Cuomo, Mamdani and Sliwa spar over Israel, ICE raid in last debate before Election Day
New York City mayoral contenders relentlessly criticized their opponents as they made their final pitch to voters Wednesday night in the last debate before early voting starts this Saturday.
Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Independent candidate and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa once again traded barbs on the debate stage, meeting for the second time in less than a week.
Wednesday’s debate at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City came as billionaires called for Sliwa to drop out of the mayoral race this week to consolidate support for Cuomo against Mamdani, and as more than 650 rabbis nationwide, including those from the largest New York City synagogues, signed an open letter condemning Mamdani for what they said was anti-Israel rhetoric.
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Both issues were on full display Wednesday night, as the moderators pressed Sliwa about staying in the race and Mamdani fielded questions about his support for Israel.
When asked if Mamdani has any regrets about his “longstanding” anti-Israel views, the Democratic socialist affirmed his commitment to protecting Jewish New Yorkers.
“You won’t denounce ‘globalize the intifada,’ which means, ‘Kill Jews.’ There’s unprecedented fear in New York. It was not several rabbis. It was 650 rabbis who signed the letter, not several,” Cuomo said. While Mamdani refused to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” during the primary, he has since said he would “discourage” others from using the slogan.
“I’ve heard from Jewish New Yorkers about their fears about antisemitism in this city and what they deserve is a leader who takes it seriously, who roots it out of these five boroughs, not one who weaponizes it as a means by which to score political points on a debate stage,” Mamdani fired back in a fiery moment on the debate stage.
Sliwa also chimed in, telling Mamdani that Jewish New Yorkers are “frightened” and “scared.”
“They view you as the arsonist who fanned the flames of antisemitism,” Sliwa charged, while accusing him of being in support of the “global jihad.” New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had to issue an apology earlier this year for “mischaracterizing Mamdani’s record” when she made the same implication.
“I have never, not once, spoken in support of global jihad,” Mamdani said. “That is not something that I have said and that continues to be ascribed to me. And frankly, I think much of it has to do with the fact that I am the first Muslim candidate to be on the precipice of winning this election.”
Moderators for the final New York City mayoral debate were Spectrum News NY1 Political Anchor Errol Louis, WNYC’s Brian Lehrer and THE CITY’s Katie Honan.
The first question posed to candidates during Wednesday’s debate focused on the federal raid in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood on Tuesday that led to the arrest of nine migrants from West Africa who were in the United States illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
All three candidates agreed that the Trump administration was beyond its jurisdiction on Tuesday. Cuomo called the raid “dangerous.”
“You don’t send ICE in without coordinating with our police,” Cuomo said, arguing he would have personally called President Donald Trump if he was mayor to tell him the administration was “way out of bounds.” Sliwa agreed that the matter should have been left up to the NYPD.
Mamdani took the criticism a step further, calling ICE a “reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less for the people that they’re supposed to serve,” and urging an “end to the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal government, which we’ve seen under” Mayor Eric Adams, who is no longer seeking re-election and built a reputation for his willingness to collaborate with the Trump administration on immigration reform.
At one point, candidates were allowed to ask their opponents a question, sparking a tense moment between Cuomo and Mamdani. Cuomo questioned how Mamdani could pose for a photo with an anti-LGBTQ advocate. Mamdani said had he known, he wouldn’t have agreed to take the picture.
Mamdani clapped back, asking Cuomo,”What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?” Cuomo has continued to deny the allegations and said the cases were dropped.
The latest Fox News survey, conducted Oct. 10-14, ahead of the first general election debate last week, revealed that Mamdani has gained a substantial lead in the New York City mayoral race as voters see him as the best candidate to tackle the city’s top problems.
According to the poll, Mamdani has a 21-point lead among New York City registered voters with 49% of voters backing Mamdani, while 28% go for Cuomo and 13% favor Sliwa. Mamdani also rose above the 50% threshold among likely voters, garnering 52% support, while Cuomo picked up 28%, and Sliwa received just 14%.
But as Mamdani, ever the social media-savvy candidate, warned his followers on Wednesday, it was Cuomo who was the favorite to win the nomination just weeks before the Democratic primary. By consolidating support with New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, cross-endorsing each other to topple Cuomo through ranked-choice voting, Mamdani pulled the political upset that has since landed him on the national stage.
