AUGUSTA, Maine — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told the Associated Press.
David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life over the years, and one shared a voicemail with the AP from last winter in which he told her that he thought someone should slit her throat.
Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to help carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.
DHS, which hasn’t released the name of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has said the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”
Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment. Three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.
When reached for comment about Brouillette’s record and his role in Monday’s shooting, ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement that “[w]e will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” and that “[t]he ICE officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training including use of force training.”
The White House referred all questions about the shooting and Brouillette to ICE.
A new career in ICE
Brouillette, 37, told his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette late last year that he had been hired by ICE. She said that because of his long history of psychiatric issues, she thought he was having a mental health episode and she didn’t believe him. She didn’t realize he’d been telling the truth until this week, when videos began circulating online of the moments surrounding the shooting.
Ashley Brouillette told the AP that she spoke to her ex-husband in a Facebook audio call, and he acknowledged that he had killed Durán Guerrero. Their 18-year-old daughter, Madison Brouillette, also told the AP that her father called her Wednesday and said that he shot and killed Durán Guerrero.
David and Ashley Brouillette were high school sweethearts who got married in 2007. She said she divorced him in 2009 because he had become physically violent with her, which began after she got pregnant with their daughter.
According to Ashley Brouillette, he once threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child — an incident her mother, Avis Collins, also recounted.
The abuse continued after she left him, she said.
David Brouillette doesn’t appear to have a criminal record in Maine, as a check with the Maine Department of Public Safety returned no records for him.
But hundreds of family court records obtained from the Augusta District Court clerk’s office detail years of allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.
The ex-wife — whom the AP is not identifying because she fears retaliation — alleged that he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.
“Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression,” she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter that a judge granted in 2021.
In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.
His oldest daughter, Madison Brouillette, said she also witnessed her dad’s volatility.
“I watched my dad struggle a lot with a lot of things,” she told the AP. She said she came home from school once and he told her he had been sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head.
“If you don’t really, truly take care of yourself, there’s no way you can protect other people. And with my dad, he never wanted to get help,” she said.
An immediate relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the condition that their name not be used said he was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder as a child — a diagnosis that Ashley Brouillette confirmed. The immediate relative described him as “extremely mentally ill” and said he attempted suicide twice at age 12 and was hospitalized multiple times.
The relative said they’d been estranged for years after they broke off contact because they feared he would harm them. He did not respond to their outreach this week, the relative added.
A military deployment and law enforcement aspirations
Growing up in Gardiner, a city of about 6,000 people roughly 60 miles northeast of Biddeford, where Monday’s shooting occurred, David Brouillette was enchanted by law enforcement and the military, his relatives said.
High school yearbook photos show he was a member of the school’s Naval Junior ROTC, and he wrote that he planned to go to college and become a police officer.
Brouillette was initially rejected by military recruiters because of his mental health diagnoses, but recruiters encouraged him to go off his medications for a year and reapply, which he did, his immediate relative said.
He was eventually able to enlist.
According to U.S. military records, Brouillette enlisted as a chemical equipment repairer in the Maine Army National Guard but then changed jobs to be a medical logistics specialist. He was in the Guard from November 2007 until January 2010, according to records provided by the Pentagon.
A 2009 article in the Kennebec Journal listed Brouillette as a private in the Maine Army National Guard’s 152nd Maintenance Company in Augusta.
In January 2010, he joined the regular Army as a human intelligence collector. Brouillette deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013 and eventually left the Army as a sergeant in December 2015.
His immediate relative believes Brouillette’s time abroad worsened his emotional struggles: “Afghanistan destroyed him — trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”
Life after the Army
After his discharge, Brouillette held a hodgepodge of jobs — some in or adjacent to law enforcement — and was injured in an accident while training to become a firefighter, public records and court documents show.
Brouillette worked for the Maine Correctional Center — a medium-security prison — and for the state’s Health and Human Services Department, spending less than a year at each.
In 2019, court documents show, he was a police officer at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center near the state capital, Augusta. A Veterans Affairs department spokesperson on Thursday referred questions about Brouillette’s employment to DHS.
But by the end of 2021, he wrote in a text message included in court filings, he was broke, going to school full time and making money delivering food for DoorDash.
Brouillette was enrolled in a firefighting program at Southern Maine Community College and was struck in the head by a steel beam while unloading a trailer at a training facility, according to a lawsuit he filed over his injury.
He sustained a concussion and post-concussive syndrome, with symptoms including impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches, vertigo and light sensitivity, and was unable to complete the program, according to the lawsuit, which was settled out of court.
In recent years, court filings show, he was collecting disability pay through the VA. He also drove a truck but quit in January 2025, citing health issues.
In March 2025, Brouillette passed an exam to become a real estate sales agent. His license was active until December. In a Facebook post, Realty of Maine announced Brouillette would be working in the firm’s Bangor office.
“David lives in Maine after retiring from the United States Army,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Brouillette is no longer listed as an agent on the firm’s website. Messages seeking comment were left for Realty of Maine.
In March, the Maine agency that handles child support matters filed a lien against him, public records show. The filing suggests that Brouillette may have been in line for a permanent impairment or disability settlement.
‘I don’t think he sees himself as a killer’
In late 2025, around the time he joined ICE, his ex-wife Ashley said he left a three-minute voicemail mocking her for taking out a restraining order against him. According to the message she shared with the AP, he repeatedly called her “disgusting” and suggested that she and the other women and girls in her “bloodline” should die.
“And all of you should have your f— throats cut,” the voicemail said. “Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your f— throats cuts? Or should have had them cut? Yep.”
She said she broke off contact with him until Wednesday, when his picture began circulating online.
Ashley Brouillette reached out to his current wife on Facebook and they spoke on the phone for several minutes. Her ex-husband spoke with her, according to cellphone screenshots of the phone exchange she shared with the AP. He acknowledged he had fatally shot Durán Guerrero.
“He was asking if I could tell them that he was a good person and not to talk about the abuse and stuff that I had endured while with him and he said that the most important thing is his character right now,” she said.
She said he told her he is now hiding in protective custody.
“I asked him why he did it,” she said. “He said it was a justified shooting. The guy was trying to run him over with a car.”
His daughter also said he told her it was justified.
“I don’t think he sees himself as a killer,” Madison Brouillette said.
“I think he thinks that he genuinely did the right thing,” she added. “All he said was that he did what he had to do. He said that he had to protect himself.”
Brook, Sisak, Swinhart and Galofaro write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report.
ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of terrifying, violent behavior, family and records say
AUGUSTA, Maine — The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told the Associated Press.
David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life over the years, and one shared a voicemail with the AP from last winter in which he told her that he thought someone should slit her throat.
Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly the Department of Homeland Security has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to help carry out President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since Trump launched the crackdown after retaking office, including 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a Colombian national who was shot and killed by Brouillette on Monday while in his car near his home in the coastal Maine city of Biddeford.
DHS, which hasn’t released the name of the officer who killed Durán Guerrero, has said the “vehicle attempted to flee the scene and, fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon.”
Brouillette didn’t respond to text messages or an email seeking comment. Three relatives who said they had spoken to him since the shooting, including an ex-wife and daughter, said he told them he acted in self-defense.
When reached for comment about Brouillette’s record and his role in Monday’s shooting, ICE spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement that “[w]e will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers,” and that “[t]he ICE officer in question has nearly a decade of federal law enforcement experience with required training including use of force training.”
The White House referred all questions about the shooting and Brouillette to ICE.
A new career in ICE
Brouillette, 37, told his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette late last year that he had been hired by ICE. She said that because of his long history of psychiatric issues, she thought he was having a mental health episode and she didn’t believe him. She didn’t realize he’d been telling the truth until this week, when videos began circulating online of the moments surrounding the shooting.
Ashley Brouillette told the AP that she spoke to her ex-husband in a Facebook audio call, and he acknowledged that he had killed Durán Guerrero. Their 18-year-old daughter, Madison Brouillette, also told the AP that her father called her Wednesday and said that he shot and killed Durán Guerrero.
David and Ashley Brouillette were high school sweethearts who got married in 2007. She said she divorced him in 2009 because he had become physically violent with her, which began after she got pregnant with their daughter.
According to Ashley Brouillette, he once threw boiling water at her while she was holding their child — an incident her mother, Avis Collins, also recounted.
The abuse continued after she left him, she said.
David Brouillette doesn’t appear to have a criminal record in Maine, as a check with the Maine Department of Public Safety returned no records for him.
But hundreds of family court records obtained from the Augusta District Court clerk’s office detail years of allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.
The ex-wife — whom the AP is not identifying because she fears retaliation — alleged that he had stalked and harassed her and physically and verbally abused his daughter, according to multiple requests for temporary protection orders. Brouillette tackled his teenage daughter and smashed spaghetti in her hair, and during another outburst, he dragged his daughter around the house as she cried, she said.
