Reporting the news

I don’t know what to make of this so I’ll just report it: The Oklahoma Bar Association and the Oklahoma Supreme Court last week co-sponsored an event worth three hours of continuing legal education credit.

The event was a free showing of “My Cousin Vinny” followed by a panel discussion moderated by the chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

The movie was two hours. The discussion was scheduled for an hour and a quarter.

The panel included two other judges, a district attorney and the principal chief of the Osage Nation.

Do you get the feeling they’re at the end of the school year and the teacher wanted to kill some time by showing a movie?

Lesson plans are exhausting.

By the way, I recommend perusing some of the other Oklahoma options in the “general” category. My favorite is the four hours of credit you can get by paying $300 for “A Comedic De-Briefing of the Law: 2022-2023,” taught by someone from “Comedian of Law, LLC.”

You get the CLE credit even though the course comes with a “disclaimer” that the bar association had nothing to do with the material presented and “makes no warranty, express or implied, relating to the accuracy or content of these materials.”

I’m guessing there’s not going to be a test.

Comedy news. I don’t know what to make of this either, so I’ll just report it, too: The company that produces “Last Week Tonight” last week sued the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failing to turn over documents relating to the use of the song “God Bless the USA” at naturalization ceremonies.

I can understand legitimate comedic requests. The odd part for me is the response, at least as described in the lawsuit, from the defendants. They claimed they needed an extra 10 days to comply because the request presented “unusual circumstances.” The 10 days ended on June 8. No response as of last week.

In case you’re wondering, the original request was made in April, before the writers strike began. Entertainment lawyers are not striking. At least not yet.

I suppose the request is unusual but it doesn’t seem all that complicated either. Is there a scandal here they’re hiding? Does this have something to do with national security?

Why is it on the “complex” track?

You also may be wondering about the comedy expose angle for “Last Week.”

 Is subjecting potential new citizens to cheesy, jingoistic music a form of torture that we need to know about?

That’s plausible, but there might be a clue about another issue in the lawsuit. The complaint said Justice’s Office of Information and Policy had 1,163 pending complex requests at the end of 2022. They’d been pending an average of 619.66 days. Justice’s Civil Division had another 133 pending.

The immigration services agency, according to the suit, listed the song info request as number 939 out of 1,106 pending requests.

Someone needs to file a Freedom of Information Act request for documents relating to the granting of FOIA requests. If nothing else, I’d like to know how many requests come from comedy shows.

I’m hoping for answers once the writers strike is over.

from Courthouse News

Big 12 not quite the same, but it feels like home to a 98-year-old Colorado fan

(AP) — Peggy Coppom hasn’t quite seen it all with the Colorado Buffaloes, but she’s seen much more than most, so believe her when she says Thursday was a good day to be a fan.

The 98-year-old has been attending football games since her family moved from the high plains of eastern Colorado to Boulder in 1939 to escape the Dust Bowl, and she’s missed only a couple of home games since buying season tickets in 1966.

The excitement in her voice was obvious during a phone call minutes after university regents approved the school’s return to the Big 12 in 2024.

“I’m so happy to get back to the Big 12 — or the Big 15 or whatever it ends up being,” she said, laughing. “It seems like that’s where we belong. We don’t belong with the West Coast people.”

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Of course, the Big 12 isn’t the same league it was when the Buffs left for the Pac-12 in 2012. Nebraska and Missouri are gone, and Oklahoma and Texas will be, too. BYU could become a rival, but the Buffs have little in common with Cincinnati, Houston and Central Florida.

“I wish some of those old schools were there, but we’ll make the best of it,” Coppom said.

The conference change, plus the hiring of Deion Sanders, has her eagerly anticipating watching the Buffs from her seats near the 40-yard line on the west side of Folsom Field — “God willing, I always have to add,” she said.

Coppom, carrying a gold pom-pom, was escorted onto the field by Sanders and performed a ceremonial kickoff during the spring game in April. Coppom said Sanders and the return to the Big 12 have created the most buzz about the team since it won a share of the national championship in 1990.

Former CU fullback Jim Kelleher, who was second in the Big Eight with 15 rushing touchdowns in 1976, said he’s in wait-and-see mode about the move.