Since winning the primary, Trump has labeled Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and “my little Communist.” Mamdani has rejected that moniker, affirming that he is a democratic socialist.
Nevertheless, the odd-year election has captivated a national audience at a time when Democrats are still grappling with devastating losses last year. And with Trump back in the White House, Democrats nationwide are seeking to capitalize on growing discontent over Trump’s sweeping, second-term agenda.
Less than two hours before candidates took the stage on Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Mamdani intends to keep New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica Tisch on as his police commissioner if elected in November, citing two senior campaign aides and two more sources who were briefed on the plans.
“I can confirm that reporting,” Mamdani said on the debate stage. “My administration will be relentless in its pursuit of safety and affordability for every New Yorker, and the delivery of that will require us to put together a team of the best and the brightest.”
Mamdani applauded Tisch for taking on a “broken status quo charter to deliver accountability, rooting out corruption and reducing crime across the five boroughs.” Cuomo and Sliwa also confirmed they would keep her on as commissioner if elected.
The Democratic nominee has faced a slew of criticism on the campaign trial for his past comments, including calling the NYPD “racist, anti‑queer & a major threat to public safety” in 2020, among other insults. Mamdani made a public apology to the NYPD during a Fox News interview last week.
Ahead of those competitive midterm elections expected next year, Republicans have already seized on Mamdani’s progressive politics, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who is considering a run for governor. Her campaign said in a recent statement, “Kathy Hochul literally has endorsed a full blown jihadist pro-terrorism Mayor of New York City.”
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Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., endorsed Mamdani last month after previously withholding her support. Fellow New York Democrats House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have still yet to coalesce behind the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, although Jeffries indicated this week that a decision is imminent.
This week, Red Apple Media CEO John Catsimatidis and hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman, urged Sliwa to drop out of the race, arguing that a vote for Sliwa is a vote for Mamdani. The New York Post editorial board even joined the calls for Sliwa to drop out, but the Republican nominee has maintained that he is staying in the race.
Top Dem blocks 12th GOP bid to reopen govt as Trump says Dems ‘lost the negotiation’
The government shutdown meandered into its 22nd day with no end in sight after a 12th GOP attempt to reopen the government was stalled and then blocked by Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his caucus kneecapped Republicans’ bid to reopen the government for the 12th time in a 54-46 vote where Republicans needed at least 60 votes to advance the measure. The latest failed vote comes as Schumer has demanded another meeting with President Donald Trump and on the heels of an almost 24-hour filibuster by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, that pushed the vote late into Wednesday.
During his marathon floor speech, which began at 6:23 pm on Tuesday, Merkley spoke on authoritarianism — what he called the Trump Administration’s overreach on immigration, separation of powers, and more.
“Republicans have shut down the government to continue the strategy of slashing Americans’ healthcare,” Merkley said, referring to the healthcare-centered debate holding up consideration of the government’s funding.
He concluded his remarks at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Little has changed in the upper chamber since the shutdown began. Schumer and the Senate Democratic caucus demand that there be a real, ironclad deal to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies, while Senate Republicans remain adamant that there is no path forward available on the matter until the government is reopened.
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But what is old is new in a repeating cycle, and Schumer wants to meet with Trump again.
Schumer, speaking on behalf of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., requested another meeting with Trump ahead of the vote in a bid to go around Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and congressional Republicans to secure a deal.
There have been informal talks — more casual conversation than true negotiation — between Republicans and Democrats, but nothing has materialized that puts lawmakers any closer to solving the ongoing stalemate.
“Hakeem and I reached out to the president today and urged him to sit down and negotiate with us to resolve the healthcare crisis, address it and end the Trump shutdown,” Schumer said. “He should sit — the things get worse every day for the American people. He should sit down with us, negotiate in a serious way before he goes away.”
The last time the top congressional Democrats met with Trump came just a day before the climactic vote to avert a shutdown. Neither side walked away with a compromise, or agreement, to keep the lights on.
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Fast-forward to the shutdown’s fourth week, and Trump signaled he’d speak with Schumer and Jeffries — only after the government is reopened.
“The government has to be open,” he said. “You know how long it will take for them to do that? Just say, ‘OK, government is open.’ That’s it. There is nothing — They’re not negotiating.”
“What they’re doing is saying they lost the negotiation,” Trump continued. “And when we got the great ‘big beautiful [bill]’ done, they lost the negotiation. Now they’re saying, ‘Well, we want to get some of the things we lost.’ But the problem is the things they lost are very bad for our country.”