“Dave needs counseling or something for his PTSD & depression,” she wrote in an application for a temporary protective order on behalf of his teenage daughter that a judge granted in 2021.
In court filings, David Brouillette said that his second ex-wife had slandered him.
His oldest daughter, Madison Brouillette, said she also witnessed her dad’s volatility.
“I watched my dad struggle a lot with a lot of things,” she told the AP. She said she came home from school once and he told her he had been sitting on a tree stump with a gun to his head.
“If you don’t really, truly take care of yourself, there’s no way you can protect other people. And with my dad, he never wanted to get help,” she said.
An immediate relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the condition that their name not be used said he was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder as a child — a diagnosis that Ashley Brouillette confirmed. The immediate relative described him as “extremely mentally ill” and said he attempted suicide twice at age 12 and was hospitalized multiple times.
The relative said they’d been estranged for years after they broke off contact because they feared he would harm them. He did not respond to their outreach this week, the relative added.
A military deployment and law enforcement aspirations
Growing up in Gardiner, a city of about 6,000 people roughly 60 miles northeast of Biddeford, where Monday’s shooting occurred, David Brouillette was enchanted by law enforcement and the military, his relatives said.
High school yearbook photos show he was a member of the school’s Naval Junior ROTC, and he wrote that he planned to go to college and become a police officer.
Brouillette was initially rejected by military recruiters because of his mental health diagnoses, but recruiters encouraged him to go off his medications for a year and reapply, which he did, his immediate relative said.
He was eventually able to enlist.
According to U.S. military records, Brouillette enlisted as a chemical equipment repairer in the Maine Army National Guard but then changed jobs to be a medical logistics specialist. He was in the Guard from November 2007 until January 2010, according to records provided by the Pentagon.
A 2009 article in the Kennebec Journal listed Brouillette as a private in the Maine Army National Guard’s 152nd Maintenance Company in Augusta.
In January 2010, he joined the regular Army as a human intelligence collector. Brouillette deployed to Afghanistan from May 2012 to February 2013 and eventually left the Army as a sergeant in December 2015.
His immediate relative believes Brouillette’s time abroad worsened his emotional struggles: “Afghanistan destroyed him — trained him to be a killing monster, a machine. They took someone who was extremely mentally ill and turned him into a killing machine.”
Life after the Army
After his discharge, Brouillette held a hodgepodge of jobs — some in or adjacent to law enforcement — and was injured in an accident while training to become a firefighter, public records and court documents show.
Brouillette worked for the Maine Correctional Center — a medium-security prison — and for the state’s Health and Human Services Department, spending less than a year at each.
In 2019, court documents show, he was a police officer at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center near the state capital, Augusta. A Veterans Affairs department spokesperson on Thursday referred questions about Brouillette’s employment to DHS.
But by the end of 2021, he wrote in a text message included in court filings, he was broke, going to school full time and making money delivering food for DoorDash.
Brouillette was enrolled in a firefighting program at Southern Maine Community College and was struck in the head by a steel beam while unloading a trailer at a training facility, according to a lawsuit he filed over his injury.
He sustained a concussion and post-concussive syndrome, with symptoms including impaired memory, cognitive deficits, headaches, vertigo and light sensitivity, and was unable to complete the program, according to the lawsuit, which was settled out of court.
In recent years, court filings show, he was collecting disability pay through the VA. He also drove a truck but quit in January 2025, citing health issues.
In March 2025, Brouillette passed an exam to become a real estate sales agent. His license was active until December. In a Facebook post, Realty of Maine announced Brouillette would be working in the firm’s Bangor office.
“David lives in Maine after retiring from the United States Army,” said the post, which has since been deleted. Brouillette is no longer listed as an agent on the firm’s website. Messages seeking comment were left for Realty of Maine.
In March, the Maine agency that handles child support matters filed a lien against him, public records show. The filing suggests that Brouillette may have been in line for a permanent impairment or disability settlement.
‘I don’t think he sees himself as a killer’
In late 2025, around the time he joined ICE, his ex-wife Ashley said he left a three-minute voicemail mocking her for taking out a restraining order against him. According to the message she shared with the AP, he repeatedly called her “disgusting” and suggested that she and the other women and girls in her “bloodline” should die.
“And all of you should have your f— throats cut,” the voicemail said. “Yeah, you should. Am I threatening that I’m gonna do that? Nope. Nope. But do I think that you should have your f— throats cuts? Or should have had them cut? Yep.”
She said she broke off contact with him until Wednesday, when his picture began circulating online.
Ashley Brouillette reached out to his current wife on Facebook and they spoke on the phone for several minutes. Her ex-husband spoke with her, according to cellphone screenshots of the phone exchange she shared with the AP. He acknowledged he had fatally shot Durán Guerrero.
“He was asking if I could tell them that he was a good person and not to talk about the abuse and stuff that I had endured while with him and he said that the most important thing is his character right now,” she said.
She said he told her he is now hiding in protective custody.
“I asked him why he did it,” she said. “He said it was a justified shooting. The guy was trying to run him over with a car.”
His daughter also said he told her it was justified.
“I don’t think he sees himself as a killer,” Madison Brouillette said.
“I think he thinks that he genuinely did the right thing,” she added. “All he said was that he did what he had to do. He said that he had to protect himself.”
Brook, Sisak, Swinhart and Galofaro write for the Associated Press. AP reporter Will Weissert contributed to this report.
Source link
Pitbull breaks two world records at BST Hyde Park as 22,000 fans wear bald caps to emulate star at record-breaking show
PITBULL proved to the world what a smooth operator he is by getting together the biggest crowd of baldies.
He set a Guinness World Record at his Hyde Park gig when 22,141 fans put on bald caps — and then described the moment as “priceless”.
The London audience also turned out in white shirts and aviator sunglasses to emulate Mr Worldwide’s trademark look — and our Emily was one of them.
With the phenomenal demand for tickets, Pitbull also broke the record for the highest- recorded attendance for a BST Hyde Park show, with 69,999 fans.
Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter
Thank you!
Walking out on to the Great Oak Stage on Friday, he said: “It is hard for me to say I am speechless, but all I can think of right now is knowing what my family went through in order to be someone free.
“As an immigrant family out of Cuba, to be able to pursue my dream and be on a stage like this and represent with all the baldies around the world, this is priceless.
HOPE FOR BEST
Pals share how Dami Hope is getting last laugh over cheat ex Indiyah
‘UTTERLY FEARLESS’
Ex-Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan dies aged 68 after cancer battle
“There is no way I could say thank you, there are no words to say what I feel right now.”
Pitbull, real name Armando Christian Perez, was handed his certificate by Radio 1’s Greg James and presenter Jack Remmington backstage before the show.
He said: “To all the baldies — like I said before, without you all, there is no Pitbull, no movement, no revolution.”
Of setting the records, he said: “It is not a surprise because hard work pays off and the harder I work, the luckier I get. What a blessing it is to be here in Hyde Park.”
In true style, Pitbull swigged from a bottle of his $24 Voli 305 vodka made in his home city Miami, to get into the party mood.
He was joined on stage by Kesha who rose to fame after featuring on Pitbull’s 2013 track Timber.
She said: “This record changed both of our lives, Pit.”
Meanwhile, Pitbull got into the spirit of the World Cup as he played Oasis track Wonderwall to the thousands of baldies, after the track was adopted by Three Lions fans.
He said: “I thought, ‘What was the best way to represent you all?’. A good friend of mine said, ‘I think you should do this record’.”
During a two- hour set, Pitbull was also joined on stage by rapper Lil Jon for tracks Gasolina and Damn I Love Miami.
He ended the show with Time Of Our Lives featuring Ne-Yo, in which he raps: “Every day above ground is a great day.”
For his legion of fans, Friday July 10 in Hyde Park will be a night to remember.
PITBULL’S TEN COMMANDMENTS
JAMES’ RETURN TO UK
AMERICAN great James Taylor is returning to the UK for the first time in four years.
The You’ve Got a Friend singer, who has sold more than 100million records worldwide, will play London’s O2 with his All-Star band on Thursday, July 23.
James told last week that he was invited to Taylor and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York last week.
However, James was unable to attend because of his annual tradition of performing at Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts.
LIL JOHN: FAN LOVE LIKE MJ
US rapper Lil Jon has likened Pitbull’s fan following to that of Michael Jackson.
The bald caps reminded him of MJ devotees wearing the famous single glove.
Chatting to Biz on Sunday’s Emily backstage in Hyde Park, he said: “This is Michael Jackson-style stuff.
“I remember in the Eighties when people wanted the glove or the jacket.
“That is when you have transcended normal music and you have gone into pop culture, when people want to dress up like you.”
The rapper, real name Jonathan H. Smith, suffered a tragedy in February when his son Nathan, 27, was found dead in a pond.
Lil Jon revealed that he now wears a smoky quartz stone, said to provide emotional stability, around his neck as a tribute to his boy.
PETER’S KO’D BY TYSON
FATHER-of-the bride Tyson Fury proved a real knockout for Peter Andre.
