High School Sports
Sheriff highlights drop in murders, addresses questions on new jail at JSO town hall
Sheriff T.K. Waters addresses public safety concerns and questions on jail at Jacksonville’s first town hall of 2025. The Jacksonville sheriff’s office held its first town hall of the year. Sheriff T.K. Waters shared the department’s priorities and progress. He heard directly from neighbors who shared their concerns. Traffic was one of the big topics […]


Sheriff T.K. Waters addresses public safety concerns and questions on jail at Jacksonville’s first town hall of 2025.
The Jacksonville sheriff’s office held its first town hall of the year. Sheriff T.K. Waters shared the department’s priorities and progress.
He heard directly from neighbors who shared their concerns. Traffic was one of the big topics there Tuesday tonight.
Many people voiced concerns about speeding and congestion in their community.
Waters and his team also addressed concerns about youth violence and drug activity and plans to move the city jail.
It was a packed room Tuesday night as residents in Jacksonville’s District 6 heard directly from Waters on how his agency is addressing public safety concerns.
“The importance of having these meetings face to face is to make sure your concerns are addressed,” said Sheriff Waters.
From 2023 to 2024, JSO said Jacksonville saw a 53.9% drop in murders, the biggest drop in years.
Waters credits proactive policing, community engagement and youth violence intervention strategies.
“Maybe we can stop them, maybe we can get them to change their direction and find something different to do with their lives so they can survive, so they don’t take someone else’s life and find themselves in prison for the rest of their lives,” said Waters.
An ongoing concern already being addressed by the sheriff’s office is traffic.
JSO is expanding its traffic enforcement unit in the future, growing from 34 traffic officers to 50 and going from 17 motor officers to 30.
Waters also addressed building a new jail in a new location, because he says the current jail is no longer sustainable.
“It has to get done at some point. We’re looking at a lot of different ways to get it done,” he said. “Our city council is involved, the mayor’s office is involved. It’s not a T.K. Waters project it’s a project that the city’s gonna have to undertake.”
As for the decline in murders and increase in cases solved, Sheriff Waters said it couldn’t have happened without the community’s help.
“This year our city has risen above the flawed perception that it is an epicenter of violent crime, because it is not,” said Sheriff Waters.
The next JSO town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 15th in district 5 at Trinity Baptist church on Hammond boulevard.
High School Sports
Vestavia Hills football coach frustrated by 2025 playoff schedule, transfers
In the second season of the revamped Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 7A state football playoffs, the opening round will match Region 3 against Region 2 – the Birmingham metro area vs. the Auburn-Phenix City-Montgomery area. Vestavia Hills head coach Robert Evans said the pairing will feature “probably the best eight teams in the […]

In the second season of the revamped Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 7A state football playoffs, the opening round will match Region 3 against Region 2 – the Birmingham metro area vs. the Auburn-Phenix City-Montgomery area.
Vestavia Hills head coach Robert Evans said the pairing will feature “probably the best eight teams in the state playing in the first round.”
He’s not a fan.
“If 2 and 3 matched up last year, Thompson would have played Central in the first round and not the championship,” Evans said on Monday on Day 1 of the AL.com Birmingham High School Football Media Days at Thompson High School. “That’s how crazy it is.”
Last season was the first that changed the traditional North vs. South setup that had Birmingham schools always playing Huntsville/North Alabama teams and the Auburn/Southeast Alabama squads playing the Mobile schools in the opening round.
Birmingham schools won three of four first-round games against teams from Mobile last season with only Hewitt-Trussville falling – by a field goal in two overtimes. The other Birmingham teams won by 21, 25 and 50 points.
In the three years before that, Birmingham schools beat Huntsville/North Alabama teams in every matchup – including the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds knocking off the top two seeds from North Alabama – with only one game’s margin being less than 18 points.
Of course, Thompson and Central-Phenix City have dominated the 7A championship games lately with the Warriors taking titles in 2024, 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019. Central won in 2023 and 2018. Hoover won the two championships before the Warriors-Red Devils run, both over Mobile’s McGill-Toolen.
