Washington
Parental rights law criticized as a ‘forced outing’ measure allowed to take effect
SEATTLE (AP) — A new Washington state parental rights law derided by critics as a “forced outing” measure will be allowed to take effect this week after a court commissioner on Tuesday declined to issue an emergency order temporarily blocking it.
The civil liberties groups, school district, youth services organizations and others who are challenging the law did not show that it would create the kind of imminent harm necessary to warrant blocking it until a trial court judge can consider the matter, King County Superior Court Commissioner Mark Hillman said. A hearing before the judge is scheduled for June 21.
The law, known as Initiative 2081, underscores, and in some cases expands, the rights already granted to parents under state and federal law. It requires schools to notify parents in advance of medical services offered to their child, except in emergencies, and of medical treatment arranged by the school resulting in follow-up care beyond normal hours. It grants parents the right to review their child’s medical and counseling records and expands cases where parents can opt their child out of sex education.
Critics say the measure could harm students who go to school clinics seeking access to birth control, referrals for reproductive services, counseling related to their gender identity or sexual orientation, or treatment or support for sexual assault or domestic violence. In many of those cases, the students do not want their parents to know, they note.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and other groups challenging the measure say it violates the state Constitution, which requires that new laws not revise or revoke old laws without explicitly saying so.
For example, state law ensures the privacy of medical records for young people authorized to receive care, including abortions, without parental consent. The law would give parents the right to be notified before their child receives care and the ability to review school medical records, the plaintiffs said, but it does not specifically say that it amends the existing privacy law.
The initiative was backed by Brian Heywood, a conservative megadonor who has said the measure was not designed to give parents veto power over their child’s decision to access counseling or medical treatment. “It’s just saying they have a right to know,” he said.
The Democratic-led Legislature overwhelmingly approved it in March, with progressive lawmakers wanting to keep it off the fall ballot and calculating that courts would likely block it.
Hillman said during the hearing that he was sympathetic to the concerns of the groups challenging the measure, but the harms they had alleged were only speculative.
William McGinty, an attorney for the state, argued that the law is constitutional and the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that they were entitled to a temporary restraining order.
New York
University and a Jewish student agree on a settlement that imposes more safety measures
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has agreed to take additional steps to make its students feel secure on campus under a settlement reached Tuesday with a Jewish student who had sought a court order requiring the Ivy League school provide safe access to the campus amid protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
The law firm representing the plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed as a class action complaint, called the settlement a “first-of-its-kind agreement to protect Jewish students from extreme on-campus Gaza war protestors.”
Under the agreement, Columbia must create a new point of contact — a Safe Passage Liaison — for students worried for their safety. The liaison will handle student safety concerns and coordinate any student requests for escorts through an existing escort program, which must remain available 24/7 through at least Dec. 31, according to the agreement.
The settlement also makes academic accommodations for students who couldn’t access campus to complete assignments or exams, among other provisions.
The settlement noted the various steps Columbia has already taken to ensure student safety on campus, including some controversial ones, such as authorizing the New York Police Department to clear the university’s administrative building and arrest more than 100 people.
Protests at Columbia, including an encampment, inspired similar demonstrations at colleges and universities around the country, with students demanding their schools separate themselves from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and in some cases from Israel itself.
A legal group representing pro-Palestinian students has urged the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate Columbia’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for how they have been treated.
Jay Edelson, an attorney for the Jewish student plaintiff, said the negotiated settlement represents “a return to basic, shared principles of safety on campus for all Columbia students” after “extreme protesters” chose to “push their Jewish peers off campus with threats and intimidation.”
The agreement also states that Columbia will “continue to work to facilitate opportunities for students and faculty to engage in safe, courteous, and constructive dialogue on the important issues that have been raised in recent months” and will not interfere with student efforts to hold public debates on campus.
Iowa
Man sentenced to life in prison for killing grocery store worker
MONTICELLO, Iowa (AP) — An Illinois man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an Iowa grocery store worker in what police called a “random act of violence.”
Nathan Russell, who lives in the northwestern Illinois border city of East Dubuque, withdrew a not-guilty plea Tuesday and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 shooting death of 48-year-old Aaron McAtee, KCRG-TV reported. McAtee was shot outside Fareway Meat and Grocery in Monticello, an eastern Iowa community of about 4,000 residents.
The judge heard from McAtee’s relatives before sentencing Russell to life in prison.
“I feel like I died with Aaron that day,” said Aimee Jouanne, McAtee’s sister. “My happiness is at a standstill.”
A victim’s advocate read a letter from McAtee’s mother, who said her heart “is broken for good.”
Police said McAtee was near a loading dock when Russell shot him. Russell was later spotted by a deputy about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in Hopkinton, Iowa. The deputy shot and wounded Russell when he refused to comply, investigators said. A prosecutor ruled in December that the deputy was justified in the shooting.