The former world boxing champ went out of his way to put Pete at ease before he performed at daughter Venezuala’s recent wedding.
The Mysterious Girl singer said: “I chatted to Tyson for about an hour and he made me feel very welcome. I wasn’t just the performer.”
However, Peter enjoyed the gig so much that he is open to singing at more weddings.
He added: “It was such a happy occasion, I love weddings.”
Meanwhile, Peter is needed back on stage as he performs at Mamma Mia! The Party at The O2 in London. He will be playing Nikos until later this month.
Pete said: “It’s been amazing to vibe off the audience every night, and the set is incredible. It really feels like I’m in Greece. My kids have come to see me. I’m hoping they are getting more into Abba.”
TAKE IT FROM US, DEC 10
DECEMBER 10 have the backing of Take That.
Cruz, Hendrik, Sean, John, Josh, Danny and Nicolas performed at Capital’s Summertime Ball last month and had a letter from the boyband legends. John said: “We opened it together.”
Hendrik added: “They kept it short and sweet saying, ‘Good luck boys, enjoy it’.”
Niall Horan also offered support to the boys, who released their debut EP On Your Side on Friday.
Sean said: “He said he still gets nervous. To know someone like Niall is also bricking it is a good thing.”
IT is said Victoria Beckham lives off a diet of grilled fish and steamed vegetables, but the Spice Girl-turned-businesswoman has now trademarked a range of cookware in the States.
Could the fashionista be out to give Jamie Oliver a run for his money?
Posh has filed paperwork for a name against a range of food and drink items including shot glasses, cake tins, cookie jars and sandwich boxes.
I have heard she likes a tequila.
But don’t go binning your Le Creuset pans just yet, as a source close to her tells me: “Victoria is protecting her categories. Nothing imminent is in the works.”
The beauty of Zen
ODYSSEY goddess Zendaya is heading on an exciting journey of her own by going into the beauty business.
The actress – who plays Athena in Christopher Nolan’s new epic fantasy film – might even rival Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness brand Goop one day.
She has filed Zendaya trademarks in the UK and the States for beauty and hair products, as well as social media and website services. A source said:
“Zendaya is an incredible actress and now she is set to make waves in the beauty industry.”
The new venture comes as her husband, Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, has launched premium booze-free beer brand Bero.
Zendaya was ruffling feathers when she stepped out in this revealing Louis Vuitton frilly gown for the Odyssey movie premiere held in Paris this week.
And as power couples go, it certainly looks like Tom and Zendaya are the ones to watch.
OLIVIA ATTWOOD has her perfectly manicured fingers in so many pies, I’m struggling to keep up.
As well as her TV shows, podcast and various brand deals, the former Love Islander is now launching her own cocktail in a tin.
She hinted at the project earlier this year when she had the name of the drink tattooed on to her arm. Savano comes in three mixes – Hot Honey Margarita, Caipirinha and Moscow Mule – and is distributed by drinks firm Babco.
Olivia said the tipple is “a really exciting new chapter”, adding: “I’ve been teasing it for a little while so I can’t wait for everyone to finally try it.”
Source link
Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to release voter records sought by conservative activist
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an attempt by a conservative activist to obtain guardianship records in an effort to find ineligible voters in the presidential battleground state.
The case has been wending its way through the courts for years and stems from attempts by conservatives to overturn President Biden’s victory in Wisconsin over President Trump in 2020.
Here’s what to know:
A conservative activist brought the case
The case tested the line between protecting personal privacy rights and ensuring that ineligible people can’t vote.
Former travel executive Ron Heuer and a group he leads, the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, brought the lawsuit in 2022 alleging that the number of ineligible voters doesn’t match the count on Wisconsin’s voter registration list. The lawsuit doesn’t specify how many people could be affected.
In Wisconsin, a guardianship order is granted by a court giving a person certain legal rights over another who is determined to be unable to make decisions about their life. A court has the power to remove the right to vote from a person under a guardianship order if the person is determined to be unable to understand “the objective of the election process.”
Heuer asked the state Supreme Court to rule that counties must release records filed when a judge determines that someone isn’t competent to vote so that those names can be compared to the voter registration list.
Heuer’s attorney, Erick Kaardal, argued that privacy concerns could be balanced with the public’s right to access government records by redacting identifying or sensitive information on the forms.
But the attorney for Walworth County said those seeking access to the records wanted to cross-check ineligible voters against the names of those registered. They can’t do that, attorney Sam Hall said during oral arguments, without releasing the person’s name and address.
Hall praised the ruling, saying it “protects the privacy of vulnerable individuals while preserving their dignity.”
Kaardal did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, which advocates for public access to documents but did not take a position on this case, said the court’s decision was “narrowly tailored and should not have a huge impact.”
The council praised the court for clarifying the standard for deciding similar cases in the future, but that “it’s always disappointing when access to public information is curtailed.”
Signs supporting Judge Susan Crawford, and voting and election officials adorn the front yard of a home on South 16th Street on election day April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee.
(Kayla Wolf / Associated Press)
Liberal justices who control Wisconsin Supreme Court reject the case
In the 5-2 ruling on Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority along with conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn ruled that the records are not public as the conservative activist had claimed.
The court took the case after two lower state appeals courts issued divergent rulings. One appeals court, based in Madison, denied access to the records while another appeals court, based in Waukesha, said in 2023 that the records should be made public.
It ordered Walworth County to release them with birth dates and case numbers redacted.
The Supreme Court overturned the appeals court ruling that the records should be made public.
State law is clear that the records being sought are not public and “the Alliance has no right to the records,” Justice Janet Protasiewicz wrote for the majority.
Conservative justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley dissented, saying the court adopted “an overbroad and unworkable definition of what records pertain to a finding of incompetency” to include the forms that indicate a person has been found ineligible to vote.
Those forms are not pertinent to the finding of incompetency and are therefore subject to the open records law, Ziegler and Bradley wrote.
The case was one of several targeting the 2020 election
The case was an attempt by those who questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential race to cast doubt on the integrity of elections in the presidential swing state. Heuer and the WVA filed lawsuits in 13 Wisconsin counties in 2022 seeking guardianship records.
Heuer and the WVA have pushed conspiracy theories about the 2020 election in a failed attempt to overturn Biden’s win in Wisconsin. Heuer was hired as an investigator in the discredited 2020 election probe led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. The probe found no evidence of fraud or abuse that would have changed the election results.
The WVA also filed two unsuccessful lawsuits that sought to overturn Biden’s win in Wisconsin.
Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 after losing in 2020
Biden defeated Trump by nearly 21,000 votes in Wisconsin in 2020, a result that has withstood independent and partisan audits and reviews, as well as lawsuits and the recounts Trump requested. Trump won Wisconsin in 2024 by about 29,000 votes.
There are no pending lawsuits challenging the results of the 2024 election or calls to investigate the outcome.
Bauer writes for the Associated Press.
Source link
Europe heatwave: France records 2,000 more deaths as Europe braces for more hot weather
BBC Weather says a large area of high pressure is currently building from the Azores towards Portugal and Spain and that by the weekend, heat is forecast to climb across France and southern Britain.
And as Europe braces for sweltering conditions, millions of Americans celebrating the July Fourth holiday weekend are already being affected by prolonged extreme heat and high humidity in parts of the central and eastern US.
Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world – but particularly in Europe. It is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus climate service.
This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe’s water supply, and more intense wildfires.
This summer’s record-breaking temperatures have already proved particularly deadly.
The number of deaths recorded between 22 and 28 June increased by 2,025 – 29% -in France, the Public Health France agency announced on Friday. Deaths rose by 62% in the Paris region alone.
It said the figure was likely an “underestimate” and mortality would “therefore be higher than these initial figures”.
Drowning deaths soared during the heatwave, with French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez saying on Saturday that 72 people had died by drowning since 18 June.
Meanwhile, unprecedented heat in the Netherlands last week led to about 480 excess deaths, Dutch authorities said on Thursday – most of whom were aged 80 and older.
Temperatures reached almost 40C in parts of the country, with most of the deaths reported in the south and east of the Netherlands where temperatures were highest.
While the Netherlands is expecting a cooler week ahead, hot weather is predicted again over the weekend elsewhere.
Temperatures are forecast to reach 40C in the south of France, with peaks of 36C to 37C expected around Bordeaux, Toulouse and Agen.
Météo-France has issued red alerts for Friday and Saturday for forest fires in the southern part of the country, warning that weather conditions meant the risk outbreak was “very high” compared to summer norms.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said nearly 7,000 fires had broken out since the start of the summer season, with about 8,700 hectares burned so far.
Nearly 3,000 people were evacuated after a wildfire ignited in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer and spread to Canet-en-Roussillon on Thursday.
In the Iberian Peninsula, Aemet weather service has warned of the possibility of another heatwave.
Portugal’s government declared a state of alert which will remain in place until midnight on Tuesday. Temperatures are forecast to exceed 40C in some areas, with overnight temperatures above 25C.