“I originally wasn’t that excited about it, but at the same time, the Pac-12 had let things get to such a point where you had to do something,” he said. “The Big 12 signed a good media rights agreement. It’s just sad the Pac-12 hasn’t been able to get a TV contract.”

Kelleher said that while Colorado will get exposure across three time zones, which is a positive, he’s sad to see how traditions and geographic rivalries have been sacrificed with realignment in general.

Specific to Colorado, he said, the Buffs seemed to be a good fit in the Pac-12. He said his sentimental attachment to the Big 12 won’t be there without Nebraska and other teams he played against in the old Big Eight.

“Whether it’s the school or the individual athletes — with TV and NIL — it’s all money, money, money,” he said. “I understand their decision. Hey, I’m part of the Colorado team, so I’m for my team and hope it works out.”

Tom Osborne, the College Football Hall of Fame coach at Nebraska and its former athletic director, shepherded the Cornhuskers’ move from the Big 12 to Big Ten in 2011. He said he’s able to view past, present and future realignment from the perspective of both a fan and administrator.

“You’re talking about lost traditions,” Osborne said. “I can share the feelings of the fans in that I miss those drives to Manhattan, Kansas; Lawrence, Kansas; Ames, Iowa, and some of those relationships.”

Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten had as much or more to do with finding stability as it did with finances, Osborne said. In the summer of 2011, Osborne said, Big 12 South teams were negotiating with the Pac-12, Missouri wanted to go to the SEC and Texas A&M also was looking to leave.

“Finances are driving this thing more than anything, and my guess is that the uncertainty about where the Pac-12 stands right now appears to make the Big 12 better for Colorado — even though the Big 12 has not been a paragon of stability.”

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By ERIC OLSON AP College Football Writer

from Courthouse News

Colorado leaving Pac-12 and returning to Big 12 in 2024 following unanimous vote by board of regents

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Colorado is leaving the Pac-12, and the Big 12 is ready to welcome the Buffaloes back to the conference they left a dozen years ago.

Colorado’s board of regents voted 9-0 in a special remote meeting Thursday to approve the conference switch in 2024.

“The landscape of collegiate sports is ever-evolving, and the University of Colorado Boulder has determined the Big 12 is the best future fit for our athletic teams,” school President Todd Saliman said.

“After careful thought and consideration, it was determined that a switch in conference would give CU Boulder the stability, resources, and exposure necessary for long-term future success in a college athletics environment that is constantly evolving,” CU Chancellor Philip DiStefano said in a joint statement with Athletic Director Rick George.

“The Big 12’s national reach across three time zones as well as our shared creative vision for the future we feel makes it an excellent fit for CU Boulder, our students, faculty, and alumni,” DiStefano said, adding, “These decisions are never easy and we’ve valued our 12 years as proud members of the Pac-12 Conference. We look forward to achieving new goals while embarking on this exciting next era as members of the Big 12 Conference.”

While some of the regents expressed disappointment about leaving the Pac-12, they said the shifting sports landscape left CU no option but to rejoin the conference where they were a founding member in 1996.

The Buffs actually joined the Big Six conference in 1947 and remained with the expanded league for 63 years as it eventually grew into the Big 12.

Colorado will join the Big 12 in 2024 and becomes the third school to leave the Pac-12 in the last year, joining UCLA and USC, which are joining the Big Ten next year.

Big 12 presidents and chancellors voted unanimously Wednesday night to accept Colorado as a new member, clearing the way for the school to leave the Pac-12 and rejoin its former league, a person with knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Big 12 was not making its expansion plans public. ESPN first reported the vote.

Colorado still needs to go through a formal process on its campus in Boulder and officially accept membership.

Pac-12 presidents and chancellors, athletic directors and Commissioner George Kliavkoff were scheduled to convene Thursday to discuss the next moves for the conference, two people with knowledge of the meeting told AP on condition of anonymity because the conference is not making its internal moves public.

Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark has spoken for months about his desire to expand the conference and add schools in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. A second person familiar with the Big 12’s expansion aspirations, also speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP the school and league have been in contact for more than a month about a potential departure from the Pac-12.

Colorado’s departure could lead to more defections from the Pac-12, which has seemed vulnerable to more poaching after losing USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and with negotiations for a new media rights contract dragging on. Current deals with ESPN and Fox expire after this school year.