Congressional Democrats’ initial demands, made in a counter-proposal to the House-passed continuing resolution (CR), called for a permanent extension to the enhanced Obamacare premium tax credits and guardrails on Trump’s ability to claw back congressionally approved funding, among other things.
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A White House official doubled down on Trump’s position and told Fox News Digital, “We will not have policy conversations while the Democrats are holding the American people hostage. Reopen the government.”
While Democrats desire more than just an extension to the COVID-19-era subsidy, they’ve made their primary argument all about the tax credits.
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Thune offered Senate Democrats a vote on the subsidies, but so far they have declined to take the leap and instead are holding out for a guaranteed outcome in the shutdown fight. However, that is unlikely to come as Republicans and the White House, so far, are equally dug in against Schumer’s demands.
“I think [Trump] wants the Democrats to take ‘yes’ for an answer,” Thune said. “We’ve offered them a lot of the things they were asking for — a normal appropriations process, an opportunity to get a vote on some of the things that they want to see voted on, with respect to the expiring Obamacare enhanced subsidies. But that can’t happen until we open up the government.”
Suspected assassin Luigi Mangione was beaten by seven ‘ladyboys’ in Thailand: report
Luigi Mangione, the former Ivy Leaguer accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, lost a fight with a gang of seven “ladyboys” in Thailand months before the crime, according to a new report.
The 27-year-old Mangione is being held without bail in New York City while awaiting trials at the state and federal level in connection with Thompson’s pre-dawn ambush shooting on Dec. 4, 2024, outside a hotel where he was supposed to attend a shareholder conference later that morning.
In the year before the assassination, Mangione traveled to Asia, climbing a mountain in Japan and drinking with expat Americans in Thailand, according to The New York Times.
It was in the latter country where he was reportedly shocked to learn how little an MRI could cost outside the United States — and where he told a friend over WhatsApp he was beaten up by a group of seven “ladyboys,” or transgender women, in Bangkok in March.
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It’s not clear how serious about the brawl he was in the messages. He attached a photo showing scratches on his arm, according to the report. After that, he returned to Japan and took a spiritual mountain climb up a trail where women hikers are not allowed.
From there, he went to India, where he met with a writer who shared an interest in the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, according to the Times report.
By December, according to prosecutors, Mangione had allegedly written about his disdain for the American health insurance industry and wanting to “whack” a CEO. He is also accused of wanting “to incite national debates” about its shortcomings.
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Police found spent and unspent bullet casings while investigating the assassination, emblazoned with the words “deny,” “delay” and “depose.” They appear to be a reference to the title of a book that is critical of the U.S. health insurance industry called “Delay, Deny, Defend.”
Thompson, 50, was a married father of two from Minnesota, visiting New York City for a shareholder conference. Surveillance video shows a man approach him from behind and open fire with a handgun, which police allegedly recovered in Mangione’s bag when he was arrested five days later.
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A New York judge found no basis for terror-related charges in the alleged assassination case and threw them out last month — taking the top state charge of first-degree murder and a potential life without parole sentence off the table. Mangione still faces a second-degree murder charge, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, with the potential for parole.
Federally, he faces charges including interstate stalking and using a firearm to commit murder, which could carry the death penalty. In Pennsylvania, where police captured him after a five-day manhunt, he faces additional firearms and forgery charges.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty.
Charlie Sheen describes physical warning that forced him to confront addiction
Charlie Sheen is getting candid about the turning point that led to his sobriety and the moment he knew he had to change. The actor, once known for his heavy drug and alcohol use, has been sober nearly eight years.
After years of addiction and public turmoil, Sheen said he got sober after realizing the impact his lifestyle was having on both his health and those around him.
“It was, like, just being smart enough to start paying attention to my body,” Sheen said on the “Planet Tyrus” podcast.
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“When the insides are trying to literally live on the outside, that’s a moment that needs adjusting.”
Sheen has been open about his struggles with addiction, which fueled a series of high-profile controversies earlier in his career, including his firing from the hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men” in 2011.
At the time, the show had made Sheen one of the highest-paid actors on television before his contract was terminated after his third stint in rehab and a public outburst.
