Maine
State and GOP lawmaker who ID’d transgender athlete online agree lawsuit is now moot
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Attorneys for the state of Maine and a conservative lawmaker who identified a transgender teen student athlete online now agree that the lawmaker’s appeal over her loss of voting rights for her post is now moot.
Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby identified the athlete in a February social media post that went viral and called into question the student’s gender identity, bringing attention to the issue of transgender teens participating in sports. Maine’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives censured Libby for violating the House code of ethics and blocked her from speaking and voting on the floor.
Libby sued, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that the Maine legislature must allow her to vote. Lawmakers voted in June to halt the restrictions.
Maine Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Patwardhan said in court papers filed late last month that there are “no longer any restrictions on Rep. Libby’s ability to vote or debate” and “this appeal is now moot.” Libby said in a statement Monday that she will “not contest the AG’s mootness argument” and added that she never provided the apology House Democrats asked of her.
“I believe this case sends a clear message: elected officials do not surrender their constitutional rights at the Capitol steps -- and neither do the people who sent them there,” Libby said.
The appeal still needs to be formally dismissed by a court, but it is essentially dropped “given that both parties are in agreement about the mootness issue,” said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Libby’s post was about a high school athlete who won a girls’ track competition. She said the student had previously competed in boys’ track. Her post included a photo of the student and first-name identification in quotation marks.
The post preceded a public disagreement between President Donald Trump and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills over the subject of transgender athletes. Trump signed an executive order designed to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports earlier this year. At a meeting of governors at the White House in February, Trump characterized Maine as out of compliance with order.
Mills told Trump: “We’ll see you in court.” The Trump administration then launched investigations into Maine’s Title IX compliance. An attorney for the state said in April that the state and federal government are at an impasse over the subject.
North Carolina
Longtime sheriff steps down after charges of sexual misconduct
BRYSON CITY, N.C. (AP) — The longtime sheriff of a western North Carolina county whom some women accused of sexual misconduct has quit before he could be permanently removed.
Curtis Cochran, who was first elected Swain County sheriff in 2006, retired from the post effective July 1, according to a statement from the county Board of Commissioners. The chief deputy is performing the sheriff’s duties while the commissioners decide who will serve out the remainder of Cochran’s four-year term through late 2026, the statement said.
Cochran, 72, was charged in state courts with felonious restraint and misdemeanor sexual battery, soliciting prostitution and assault on a female, according to June 27 arrest warrants.
The same day, Ashley Hornsby Welch, the district attorney for Swain and six other far western counties, filed a petition seeking to remove Cochran from office for “willful misconduct and maladministration in office.”
A Superior Court judge immediately suspended Cochran from office pending a final court ruling. But the removal petition becomes moot with Cochran’s retirement. A petition-related hearing set for Monday in adjoining Graham County was canceled, online court data said.
Welch’s removal petition included signed affidavits by two women who allege Cochran made separate unwanted sexual advances on them while he drove on land held by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Eastern Band’s reservation, known as Qualla Boundary, is in portions of Swain County.
The county of 14,000 people is about 300 miles (483 kilometers) west of Raleigh and includes much of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that straddles the Tennessee border.
Cochran was released on bond on the state criminal charges and faces an Aug. 5 court hearing. He is also charged under Eastern Band tribal law with two counts of oppression in office and one count of abusive sexual contact, Cherokee Indian Police Department Chief Carla Neadeau said in a news release.
Cochran’s attorney didn’t respond Monday or Tuesday to a phone message and emails seeking comment and additional details.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
The petition alleges that on June 22 one woman — an Eastern Band member — flagged down what she believed to be a law enforcement vehicle. She was upset and crying because she and her boyfriend had been fighting verbally, and she accepted an invitation into the SUV from the driver — whom authorities identified as Cochran — because she believed it would diffuse the situation, the petition says.
The petition alleges that when Cochran started driving he began touching the woman despite her objections and asked her to perform a sexual act, but she refused. He later pulled the SUV off the road, got out and positioned himself so the woman couldn’t get out of vehicle and asked again, according to the petition. Cochran told the woman if “there was a time that I got in trouble, all I would have to do is say his name and he would help me,” the woman’s affidavit read. She again declined, ultimately was dropped off at her house and contacted tribal police.
The affidavit signed by the other woman said that on June 23 — soon after being released from the tribal jail — she accepted a ride from what looked like a government vehicle that she said turned out to be driven by Cochran. She said Cochran starting touching her — doing so even as she pulled away — and she ultimately got out of the vehicle.
The FBI and State Bureau of Investigation also participated in the criminal investigation, which included video footage, according to the petition.
Cochran, a Republican, had no law enforcement experience before his first sheriff’s election victory, having previously been Swain County’s maintenance director.
