Wisconsin
Man charged with stalking after sending chief justice series of intimidating emails
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Wisconsin man with stalking after he allegedly sent liberal state Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky a series of intimidating emails.
Ryan Thornton, 37, of Racine was charged Monday with one felony count of stalking. He faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted. His attorney, listed in court records as public defender Britney Dickey, declined to comment on the case when reached at her office Tuesday.
According to a criminal complaint, Thornton sent Karofsky nine emails between the beginning of August and the beginning of October accusing her of being manipulative, telling her to “eject” herself from office and asking for her home address.
In one message he told her to call the Capitol Police Department. “What a democrat idea, tho,” he wrote, according to the complaint. In another message he asked if she wanted to be part of his helicopter videos, which police took to mean that Thornton believed helicopters were watching him.
Karofsky told investigators she has received numerous threats since she became a judge in 2017, but Thornton’s messages frightened her to the point that she was afraid to leave her house to get her mail and asked police to escort her to her seat during a Milwaukee Brewers game and a Wisconsin Badger game.
Thornton made profane remarks about Karofsky and said she was “going down” during an interview with investigators, according to the complaint. He told the investigators to call President Donald Trump and that Karofsky “better start running or something for the hills of the feds because it’s a conspiracy.”
Thornton said he was upset with an attorney that he hired to represent him in a 2019 strangulation case and that the Office of Lawyer Regulation, a Supreme Court office that disciplines attorneys, hasn’t investigated the lawyer. According to the complaint, Thornton called the office more than 70 times from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 to complain about the attorney
Florida
Jack Nicklaus wins $50M verdict in defamation lawsuit against former partners
MIAMI (AP) — Professional golf legend Jack Nicklaus has won a $50 million verdict in a defamation lawsuit filed in Florida against his former business partners.
A six-person jury in Palm Beach County found Monday that the Nicklaus Companies had damaged the 18-time major champion’s reputation and exposed him to ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt. Nicklaus Companies owner and executive chairman Howard Milstein and executive Andrew O’Brien were also named individually as defendants, but jurors did not find them personally liable.
Eugene Stearns, an attorney for Nicklaus, said Nicklaus has spent his life helping others and earning a reputation as not just a great athlete but a great human being.
“He deserved better than what he got, and we’re pleased that the jury addressed the particular circumstances that were so annoying,” Stearns said.
According to the lawsuit, Nicklaus, 85, claimed Milstein, O’Brien and others at the company spread false stories that Nicklaus considered a $750 million deal to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf League and that he was suffering from dementia and no longer mentally fit to manage his affairs.
Defense attorneys said at trial that Nicklaus Companies executives never tried to defame Nicklaus and argued the case was basically a business dispute. They said no harm was done to Nicklaus’ reputation, and there was no reason for a company that shared the golfer’s name to attack him.
Attorneys for Nicklaus Companies didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday evening.
Earlier this year, a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Nicklaus Companies against Nicklaus that attempted to prevent the golfer from using his name, image and likeness to promote his golf course design business.
Nicklaus joined Nicklaus Companies in 2007 as part of a $145 million deal, but Nicklaus eventually quit and planned to continue designing golf courses on his own. While Nicklaus is once again free to design golf courses under his own name, Nicklaus Companies retains the rights to sell clothing and equipment with “Jack Nicklaus” logos.
Minnesota
State Supreme Court sends transgender powerlifter’s legal challenge back to lower court
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday sent the case of a transgender athlete who wants to compete in the women’s division at weightlifting events back to a lower court to determine whether USA Powerlifting has a “legitimate business purpose” for excluding her.
The state’s highest court ruled that the group’s policy that bars JayCee Cooper from competing in its women’s division is “facially discriminatory” under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which protects transgender individuals against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
But the justices noted that the law carves out a “legitimate business purpose defense,” and said there is “genuine dispute of material fact” on whether “seeking to ensure competitive fairness in an athletic competition” meets that test. So it sent the case back to the original trial court for further proceedings.