The Los Angeles schools are in their last go-round as Pac-12 members this year. With contractual agreements running out, the Buffaloes are positioned to rejoin the Big 12; the league last year came to an agreement with ESPN and Fox on a six-year extension worth more than $2 billion that runs through 2030-31.

Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff had said at football media days last week that the 10 remaining conference members were committed to staying together. Text messages to Kliavkoff and Colorado athletic director Rick George were not returned.

Colorado was an original member of the Big 12 in 1996, and joined the Pac-12 in 2011. The Buffaloes’ football team has had only one winning record over a full season since joining the Pac-12, and went 1-11 last year, leading to the hiring of former NFL star Deion Sanders.

The Big 12 has 14 members this year, but Texas and Oklahoma are leaving for the Southeastern Conference next year. The second person familiar with the Big 12’s discussions said the conference would ideally like to expand to 16 schools with Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado all coming over from the Pac-12 to create a Western wing of the league.

Big 12 leadership has also discussed the possibility of trying to add UConn, which won the men’s NCAA basketball tournament earlier this year, and Gonzaga, a basketball powerhouse that does not have a football team, the person said. The Big 12 has been the strongest men’s basketball conference in the country over the last few seasons, and Yormark has said he believes the sport could be a source of untapped value in future media rights deals.

Although the Big 12 landscape is different than it was when Colorado was last a member, the Buffaloes have several rivalries to renew.

“Iowa State is thrilled to welcome the University of Colorado back into the Big 12 Conference,” Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said. “The Cyclones and Buffaloes enjoyed a spirited rivalry for more than 60 years in the Big 7, Big 8 and early years of the Big 12, so we are excited to resume competing with them next year.

“This great news for the Big 12 Conference would not have been possible without Commissioner Yormark’s vision as well as the hard work by former Commissioner (Bob) Bowlsby in bringing BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston on board as members in 2023-24. The Big 12 brand has never been stronger, and I believe great days are ahead for our conference.”

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By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Sports Writer

AP College Football Writers Ralph D. Russo and Eric Olson contributed to this report.

from Courthouse News

High school student who sat in Pence’s chair during Capitol riot is sentenced to 1 year in prison

WASHINGTON (AP) — A high school student who stormed the U.S. Capitol, assaulted a police officer and sat in a Senate floor chair reserved for the vice president was sentenced on Wednesday to one year in prison.

Georgia resident Bruno Joseph Cua was 18 when he attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, making him one of the youngest people charged in the riot.

Before learning his sentence, Cua apologized for his actions and told U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss that he is ashamed of his role in a mob’s “attack on democracy.”

“Everything that day was just one terrible decision after another,” said Cua, now 21.

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Moss sentenced Cua to a prison term of one year and one day followed by three years of supervised release. The judge convicted Cua of felony charges after a trial earlier this year.

Moss told Cua that he was prepared to give him a longer prison sentence before he heard his statement in court on Wednesday. The judge said he believes Cua is truly remorseful.

“It’s a tragic case for the country. It’s a tragic case for you and your family,” the judge told him. “There are no winners in any of this.”

More than 1,000 people have been charged with Jan. 6-related crimes. Cua is one of at least six Capitol riot defendants born in 2002, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.

Cua’s attorneys cited his youth as grounds for leniency. His actions on Jan. 6 “reflect his immaturity at the time and the effects that the crowd had on such a young person,” defense attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Around the time of the riot, Cua was finishing online coursework to graduate from high school. Prosecutors said Cua’s age is “only slightly” a mitigating factor in his favor.

“Americans who reach the age of 18 are entrusted with several important responsibilities and duties including voting, joining the military, signing a contract, and serving on a jury. In this way, the law recognizes that an 18-year-old is capable of making mature decisions,” they wrote in a court filing.

Justice Department prosecutor Kaitlin Klamann said at least five Capitol riot defendants were younger than Cua on Jan. 6. Two of the five have resolved their cases and avoided prison terms. Both pleaded guilty to misdemeanor offenses and were sentenced to probation.

Cua planned his attack weeks in advance, brought weapons to the Capitol, tried to terrorize congressional staffers and was repeatedly aggressive toward police, prosecutors said.

They added, “Cua played a unique and prominent role on January 6, opening the Senate Chamber to the rioters, escalating confrontations, and leading other rioters into and through the Capitol.”

Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of four years and nine months for Cua. His lawyers asked the judge to sentence him to time served: the 40 days he spent in jail after his February 2021 arrest.

Cua said he was “scarred to my core” by his jail time. Another inmate assaulted Cua while he was jailed in Oklahoma, according to one of his lawyers.

“I did something stupid to land myself there, but it was traumatizing,” Cua said.

Other young rioters have received prison terms. In March, for example, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton sentenced Aiden Bilyard to three years and four months of incarceration. Bilyard, of Cary, North Carolina, also was 18 when he stormed the Capitol, pepper sprayed a line of police officers and used a bat to break into a Capitol conference room.

Cua and his parents drove from their home in Milton, Georgia, to Washington D.C., arriving a day before then-President Donald Trump spoke at his “Stop the Steal” rally. The Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Cua was armed with pepper spray and a metal baton — weapons given to him by his father — when rioters breached police lines on the west side of the Capitol, according to prosecutors. After climbing scaffolding, Cua entered the building through the Upper West Terrace doors and and walked down a hallway toward the Senate.

“As Cua walked down the hallway, he tried to open every single office door he passed by pulling on doorknobs, pounding on the doors with his fist, and kicking the doors,” prosecutors wrote.

They said Cua intended to intimidate staffers who were behind the doors as he yelled, “Hey! Where are the swamp rats hiding?”

Cua went to the third floor, where he shoved a Capitol police officer who was trying to lock doors to the Senate gallery. After the officer retreated, Cua entered the gallery, shouting “This is our house! This is our country!” Jumping onto the Senate floor, he sat in the chair for then-Vice President Mike Pence, leaned back and propped his feet up on a desk.

Then he opened a door, allowing dozens of other rioters onto the Senate floor. Before leaving, Cua rifled through desks belonging to Senators Charles Grassley, John Thune and Dianne Feinstein.

Moss decided the case against Cua without a jury in February, convicting him of obstructing the Jan. 6 congressional proceeding and assaulting a federal officer. The judge handed down the verdict after a “stipulated bench trial,” a proceeding in which Cua didn’t contest the facts supporting his convictions. He waived his right to a jury trial.

Prosecutors asked Moss to impose a $23,485 fine, which equals the amount of money raised by an online fundraising campaign called “Bruno Cua: An American’s Future at Stake.” The website said the funds will be used for Cua’s “many expenses in his pursuit of his freedom.”

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By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press

from Courthouse News

Gorsuch pauses tribal jurisdiction fight over speeding ticket

WASHINGTON (CN) — On Wednesday, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch temporarily halted an appellate ruling over a speeding ticket that could set up the next fight over tribal sovereignty.

The Trump appointee granted a temporary stay until Aug. 2 to allow the court time to consider an emergency application from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The city asked the high court to clarify how a 125-year-old law should be applied under new precedents from the high court.

Just the latest fight over tribal sovereignty in Oklahoma, the dispute arises from a speeding ticket. Justin Hooper, a member of the Choctaw Nation and an Oklahoma citizen, is fighting a 2018 infraction he incurred while driving in Tulsa on the Muscogee Creek Nation reservation. Hooper originally paid the ticket, but after the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma, he tried to get post-conviction relief from the city of Tulsa’s municipal court.

In McGirt, the court reclassified large swaths eastern Oklahoman land, part of the Creek Nation before the Trail of Tears, for the purpose of the federal Major Crimes Act. This meant that Oklahoma could not prosecute Indians or non-Indians for crimes committed there.

Only two years later, the court would limit that watershed ruling protecting tribal authority in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, finding that the federal government and the state held concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Indians against Indians in Indian country.

Hooper’s request for post-conviction relief based on McGirt was denied, leading him to appeal to the district court. He requested a declaratory judgment that the city of Tulsa does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Indians for violations of city ordinances that occur within both city limits and Muscogee Creek Reservation boundaries.

The district court dismissed the suit under the 1898 Curtis Act. A provision of this law established a pre-statehood process for cities that said city inhabitants — both Indians and non-Indians — were subject to all laws and ordinances of the city government.