In Spain, areas of the southwest are on orange alert as 40C is expected in some parts.
Source link
Ex-CIA chief Brennan seeks preservation of Trump-era inquiry records
WASHINGTON — Former CIA Director John Brennan sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, demanding a court order that would require officials to preserve records from investigations that he says are targeting him for “phantom criminal conduct.”
Brennan said in the lawsuit that the records would be essential for him to mount a defense on vindictive prosecution grounds in the event of an indictment brought by the administration. Such a defense, his lawyers said, would be supported by the more than 100 verbal or written statements that President Trump has made since 2017 lambasting Brennan and by the Republican president’s directives to his Department of Justice to initiate cases “without regard to factual or legal justification.”
“To fully consider those motions, the reviewing judge would need to scrutinize the motivations of the Justice Department officials who directed, oversaw, or undertook those actions to determine whether they violated Director Brennan’s rights, and specifically whether they were motivated by a desire to vindictively prosecute him as an act of retribution,” Brennan’s lawyers wrote in the lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington.
The lawsuit names as defendants Trump and other top law enforcement officials from his administration, including acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and the prosecutors in Florida who have been overseeing investigations related to Brennan and other perceived Trump adversaries.
The lawsuit says Brennan is facing separate investigations in Florida, including one examining whether he made a false statement to Congress related to an assessment by intelligence agencies documenting Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. The other investigation aims to determine whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired to undermine Trump, including during the course of the Russian interference investigation.
No charges have been brought. The Department of Justice has denied claims of weaponization.
Tucker writes for the Associated Press.
Source link
Former CIA director Brennan sues Trump administration to protect records
July 1 (UPI) — John Brennan, former director of the CIA and a longtime foe of the Trump administration, filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a federal court to preserve all records related to the administration’s investigation of him.
The Justice Department has been eyeing Brennan for months, with lawyers interviewing former intelligence officials and issuing subpoenas as part of a conspiracy investigation, The Washington Post reported.
Justice Department officials have alleged that Brennan and others violated President Donald Trump‘s civil rights in a conspiracy back to the Obama administration that included efforts to prosecute Trump and investigate his ties to Russia, The Post said. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, also referred Brennan to the Justice Department, alleging that he lied during testimony to Congress.
Brennan’s attorneys requested that a judge order the administration to preserve any internal records and communications from the investigation.
The records could be used as part of defense arguments that the investigation and any prosecution are part of Trump’s attempt to vindictively punish Brennan, the attorneys said, citing an administration policy “of using criminal process and prosecution to punish the president’s perceived adversaries,” The Post said.
“Administration officials from the acting attorney general to the FBI director and the counselor overseeing the Brennan investigations have been publicly declaring Director Brennan a criminal, not only before securing a conviction in court but even before a full investigation and indictment,” the lawyers wrote, CNN reported.
“And, certain officials in the Department of Justice are engaging in demonstrably irregular prosecutorial activity in order to gin up a case that will satisfy the president’s direction,” they wrote.
Brennan has also said the court should preserve any records that could be used in any broader “grand conspiracy” investigation by the Justice Department. He has denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit names Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and prosecutors in Florida overseeing the investigation.
Source link
European nations break more records amid historic heat wave
A dog called Minou stands in the water of the Lustgarten fountain in front of Berlin Cathedral during the historic heatwave that has seen nations across Europe break temperature records for this time of year — including Germany, which set a record two days in a row. Photo by Clemens Bilan/EPA
June 27 (UPI) — Europe may have to brace for even broken records as the historic heat wave that has roasted the continent over the last week is unlikely to let up.
Temperatures in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands all set heat records on Friday, and events in both Spain and France were cancelled, while most of central Europe issued the latest in days of warnings about the dangerous temperatures, The BBC and The Washington Post reported.
Although some meteorologists, including those in the United Kingdom, have said that temperatures in some areas will start cooling off, forecasters in Czechia, Austria and some Balkan nations are bracing for their own broken heat records this weekend.
The heat wave, which experts at the World Meteorological Organization have called the worst in Europe since the mid-1970s, reinforces what the organization has called “the world’s most rapidly warming continent.”
“In the 50 years since the historic heatwave of 1976, Europe as a whole has warmed by around two degrees,” John Kennedy, head of climate information at WMO, said in a press release.
“It’s the fastest warming continent, and extremes of temperature have increased, too,” Kennedy said.
France this week recorded it’s hottest June temperature three days in a row, the United Kingdom and Spain set records two days in a row, and Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands all saw historic June heat records fall.
The WMO said on Friday that it expects the heatwave to keep spreading cross large swaths of Western, Central and Southern Europe during the next two weeks, with a significant focus of the heat expected to blast the Balkans.
WMO said that Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania all should expect heat that is 3 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius above weekly June averages.
Source link
Hospital probe after crocodile attack boy’s records are accessed
A hospital has launched an investigation after the medical details of a child seriously injured in a crocodile pit were accessed by up to 40 members of staff.
The three-year-old boy, who is now in a stable condition at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, was attacked in the enclosure at Johnsons of Old Hurst near Huntingdon.
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) said it was exploring if there were legitimate reasons for the records to be accessed and it had referred itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
“Where any member of staff is found to have accessed patient records without legitimate clinical or operational reasons we take robust disciplinary action,” it added.
Officers said they were called to the zoo at 13:34 BST on 18 June.
Police said the boy, who was from Cambridgeshire and visiting the zoo with his family, sustained serious injuries “while in the enclosure” and was pulled out by members of staff.
A 30-year-old man from Norfolk was subsequently arrested and bailed on suspicion of attempted murder.
Source link
Don’t make public records harder to get
For as long as I’ve been a journalist, which is a really long time, public entities have hated public records requests, even while claiming they don’t.
Ask your typical elected or hired official, from the governor to the animal control folks, and they’ll tell you transparency is vital and sunshine in government a key value.
Then turn in the most benign of public records requests — access to a calendar, for example — and prepare for weeks of delays and excuses. Want emails or financial records or, heaven forbid, anything from the police? Months or even years may pass before a single page is delivered, no joke.
That’s why I am deeply concerned about a bill winding its way through the California Legislature that would definitely slow down public records requests and likely make them more difficult and expensive. At its worst, it could push people into costly court battles just for having the audacity to ask for information.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 1821, is authored by Democratic Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, whose district includes Norwalk, Downey and Bell, where legendary scandals are Example 1 of why public records matter.
Pacheco’s office told me Wednesday that the troubles with the bill are far from what Pacheco set out to do.
“It was never the author’s intention to take away people’s rights to a [Public Records Act] request,” said her chief of staff, Nikki Johnson.
Johnson said the bill was meant to curtail malicious records requests, which do happen, where a citizen goes after copious amounts of records just to be a jerk and cost the government time and money.
It was also meant to address the growing problem of artificial intelligence and other for-profit businesses requesting thousands of records with the intent of using the information to create money-making products — think of sites that already sell publicly available personal information as “background checks.”
I believe Johnson on the good intentions of the bill in addressing those real if nebulous difficulties, but you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
The bill passed through the Assembly recently with ease, largely because most of its problematic portions (I’ll get to those in a minute) were removed — though not all. Even in a watered-down form, which basically gave government more time to answer requests, I found myself in the unlikely position of agreeing with conservative Republican Assemblymember and Trump supporter Carl DeMaio of San Diego, who offered some of the only opposition from elected leaders during the Assembly vote.
“We cannot police the public’s right to know, and we want to err on the side of transparency in how government agencies operate,” DeMaio said.
Amen, brother.
But the Democratic-controlled Assembly erred on the side of secrecy and slowdown instead, and the measure sailed to the Senate, where seemingly out of the blue, a bunch of new provisions were added that fill it with loopholes, vague language and tons of room for abuse.
David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said the bill as written now was “comprehensively bad for transparency and therefore for government accountability.”
Sean McMorris, transparency, ethics and accountability program manager for the advocacy organization California Common Cause, put it even more forcefully. He pointed out that “public records are the public’s records.”
“They’re not owned by the government,” he said. But this bill would shift that paradigm and make the public “prove why you need them.”
“It’s going to chill people who want to make requests, and it’s going to complicate the process, and it’s just wrong,” McMorris said.
In its new form, the bill basically allows government entities to decide if they feel a public records request is malicious or for commercial gain. If they do, they can petition a court to intervene — potentially sparking both legal costs and new fees associated with fulfilling the request.
It would also, Snyder said, force a requester to explain why they wanted the records — something California law has repeatedly avoided because it gives power to government to treat those it perceives as enemies differently.
In this age of fairness and reason, it’s hard to imagine a government official misusing power to keep secrets, but I’m told it happens. That makes it all the more crucial that people not be forced to explain why they want information, or if they will use it to, say, expose corruption — be it wrongdoing by a single individual or the entire system.
Faced with unintended consequences, Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey), shown in 2023, will seek to scale back the bill to its original form, according to her chief of staff.