USA Powerlifting rejected Cooper’s application in 2018 to compete in its women’s division. Cooper sued in 2021, and the trial court sided with her.
But the Minnesota Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court, saying there were “genuine issues of fact” about whether USA Powerlifting excluded Cooper because of her transgender identity and whether the organization had a “legitimate business reason” for doing so. Cooper then took the case to the state’s highest court.
Cooper’s attorney, Christy Hall, said during oral arguments in December that USA Powerlifting’s policy discriminates against all transgender women, regardless of their individual physical capabilities.
But an attorney for USA Powerlifting, Ansis Viksnins, argued then that female transgender powerlifters have a significant advantage in a sport that relies inherently on strength. He told reporters then that performance differences provide a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” to exclude transgender females from its women’s division.
Transgender people’s participation in sports has been a contentious issue across the country. According to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that says it works to advance equality and opportunity for all, 29 states bar transgender women and girls from competing in at least some women’s or girls competitions, though some of those bans have been blocked by court orders.
The Minnesota Human Rights Act contains broad protections against discrimination, including on the basis of sex defined broadly, and was updated in 2023 to specifically include gender identity.
In an indication of the intense interest in the Minnesota case, numerous athletes and organizations on both sides filed friend-of-the-court briefs, including former tennis champion Martina Navratilova, who was part of a group of 83 female athletes backing USA Powerlifting’s position.
Since the legal arguments were based largely on how the courts should interpret Minnesota law, the decision doesn’t set a binding precedent for other states. But courts elsewhere faced with similar issues could choose to draw on the legal reasoning behind it.
Ohio
Judge grants temporary order allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio common pleas judge granted a temporary restraining order on Monday, which would allow high school athletes in the state to enter into deals that profit off their talent.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page issued her order on Monday, which could allow all students who are part of the 818 schools in the Ohio High School Athletic Association to enter into their own NIL deals.
Ohio is one of six states that has rules in place that don’t allow high school athletes to accept payments for their name, image and likeness. The others are Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Wyoming.
Jasmine Brown, the mother of Jamier Brown, filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 15 in her role as “parent or guardian.” Brown is a junior who attends Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
He is the top wide receiver prospect in the class of 2027. Brown has verbally committed to Ohio State University, which is in Franklin County.
Brown’s mother and attorneys stated that Brown has already missed out on more than $100,000 in potential NIL deals.
“This is a significant ruling not only for Jamier but high school athletes across the state of Ohio. There are 44 states that allow high school athletes to enjoy that benefit through NIL,” said Luke Fedlam, Brown’s attorney with the Amundsen Davis law firm in Columbus.
OHSAA members decisively voted down an NIL proposal in 2022, 538-254. The OHSAA Board of Directors last month approved language for another NIL proposal that they planned to vote on in May. However, Monday’s ruling is likely to accelerate the timetable.
OHSAA spokesperson Tim Stried said, “the OHSAA anticipated the judge making an initial ruling today on the NIL lawsuit to set the timeline moving forward. The OHSAA is finalizing communications regarding the next steps for our member schools and will send out details on Tuesday.”
Another hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Dec. 15.
“It’s important for folks to understand high school NIL is different from college NIL,” Fedlam said. “There are guardrails that have been in place that protect the integrity of sport and competition. In college we have seen collectives for NIL to recruit and retain. That does not exist at the high school level. Most states have the regulations that do not allow collectives and how they can transfer and maintain eligibility.”
Washington
Man taken into custody after driving his car into security gate at White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man was taken into custody late Tuesday after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House, authorities said.
The U. S. Secret Service said the man crashed into the security gate at a White House entrance at 10:37 p.m. on Tuesday. The man was immediately arrested by officers from the Secret Service’s uniformed division, the agency said.
Investigators searched his car and deemed it to be safe, Secret Service officials said in a statement.
The man, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, according to a Secret Service spokesperson. He is expected to be charged with unlawful entry and destruction of government property, the spokesperson said.
Man charged with stalking after sending chief justice series of intimidating emails
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a Wisconsin man with stalking after he allegedly sent liberal state Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky a series of intimidating emails.
