California
U.S. Sailing drops federal lawsuit against America One Racing and Paul Cayard
SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Sailing has settled its federal lawsuit against veteran sailor and executive Paul Cayard and the America One Racing foundation, the sport’s governing body announced on Wednesday.
Dropping the lawsuit removes a major distraction that had overshadowed the once-dominant American squad that has won just one medal in the last three Olympics.
The governing body, which had been criticized by medalists Anna Tobias and JJ Fetter for suing one of sailing’s biggest financial supporters, didn’t release specifics of the settlement.
America One Racing said in a statement that no money changed hands, both parties agreed to release all claims and established a mutual non-disparagement agreement.
Cayard, one of the United States’ most successful sailors, resigned as executive director of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team in February 2023. He told The Associated Press then that he couldn’t work under a restructuring that would have him focus on fundraising while someone else ran the team. When he left, many donors followed him or paused pledges to the national governing body.
America One Racing had been a partner and financial supporter of U.S. Sailing but switched its focus to directly supporting athletes. U.S. Sailing sued in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Jan. 16, seeking damages from America One Racing and its three principals, including Cayard.
In late February, Fetter, a two-time Olympic medalist, called for the resignations of U.S. Sailing’s CEO, president and any other board member who supported the lawsuit.
Professional sailor and coach Tony Rey resigned from the board in the wake of the lawsuit, saying he was starting a new career opportunity within the sailing industry and that while he supported the litigation, “the controversy that continues to reverberate on the ground will not be helpful to my career.”
Tobias, the last American to win an Olympic sailing gold medal, at the 2008 Beijing Games, emailed U.S. Sailing president Richard Jepsen and board members on April 24 asking them to drop the lawsuit. She called it “a frivolous and embarrassing side show for U.S. Sailing” and “a distraction from the goals.”
California
Feds face trial over prison guards’ abuse of incarcerated women at now-shuttered facility
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons will go to trial next year over claims it allowed an environment where guards at a now-shuttered California prison sexually abused incarcerated women, a judge ordered Wednesday.
In the first public hearing since FCI Dublin closed last month, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also ordered an outside legal expert to keep handling the cases of some 600 women transferred out of the prison. Many of the inmates sent to other federal lockups claimed they suffered mistreatment during the transfer process.
In an order earlier this month, Gonzalez Rogers said the decision to shut the facility “created serious concerns” for the inmates’ well-being.
The judge on Wednesday scheduled a case management conference for Sept. 9 and ordered both sides to be ready for trial on June 23, 2025.
Attorneys for the women who blew the whistle on abuse said they have let the government know they are amenable to a settlement, and that those discussions are ongoing. But plaintiffs’ attorney Amari Montes said the bureau would have to agree to “lasting changes, including medical and mental health care,” before any deal is reached.
The prisons bureau said in a statement after the hearing that “it appreciates Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ work in this area and stands ready to engage” with the judge and the outside expert, known as a special master.
The prisons bureau didn’t immediately respond to a request for a statement about Wednesday’s hearing. But the bureau has said repeatedly that it doesn’t comment on matters pending before the court.
The bureau announced suddenly on April 15 that it would close FCI Dublin despite attempts to reform the beleaguered facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate assaults. Just 10 days before the closure announcement, the judge took the unprecedented step of appointing a special master to oversee the prison near Oakland.
Prisons officials have reiterated that the closure plan was carefully considered over months.
FCI Dublin inmates sued the prisons bureau last August alleging the agency had failed to root out sexual abuse.
Minnesota
State joins growing list of states counting inmates at home instead of prisons for redistricting
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has joined a growing list of states that plan to count prisoners at their home addresses instead of at the prisons they’re located when drawing new political districts.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week signed legislation that says last known addresses will be used for counting inmates, not the federal or state correctional facilities where they are housed. Prisoners whose last address is out of state or whose address is unknown would be excluded from the redistricting process, though they would be counted as part of Minnesota’s population total, according to the new law signed by the Democratic governor.
Eighteen states already have made similar changes to how prisoners are counted during the once-a-decade census. Most, but not all of the states, are controlled by Democrats and have large urban centers.
Although the U.S. Census Bureau has counted inmates as prison residents since 1850, states control redistricting and can move those populations to their home counties for that purpose or not include inmates at all when maps are drawn.
Advocates for the changes have argued that counting prisoners at their institutions shifts resources from traditionally liberal urban centers — home to many inmates who are disproportionately black and Hispanic — to rural, white, Republican-leaning areas where prisons are usually located.
Opponents, however, argue that towns with prisons need federal money for the additional costs they bring, such as medical care, law enforcement and road maintenance.
Population data collected from the census are used to carve out new political districts at the federal, state and local levels during the redistricting process every 10 years.