State and GOP lawmaker who ID’d transgender athlete online agree lawsuit is now moot
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Attorneys for the state of Maine and a conservative lawmaker who identified a transgender teen student athlete online now agree that the lawmaker’s appeal over her loss of voting rights for her post is now moot.
Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby identified the athlete in a February social media post that went viral and called into question the student’s gender identity, bringing attention to the issue of transgender teens participating in sports. Maine’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives censured Libby for violating the House code of ethics and blocked her from speaking and voting on the floor.
Libby sued, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that the Maine legislature must allow her to vote. Lawmakers voted in June to halt the restrictions.
Maine Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Patwardhan said in court papers filed late last month that there are “no longer any restrictions on Rep. Libby’s ability to vote or debate” and “this appeal is now moot.” Libby said in a statement Monday that she will “not contest the AG’s mootness argument” and added that she never provided the apology House Democrats asked of her.
“I believe this case sends a clear message: elected officials do not surrender their constitutional rights at the Capitol steps -- and neither do the people who sent them there,” Libby said.
The appeal still needs to be formally dismissed by a court, but it is essentially dropped “given that both parties are in agreement about the mootness issue,” said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Libby’s post was about a high school athlete who won a girls’ track competition. She said the student had previously competed in boys’ track. Her post included a photo of the student and first-name identification in quotation marks.
The post preceded a public disagreement between President Donald Trump and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills over the subject of transgender athletes. Trump signed an executive order designed to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports earlier this year. At a meeting of governors at the White House in February, Trump characterized Maine as out of compliance with order.
Mills told Trump: “We’ll see you in court.” The Trump administration then launched investigations into Maine’s Title IX compliance. An attorney for the state said in April that the state and federal government are at an impasse over the subject.
North Carolina
Longtime sheriff steps down after charges of sexual misconduct
BRYSON CITY, N.C. (AP) — The longtime sheriff of a western North Carolina county whom some women accused of sexual misconduct has quit before he could be permanently removed.
Curtis Cochran, who was first elected Swain County sheriff in 2006, retired from the post effective July 1, according to a statement from the county Board of Commissioners. The chief deputy is performing the sheriff’s duties while the commissioners decide who will serve out the remainder of Cochran’s four-year term through late 2026, the statement said.
Cochran, 72, was charged in state courts with felonious restraint and misdemeanor sexual battery, soliciting prostitution and assault on a female, according to June 27 arrest warrants.
The same day, Ashley Hornsby Welch, the district attorney for Swain and six other far western counties, filed a petition seeking to remove Cochran from office for “willful misconduct and maladministration in office.”
A Superior Court judge immediately suspended Cochran from office pending a final court ruling. But the removal petition becomes moot with Cochran’s retirement. A petition-related hearing set for Monday in adjoining Graham County was canceled, online court data said.
Welch’s removal petition included signed affidavits by two women who allege Cochran made separate unwanted sexual advances on them while he drove on land held by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Eastern Band’s reservation, known as Qualla Boundary, is in portions of Swain County.
The county of 14,000 people is about 300 miles (483 kilometers) west of Raleigh and includes much of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that straddles the Tennessee border.
Cochran was released on bond on the state criminal charges and faces an Aug. 5 court hearing. He is also charged under Eastern Band tribal law with two counts of oppression in office and one count of abusive sexual contact, Cherokee Indian Police Department Chief Carla Neadeau said in a news release.
Cochran’s attorney didn’t respond Monday or Tuesday to a phone message and emails seeking comment and additional details.
The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.
The petition alleges that on June 22 one woman — an Eastern Band member — flagged down what she believed to be a law enforcement vehicle. She was upset and crying because she and her boyfriend had been fighting verbally, and she accepted an invitation into the SUV from the driver — whom authorities identified as Cochran — because she believed it would diffuse the situation, the petition says.
The petition alleges that when Cochran started driving he began touching the woman despite her objections and asked her to perform a sexual act, but she refused. He later pulled the SUV off the road, got out and positioned himself so the woman couldn’t get out of vehicle and asked again, according to the petition. Cochran told the woman if “there was a time that I got in trouble, all I would have to do is say his name and he would help me,” the woman’s affidavit read. She again declined, ultimately was dropped off at her house and contacted tribal police.
The affidavit signed by the other woman said that on June 23 — soon after being released from the tribal jail — she accepted a ride from what looked like a government vehicle that she said turned out to be driven by Cochran. She said Cochran starting touching her — doing so even as she pulled away — and she ultimately got out of the vehicle.
The FBI and State Bureau of Investigation also participated in the criminal investigation, which included video footage, according to the petition.
Cochran, a Republican, had no law enforcement experience before his first sheriff’s election victory, having previously been Swain County’s maintenance director.