(Rich Polk / Getty Images for Equality California)
“I have little doubt that some agencies will use that provision to overburden requesters that they view as political opponents, requesters that they view as just a hassle, requesters that ask for things the government doesn’t want to disclose,” Snyder said. “They can bring the requester into court, and at a minimum, slow down the process, and probably more likely get the requester to simply withdraw.”
As written, the bill also gives a shoddy carve-out meant to protect journalists, but which in reality could be used to curtail requests from freelancers, student journalists and more.
McMorris said access to public records is a “moral issue,” and fixing any problems with the current law requires “a scalpel, not a meat ax.”
This bill, he warned, is a meat ax.
“I don’t discount that there are abusive requests, and that there are requests that really are a burden on government agencies, but the law right now has ways for government agencies to address that,” he pointed out. “Once these laws go into place, they’re going to be hard to roll back.”
It could “fundamentally change” our access to public records, he said.
Johnson, Pacheco’s chief of staff, told me that faced with all these unintended consequences, the Assembly member is going to ask for the amendments to be removed, and for the bill to progress as it was written when it passed the Assembly. That could happen as early as next week, when the bill with the new provisions is scheduled to come up again in a Senate committee for debate.
Reverting to the bill the Assembly voted on would be better, but slowing down public records is in government’s best interests, not the people’s. The bill does nothing to address the problems it seeks to fix, but stretches out the time officials have to simply tell a requester if any records do exist — never mind delivering them.
So even back to its watered-down form, the bill remains a meat ax for a scalpel problem, chopping up transparency with good intentions.
Source link
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi keep breaking records
“I couldn’t care less about others,” Ronaldo said in the mixed zone on Tuesday when asked about Messi’s five goals in the opening two games of the World Cup …Mbappe also scored.”
As much as the Portugal forward may say otherwise, seeing the biggest stars in world football come to the fore at this tournament would have been a source of motivation. Especially Messi.
“I believe both players have improved football over the years, and their rivalry is important for themselves to grow,” Martinez conceded.
“He wants to be the best at what he does,” Rooney said of Ronaldo’s attitude towards Messi. “So, of course, when the other top forwards are scoring goals, he wants to be top of that list. His response here is exactly what you’d expect.
“He’s selfish in the sense that he wants to be the best, but he’s a team player also. It’s incredible to watch Messi last night and Ronaldo tonight. At their age, it’s incredible what they are doing.”
Ronaldo and Messi have both had to adapt their games to stay at the top.
Since turning 35, Messi has found a new level on the international stage, scoring 12 goals in his last nine World Cup matches. That’s two more than Ronaldo’s total of 10 and would place him seventh on the all-time World Cup scoring list, level with Brazilian icon Pele.
Messi had scored just six in his first 19 games in the competition, between the ages of 18 and 34.
The turn in form has happened since leaving Barcelona. It could be argued since leaving the Catalan club, he may have prioritised playing for Argentina. Many from his country argued that he had not when competing at the top of Europe in his peak years.
Source link
U.S. Open: Wyndham Clark sets scoring records at Shinnecock Hills
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — The USGA set up a different golf course at Shinnecock Hills to keep it playable in strong wind. And when the wind subsided late Thursday afternoon, Wyndham Clark looked like he was playing in a different U.S. Open.
Clark seized on a more gentle course — slightly calmer and still soft with receptive greens — by pulling away late to reach six-under-par through 16 holes.
He left in darkness with a four-shot lead over seven players, one of them Oklahoma junior Ryder Cowan, another the surprisingly resurgent Dustin Johnson.
Rory McIlroy thought he had made a fine effort with a 69 in gusts that topped 30 mph in the middle of the day, when the scoring average was well above 74. The afternoon started tough until the wind kept subsiding, and players began taking aim at flags. The afternoon wave was playing at least a stroke easier than the early starters who faced relentless wind.
“Everything was kind of clicking,” said Clark, who came into the U.S. Open playing as well as anyone. “We were definitely fortunate with the wind laying down. Overall a good round.”
Shinnecock was still a brute of a test, but the red numbers on the white scoreboard were an unfamiliar site for this course. When play was suspended by darkness, 17 players were under par.
Xander Schauffele hits his tee shot on the ninth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Friday.
(George Walker IV / Associated Press)
The lowest opening round in the previous five U.S. Opens at Shinnecock is 66, last done by three players in 2004.
Cowan birdied his last hole for a 68 to join former Sooner Max McGreevy and former Oklahoma State player Sam Stevens, the only one of that trio who faced the harsh wind of the morning wave.
Johnson, in his final year of being exempt from the U.S. Open he won at Oakmont in 2016, ran off four straight birdies and was tied with Clark after 13 holes. But Johnson failed to get up-and-down for birdie on the easy par-five fifth, where Clark made eagle. And then Johnson three-putted from short range for double bogey on the sixth to fall four shots behind.
Scottie Scheffler, who needs the U.S. Open to complete the career Grand Slam, battled all day and relied heavily on his short game to salvage a 72. It was his 10th consecutive U.S. Open round without breaking par, but at the time it left him only four shots out of the lead.
Clark, who won the U.S. Open in Los Angeles three years ago, changed the look of the leaderboard. He was to return Friday morning to complete the round, then head out for the second round in wind expected to be not as strong.
One key to his round might have happened some five hours before he even showed up.
Thirty minutes after the round began, play was stopped because of fog so dense it was difficult to see the fairway and the green on the par-three 11th. The two-hour delay pushed back tee times.
The forecast was for the strongest wind of the week during the brightest part of Thursday.
“I would say when I got my tee times on Tuesday, I was like, ‘Oh, could be a tough draw,’” Clark said. “That two-hour fog delay was very helpful, and it was really nice it laid down. So it definitely helped those last six, seven holes we played.”
His golf wasn’t too shabby, either. Clark started on No. 10 and opened with two quick birdies. He went out in 32 to get his name atop the leaderboard. And after missing an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and failing to save par from a bunker on the long par-three second, he took off.
He hit wedge to five feet on No. 3 for birdie, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the next and then from 207 yards with some wind at his back, he hit his second on the par-five fifth to within three feet for eagle.
When Johnson faltered, Clark had plenty of breathing room — and a quick turnaround.
The wind was so strong and the conditions so severe that it took Scheffler’s group nearly three hours to complete nine holes. There was a question the round could have finished even without the fog delay.
Only 27 out of the 77 players from the afternoon wave — Jason Day withdrew because of a back injury — finished the first round.
Dustin Johnson reacts after missing a putt on the sixth hole during the second round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Friday.
(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
Johnson was joined by three other U.S. Open champions — Matt Fitzpatrick (2022), Gary Woodland (2019) and Jon Rahm (2021) — at two under, with all still having holes to play.
Rahm, who had a chance in the final hour at the PGA Championship, was bogey-free and reached two under by making a 60-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th hole.
Stevens overcame a double bogey to start his round — a hole that took him over two hours to play because of the fog — and strung together six birdies for his 68.
“The greens haven’t been too firm, the fairways haven’t been too firm, so I’ve really felt like it’s pretty scorable,” said Stevens, who had only his second sub-70 round in his fourth U.S. Open. “Obviously, it’s difficult, but overall it’s an awesome place. I think the setup is great right now.”
For half of the opening round, the USGA appeared to have the ideal test. Coming off two Opens at Shinnecock when the course got out of control, it slowed greens to 10 1/2 on the Stimpmeter — rare for any major, much less the U.S. Open — and keep plenty of water on the putting surfaces.
It was all because of the wind, which did not disappoint. The sustained wind approached 25 mph, and gusts were even stronger. And if that wasn’t enough, it shifted directions in the middle of the day.
“It was tough around here without wind, and then it was blowing pretty hard — really hard,” Keegan Bradley said after a 70. “The USGA did a great job setting the course up because if the greens were any faster or firmer, we might not be playing right now.”
But they played, it became more ideal with each passing hour late in the afternoon.
Source link
Early TV ratings for 2026 World Cup set records for Fox, Telemundo
Argentina’s Lionel Messi isn’t the only one scoring in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fox and Telemundo are off to a blazing start in the TV ratings for the quadrennial soccer tournament, delivering big increases over the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar.
Through the first 16 group stage matches, an average of 6 million viewers have watched on Fox and cable network FS1 cable network, a 128% increase over the 2022 FIFA World Cup according to Nielsen data.
The first 12 group stage matches of the tournament drew an average of 7.5 million viewers on the Comcast-owned Spanish language network Telemundo, a 234% increase from four years ago. The Telemundo telecasts are also streamed on Peacock.
The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s opening match against Paraguay held Friday at SoFi Stadium set a record for the most-watched World Cup game on both and English and Spanish language television. The match scored 18 million viewers on Fox and its streaming platforms, while Telemundo’s telecast averaged 9.5 million.
The early ratings show the enduring power of live sporting events and their ability to draw mass audiences at a time when streaming video has splintered viewership . Scripted hit prime time TV shows need seven days or more of viewing on demand to reach the audience levels the World Cup is attracting in real time.