Parental rights law criticized as a ‘forced outing’ measure allowed to take effect
SEATTLE (AP) — A new Washington state parental rights law derided by critics as a “forced outing” measure will be allowed to take effect this week after a court commissioner on Tuesday declined to issue an emergency order temporarily blocking it.
The civil liberties groups, school district, youth services organizations and others who are challenging the law did not show that it would create the kind of imminent harm necessary to warrant blocking it until a trial court judge can consider the matter, King County Superior Court Commissioner Mark Hillman said. A hearing before the judge is scheduled for June 21.
The law, known as Initiative 2081, underscores, and in some cases expands, the rights already granted to parents under state and federal law. It requires schools to notify parents in advance of medical services offered to their child, except in emergencies, and of medical treatment arranged by the school resulting in follow-up care beyond normal hours. It grants parents the right to review their child’s medical and counseling records and expands cases where parents can opt their child out of sex education.
Critics say the measure could harm students who go to school clinics seeking access to birth control, referrals for reproductive services, counseling related to their gender identity or sexual orientation, or treatment or support for sexual assault or domestic violence. In many of those cases, the students do not want their parents to know, they note.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and other groups challenging the measure say it violates the state Constitution, which requires that new laws not revise or revoke old laws without explicitly saying so.
For example, state law ensures the privacy of medical records for young people authorized to receive care, including abortions, without parental consent. The law would give parents the right to be notified before their child receives care and the ability to review school medical records, the plaintiffs said, but it does not specifically say that it amends the existing privacy law.
The initiative was backed by Brian Heywood, a conservative megadonor who has said the measure was not designed to give parents veto power over their child’s decision to access counseling or medical treatment. “It’s just saying they have a right to know,” he said.
The Democratic-led Legislature overwhelmingly approved it in March, with progressive lawmakers wanting to keep it off the fall ballot and calculating that courts would likely block it.
Hillman said during the hearing that he was sympathetic to the concerns of the groups challenging the measure, but the harms they had alleged were only speculative.
William McGinty, an attorney for the state, argued that the law is constitutional and the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that they were entitled to a temporary restraining order.
New York
University and a Jewish student agree on a settlement that imposes more safety measures
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has agreed to take additional steps to make its students feel secure on campus under a settlement reached Tuesday with a Jewish student who had sought a court order requiring the Ivy League school provide safe access to the campus amid protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
The law firm representing the plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed as a class action complaint, called the settlement a “first-of-its-kind agreement to protect Jewish students from extreme on-campus Gaza war protestors.”
Under the agreement, Columbia must create a new point of contact — a Safe Passage Liaison — for students worried for their safety. The liaison will handle student safety concerns and coordinate any student requests for escorts through an existing escort program, which must remain available 24/7 through at least Dec. 31, according to the agreement.
The settlement also makes academic accommodations for students who couldn’t access campus to complete assignments or exams, among other provisions.
The settlement noted the various steps Columbia has already taken to ensure student safety on campus, including some controversial ones, such as authorizing the New York Police Department to clear the university’s administrative building and arrest more than 100 people.
Protests at Columbia, including an encampment, inspired similar demonstrations at colleges and universities around the country, with students demanding their schools separate themselves from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza and in some cases from Israel itself.
A legal group representing pro-Palestinian students has urged the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate Columbia’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for how they have been treated.
Jay Edelson, an attorney for the Jewish student plaintiff, said the negotiated settlement represents “a return to basic, shared principles of safety on campus for all Columbia students” after “extreme protesters” chose to “push their Jewish peers off campus with threats and intimidation.”
The agreement also states that Columbia will “continue to work to facilitate opportunities for students and faculty to engage in safe, courteous, and constructive dialogue on the important issues that have been raised in recent months” and will not interfere with student efforts to hold public debates on campus.
Iowa
Man sentenced to life in prison for killing grocery store worker
MONTICELLO, Iowa (AP) — An Illinois man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an Iowa grocery store worker in what police called a “random act of violence.”
Nathan Russell, who lives in the northwestern Illinois border city of East Dubuque, withdrew a not-guilty plea Tuesday and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 shooting death of 48-year-old Aaron McAtee, KCRG-TV reported. McAtee was shot outside Fareway Meat and Grocery in Monticello, an eastern Iowa community of about 4,000 residents.
The judge heard from McAtee’s relatives before sentencing Russell to life in prison.
“I feel like I died with Aaron that day,” said Aimee Jouanne, McAtee’s sister. “My happiness is at a standstill.”
A victim’s advocate read a letter from McAtee’s mother, who said her heart “is broken for good.”
Police said McAtee was near a loading dock when Russell shot him. Russell was later spotted by a deputy about 10 miles (16 kilometers) away in Hopkinton, Iowa. The deputy shot and wounded Russell when he refused to comply, investigators said. A prosecutor ruled in December that the deputy was justified in the shooting.