So, what does Evans believe should happen? The fourth-year head coach and Vestavia alumnus said he agreed with head coach Mark Freeman of rival Thompson, who has advocated for a straight seeding of the 16 teams (of 32) who make the playoffs.
“We don’t agree on everything, but we do on that,” he said.
Evans also said he has high hopes for the AHSAA task force that is investigating non-compliant transfers.
“We have some high-end transfers coming in from throughout the state,” he said. “I want to see what will come from the task force led by Mr. (AHSAA executive director Heath) Harmon that is looking into what is essentially a transfer portal in Alabama high schools.
“We are truly a community-based program. There are so many talented kids in places like Alabaster, Hoover, Prattville who didn’t necessarily grow up there. That’s not a knock on anybody, not an accusation. When you have a good program, you attract players.”
Evans also said that Region 3 has “never been as loaded as it is this year” and that Vestavia Hills will “play the hardest schedule in the state with our non-region games.”
“We don’t complain. We don’t b—- and whine, we go right at it,” Evans said. “It’s a selling point to our parents. We embrace playing talented rosters with really good coaches. We want to challenge ourselves and play this region and Region 2 as well.”
Vestavia’s non-region schedule begins with the opener against Westside of Anderson, S.C., followed by Auburn, both at home. Westside was the No. 3 team in South Carolina last season with a 13-1 record and second at 14-1 in 2023. Auburn finished 10-1 last year. The Rebels’ final game of the season is at home against Montgomery Catholic, last season’s 14-0 Class 5A state champion.
“Teams like Stanford, Northwestern and Vanderbilt and when coach (David) Cutcliffe was at Duke are the teams I look to,” Evans said. “It’s very cyclical in nature for those teams. When those programs are humming, they are really good at the line of scrimmage and they play a quirky brand of football with smart stuff. That’s what we have to do at Vestavia and we hope to do it this year.
“We specialize in getting creative.”
The 2025 Rebels have five returning starters on offense, including junior quarterback Charlie Taaffe. Evans said junior Price Lamaster would also likely challenge for playing time at QB. Defensively, Vestavia Hills has four starters returning from a 6-6 team that lost in the second round of the playoffs to Central-Phenix City after whipping 9-2 Mary G. Montgomery in the playoff opener. The Rebels were fourth in Region 3 with a 4-3 mark.
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High School Sports
MVC ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT EARNS CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER AWARD
The Missouri Valley College athletic department has earned the NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Institution Award for their conduct in competition, in the classroom and in the community during the 2024-25 athletic year. In addition to the award, the athletic department was recognized as a COC Gold Institution, the highest honor for NAIA schools. The […]


The Missouri Valley College athletic department has earned the NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Institution Award for their conduct in competition, in the classroom and in the community during the 2024-25 athletic year. In addition to the award, the athletic department was recognized as a COC Gold Institution, the highest honor for NAIA schools.
The NAIA Champions of Character Five-Star Award was established to recognize NAIA institutions that focus on character, academics and positive conduct in competition. Schools earn points based on their involvement in those areas, including overall GPA, community service and outreach projects, character training and conduct during competitions.
Missouri Valley finished the 2024-25 school year with a perfect score of 100 out of 100 possible points, earning the Gold designation. Highlights from the NAIA Champions of Character scorecard includes various community service projects from multiple athletic teams, character and sportsmanship training by athletic staff, and embracing the five-core values the NAIA represents.
Missouri Valley has earned the Gold Award in eight of the past ten athletic years, and has been recognized as a Champions of Character institution each year since the program was established in 2000. This year, the school is one of 132 NAIA institutions to earn the Gold Award and a perfect COC score. A total of 11 institutions from the Heart of America Athletic Conference finished with a perfect scorecard. Missouri Valley also helped the Heart earn the Five-Star Conference Award.
College Sports
U23 Worlds Sunday
The U23 Worlds wrapped with the USA women’s eight winning a repeat silver, and saw the US in the running in all the big sweep boats. The W8’s charge into second place gave the squad three medals on the weekend: gold in the men’s four, silver in the women’s eight, and silver in the light […]

The U23 Worlds wrapped with the USA women’s eight winning a repeat silver, and saw the US in the running in all the big sweep boats. The W8’s charge into second place gave the squad three medals on the weekend: gold in the men’s four, silver in the women’s eight, and silver in the light men’s single.
