohibit teachers from having opinions, lifestyles or advocacy in their personal right on their own time, and this law does not prohibit teachers from responding to student questions.”

The Sarasota School District and school board declined to comment. The other defendants in the case did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

Several families with LGBTQ students are listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

“My school has been a safe environment where I have been able to express my identity,” said Zander Moricz, an 18-year-old high school senior and plaintiff. “I would not have been able to learn and thrive without that support. My teachers have already told me that they will no longer be able to have some of the classroom discussions that helped me feel accepted in school.”

One parent expressed concern for her transgender daughter.

“I am frightened that this new law will prevent my daughter’s teachers from protecting her from bullying at school,” said Lindsay McClelland, mother of plaintiff Jane Doe, a transgender fifth-grader at a Florida public school. “All I want is for my daughter to be able to learn in a safe environment like any other student.”

Supporters of the bill argue that schools are indoctrinating students with ideas about sexual orientation and gender identity. They say parents deserve more input in the services children receive and the conversations children are having about those topics.

“I think the last couple years have really revealed to parents that they are being ignored increasingly across our country when it comes to their kids education,” DeSantis claimed at the signing.

He added, “We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination.”

The bill is expected to go into effect July 1.

Biden blasts US oil companies in announcing plan to combat gas prices

March 31, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Attempting to combat what’s he’s labeled “Putin’s price hike,” President Joe Biden announced a plan on Thursday to release roughly 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve over the next six months to reduce energy and gas prices.

Biden told Americans “there is no firm answer” as to when gas prices will go down, but predicted they will go down “fairly significantly.”

“Today I want to talk about one aspect of Putin’s war that affects and has real effects on the American people: Putin’s price hike that Americans and our allies are feeling at the pump. I know how much it hurts,” Biden began. “As you’ve heard me say I grew up in a family, like many of you, where the price of gasoline was discussed at the kitchen table. None of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war.”

Biden blamed “two roots” for the high energy costs: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the lingering economic effects of COVID-19.

“When COVID struck, demand for oil plummeted, so production slowed down worldwide. Because of the strength and the speed of our recovery, demand for oil shot back up much faster than the supply. That’s why the cost of gas began to rise last year. The second root is Vladimir Putin,” he said.

Biden predicted Americans could pay “anything from 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon” less at the pump, setting up the national average would fall below $4 a gallon. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for Gas Buddy, pointed ABC News to a tweet in which he raised some skepticism.

“I do believe the national average could eventually fall under $4/gal in the weeks ahead, but I don’t necessarily think this SPR release is the event that will be the primary catalyst for it,” he said in a tweet Thursday. “If anything it could help get us there quicker, but again, likely at the expense of long term stability.”

Biden announced the major step during a scheduled event to discuss actions his administration is taking to rein in soaring energy prices that have spiked even further following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The action I’m calling for will make a real difference over time, but the truth is, it takes months, not days, for companies to increase production. That’s why the next part of my plan is so important,” he said. “Today I’m authorizing the release of 1 million barrels per day over the next six months.”

He said the release was coordinated with allies and partners around the world.

Speaking directly to oil company executives, Biden told them “enough of lavishing excessive profits” and passing on the cost of oil to consumers, adding that they have “everything they need” and “nothing is standing in their way” to boost production.

“They don’t want to increase supply because Putin’s price hike means higher profits,” Biden said.

He went on to propose a “use it or lose it” policy, calling on Congress to create legislation to tax companies if they’re sitting on idle wells and lands that aren’t producing for Americans.

“No company should take advantage of a pandemic or Vladimir Putin at the expense of American families,” Biden said. “Production and innovation, that’s what they should do.”

“Invest in your customers,” he added, noting that it’s not only “the patriotic thing” but “it’s good for your business as well.”

Senior administration officials also acknowledged relief at the pump may be delayed.

“We’re not focused right now on sort of the immediate short-term price movements,” an official said on a call with reporters earlier Thursday, adding that the focus is on addressing the gap in supply as Russian oil comes off the market.

The first barrels from the announcement are set to come to the market in May for delivery that month. Officials said all the funds from the sale of the oil will go to restocking the reserves.

“We expect that to occur once the oil price has come down, we are no longer in an emergency,” an official told reporters.

About 3 million barrels a day of Russian oil will come off the market in April due to Western sanctions, according to the International Energy Agency, and this plan could help alleviate pain at the pump by helping to replace that loss.

This would be the third time Biden has had to tap into the strategic petroleum reserve. In November, he authorized the release of 50 million barrels as gas prices surged ahead of the holidays, and along with 30 other countries, the U.S. released 30 million barrels following the start of the war in Ukraine, though that did little to ease skyrocketing prices.

As of Friday, there were more than 568 million barrels of oil in the reserve, according to the Department of Energy.

Given the complexity and volatility of the oil market, many geopolitical and economic factors feed into oil prices and there is no guarantee this release will keep prices down for an extended period of time.

Overnight, crude oil prices were down roughly 5% in reaction to Biden’s expected announcement, which means the price at the gas pump could also dip in the coming days.

The current national average for a gallon of gas is $4.23, according to AAA, $1.35 higher than this time last year.

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