TOPEKA — An effort to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports failed Thursday after the House fell short on an attempt to override Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of the bill.

The bill, a subject of significant debate the past two sessions, garnered 81 votes in favor, falling short of the 84 required a two-thirds majority vote to overturn the veto. On Tuesday, the Senate voted 28-10 to override Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 160.

The House can reconsider the vote Thursday or the next day the body meets.

Republicans argue the bill is the best way to ensure fairness. They said transgender athletes in women’s sports have an unfair advantage compared with those assigned the female gender at birth. Opponents of the measure, predominantly Democrats, say the bill is hateful and political.

But as legislators returned for veto session, the debate about transgender identities shifted to new extremes. Rep. Stephanie Byers, a Wichita Democrat and the first transgender Kansas legislator, said the override vote was a decision between accepting and rejecting transgender Kansans’ identities.

Read more: https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/04/28/kansas-house-fails-to-override-gov-s-veto-of-anti-trans-youth-sports-bill/

D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine said his office is investigating the practices of the Washington Commanders and owner Dan Snyder amid allegations of misconduct.

Snyder is accused of sexual harassment, fostering a volatile work environment, and dubious ticket sales practices. As a result of an NFL investigation, Snyder handed over the day-to-day operation of the franchise to his wife Tanya months ago.

“The disturbing details of misconduct by the Washington Commanders and Dan Snyder that we’ve seen in extensive public reporting are deeply troubling,” the attorney general said Monday, WTOP reported. “No one should face mistreatment at work and no organization can evade the law.”

Racine said his office is in possession of over half a million pages of documents from the Commanders and the NFL presently and he expects more in the future.

Read more: https://www.washingtoninformer.com/d-c-ag-launches-probe-of-washington-commanders-snyder/

There are decades of governmental experience and public service among them. Connections they’ve established with voters and relationships with powerful allies have deep roots. Millions in campaign donations are flowing their way.

Maryland’s 10-man field is set in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor. But in such a crowded pack of viable candidates, the race is anything but settled less than three months before the July 19 primary.

The Democratic candidates — more than half of them reasonably well-funded or boasting substantial political résumés — are vying to be the party’s nominee with hopes of retaking the governorship after eight years under Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who is finishing his second and final term.

Fundraising hauls, recent sniping among the candidates and a smattering of internal campaign polls point to a few potential leading candidates — but also highlight just how fractured the field remains. Traditional party power brokers haven’t coalesced behind a front-runner because none has emerged. Instead, the candidates in a relatively deep field of potential contenders are still trying to build wider bases of support and break from the pack.

Read more: https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-gov-race-opener-20220501-6bbzauweszgnxp5g5lsjsccsxq-story.html

The U.S. Treasury Department will replace its main currency-printing plant in Washington, D.C. with a new facility in Beltsville, Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. announced on Wednesday.

The government will construct a new Bureau of Engraving and Printing production facility on the current site of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Prince George’s County.

The “environmentally conscious production facility” will produce paper currency and other federal security products, Hogan (R) said in a news release.

Bureau spokeswoman Lydia Washington said the 104-acre site was transferred from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Treasury Department on Monday.

Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/04/28/u-s-department-of-the-treasury-to-print-currency-at-new-plant-in-beltsville/

In light of recent federal policy changes, Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City) and Del. Anne R. Kaiser (D-Montgomery) are urging the Department of Health to redesign its Medicaid policy surrounding health care for transgender Marylanders.

Washington and Kaiser wrote to Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader in early April, saying that the state is at risk of being sued for violating nondiscrimination provisions under the Affordable Care Act. That’s because the current policy covers only a small set of gender-affirming procedures, and includes several exclusions and a long list of criteria that must be met to receive covered services.

“We strongly urge the Department to develop a new policy in line with legal requirements and defined by clinical best-practices in providing gender-affirming healthcare to our transgender population,” they wrote.

On a call Friday afternoon, Washington said the letter was her way of ensuring she did her “due diligence in exploring all pathways in getting this done.”

Read more: https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/04/30/lawmakers-push-health-department-to-expand-medicaid-coverage-for-transgender-health-care/

Guardian News

The MP for Tiverton and Honiton initially resisted calls to resign after saying he may have opened pornography on his phone ‘by mistake’. In an interview with BBC Southwest Parish revealed that he had mistakenly opened a pornography website after looking for a website related to tractors, but did admit to revisiting the site intentionally later.