Head here to read our report on Saturday’s medals in the four and light single.
The US men’s eight also made the A Final, and took fifth in the last race of the regatta. In that final, Britain won a sixth straight gold medal while New Zealand–who had not fielded an eight in eight years–stormed through the pack for a silver ahead of Germany.
USA M8 in the A Final
In all, the US put five of its nine crews into the A Finals this year, and the men’s quad made the AB semis before taking 10th overall in the B Final. Two of the others–the men’s pair and double–made the C finals, while the light men’s double was the odd boat out in a seven boat field and did not advance from the heats.
W8+ Wins Silver – ‘Friendship Moves Boats’
Not only did the women’s eight win silver, with a patient start and firm command of the middle thousand, but they added a 19th year to the nation’s medal-winning streak in this event. Since the W8+ became part of the U23 program in 2006, the USA has made the podium every time, for 11 golds, 4 bronzes and now 4 silvers.
Four of the women in the boat returned from the crew that kept the streak going last year: stroke Joely Cherniss, seven seat Áine Ley, five seat Natalie Hoefer, and four seat Kathryn Serra all collected a second silver in Poznan to add to the one they won a year ago in St. Catherines.
“Friendship moves boats,” was how coxswain Honor Warburg summed up in the race talking to USRowing after the race.
“It is an honor to race such a fast field and we wouldn’t have wanted any other competition,” Warburg added, when row2k caught up with her. “Our word of the race week was from Coach Gia Doonan. She told us to be ruthless out there.
“Second in the world is such a privilege,” Warburg said, “and a wonderful closing for these women. Our support on land, our teammates who pushed us, the coaches who inspired and everyone who has represented the United States of America. This is a race to be proud of.”
USA W8
Warburg, who coxes at Stanford and raced here on her first US team, told row2k that the key to the race was the crew’s base speed.
“We knew we were a middle thousand crew, and our goal was to execute a lethal base rhythm. With confidence and composure we trusted one another, just thinking about the stroke we were on.
As the race unfolded, Great Britain got away early to claim a repeat gold, but the US crew moved relentlessly through the field, and overtook a fast starting Canada to grab the silver medal.
“All summer, this boat has been working on improving each practice by one percent,” said Warburg. “We talked about how this race is just an opportunity to put the training together and have fun with it. I think we did exactly that. I’m so incredibly proud to be a part of this year and this moment.”
Six seat Ella Wheeler, making her debut at this next level after wining two golds as a U19 national teamer, talked about how the boat gelled through selection camp and training.
“It has been such a great experience coming together as a crew and I think every time we got in the boat at practice and even through the racing here we got better,” Wheeler said. “As a boat, I think we are really proud of our performance in the final.
“For my first time at Under 23s, it was super exciting being in a boat that was so hardworking and being pushed by our coach, Gia Doonan, who was so inspiring and helped us all grow as rowers.”
Dartmouth College’s Áine Ley echoed those thoughts, telling USRowing:
“We’ve talked about putting the pieces together for the last few weeks. This group has come so far, and I’m so proud of all of us.”
Staying on the Pathway, to Win
The US has been putting more emphasis on developing national team talent over time with its Pathways program: this year, fourteen athletes made at least their second U23 team and a few, like Ella Wheeler in the W8, were moving up from successful U19 appearances. In Poznan, Wheeler aded a U23 silver to the back-to-back golds she won in the U19 four with in 2022 and 2023.
Sam Sullivan, who helped the men’s four win the USA’s first ever gold on Saturday, told row2k that his experience as a returning athlete played a role in winning this time around.
“Last year Wil Morton and I had the experience in the 8, where we left disappointed after not following up our performance in the heat,” Sullivan said. “This year, throughout the rounds, we made sure that we stayed within our boat and stuck to what we knew we were best at no matter who we lined up against.
Men’s 4, with Morton second from left, Sullivan third from left
“We knew that the US had never won the straight four, so there were no huge expectations on our shoulders,” Sullivan added.