Ryan Thornton, 37, of Racine was charged Monday with one felony count of stalking. He faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison if convicted. His attorney, listed in court records as public defender Britney Dickey, declined to comment on the case when reached at her office Tuesday.
According to a criminal complaint, Thornton sent Karofsky nine emails between the beginning of August and the beginning of October accusing her of being manipulative, telling her to “eject” herself from office and asking for her home address.
In one message he told her to call the Capitol Police Department. “What a democrat idea, tho,” he wrote, according to the complaint. In another message he asked if she wanted to be part of his helicopter videos, which police took to mean that Thornton believed helicopters were watching him.
Karofsky told investigators she has received numerous threats since she became a judge in 2017, but Thornton’s messages frightened her to the point that she was afraid to leave her house to get her mail and asked police to escort her to her seat during a Milwaukee Brewers game and a Wisconsin Badger game.
Thornton made profane remarks about Karofsky and said she was “going down” during an interview with investigators, according to the complaint. He told the investigators to call President Donald Trump and that Karofsky “better start running or something for the hills of the feds because it’s a conspiracy.”
Thornton said he was upset with an attorney that he hired to represent him in a 2019 strangulation case and that the Office of Lawyer Regulation, a Supreme Court office that disciplines attorneys, hasn’t investigated the lawyer. According to the complaint, Thornton called the office more than 70 times from Aug. 1 to Oct. 1 to complain about the attorney
Florida
Jack Nicklaus wins $50M verdict in defamation lawsuit against former partners
MIAMI (AP) — Professional golf legend Jack Nicklaus has won a $50 million verdict in a defamation lawsuit filed in Florida against his former business partners.
A six-person jury in Palm Beach County found Monday that the Nicklaus Companies had damaged the 18-time major champion’s reputation and exposed him to ridicule, hatred, mistrust, distrust or contempt. Nicklaus Companies owner and executive chairman Howard Milstein and executive Andrew O’Brien were also named individually as defendants, but jurors did not find them personally liable.
Eugene Stearns, an attorney for Nicklaus, said Nicklaus has spent his life helping others and earning a reputation as not just a great athlete but a great human being.
“He deserved better than what he got, and we’re pleased that the jury addressed the particular circumstances that were so annoying,” Stearns said.
According to the lawsuit, Nicklaus, 85, claimed Milstein, O’Brien and others at the company spread false stories that Nicklaus considered a $750 million deal to join the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf League and that he was suffering from dementia and no longer mentally fit to manage his affairs.
Defense attorneys said at trial that Nicklaus Companies executives never tried to defame Nicklaus and argued the case was basically a business dispute. They said no harm was done to Nicklaus’ reputation, and there was no reason for a company that shared the golfer’s name to attack him.
Attorneys for Nicklaus Companies didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday evening.
Earlier this year, a New York judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Nicklaus Companies against Nicklaus that attempted to prevent the golfer from using his name, image and likeness to promote his golf course design business.
Nicklaus joined Nicklaus Companies in 2007 as part of a $145 million deal, but Nicklaus eventually quit and planned to continue designing golf courses on his own. While Nicklaus is once again free to design golf courses under his own name, Nicklaus Companies retains the rights to sell clothing and equipment with “Jack Nicklaus” logos.
Minnesota
State Supreme Court sends transgender powerlifter’s legal challenge back to lower court
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday sent the case of a transgender athlete who wants to compete in the women’s division at weightlifting events back to a lower court to determine whether USA Powerlifting has a “legitimate business purpose” for excluding her.
The state’s highest court ruled that the group’s policy that bars JayCee Cooper from competing in its women’s division is “facially discriminatory” under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which protects transgender individuals against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
But the justices noted that the law carves out a “legitimate business purpose defense,” and said there is “genuine dispute of material fact” on whether “seeking to ensure competitive fairness in an athletic competition” meets that test. So it sent the case back to the original trial court for further proceedings.
USA Powerlifting rejected Cooper’s application in 2018 to compete in its women’s division. Cooper sued in 2021, and the trial court sided with her.