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In recent years, he’s spoken about the shame he associates with those years of his life and about turning his life around since getting sober in 2017. A large part of that, he said, was rebuilding relationships with those closest to him.
“I didn’t feel that I was available to the people that count on me the most and available in a way that they came to rely on, but then had to make adjustments based on my choices,” he said.
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During an appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Sheen revealed that his drug use got so bad that even the cartels supplying him cut him off.
He said they believed he was selling the drugs rather than consuming them, given the huge quantities he went through.
In 2015, Sheen announced he was HIV positive. He got sober about two years later.
Since then, he’s written a memoir, “The Book of Sheen,” and was the subject of a Netflix documentary series released in September.
Reflecting on his journey, Sheen said it was the effects of his behavior on those around him that ultimately pushed him to change.
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“I got really tired of just disappointing people,” he said.
“And, ultimately, letting myself down.”
Bessent fires back at Warren’s $20B Argentina deal critique, invokes infamous fascist leader
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hit back at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., defending the Trump administration’s decision to provide Argentina a $20 billion currency swap line with Argentina’s central bank earlier in October.
Bessent’s response came after Warren issued a letter voicing concern and requesting answers on why the Trump administration was moving forward with providing Argentina a financial lifeline as its economy struggles, particularly during a U.S. government shutdown, which started Oct. 1.
“We have been forced to prioritize mission-critical efforts necessary to the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties — including national security and global financial stability,” Bessent said in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital and sent to Warren Tuesday.
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Bessent then accused Warren of displaying “Peronist views,” a reference to a former president of Argentina, Juan Perón, and Peronism, an ideology that espouses that the government should have control of the national economy, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian.
“There is little surprise — given your Peronist views on big government and freedom — that this type of action causes you great anxiety,” Bessent said.
CNN first reported the letter.
Warren fired back at Bessent Wednesday and said Trump was more focused on helping an “ideological ally” rather than addressing U.S. issues during the shutdown.
“Ultimately, President Trump does not appear to be interested in meaningfully addressing any of our country’s pressing problems that are indeed ‘mission-critical,’” Warren said in a new letter Wednesday. “Instead, during a government shutdown, his Administration is working to make direct purchases of a foreign currency — helping an ideological ally, billionaire investors, and major hedge funds while American farmers and workers miss paychecks and face rising costs for basic necessities.”
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Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, introduced the No Argentina Bailout Act in October. The measure would bar the Trump administration from using the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, which provides financing to foreign governments, to assist Argentina.
Warren’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Bessent announced Oct. 9 that the Treasury Department would engage in the currency swap agreement with Argentina’s central bank.
The move was made in an attempt to stabilize the peso by exchanging it for U.S. dollars, and Bessent said in a social media post that the U.S. “is prepared, immediately, to take whatever exceptional measures are warranted to provide stability to markets.”
Since then, Bessent has floated issuing Argentina an additional $20 billion in financing, using sovereign funds and those from private banks.
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“We are working on a $20 billion facility that would complement our swap line, with private banks and sovereign funds that, I believe, would be more focused on the debt market,” Bessent said Oct. 16.
President Donald Trump and President Javier Millei of Argentina have had a warm relationship since Trump took office. For example, Milei was the first foreign head of state to visit Trump following the 2024 election.
Healthcare premiums skyrocket as Sen Ted Cruz’s decade-old warning proves true
Over a decade ago, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, predicted that healthcare premiums would skyrocket, even in the face of subsidies put into effect under Obamacare that were meant to bring them down.
Today, the ballooning of those premiums and their accompanying subsidies are at the center of the 22-day shutdown that looks poised to get longer still.
“Despite Obamacare subsidies, many Americans will still be paying higher premiums in 2014 as a result of Obamacare,” Cruz said in 2013, referring to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
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In his 2013 floor speech, Cruz pointed to research from Avik Roy, a healthcare researcher who, at the time, was a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Roy’s research made the case that subsidies passed by the Obama administration would do little to stop government-backed healthcare plans from growing more expensive over time or competing effectively with non-government-backed plans.
But even those forecasts have paled in comparison to the costs of the government’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The subsidies under Obamacare have vastly expanded in recent years. An emergency provision included in President Joe Biden’s 2021 American Rescue Plan widened the range of eligible applicants as a response to the global pandemic.
Now that those COVID-era provisions are set to sunset at the end of 2025, an expiration date set by Democrats themselves, Democrats are voicing alarm that Obamacare policyholders will have to shoulder the costs of health insurance without the enhanced supplemental aid.