“Overall it was a great experience. The team, with us, the 8, the quad and lightweight single, pushed each other throughout training together in OKC and we were lucky to have an amazing coaching and support staff behind the scenes to set us up to take the gold.”
Notes from the Course
More Driver’s Seat Alums – Coxswains who do the row2k ‘In the Driver’s Seat’ Interview keep popping up on national teams (coincidence? Probably.) We did run an updated version of Elenna Seguin’s column last week when we saw she would be driving the USA M8 this year, and then we spotted another familiar face as the regatta got underway: Rutgers coxswain Victoria Grieder. Victoria–whose interview from 2023 you can read here–was in Poznan coxing the Canadian women’s eight. Both she and Rutgers got a name-checked by Martin Cross on the commentary in the final, just as she was looking across at the the German eight to lock up Canada’s bronze medal on Sunday.
Grieder, on left, with her bronze medal winning CAN eight
Too Shallow For Tossing – one last consequence of the low water level that we mentioned in Saturday’s report? Lake Malta was not deep enough for the officials to okay a cox toss by the British men at the end of the regatta. For all of the great problem-solving that made the regatta happen despite the water level, there wasn’t a work-around for this one, so the Brits will just have to try winning again next year in Duisburg–which looked plenty inviting both for racing and cox-tossing in the coverage from the World University Games this past weekend.
Streaky Brits – The British won both eights again this year, and while that is “just” a two-in-a-row repeat for the women, then men now have a six year winning streak that runs all the way back to 2019 (math thanks to COVID, of course, since there was no 2020 event.) Six seat Harry Geffen has a streak of his own: this was his fourth gold in four tries at U23, and he also has the full “set” of sweep golds, winning in the pair in ’23 and the four in ’24, to go along with two wins in the eight.
GBR’s M8, with Geffen bottom right
But Five Still Beats Four – With Aurelia-Maxima Janzen’s dominating win in the single–by ten seconds–the Swiss sculler now has 5 straight U23 medals, so she is one up on Geffen. Janzen now joins the USA’s Kendall Chase, a Tokyo Olympian, as the second individual to win five U23 medals. Chase won her five–all gold–in just three years, doubling up in 2014-2016; Janzen collected hers by medalling every time she raced U23s, racking up 2 golds and 3 silvers, and of course, qualifying for the Paris Games along the way.
SUI’s Janzen
High School Sports
Sights & Sounds
If you need help with the Public File, call (904) 393-9801 At WJXT, we are committed to informing and delighting our audience. In our commitment to covering our communities with innovation and excellence, we incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance our news gathering, reporting, and presentation processes. Read our article to see how we […]


If you need help with the Public File, call (904) 393-9801
At WJXT, we are committed to informing and delighting our audience. In our commitment to covering our communities with innovation and excellence, we incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance our news gathering, reporting, and presentation processes. Read our article to see how we are using Artificial Intelligence.
High School Sports
Freehill's Late Two
Story Links PLL at Barton (This Weekend) DENVER – The University of Denver men’s lacrosse program’s #ProPios continued the second half of the PLL season with its trip to Salt Lake City last weekend before this week’s focus moves to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to open the August schedule. TD Ierlan went 13-of-19 from the […]


DENVER – The University of Denver men’s lacrosse program’s #ProPios continued the second half of the PLL season with its trip to Salt Lake City last weekend before this week’s focus moves to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium to open the August schedule.
TD Ierlan went 13-of-19 from the stripe and picked up six ground balls in California’s one-goal win over Utah last Friday night.
On Saturday, Jack Hannah had a pair of goals and an assist, Alec Stathakis went 15-for-27 with four ground balls and Jimmy Freehill tied the clash with Carolina with a two-point goal with 3:55 remaining, but the Waterdogs lost in overtime.