“Having this World Cup in North America clearly has a huge impact on ratings,” said Patrick Rishe, director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis.
World Cup matches held in the U.S. for the first time since 1994 helps — and a competitive USNMT playing in front of home crowds could turbocharge the ratings to even bigger heights. Fox is expecting another record when the team plays its third group stage match in prime time on June 25.
Some sports media pundits have been citing the addition of out-of-home viewing and internet-connected televisions to Nielsen data as the reason sports ratings have been on the rise. But Mike Mulvihill, president of insights and analytics for Fox Sports, asserts that the viewers have been there all along.
“For many years, the numbers were under-counted and what we’re seeing now is a truer representation of the sports audience,” Mulvihill said in a recent interview. “You just cannot overstate what it means to us to be able to capture all that viewing that’s happening at fan fests, in bars and at smaller watch parties.”
Out-of-home viewing boosted the audience levels for Mexico’s inaugural World Cup match on June 11 by 50%, and contributed several million viewers to the total for the USMNT opener.
Mulvihill projects that by the end of the tournament, 150 million people will have watched some portion of Fox’s 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage. The figure approaches the 170 million people Fox reaches with a slate of regular season NFL games.
“For us, it’s like having two NFL seasons in a single year,” Mulvihill said.
Fox will be able to capitalize on the strong numbers for the early matches. Networks typically hold back some commercial inventory for big events in case audience levels fall short of what advertisers are guaranteed. Fox has surpassed those expectations and can now go back into the marketplace to sell available commercials for the later rounds, most likely for more than what was paid before the tournament.
The 2026 World Cup may also be benefiting from a viewing public that wants a distraction from the ongoing political discord in the U.S. and war in the Middle East.
“Sports still remains the one thing we can all kind of talk about and disagree about without it being divisive,” said Lisa Delpy Neirotti, director of the sports management program at the George Washington University School of Business.
Delphy Neirotti believes the World Cup has some momentum from the NBA Finals, which averaged 20.6 million viewers on ABC for the New York Knicks’ triumph over the San Antonio Spurs, The feel-good story of the Knicks winning their first championship in 53 years delivered the most-watched Finals since 1998 and put fans in the mood for more action.
“Fans were already primed up, meeting with friends, watching sports and now they can continue that camaraderie and that collective experience,” Delphy Neirotti said. “They want to be with community.”
The combined numbers for Fox and Telemundo are highest in Los Angeles, which in addition to a large Latino population has 500,000 Iranians. An average audience of 4.7 million viewers watched the Iranian national team play to a 2-2 tie against New Zealand on Monday, the second most-watched match ever on Fox Sports 1.
But there are plenty of World Cup fans in the heartland. Kansas City had the highest local rating for Fox’s coverage of the USMNT’s match, with more than 9% of the market’s homes tuning in.
Kansas City hosted its first World Cup match Tuesday at Arrowhead Stadium, where Argentina’s Messi set a tournament record with three goals in his team’s 3-0 victory over Algeria. The city has cultivated soccer fans with well-attended watch parties held in its Power and Light District.
“The watch parties that they’ve planned out throughout their cities to give people an opportunity to be part of the event, even though they’re not going to the event,” Rishe said. “Whether you’re watching or just walking by, it’s exciting.”
Source link
Which France and World Cup records did Mbappe break against Senegal? | World Cup 2026 News
France captain overtakes Giroud with 58 goals for his country and the most for Les Blues at a World Cup.
Published On 17 Jun 202617 Jun 2026
Any doubts about Kylian Mbappe’s status as one of the world’s greatest footballers were laid to rest when he statistically topped the charts with two goals as France beat Senegal 3-1 in their opening game of the World Cup.
The 27-year-old became France’s record scorer on Tuesday, overtaking Olivier Giroud with 58 goals. In a full-circle moment, Giroud, a commentator at Tuesday’s match against Senegal, congratulated Mbappe live on air when he netted again in the 96th minute.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Mbappe also became France’s top scorer at a World Cup with 14 goals, as well as the youngest ever to reach that number. He eclipsed Just Fontaine’s record of 13 goals, all of which were scored at the 1958 World Cup.
Mbappe sits just two goals behind Miroslav Klose’s World Cup record for most goals scored, another record he could break when France take on Iraq next week in Philadelphia. He sits third on the list, just behind Brazil’s Ronaldo with 15 goals, although he has eclipsed Argentinian icon Lionel Messi with 13 World Cup goals.
Mbappe posted on social media soon after the record-breaking match but did not mention the personal milestones.
“Always important to start with a win. It will be a long road, but we are ready,” he wrote on Instagram.
For his first goal of the 2026 edition, Mbappe darted across the penalty area to convert a brilliant Michael Olise pass on 66 minutes, breaking the deadlock in a contest in which France struggled in the first half but came to life after the break.
Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain then came off the bench to get the second late on, before his club colleague Ibrahim Mbaye pulled one back in stoppage time for Senegal.
But Mbappe saved the best for last, as he blasted in from long range in the 96th minute to seal the win.
Mbappe is no stranger to World Cup stardom; he guided France to victory in Russia 2018 at just 19 years of age.
Which other records did Mbappe break?
His lone goal for France against Peru in 2018 made him the youngest French player to score at a World Cup, and the second teenager, after Pele, to score in a World Cup final. Mbappe’s performance earned him FIFA’s Young Player of the Year award, and he was also named France’s player of the year.
Although Messi’s Argentina robbed France of a consecutive victory in 2022, Mbappe’s hat-trick in the World Cup final was only the second time the feat has been achieved. England’s Geoff Hurst did it in 1966 at Wembley for a 4-2 victory over West Germany.
Mbappe’s goals on Tuesday mean he has scored at three consecutive World Cups, and is the only player to have scored two goals or more in five different World Cup matches.
Source link
ESPN’s coverage of 2026 NBA Finals is setting ratings records for ABC
The stunning victory by the New York Knickerbockers over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday gave ABC the most-watched NBA Finals Game 4 since 1998, the year of Michael Jordan’s last championship with the Chicago Bulls.
Nielsen data showed an average of 20.9 million viewers watched the Knicks overcome a 29-point halftime deficit to top Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs 107-106 at Madison Square Garden, the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history. The Knicks have a 3-1 lead in the series and will play Game 5 on Saturday in San Antonio, attempting to win their first NBA championship in 53 years.
Through the first four games, the NBA Finals are averaging 19.6 million viewers, also the highest since the Bulls-Utah Jazz faced off on NBC in 1998. The series is on track to become the most-watched since the NBA Finals moved to ABC and ESPN in 2002.
“The match-up is ideal from a media business standpoint, featuring the nation’s largest media market with New York, teams with robust followings and multiple all-stars, especially Wemby, the compelling new face of the NBA,” said Lee Berke, president of LHB Sports Entertainment & Media, Inc.
The Knicks-Spurs series is up 116% over the first four games of last year’s match-up between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. But the most encouraging numbers for ABC and ESPN is the growth among younger viewers, who have become harder to reach in the age of social media and streaming. Ratings among teens aged 12 to 17 are up 138% while the 18 to 24 age group is up 147%.
ABC is also seeing spikes in viewing among women, up 121%, and the Latino audience due to its large populations in the markets of New York and San Antonio, according to Flora Kelly, ESPN’s senior vice president for audience research.
Viewing in the New York market alone is accounting for 18% of the national audience.
Este Haim, Taylor Swift, and Mariska Hargitay react during the 2026 NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 2026.
(Al Bello / Getty Images)
In addition to delivering highly competitive games, the NBA Finals also had President Trump and pop superstar Taylor Swift in attendance at Madison Square Garden. Both are capable of turning a live TV event into a full-blown spectacle.
“What we’re seeing is that this Spurs-Knicks series is a tremendous cultural moment,” Kelly said.
Trump attended Game 3, making him the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals. While Trump was a fixture at Knicks games before he entered the national political scene, some commentators, such as ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, believed the president’s insistence on attending Monday’s contest became a distraction that disrupted the home team’s momentum. (The Knicks lost the game 115-111, ending the team’s streak of 13 consecutive wins).
Swift showed up for Game 4, joining “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay and the other celebrities that regularly show up court side at Madison Square Garden.
Source link
Vinyl records are hurting the environment. These labels are helping
Sorry to rain on your all-analog parade.
It’s no secret that vinyl records’ resurgence has hit a new plateau, outselling CDs for the first time since 1987 as of 2022, according to a report from the Recording Industry Assn. of America. Three years later, its year-end report flaunts another statistic: Vinyl record sales surpassed $1 billion in 2025 — the first time since 1983.
But there’s an inevitable downside to anything that’s partially made of liquid dinosaur bones. Modern vinyl records are crafted with PVC resin, which makes up more than 75% of an average disk The synthetic polymer itself is made of chlorine and fossil fuel-derived feed stock.