The 10th Circuit reversed. The city of Tulsa incorporated this provision of the Curtis Act prior to joining the state of Oklahoma. According to the appellate court, when Tulsa joined Oklahoma, it gave up this authority. 

Now the city is asking the justices to sort out how the Curtis Act should be understood in light of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings. 

“While the Curtis Act is not new law, the question of application of the act to modern day enforcement of municipal ordinances against Indians was not brought to the forefront until this Court’s decision in McGirt turned over 125 years of jurisdictional suppositions and exposed this long-dormant question,” Kristine Gray, an attorney with the office of the city of Tulsa, wrote in the city’s emergency application. 

According to the city, if the mandate were to go into effect, Tulsa would be unable to enforce its own laws. 

“The effect of this decision is that the City of Tulsa, and other similar cities throughout eastern and southern Oklahoma, cannot enforce municipal ordinances against Indian inhabitants who violate them within City limits,” Gray wrote. 

The 10th Circuit’s mandate was scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday but will now be delayed until the high court resolves the application.

Gorsuch ordered tribal nations involved in the case to file a response brief by July 31.

from Courthouse News

Oklahoma executes a man for the 1995 butcher knife slaying of a Tulsa woman

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for stabbing a Tulsa woman to death with a butcher knife in 1995 after his escape from a prison work center.

Jemaine Cannon, 51, received a lethal injection at 10:01 a.m. and was pronounced dead 12 minutes later at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. It was the second execution in Oklahoma this year and the ninth since the state resumed lethal injections in 2021.

Cannon was convicted of killing 20-year-old Sharonda Clark, a mother of two with whom Cannon had been living at an apartment in Tulsa after his escape weeks earlier from a prison work center in southwest Oklahoma. Cannon had been serving a 15-year sentence for the violent assault of another woman who suffered permanent injuries after prosecutors say Cannon raped her and beat her viciously with a claw hammer, iron and kitchen toaster.

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A federal appeals court late Wednesday denied Cannon’s last-minute appeal seeking a stay of execution in which Cannon claimed, among other things, that he was Native American and not subject to Oklahoma jurisdiction. Asked if he had any last words, Cannon said: “Yes, I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Therefore I am saved. Thank you.”

Cannon was executed on the same day that Alabama planned to execute James Barber for the 2001 beating death of a woman. It would be Alabama’s first lethal injection after a pause in executions following a string of problems with inserting the IVs.

Clark’s eldest daughter, Yeh-Sehn White, and Clark’s sister, Shaya Duncan, witnessed Cannon’s execution and described it as peaceful.

“In my opinion, he died in a very favorable way,” White said. “Unfortunately my mom did not have that opportunity.”

Cannon claimed at a clemency hearing before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board last month that he killed Clark in self-defense.

“I am deeply disheartened that the act of defending my life and the acts that she initiated against me ever happened,” Cannon told the board via a video feed from the state penitentiary.

Cannon’s attorney, Mark Henricksen, also told the panel that Cannon’s trial and appellate attorneys were ineffective for not presenting evidence to support that claim. His trial attorneys presented no witnesses or exhibits and rested after prosecutors presented their case, Henricksen said.

In a statement sent to The Associated Press this week, Henricksen said the state’s decision to proceed with Cannon’s execution amounted to “historic barbarism.”

“Mr. Cannon has endured abuse and neglect for fifty years by those charged with his care,” Henricksen said. “He sits in his cell a model prisoner. He is nearly deaf, blind, and nearing death by natural causes. The decision to proceed with this particular execution is obscene.”

But White and prosecutors from the attorney general’s office urged the state to execute Cannon, and the board rejected clemency on a 3-2 vote..

Oklahoma uses a three-drug lethal injection protocol beginning with the sedative midazolam, followed by the paralytic vecuronium bromide and finally potassium chloride, which stops the heart. The state had one of the nation’s busiest death chambers until problems in 2014 and 2015 led to a de facto moratorium.

Richard Glossip was just hours from being executed in September 2015 when prison officials realized they received the wrong lethal drug. It was later learned that the same wrong drug had been used to execute an inmate in January 2015.

The drug mix-ups followed a botched execution in April 2014 in which inmate Clayton Lockett struggled on a gurney before dying 43 minutes into his lethal injection — and after the state’s prisons chief ordered executioners to stop.

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Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg contributed to this report.

