Author: Reporter

States that declared themselves refuges for transgender people have essentially issued an invitation: Get your gender-affirming health care here without fearing prosecution at home. Now that bans on such care for minors are taking effect around the country, patients and their families are testing clinics’ capacity. Already-long waiting lists are growing, yet there are only so many providers of gender-affirming care and only so many patients they can see in a day. For those refuge states — so far, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Washington and Vermont, plus Washington, D.C. —...

The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly passed a nearly $3 billion income tax cut proposal on September 12, despite promises from Democratic Governor Tony Evers to veto it. The heavily gerrymandered Assembly passed it 64-35 with all Republicans in support and Democrats against. Republicans claimed the measure was designed to combat inflation and make more Wisconsin retirees stay in the state. Democrats echoed Governor Evers in saying they did not think the tax cut was sustainable and efforts should instead focus in other areas, like making child care more affordable and tax cuts more targeted to the middle class. Governor Evers...

When the Supreme Court issued its abortion ruling last June overturning Roe v. Wade, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said “our work is far from done.” He did not say what might come next. A year later later, McCarthy is the speaker, Republicans are in the majority and the blanks are beginning to be filled in. In a flurry of little-noticed legislative action, GOP lawmakers are pushing abortion policy changes, trying to build on the work of activists whose strategy successfully elevated their fight to the nation’s highest court. In one government funding bill after another, Republicans are incorporating...

Female soldiers face rampant sexism, harassment, and other gender-related challenges in male dominated Army special operations units, according to a report on September 4, eight years after the Pentagon opened all combat jobs to women. U.S. Army Special Operations Command, in a lengthy study, reported a wide range of “overtly sexist” comments from male soldiers, including a broad aversion to females serving in commando units. The comments, it said, are “not outliers” but represent a common sentiment that women don’t belong on special operations teams. “The idea that women are equally as physically, mentally and emotionally capable to perform...

President Joe Biden closed a visit to Vietnam on September 11 by spotlighting new business deals and partnerships between the two countries and paying respects at a memorial honoring his late friend and colleague Senator John McCain, who endured a lengthy imprisonment in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. Biden met with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, who also accompanied Biden to a quick drop by at a meeting of business leaders. Biden also sat down with President Võ Văn Thưởng, who hosted the U.S. president for a formal state luncheon. The two sides are looking to strengthen their partnership...