To put its harm in perspective, a first-of-its-kind report from Vinyl Alliance, published in June 2024, found that 50% of a record’s carbon emissions come from this resin. The carbon footprint of a single LP was estimated to be roughly equal to the pollution a gas-powered vehicle emits over a three-mile trip. It adds up quick, considering that 46.8 million new records were sold last year.
Thankfully, it’s not all grim.
Organizations like Music Declares Emergency and the Music Climate Pact initiative are coming together to address the issue. A campaign by the groups — in collaboration with record labels and distribution teams at Secretly Group, Exceleration Music, Warp Records, Ninja Tune and Beggars Group — features titles pressed on 100% reclaimed material.
The release, set in tandem with World Environment Day on Friday, boasts marquee titles such as Elliott Smith’s “Roman Candle,” Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” and Dinosaur Jr.’s “You’re Living All Over Me.”
“What we found talking to a lot of our artists and to customers is that … they are concerned about the environment, and they want to find ways to reduce their footprint,” says Ben Swanson, co-founder of both Secretly Group and the Independent Record Pressing plant in Bordentown, N.J., where the LPs are made. “It’s about 16% less footprint than the traditional piece of vinyl.”
Soren Smith working at Independent Record Pressing in Bordentown, N.J., on May 26, 2026.
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Largely, it’s been people like Swanson who have fully committed to the cause. He says that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an “activist moment,” several labels signed onto the Music Climate Pact, declaring their intention to reduce their emissions and be better stewards of Earth.
“It had almost no teeth to it,” Swanson explains. “A lot of people signed it, posted something on Instagram, and it sat there for a few years. For us, it was pretty frustrating … it felt very perfunctory.”
His work continued, along with a few others, thanks to support from Murmur, an organization designed to support labels and industry names, effectuating the commitments made when the Music Climate Pact was signed.
“We’re more doers than sayers,” Swanson says. “We’ve really been experimenting with what we’re calling ‘Revinyl’ — post-industrial, pre-consumer, recycled vinyl as a means to reduce our footprint at IRP.”
This is what some of Friday’s release is made of — all the trimmings, tidbits and overstock that would otherwise end up in landfills or on the factory floor. For the time being, it certainly won’t solve the climate cost of vinyl records, but it helps to mitigate it.
Between 2024 and 2025, total units produced at Independent Record Pressing increased by 41% while emissions — which also benefited from lower-carbon transportation — decreased by 34%.
“The idea is, if you can make those records 16% more efficient and also show fans of those records … that it is viable, maybe it makes it a little bit easier next year when we go out to ask other artists to jump on board,” Swanson explains. “We’re not making records that are just going to go sit on the shelf — these are records we’re continually repressing all the time anyway.”
Similarly, Ian Stanton, head of sustainability at Beggars Group, was among the first to sign the pact in 2021. His role was created five years ago to give indie labels a voice in light of minimal resources and capabilities. Though these roles do exist at larger labels, he says they have “slightly different drivers.”
When it comes to records, the pure plastic pollution that comes from them is also a concern. When old records make it to a landfill, they’re not only likely to outlive the site, but can also leach plasticizers, a Keele University report found.
“Vinyl is not like a single-use plastic; we don’t throw it away after one listen. We treasure it, we pass it on through generations, and people have a real connection with it,” he says. “But like any other product, there are ways of making it more sustainable.”
He refers to certain plastics, such as shrink wrap, as the most “visible” aspect of vinyl record pollution to consumers. From a collector’s point of view, shrink wrap can actually increase the value of a record. Though there has been discourse over the years around whether this can actually damage the sleeve, many sellers champion an “in the shrink” label as they mark up prices.
Splatter-patterned records arrive at the trim station at Independent Record Pressing in Bordentown, N.J., on May 26, 2026.
(Dutch Doscher / For The Times)
Other visible aspects, such as the paper sleeves in which the records are housed, are also harmful. However, Swanson says that swapping those for recycled materials outputs a relatively negligible difference in emissions impact, largely due to the process behind producing them.
For the time being, vinyl records made from reclaimed materials are the best that companies like Swanson’s can do, though they’re are always on the lookout for other, viable options for improving their footprint. As an example, they’re actively experimenting with how existing record material can help them.
What can the beat-up, worn-out records at your local thrift store do to dodge a landfill and keep the Earth spinning? As it stands, not much.
Stanton lists an array of challenges, including outdated materials, modern production regulations and contaminants.
“I suppose what we need with PVC for records is a really high-quality, contamination-free material to get that sound reproduction,” he explains. “When you bring in stuff from that post-consumer environment, you’ve got to make sure there’s no contamination in there, because you’re going to end up with sound quality issues.
“It’s all in process,” he adds.
For now, they look to fix the most immediate problems first, such as freight emissions, where Beggars Group has converted the vast majority of its shipping operations to sea freight, a far less harmful alternative compared with air freight.
“We want to look at the full life cycle … not only thinking from the cradle to the grave, but from the point where the raw materials are extracted at the beginning,” Stanton says. “This life cycle analysis now looks at all different environmental indicators on this — the chemical usage, the water usage, and the end-of-life impacts on that side of things.”
Source link
Clara Adams breaks records at busy Southern Section Masters Meet
Clara Adams expected to win the 400-meter dash Saturday in the Southern Section Masters Meet at Moorpark High. The Long Beach Wilson junior not only won, she broke the section record, circling the track in 51.98 seconds.
“To be honest, I did not expect a 51 today … that was my end goal and I got it before state,” said Adams, who topped the previous mark [set by Norco’s Shae Anderson in 2017] by one hundredth of a second. “It says a lot about my training and teammates who push me in practice every day. I’m ecstatic.”
Even better than breaking a section record is breaking a state record and Adams was smiling wider several hours later after she and teammates Brooke Blue, Brooklyn Fowler and Saniah Varnado did just that by clocking 3:33.83 in the 4×400 relay to obliterate the time of 3:35.49 set by Moore League rival Long Beach Poly in 2004. Rosary Academy was a distant second in 3:41.33.
“The 400 was our first race of the day, all of us ran it and we all qualified for state and that carries over to the rest of the day,” said Adams, who ran the third leg and widened the Bruins’ lead before handing the baton to Varnado for the anchor leg. “The state record is a bonus. We handled our business and now we have a week to prepare to go for the national record.”
Florida Montverde Academy owns the national record of 3:31.68, achieved at the 2024 New Balance Nationals Outdoor in Philadelphia, but Wilson’s foursome was content with the state record, at least for now.
“We already had a good lead when I got it but everyone was getting loud and I was pushing,” Varnado said. “I was thinking we could run in the high 3:30s. I’m proud of how well we did and hopefully we can do even bigger things at state.”
The CIF state track and field championships are next weekend (prelims Friday and finals Saturday) at Buchanan High in Clovis and as usual the Southern Section will be well-represented as numerous athletes met the qualifying standards.
After three-peating in the 1,600 and 800 one week before at the Southern Section finals, Corona Santiago senior Braelyn Combe won both events again Saturday, winning the 1,600 in 4:43.03, well off her 4:41.36 effort at the section finals but still more than two seconds faster than runner-up Reese Holley of JSerra. She won the 800 Saturday by about the same margin in 2:06.04.
Calabasas dominated at the section finals with four runners breaking the Division 3 record in the 100. They were back at it Saturday as last week’s champion Malia Rainey ran 11.33 to win the first heat. Devyn Sproles equaled Rainey’s 11.41 one week before to win the second heat and take second overall. Marley Scoggins (11.46) was third and Coyotes teammate Olivia Kirk (11.62) was fifth.
Tra’via Flournoy led off Rosary’s 4×100 relay, which won in 44.79 at the Masters Meet on Saturday in Moorpark.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
Rosary’s 4×100 relay established itself as the favorite at state finals with a 44.79, more than a second faster than runner-up Canyon Country Canyon. The Royals’ foursome of Tra’via Flournoy, Justine Wilson, Pfeiffer Lee and Maliyah Collins is hoping to top the state-record (44.23) it set at Arcadia in April when it heads north for the state meet.
“It wasn’t a [personal record] but it was faster than last week,” said sophomore Collins, who ran the anchor leg. “This was a tuneup. Our handoffs were clean and we got the baton around the track. That was our main focus.”
West Ranch junior Tamea Crear (23.50), Kirk (23.54) and Rosary’s Wilson (23.61) and Collins (23.69) took the top four spots in the 200 meters.
San Jacinto Valley Academy sophomore Kaaliyah Lacy clocked 13.44 to win the 100 hurdles, one hundredth off her state-leading time that earned her the Division 4 section title one week ago. Varnado won the 300 hurdles in 41.53.
Irvine senior and Duke commit Summer Wilson, a three-time Southern Section champion in the 3,200, ran a new-season best (10:14.45) and shaved nearly 10 seconds off her time in the Division 2 sectional race.