By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press

from Courthouse News

San Diego State to remain in Mountain West, receive $6.6M initially withheld after decision to leave

LAS VEGAS (AP) — San Diego State not only remains in the Mountain West, the Aztecs are getting the money that was withheld after they initially informed the conference of their intention to leave.

The Mountain West will provide the $6.6 million that was withheld, but San Diego State is responsible for paying the conference’s legal fees associated with the matter, first-year commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Wednesday at the conference’s football media days.

“I think my overarching philosophy to the entire thing is San Diego State is a positive to the Mountain West,” Nevarez said. “We are better with San Diego State, and I feel good about where we landed.”

Nevarez, however, knows this could be a temporary arrangement and acknowledged the Aztecs could still leave at some point should the Pac-12 or Big 12 come calling. They are committed for the next two years.

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When asked if the Mountain West had staved off any defections or raids, she said, “I mean today, yeah. Tomorrow? Who knows, right? It’s constantly changing, but I really feel good about where we are as a league and keeping San Diego State for this year. And even if it’s just another year, that’s just good for (the conference).”

The Aztecs are the conference power in basketball and earlier this year made the national championship game before losing to UConn. They also are usually one of the top contenders for the league football title, having gone at least .500 for 13 consecutive seasons, posting winning records 12 of those years.

“Based on what they did in basketball this year and what they’ve done in football over the years, they’re good for the conference,” UNLV athletic director Erick Harper said. “For us, selfishly, when they come here, our crowds are better whether it’s football or basketball.”

San Diego State President Adela de la Torre wrote a letter last month that the university intended to resign from the conference, but asked for a one-month extension because the exit fee would have roughly doubled to about $34 million. The Aztecs didn’t have an invitation from the Pac-12, though that league is believed to have San Diego State on its expansion list with USC and UCLA leaving after this year for the Big Ten.

The Pac-12 is trying to get its media-rights deal finalized before considering expansion, and reports this week said the conference will not announce a new contract by Friday’s football media day.

San Diego State and the Mountain West went back-and-forth after de la Torre’s letter. Though the Aztecs insisted they weren’t leaving the conference, the Mountain West took a hard-line stance with one of the league’s founding institutions.

That posture softened considerably this week, and Nevarez said her impression is the other conference schools are ready to move on.

“I think from my perspective, it’s pretty pragmatic,” she said. “We know we’re better with them in the league, but we know each of them on their own campus are having to look out for their best interests.”

Fresno State athletic director Terry Tumey agreed it’s time to look forward, and he said he was particularly excited to keep San Diego State because it is a fellow member of the California State University system.

“If you’re serving your institution well, you’re going to always look at all options and we all recognize that,” Tumey said. “Would you have thought three years ago that you would see UCLA and USC being in the Big Ten or you would see BYU miraculously all of a sudden now in the Big 12? Houston, who had been basically exiled by Oklahoma and Texas for years, they’ve always should have been in the Big 12.

“It’s just a different world.”

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By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer

from Courthouse News

Modelo rides demographic wave to top of US beer sales

CHARLESTON, S.C. (CN) — A marketing blunder may have helped upset Bud Light’s standing as the top selling U.S. beer, but a dark horse, or caballo oscuro, has long been on its heels.

Modelo Especial usurped its domestic rival in sales in May, the capstone on an unlikely ascent for the Mexican lager that reflects the nation’s shifting demographics and tastes, experts say. The cerveza has been sold in the U.S. since the early 1980s, but it was an antitrust case in 2013 that turned the beer into a mainstay at Los Angeles cantinas and Chicago dive bars.

Bud Light’s sales began to fall in March after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney posted a picture on social media of a personalized can the company sent her as a gift. Outrage among conservatives caused the company to backtrack, which itself sparked a liberal uproar, leading to a double-digit decline in sales.

Modelo crept past its rival amid the controversy. Modelo made up 8.4% of U.S. retail-store beer sales in the four weeks that ended June 3, compared with 7.3% for Bud Light, according to Bump Williams’ analysis of Nielsen data.

News of Modelo’s dominance likely bewildered some beer drinkers. Ten years ago, the lager didn’t even crack the top 10 in sales and it remains less well known today than many of its competitors, according to data from Statista.