The PLL returns to Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium next weekend for four games in three sessions across the opening weekend of the month. Tickets for the PLL’s return to the Mile High City are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
Week 9 PLL Recap – Salt Lake City, Utah
Friday, July 25
California (Ierlan) 9 vs. Utah 8
Ierlan: 13-19, 6GBs
Maryland (Squires) 8 vs. New York (Baptiste, Logan) 11
Squires: 1CT, 2GB
Baptiste: 7-22, 2GB
Logan: 1GB
Saturday, July 26
Philadelphia (Lampert, Hannah, DiBenedetto, Freehill, Stathakis) 14 vs. Carolina (Sillstrop) 15 (OT)
Hannah: 2G-1A-3P, 2GBs
Freehill: 1 2PTG, 1CT, 2GBs
Stathakis: 15-27, 4GBs
Sillstrop: 1GB
Week 10 PLL Schedule – Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium (Denver, Colo.) – All Games on ESPN+
Friday, August 1
Carolina (Sillstrop) vs. Denver – 6 p.m. MT
Philadelphia (Lampert, Hannah, DiBenedetto, Freehill, Stathakis) vs. Boston (Kelly) – 8:30 p.m. MT
Saturday, August 2
New York (Baptiste, Logan) vs. Denver – 11 a.m. MT – ABC
Maryland (Squires) vs. California (Ierlan) – 6 p.m. MT – ESPN+
#ProPios on 2025 Season Opening PLL 25-Man Rosters
Boston: Mic Kelly
California: Wes Berg, TD Ierlan
Carolina: Jackson Morrill, JJ Sillstrop
Denver: Eric Law
Maryland: Colin Squires
New York: Trevor Baptiste, Danny Logan
Philadelphia: Michael Lampert, Jack Hannah, Jack DiBenedetto, Jimmy Freehill, Alec Stathakis
Utah: Richie Connell
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High School Sports
Maine education chief told state's schools to ignore Trump's executive orders, emails show
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! EXCLUSIVE: Emails provided to Fox News Digital show Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin writing memos for all the state’s school districts after President Donald Trump began to make executive orders addressing public education. The opening months of Trump’s second term saw a highly publicized feud […]


NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
EXCLUSIVE: Emails provided to Fox News Digital show Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin writing memos for all the state’s school districts after President Donald Trump began to make executive orders addressing public education.
The opening months of Trump’s second term saw a highly publicized feud with Maine Gov. Janet Mills over the issue of trans athletes in girls’ sports.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Makin appeared to repeatedly undermine the impact of Trump’s orders on the state’s education protocols in emails and memos
“Dear Champions of Education, as executive orders continue to flow out of DC, there is increasing misinformation, disinformation, and confusion impacting our schools,” read Makin’s draft of a memo for all the state’s superintendents, in a Jan. 28 email, which was provided to Fox News Digital by the group Defending Education.
“Last week, we advised schools to adhere to the Maine Human Rights Act and your local school board policies related to nondiscrimination. We encourage you to continue to keep all people safe and we reiterate the fact that, at present, neither our state law nor your local policies are diminished by the executive orders directing action at the federal level.”
It continued, “Most of the executive orders pertain to federal agencies and federal laws over which Maine DOE has no authority.”
Two days later, Makin corresponded with Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster, with a draft of a memo to schools. The memo included orders to avoid complying with Trump’s “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” executive order.
“… this EO changes nothing for Maine schools,” part of an email discussing the memo wrote. The memo draft said “Maine schools should continue to follow the laws of our state and the provisions within their local policies.”
In Makin’s email, she suggested cutting paragraphs from the memo that summarized the actual goals of the executive order out of the memo.
Then, in a Jan. 31 email, Makin drafted another memo to superintendents and school leaders addressing the executive order.
“The Executive Order does not alter the obligations of schools under state law, including the Maine Human Rights Act, and does not require any immediate changes to locally adopted school board policies,” the memo read.
Maine became one of the first states to defy President Donald Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order
By defying Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order after it was signed on Feb. 5, the state allowed its winter girls’ track and field season to conclude with an infamous podium finish.
A transgender athlete from Greely High school won first place in the girls’ pole vault state championship on Feb. 17.
“I watched this male pole vaulter stand on the podium and we were all just like looking we were like ‘We’re pretty sure that’s not a girl. There’s no way that’s a girl,'” Presque Isle High School girls’ track athlete Hailey Himes previously told Fox News Digital. “It was really discouraging, especially for the girls on the podium not in first place. So that motivated me to fight for them.”