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According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank that focuses on fiscal policy, continuing the expanded credits could cost upwards of $30 billion annually. Findings by KFF, a healthcare policy group, say that over 90% of the 24 million Obamacare enrollees make use of the enhanced credits.
KFF analysis indicates that the enhanced premium tax credits saved subsidized enrollees an average of $705 last year.
Democrats in Congress, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have demanded some sort of extension to the already expanded COVID-era subsidies as a condition for passing spending legislation to end the current government shutdown, which is now the longest full shutdown in history.
Republicans, who maintain that the subsidies are completely unrelated to government funding considerations, have said lawmakers will address the subsidies when the government is open again.
The most conservative members in Congress have said cutting back on the subsidies is key to returning the government to pre-COVID levels of funding.
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Lawmakers in the Senate have voted 11 times on a short-term spending extension meant to keep the government open through Nov. 21 but have so far failed to move past the gridlock over the enhanced premium tax credits.
Cruz did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Boy’s hike in ‘rugged and steep’ National Park leads to father’s devastating discovery
An Arkansas father made a heartbreaking discovery over the weekend when he found his 13-year-old son dead after a 200-foot fall from a bluff at Buffalo National River, officials said.
The tragedy unfolded on Saturday, Oct. 18, when the Searcy County Sheriff’s Office received a report around 11 a.m. that a 13-year-old boy had fallen from a cliff near Brewer Bluff in the park’s Middle District, according to a Facebook post from Buffalo National River.
Park staff and first responders, including search-and-rescue volunteers, fire crews and Survival Flight, responded to the scene. Members of the Harrison Fire Department rappelled about 260 feet down the bluff as park rangers approached from the river below.
The teenager, later identified as Kayleb Lynn Eddings, was found unresponsive by his father, Toby Eddings, who was among the first to reach the scene, according to KHBS.
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“Buffalo National River staff and I send our condolences to this young man’s family,” said park superintendent Angela Boyers. “We also thank the responders from the local communities that showed up to assist with this incident.”
Officials said the 13-year-old had been with a friend when he lost his footing near the edge of the overlook. He slipped from a lookout point and fell about 200 feet, the Department of the Interior said.
The National Park Service (NPS) and Searcy County Sheriff’s Office are jointly investigating the fall.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the NPS, said there are no advisories in the area and no danger to the public.
Officials reminded visitors that the terrain in the Buffalo National River area “can be rugged and steep,” urging people to stay a safe distance from the edge when enjoying overlooks.
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Eddings was an eighth grader at Ozark Mountain School District, remembered by his family as a kind, joyful boy whose “bright, jovial personality had no rival,” according to his obituary.
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“While there are many words to describe Kayleb, the most accurate and profound word is LOVE,” his family wrote in his obituary. “Kayleb was loved by everyone who had the fortune to meet him.”
He loved riding his four-wheeler, collecting Hot Wheels with his dad, hunting with his grandfather and spending time with friends. “Most of all,” his family wrote, “he loved aggravating his younger brothers and absolutely adored his youngest brother, Bean.”
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“There are no words to express the deafening quiet that has filled the space where Kayleb’s voice once reverberated,” his family wrote. “While that space will never be filled, one can find comfort in the whispering of the wind, the flutter of a butterfly, the beauty of a buck and most of all, the eternal presence of God.”
A celebration of life will be held Thursday, Oct. 23, at 2:30 p.m. at the St. Joe School gymnasium in St. Joe, Arkansas.
Court rules against women athletes in trans powerlifting case as GOP fights back
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that USA Powerlifting discriminated against a biological male transgender athlete by not allowing that athlete into a women’s competition in 2018.
The court’s decision was unanimous. Five of the seven Minnesota Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, and the other two were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton.
The trans athlete, JayCee Cooper, sued USA Powerlifting in 2021, alleging the organization engaged in discriminatory practices after rejecting the athlete’s application to compete in the women’s division in 2018, arguing it violated Minnesota’s Human Rights Act.
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The court’s ruling said “USA Powerlifting’s policy at the time of the decision was to categorically exclude transgender women from competing in the women’s division.”