But the Minnesota Court of Appeals sent the case back to the trial court, saying there were “genuine issues of fact” about whether USA Powerlifting excluded Cooper because of her transgender identity and whether the organization had a “legitimate business reason” for doing so. Cooper then took the case to the state’s highest court.
Cooper’s attorney, Christy Hall, said during oral arguments in December that USA Powerlifting’s policy discriminates against all transgender women, regardless of their individual physical capabilities.
But an attorney for USA Powerlifting, Ansis Viksnins, argued then that female transgender powerlifters have a significant advantage in a sport that relies inherently on strength. He told reporters then that performance differences provide a “legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason” to exclude transgender females from its women’s division.
Transgender people’s participation in sports has been a contentious issue across the country. According to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit that says it works to advance equality and opportunity for all, 29 states bar transgender women and girls from competing in at least some women’s or girls competitions, though some of those bans have been blocked by court orders.
The Minnesota Human Rights Act contains broad protections against discrimination, including on the basis of sex defined broadly, and was updated in 2023 to specifically include gender identity.
In an indication of the intense interest in the Minnesota case, numerous athletes and organizations on both sides filed friend-of-the-court briefs, including former tennis champion Martina Navratilova, who was part of a group of 83 female athletes backing USA Powerlifting’s position.
Since the legal arguments were based largely on how the courts should interpret Minnesota law, the decision doesn’t set a binding precedent for other states. But courts elsewhere faced with similar issues could choose to draw on the legal reasoning behind it.
Ohio
Judge grants temporary order allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL
CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio common pleas judge granted a temporary restraining order on Monday, which would allow high school athletes in the state to enter into deals that profit off their talent.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Jaiza Page issued her order on Monday, which could allow all students who are part of the 818 schools in the Ohio High School Athletic Association to enter into their own NIL deals.
Ohio is one of six states that has rules in place that don’t allow high school athletes to accept payments for their name, image and likeness. The others are Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Wyoming.
Jasmine Brown, the mother of Jamier Brown, filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on Oct. 15 in her role as “parent or guardian.” Brown is a junior who attends Wayne High School in Huber Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
He is the top wide receiver prospect in the class of 2027. Brown has verbally committed to Ohio State University, which is in Franklin County.
Brown’s mother and attorneys stated that Brown has already missed out on more than $100,000 in potential NIL deals.
“This is a significant ruling not only for Jamier but high school athletes across the state of Ohio. There are 44 states that allow high school athletes to enjoy that benefit through NIL,” said Luke Fedlam, Brown’s attorney with the Amundsen Davis law firm in Columbus.
OHSAA members decisively voted down an NIL proposal in 2022, 538-254. The OHSAA Board of Directors last month approved language for another NIL proposal that they planned to vote on in May. However, Monday’s ruling is likely to accelerate the timetable.
OHSAA spokesperson Tim Stried said, “the OHSAA anticipated the judge making an initial ruling today on the NIL lawsuit to set the timeline moving forward. The OHSAA is finalizing communications regarding the next steps for our member schools and will send out details on Tuesday.”
Another hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Dec. 15.
“It’s important for folks to understand high school NIL is different from college NIL,” Fedlam said. “There are guardrails that have been in place that protect the integrity of sport and competition. In college we have seen collectives for NIL to recruit and retain. That does not exist at the high school level. Most states have the regulations that do not allow collectives and how they can transfer and maintain eligibility.”
Washington
Man taken into custody after driving his car into security gate at White House
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man was taken into custody late Tuesday after driving his car into a security barrier outside the White House, authorities said.
The U. S. Secret Service said the man crashed into the security gate at a White House entrance at 10:37 p.m. on Tuesday. The man was immediately arrested by officers from the Secret Service’s uniformed division, the agency said.
Investigators searched his car and deemed it to be safe, Secret Service officials said in a statement.
The man, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, according to a Secret Service spokesperson. He is expected to be charged with unlawful entry and destruction of government property, the spokesperson said.