The incident quickly thrust the state into the national spotlight over the issue. A Feb. 19 email, which was sent between two members of the Maine Principal’s Association (MPA), whose names were redacted upon request of public records, made mention of another order that was sent from Makin’s department to all Maine schools.
“The MPA is following the Maine Department of Education’s priority notice that was sent out on Jan. 21st, 2025, instructing all schools in Maine to follow the Maine Human Rights Act,” the email, which had the subject line “TITLE IX,” read. The same message was circulated in another email between state education officials, whose identities were redacted upon a public records request, in early March.
Trump made it a point on Feb. 20 to call out Maine for allowing “men in women’s sports” during a White House Meeting of GOP Governors, vowing to cut funding to the state if it didn’t comply with his executive order. The very next day, on Feb. 21, during a bipartisan meeting of governors, Trump threatened to cut federal funding right to Mills’ face when she said she wouldn’t comply.
Earlier that morning, Makin sent a mass email to her Maine Department of Education colleagues, outlining impending defiance of Trump’s executive order, disregarding his threats of federal funding cuts.
“Last night, the President directly referenced the State of Maine, declaring his plan to withhold Federal funding from Maine because of reports that a transgender athlete is allowed to compete in high school sports,” the email read, giving more instructions to follow the Maine Human Rights Act.
“There are many congressional barriers and checks and balances of government that should prevent the president from acting on his statement.”
That same day, the superintendent of the school district that Greely High School is a part of, MSAD #51’s Jeff Porter, reached directly out to Makin, asking if the state would be changing its policies to follow Trump’s executive order. Makin’s response was redacted upon a public records request.
In the waning hours of that afternoon on the 21st of February, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would be launching a Title IX investigation against the state.
Tension intensified over the following weeks
In the first week of March, Makin was involved in an email chain with the Maine Education director of communications, and director of special projects, after an employee at Freeport High School sent a request for Makin.
Freeport High School’s girls’ track team came in second place to Greely High School at the girls’ track and field championships that the trans athlete competed in. The trans athlete’s pole vault victory was pivotal in deciding the team finishes. However, the Freeport employee didn’t appear to directly reference that incident in the email.
“Many educators are shaken and feeling vulnerable,” the employee wrote.
“Hearing from you that we will stand together as a community would be a gift to Maine educators. I would like to hear in particular that the Maine DOE will offer support to any school or district targeted for investigation as a result of reports of ‘divisive ideologies and indoctrination’ or ‘illegal discriminatory practices at institutions of learning.’”
The email also referenced an apparent video Makin delivered at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which the employee claims helped boost morale.
The Education director of Special Projects wrote, in correspondence with Makin while discussing whether to honor the request, that they had received another request from Freeport.
“My vote is that the field needs to hear from you… they need reassurance from their leader and the silence is not helpful… we got another one over weekend from Freeport,” the director of special projects wrote.
However, the director of communication argued that more responsibility should land directly with Mills to communicate with the schools.
“My opinion is that a bigger conversation with the Governor’s Office regarding communication to the field could be beneficial to us all,” the director of communication wrote.
Makin responded, writing “None of that could be done without the [governor’s office] first giving approval… I hope they will allow her to do something before she gets to the TOY Gala on Saturday.”
It is unclear if Makin or Mills ever ended up fulfilling the Freeport employee’s request.
Behind the scenes of the Laurel Libby censure
The past controversy involving the Greely High School athlete had a wide-ranging ripple effect on the state’s congress. Maine GOP state Rep. Laurel Libby was censured by the Democrat majority for a social media post that publicized the Greely student who won the girls’ pole vault title in February.
Libby later filed a lawsuit that went all the way up to the Supreme Court over the censure.
The Supreme Court ordered the state legislature to restore Libby’s voting rights in May. However, her speaking rights were still withheld until Maine House Assistant Majority Leader Lori Gramlich, a Democrat, proposed Libby’s speaking rights be restored on June 25. The resolution passed by a whopping vote of 115-16, despite previously voting 75-70 to censure Libby months earlier.
Emails obtained by Fox News Digital from Gramlich’s inbox show multiple self-described Democrat Libby constituents lambasting her and the party’s handling of Libby’s censure before Gramlich.