“Because USA Powerlifting’s facially discriminatory policy provides direct evidence of discriminatory motive, there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether Cooper’s transgender status actually motivated USA Powerlifting’s decision to prohibit Cooper from competing. We therefore reverse the part of the court of appeals’ decision on this issue,” Chief Justice Natalie Hudson wrote in Wednesday’s opinion.
“We agree with Cooper that USA Powerlifting’s policy is discriminatory on its face; there is therefore no genuine dispute that USA Powerlifting discriminated against Cooper because of her transgender status.”
However, the ruling also sent part of the case back to a lower court to determine whether USA Powerlifting has a “legitimate business purpose” for excluding the trans athlete.
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After a lower court initially sided with Cooper in 2023, 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 the athlete’s transgender identity and whether the organization had a “legitimate business reason” for doing so. The state’s Supreme Court then decided to take up the case in July 2024.
USA Powerlifting has argued that allowing transgender women to compete in the women’s division would put other women at a disadvantage.
“Our goal at USAPL is to create rules and a framework that uphold the principles of fair play, not to exclude anyone. To support trans athletes, USAPL created an open MX division in 2021 to serve all gender identities, including transgender and nonbinary members. The organization welcomes trans referees in all competitions, open or otherwise,” USA Powerlifting President Larry Maile said in a statement last year.
“Since science shows those who were born biologically male have a profound physical advantage over female-born athletes, our responsibility is to define legitimate categories to fairly place athletes within them.”
Attorneys for USA Powerlifting called Wednesday’s decision a “partial victory for both sides,” per The Independent.
Minnesota Republicans have condemned the court’s decision.
Minnesota Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth issued a statement decrying the ruling.
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“For decades, women and girls fought tirelessly for the rights guaranteed under Title IX. Sadly, those hard-won protections have increasingly come under attack, and today’s decision marks another setback in the fight to protect girls’ sports,” Demuth said.
“This issue is ultimately about safety and fairness, and Minnesotans overwhelmingly agree that their daughters and granddaughters should not be forced to compete against boys. House Republicans are ready to act in the first weeks of next year’s legislative session to make clear that girls’ sports are for girls.”
Scientists uncover unexpected link between gray hair and deadly skin cancer
Why does hair turn gray? And how is that common hallmark of aging connected to a life-threatening disease?
A new study may have pinpointed how going gray is connected to one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.
Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, led by Dr. Emi K. Nishimura, found that pigment-producing stem cells in hair follicles respond to stress in dramatically different ways.
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Depending on their environment, those cells can either die off, which leads to gray hair, or survive and multiply in ways that could trigger melanoma, according to a university press release.
The findings were published Oct. 6 in the journal Nature Cell Biology.
The team studied melanocyte stem cells, the cells that give hair and skin their color, using mouse models and tissue samples. In exposing these cells to forms of stress that damage DNA — such as chemicals that mimic UV exposure — the scientists observed how the cells behaved inside their natural setting.
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Some of the cells responded to the damage by stopping their normal self-renewal process and turning into mature pigment cells that soon died. This left the hair without its source of color, producing graying.
But when the researchers altered the surrounding tissue to encourage cell survival, the damaged stem cells began dividing again instead of shutting down. Those surviving cells accumulated more genetic damage, and, in some cases, started behaving like cancer cells.
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Additional experiments showed that certain signals from the cells’ environment — including one molecule called KIT ligand, which promotes cell growth — helped determine which way the cells went, the release stated.
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In other words, the same kind of cell could either fade out harmlessly or become the seed of melanoma, depending on the cues it received from nearby tissue.
“It reframes hair graying and melanoma not as unrelated events, but as divergent outcomes of stem cell stress responses,” Nishimura said in the release.
Nishimura’s team described the process as a biological trade-off between aging and cancer, but that doesn’t mean gray hair prevents cancer.
“It reframes hair graying and melanoma not as unrelated events, but as divergent outcomes of stem cell stress responses.”
Instead, it shows that when pigment cells stop dividing and die off, it’s the body’s way of getting rid of damaged cells, the researchers noted. If that process doesn’t happen and the damaged cells stick around, they could turn into cancer.
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The study was conducted in mice, but its implications could help scientists understand why some people develop melanoma without obvious warning signs, and how the natural mechanisms of aging could actually protect against cancer.
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For now, the researchers say the discovery shows how finely balanced the body’s cellular responses are and how small changes in that balance can mean the difference between a harmless sign of aging and a life-threatening disease.