Rep. Tom Emmer calls for repeal of Minnesota’s trans refuge law after Annunciation shooting

MINNEAPOLIS — Rep. Tom Emmer is calling for Minnesota to repeal its transgender refuge law following the deadly Annunciation Catholic Church shooting.

The recent comments from Emmer, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House, comes as many conservatives continue to single out the transgender community in the wake of the shooting, blaming the shooter’s mental health as the root cause of the attack.

Law enforcement officials have identified Robin Westman, 23, as the shooter. According to court records, Westman’s mother applied to change her child’s name in 2019 because she identified as female. Westman also identified as as female on her 2023 driver’s license.

Passed in 2023, Minnesota’s transgender refuge law gives protection to transgender people and their families to seek gender affirming care in the state and avoid extradition orders and legal repercussions for doing so. It’s unknown what level of such care Westman could have received.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Maryland struggles with student absences: ‘We need to stop the bleeding’

BALTIMORE — State education leaders will start tracking student absences on a monthly basis, continuing their efforts to address the massive spike in absenteeism following COVID-19 school shutdowns.

“We need to stop the bleeding coming out of the pandemic,” Joshua Michael, president of the Maryland State Board of Education, said at a board meeting this week. “Every day matters for every kid.”

The Maryland State Board of Education aims to reduce chronic absenteeism — defined nationally as missing 10% or more of enrolled school days — by 15 percentage points over the next three years.

Individual school districts, including Baltimore City, where nearly half of students are chronically absent, have also been working on improving attendance, with the City Council resolving to study the issue earlier this year. But in Maryland and across the country, there’s still a lot of work to do.

—The Baltimore Sun

Cracker Barrel quietly deletes Pride page, drops DEI references from website

Cracker Barrel has quietly deleted a Pride page and removed references to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging employee resource groups from its website.

The changes, first reported by CNN, follow a highly publicized decision by the Tennessee-based restaurant chain to scrap a new logo after pressure from right-wing groups.

Until earlier this week, a page on the company’s website titled “Culture & Belonging” — designed to make “everyone (feel) at home at Cracker Barrel” — listed several employee-led resource groups that promoted Hispanic and Latino culture, empowered female employees and supported LGBTQ+ staff members, according to a Wayback Machine screengrab from Aug. 27.

It’s not clear exactly when the page was revamped, but when users now access it, all references to the employee groups have been removed. In another page, which appeared to be online from September 2020 through at least the end of last year, the company stated that “on behalf of Cracker Barrel’s LGBTQ+ Alliance & DEIB Team, we want to celebrate YOU for being YOU.”

—New York Daily News

Thailand faces deeper political turmoil as court ousts premier

Thailand was thrust into deeper political crisis after the country’s Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra for ethics violations, setting off political jostling for a third leader in two years.

The nine-member court said Paetongtarn violated constitutional provisions on ethical standards during a phone call in June with de facto Cambodian leader Hun Sen, when they discussed a border dispute between the countries. The judges said her remarks on the call, which were leaked, undermined the pride of the premiership and the nation while prioritizing her political interests. The 6-3 decision is final and not open to appeal.

Paetongtarn, 39, is the third member of the influential family of Thaksin Shinawatra to be forced from power before finishing a term, and throws into doubt an accommodation he reached with his rivals that kept his hands on the levers of power.

That deal, which helped him return to Thailand after 15 years in self-imposed exile, paved the way for his family-backed Pheu Thai Party to form a government with conservative groups, which had previously opposed him.

—Bloomberg News