Irvine’s Summer Wilson wins the 3200 meters in 10:14.45 at the Masters Meet after placing third last year.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
After sweeping the all three jumps events at the Division 3 section finals, Jurupa Valley senior AB Hernandez did the same Saturday, winning the long jump in 20 feet, 0.75 inches, the triple jump in 40-7 and the high jump in 5-8.
Los Alamitos senior Cassidy Nguyen cleared 13-2 to win the pole vault while Aliso Niguel was first in the discus (165-10) and shot put (49-0) after winning the Division I section crown in both last week.
Woodbridge junior Aidan Antonio won the 3,200 boys race in 8:55.30 while Sterling White of Oaks Christian became the first freshman in state history to break nine minutes, finishing seventh in 8:59.26 to break the ninth-grade record of 9:01.1 set by Eric Hulst of Laguna Beach in 1973.
Riverside King’s Maximo Zavaleta (4:06.30) and Antonio (4:06.54) battled all the way to the finish line to claim the top two spots in the 1,600.
Having won the Division 3 boys title in 38.39 one week earlier, Servite’s 4×100 relay won Saturday’s race in 40.17, followed by Moorpark (40.60) and Loyola (40.83).
“I like the first leg and coming out of the blocks because I get to see my teammates win,” said Jace Wells, whose exchange to Jorden Wells was smooth. Kamil Pelovello and Benjamin Harris ran the last two legs. The foursome set the state record (39.70) at Arcadia.
Harris won the 100 in a wind-aided 10.17 (one hundredth faster than his time in the Division 3 section finals last week), then won the 200 in 20.80 (31 hundredths slower than his winning time a week ago).
“It’s what I expected — I’m proud of it,” Harris said of his 100 time. “I just wanted to execute, win my race and move on. There’s more work to be done.”
Loyola’s Ejam Yohannes beats Servite’s Jaelen Hunter by 11 hundredths of a second in the 400-meter dash.
(Steve Galluzzo / For the Times)
In the most exciting finish of the day, Loyola senior Ejam Yohannes edged Servite sophomore Jaelen Hunter by 11 hundredths of a second in 46.40 in the 400 meters, one week after Hunter ran 46.36 to set a section Division 3 record. Johannes cut three tenths off his Division I winning time last week.
Upland (3:18.54) won the boys 4×400 and Gardena Serra (3:18.88) was second. Crean Lutheran’s Noah Richardson cleared 15-6 to win the pole vault while Redondo Union’s Bo Ausmus won the discus with a throw of 185-7 and the shot put with a mark of 61-9.
Having won the Southern Section Division 3 high jump crown in a lifetime best and state-leading 7-01 seven days earlier, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior JJ Harel still had the best height Saturday at 6-10, tied with Nathaniel Baca but winning on fewer misses. Harel aims to repeat as state champion.
Moorpark’s Davis Benson was first in the long jump Saturday at 22-11.75 (he won the Division 3 section crown with a leap of 23-5 last week), followed by Dane Malloy (22-10.5) and Harel (22-9.25). Paloma Valley senior Arthur Stringer won the triple jump in 47-4.5.
Long Beach Poly’s Lynnox Newton won the 110 high hurdles in 13.69, Etiwanda’s Brandon Andrade (13.85) was second and Benson (13.94) third. Andrade (37.01) was second behind Palm Desert’s Kingston Penny (36.86) in the 300 hurdles.
Source link
Controversial Netflix show smashes records with near 14 million views
The Netflix show has found itself in the top 10 in multiple countries, bringing in over 13 million views this week
The Netflix show has smashed records last week as the most watched on the streaming platform(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A controversial Netflix show dubbed “super dark” continues to break records in over a dozen countries worldwide.
The Roast of Kevin Hart livestream was finally released on Netflix earlier this month (May 10), having been hosted by Shane Gillis during Netflix is a Joke Fest. Featuring savage punchlines from the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Pete Davidson and Katt Williams, the show continues to divide fans.
Running for just under three hours, a Netflix synopsis reads: “Kevin Hart is in the hot seat and ready for all the smoke as roastmaster Shane Gillis and a dais of A-listers unleash a raw and ruthless night of laughs.”
Despite its controversy, the show has found its way onto Netflix’s Top 10 list, breaking records to sit in top place in 15 countries this week. According to Netflix’s Tudum, from May 11 to May 17, The Roast of Kevin Hart sits in first place in the Top 10 Shows with 13.5 million views.
But views continue to be divided as one person wrote on Rotten Tomatoes: “It’s no different than any other roast.. it’s light but super dark gut wrenching comedy. It’s an enjoyable watch.”
Another said: “This is the edgiest, funniest roast I’ve seen. It was not afraid to push the boundaries of comedy, something we need more of. I applaud the boldness and vision. I’d love to see more like this.”
A third added: “Omg!!! This was a proper roast, crying laughing, whilst walking around the room saying No! No! No! He didnt just say that.”
However, some viewers were unimpressed as one person wrote: “Easily the worst roast ever done. I love Shane, but he was so bad and unfunny. The Rock was the only one that did okay, everyone else was pretty poor. Just awful.”
Another said: “The cringe was high with this one. The few funny moments still didn’t make the 3 hrs worth it.”
A third penned: “Total waste of time. 3-4 funny jokes in 3hrs. Skip!”
Over on Reddit, one viewer stated: “Overall I enjoyed lots of the jokes but many felt like they were simply seeking to push the discomfort to extremes for the sake of edginess rather than for the sake of smart humour. It felt desperate to shock.
“I understand roast culture but this event had an edge I haven’t seen before and there seemed to be an air of discomfort amongst some people.”
The Roast of Kevin Hart can be streamed on Netflix.
Source link
Judge blocks Trump administration’s demand for Rhode Island hospital’s records of transgender kids
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s sweeping demands for confidential transgender patient information from Rhode Island’s largest hospital that provides gender-affirming care to minors.
U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy’s Wednesday ruling is the latest setback for the U.S. Department of Justice, where at least seven other federal courts have agreed to quash or limit the expansive civil subpoenas sent to more than 20 doctors and hospitals last summer.
McElroy’s decision also echoed similar concerns raised by judges surrounding the expansive scope of the subpoenas, describing the Justice Department as having “immense prosecutorial authority and discretion” but no longer trustworthy it will enforce its power fairly and honestly.
“DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case,” McElroy wrote.
A Justice Department spokesperson said Thursday that it would appeal and continue with its investigations.
“The Rhode Island court’s attack on the professionalism and integrity of DOJ attorneys is outrageous and unjustified,” the department said.
According to the subpoenas, the Justice Department had demanded Rhode Island Hospital hand over the birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses of every patient who received transgender care over the past five years. It also included instructions to provide all documents detailing adverse side effects in minor patients who received gender-related care, assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy, as well as patient intake forms and guardian authorization.
The Justice Department has repeatedly argued that the information sought in the subpoenas is needed to investigate possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion of drugs. Most recently during a hearing in Rhode Island, the DOJ said that the investigation was taking place in the Northern District of Texas, where the court’s chief judge ordered Rhode Island Hospital to comply with the subpoena before McElroy’s decision voided the subpoena.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Brantley Mayers told McElroy during the hearing that the Justice Department is investigating potential “misbranding” of drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, such as puberty blockers for young people. While off-label prescribing is legal, Mayers said that the DOJ is concerned that pharmaceutical companies are providing “financial incentives” to Rhode Island doctors to prescribe the drugs.
The subpoenas were crucial in getting the names of children and their families so the Justice Department could interview them.
McElroy rejected that argument.
“The administration has publicly characterized gender-affirming care for minors as abuse, directed the DOJ to bring its practice to an end, and celebrated when hospitals curtailed such programs as a result of this subpoena campaign,” McElroy wrote.
The Rhode Island decision is the latest development in the fight over transgender youth health records. Earlier this week, 11 families filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the Justice Department from obtaining the documents. The lawsuit, filed in Maryland’s federal court, is backed by families with transgender children who have received care from hospitals across the U.S.
And separately, a New York hospital announced that it received a grand jury subpoena from federal prosecutors in Texas seeking information about children who received gender-affirming care and the medical providers who administered it.
NYU Langone is the first hospital system to publicly acknowledge receiving a subpoena for such records as part of a federal criminal investigation. But the institution said in its statement Tuesday it was one of several that received a subpoena out of the Northern District of Texas on May 7. It said it was deciding on how to respond.
“The government cannot use its subpoena power to intimidate families out of seeking lawful medical care. To trans and gender-diverse children and their families, we want you to know that you are valued, you are not alone,” Kevin Love Hubbard, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee of Rhode Island, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement.
Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health services to support a person’s gender identity, including when it’s different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It may include counseling, medications that block puberty, hormone therapy to produce physical changes or surgeries to transform chests and genitals, although those are rare for minors.
Most major medical groups say access to the treatment is important for those with gender dysphoria and see gender as existing along a spectrum.
At least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care for minors, while several others have adopted laws or policies protecting access to transgender healthcare.
Kruesi writes for the Associated Press.
Source link