“I am a lifelong Democrat who first worked for Eugen McCarthy’s Presidential bid,” one email wrote to Gramlich, Fecteau, later adding, “Depriving Libby of her voice and her vote does not punish her. She and the GOP love it…
“Depriving her of her voice and vote is unethical, as it punishes her constituents. You have removed MY representative in the house. Depriving Libby of her voice and vote is the best thing that can happen to her in a long time. She is advancing her public profile dramatically, not just locally but statewide and nationally by playing the victim and claiming the role of protector of girls and women.”
Another email from another of Libby’s constituents wrote, “I believe that supporting women in government must include supporting women with differing opinions. Silencing an elected official for expressing a viewpoint — even a controversial one — sets a concerning precedent for both free speech and fair representation.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Gramlich’s and Fecteau’s offices to ask why they voted to restore Libby’s speaking rights.
On June 8, Libby and the Maine AG’s office agreed to drop the censure lawsuit. Libby provided a statement to Fox News Digital one day earlier on June 7, addressing her decision not to contest the AG ruling her lawsuit moot after her rights were restored.
“While the Attorney General now claims this case is moot, make no mistake—this is only because House Democrats backed down in the face of legal defeat. They rescinded the unconstitutional restrictions on my voting and speaking rights, and more importantly, they’ve put in writing that those restrictions cannot be reimposed for the same reasons in the future,” Libby said.
“I will not contest the AG’s mootness argument—but only because the constitutional rights of my constituents have now been restored and the leadership has formally abandoned the punishment they once insisted was justified.”
The damage was already done to the state’s political landscape
The state is now in a lawsuit against the DOJ after refusing to make an agreement to comply with Trump’s demands on protecting girls’ sports.
Residents organized multiple protests and marches on the state’s capitol building in Augusta over the issue, wielding signs that echoed the messages of a national movement to “save girls’ sports.” Many of the protesters were girls’ high school sports athletes like Himes, who marched on the capital to lobby for a state-level bill to keep girls’ sports exclusively female in early May.
Trump’s administration made multiple funding pauses to the state over the issue of trans athletes, which were later rescinded. The first was to the state’s university system, UMS, on March 11. That pause ended after a Title IX compliance review. The second pause came on April 2, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut funding to all Maine public schools. That pause ended on May 2.
Amid the chaos, some school districts in the state even went out of their way to defy Mills and Makin, to comply with Trump on the issue.
MSAD #70, in mid-April, and RSU #24, in early May, each passed localized resolutions that ensured only females were allowed in girls’ sports.
Still, the state’s high school sports season in 2025 saw another transgender athlete for North Yarmouth Academy compete against girls in Nordic skiing and track and field.
The state’s tornado of national attention came to a lull in early June when the school year and high school sports season ended. The trans athlete for Greely High School that thrust the state into chaos months earlier did not show up to compete in the girls’ state finals on June 10.
Now, the state has a fall sports season to worry about in the coming months and a trial date with the DOJ in January as the state’s Democratic leaders remain defiant of Trump. All the while, data suggests the state’s residents don’t support current policies.
A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”
The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls’ sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with children under age 18.
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“The Maine Department of Education is captured by activists who want to project their troubling ideology onto children, regardless of the unfairness or even danger this poses to young girls. If Maine’s officials truly cared about their athletes, they would have already reversed course years ago. Unfortunately, this is about pushing a dangerous ideology above all else,” Defending Education’s Casey Ryan told Fox News Digital of his opinion on Makin’s handling of the situation.
Defending Education Outreach Director Erika Sanzi told Fox News Digital, “It’s bad enough when an individual school is teeming with gender ideologues but when the state’s department of education is also overrun with these activists, the well-being of students is at much greater risk.”
Now, more than five months after Makin’s initial guidance to Maine schools to defy Trump, the state’s conflict with the White House may only just be beginning. And that defiance may not have even represented the desires of most Mainers to begin with.
Additionally, because of that defiance that Makin helped stoke initially, Libby’s rise could foreshadow a wide-ranging impact on the state’s political balance of power in the 2026 midterms and Maine’s gubernatorial election.
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