U.S. Sailing drops federal lawsuit against America One Racing and Paul Cayard
SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. Sailing has settled its federal lawsuit against veteran sailor and executive Paul Cayard and the America One Racing foundation, the sport’s governing body announced on Wednesday.
Dropping the lawsuit removes a major distraction that had overshadowed the once-dominant American squad that has won just one medal in the last three Olympics.
The governing body, which had been criticized by medalists Anna Tobias and JJ Fetter for suing one of sailing’s biggest financial supporters, didn’t release specifics of the settlement.
America One Racing said in a statement that no money changed hands, both parties agreed to release all claims and established a mutual non-disparagement agreement.
Cayard, one of the United States’ most successful sailors, resigned as executive director of the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team in February 2023. He told The Associated Press then that he couldn’t work under a restructuring that would have him focus on fundraising while someone else ran the team. When he left, many donors followed him or paused pledges to the national governing body.
America One Racing had been a partner and financial supporter of U.S. Sailing but switched its focus to directly supporting athletes. U.S. Sailing sued in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island on Jan. 16, seeking damages from America One Racing and its three principals, including Cayard.
In late February, Fetter, a two-time Olympic medalist, called for the resignations of U.S. Sailing’s CEO, president and any other board member who supported the lawsuit.
Professional sailor and coach Tony Rey resigned from the board in the wake of the lawsuit, saying he was starting a new career opportunity within the sailing industry and that while he supported the litigation, “the controversy that continues to reverberate on the ground will not be helpful to my career.”
Tobias, the last American to win an Olympic sailing gold medal, at the 2008 Beijing Games, emailed U.S. Sailing president Richard Jepsen and board members on April 24 asking them to drop the lawsuit. She called it “a frivolous and embarrassing side show for U.S. Sailing” and “a distraction from the goals.”
California
Feds face trial over prison guards’ abuse of incarcerated women at now-shuttered facility
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The federal Bureau of Prisons will go to trial next year over claims it allowed an environment where guards at a now-shuttered California prison sexually abused incarcerated women, a judge ordered Wednesday.
In the first public hearing since FCI Dublin closed last month, U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers also ordered an outside legal expert to keep handling the cases of some 600 women transferred out of the prison. Many of the inmates sent to other federal lockups claimed they suffered mistreatment during the transfer process.
In an order earlier this month, Gonzalez Rogers said the decision to shut the facility “created serious concerns” for the inmates’ well-being.
The judge on Wednesday scheduled a case management conference for Sept. 9 and ordered both sides to be ready for trial on June 23, 2025.
Attorneys for the women who blew the whistle on abuse said they have let the government know they are amenable to a settlement, and that those discussions are ongoing. But plaintiffs’ attorney Amari Montes said the bureau would have to agree to “lasting changes, including medical and mental health care,” before any deal is reached.
The prisons bureau said in a statement after the hearing that “it appreciates Judge Gonzalez Rogers’ work in this area and stands ready to engage” with the judge and the outside expert, known as a special master.
The prisons bureau didn’t immediately respond to a request for a statement about Wednesday’s hearing. But the bureau has said repeatedly that it doesn’t comment on matters pending before the court.
The bureau announced suddenly on April 15 that it would close FCI Dublin despite attempts to reform the beleaguered facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate assaults. Just 10 days before the closure announcement, the judge took the unprecedented step of appointing a special master to oversee the prison near Oakland.
Prisons officials have reiterated that the closure plan was carefully considered over months.
FCI Dublin inmates sued the prisons bureau last August alleging the agency had failed to root out sexual abuse.
Minnesota
State joins growing list of states counting inmates at home instead of prisons for redistricting
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota has joined a growing list of states that plan to count prisoners at their home addresses instead of at the prisons they’re located when drawing new political districts.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz last week signed legislation that says last known addresses will be used for counting inmates, not the federal or state correctional facilities where they are housed. Prisoners whose last address is out of state or whose address is unknown would be excluded from the redistricting process, though they would be counted as part of Minnesota’s population total, according to the new law signed by the Democratic governor.
Eighteen states already have made similar changes to how prisoners are counted during the once-a-decade census. Most, but not all of the states, are controlled by Democrats and have large urban centers.
Although the U.S. Census Bureau has counted inmates as prison residents since 1850, states control redistricting and can move those populations to their home counties for that purpose or not include inmates at all when maps are drawn.
Advocates for the changes have argued that counting prisoners at their institutions shifts resources from traditionally liberal urban centers — home to many inmates who are disproportionately black and Hispanic — to rural, white, Republican-leaning areas where prisons are usually located.
Opponents, however, argue that towns with prisons need federal money for the additional costs they bring, such as medical care, law enforcement and road maintenance.
Population data collected from the census are used to carve out new political districts at the federal, state and local levels during the redistricting process every 10 years.