Scott Taylor Jr., an assistant director for the Wine & Beverage Institute at the University of South Carolina, said in an email the beer’s success can be traced back to the decade-old antitrust case against Bud Light’s owner, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

In 2012, Anheuser-Busch announced it planned to acquire Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s largest brewer responsible for beers that included Modelo, Corona and Pacifico. The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the deal over concerns the acquisition would stifle competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

To satisfy regulators, Anheuser-Busch agreed to sell the U.S. licensing rights to Grupo Modelo’s beers to Constellation Brands while it retained the international rights. The deal transformed the Victor, N.Y.-based company, which at the time sold only wine and liquor, into the third-largest beer supplier in America.

Corona was seen as the jewel of the acquisition at the time. Iconic marketing campaigns featuring lounging beachgoers had helped establish Corona as the fifth-largest beer brand in the U.S. market by 2014.

Yet Modelo came to dominate the company’s portfolio.

Taylor said the brand’s appeal may have come from its relative obscurity as consumers searched for something different. But it’s not too different. The cerveza has the light and refreshing taste of a Mexican lager, but its flavor is more similar to American light lagers than Corona.

Cortney Norris, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University who researches consumer alcohol trends, offered a more blunt assessment of Corona.

“In the last 20 years, we’ve seen craft beer explode,” Norris said. “Customers are becoming more discerning in their tastes and Corona is not good.”

Norris acknowledged it was only her opinion, but taste matters. Modelo, Tecate and Dos Equis are all better examples of the style. Corona is also perceived as more Americanized than its upstart rival, Norris said.

“Modelo comes across as more authentic, I think,” she said. “It’s got the heritage on its side and it sits in this intersection where it’s still a mega-national beer but it kind of feels more craft.”

Advertising has played a significant role in shaping perceptions of Modelo, Taylor said.

Constellation Brands sells Modelo as a blue-collar beer with a “fighting spirit.” Bartenders, small-business owners and actual fighters are lionized in advertisements that often prominently feature Latino and Latina actors.

In 2018, Modelo scored a significant coup when it ousted Bud Light as the official sponsor of the UFC mixed martial arts league. By then, Modelo ranked as the fastest-growing beer in the U.S. and was second only to Corona among import beer sales. Sports Business Journal noted at the time Modelo was following the brand-building strategy built by Corona, a longtime sponsor in boxing.

Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, said Constellation has done a “great job” of growing its major brands, but changing demographics play a role, too.

“At the same time, they’ve also benefited from the tailwinds of a growing Hispanic population in the United States and the wider incorporation of Hispanic and Mexican culture in the wider U.S. melting pot,” he wrote in an email.

Between 2010 and 2020, the U.S. Hispanic population grew from 50.5 million to 62.1 million, or 23%, according to the Pew Research Center. A Constellation spokesman told The Wall Street Journal last month that Modelo was a top seller among Hispanics even as it grows in popularity among non-Hispanic consumers.

Craft brewing companies have responded to Modelo’s rise by releasing their own Mexican-style lagers, including Dogfish Head’s Un Poquito Grande and New Image’s Tigre Especial.

Norris said the craft brewers are known for their originality, but influence is often a two-way street.

“They still need to make money,” she said. “So follow the trends.”

from Courthouse News

Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming care takes effect as federal judge lifts injunction

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s ban on gender-affirming care for young transgender people was restored Friday when a federal judge lifted an injunction he issued last month that had temporarily blocked the restrictions.

The latest ruling by U.S. District Judge David Hale means the Kentucky prohibition goes into effect, preventing transgender minors from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who had asked that the injunction be lifted, applauded the ruling, while transgender rights advocates denounced it.

“What the courts are allowing to happen to LGBTQ people right now is an American tragedy, one that will besmirch the legacy of every judge who has opened the door to LGBTQ discrimination,” said Chris Hartman, executive director of the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

Courthouse News’ podcast Sidebar tackles the stories you need to know from the legal world. Join our hosts as they take you in and out of courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond.

Cameron called the latest ruling a “win for parents and children,” adding he was grateful to the judge “for doing what the law requires, which is protecting Kentucky kids.”

Hartman warned that the statewide ban would result in “immediate harm” for young transgender people and their families in Kentucky.

“They will now be forced to travel outside the commonwealth or move out of state entirely to access their medically necessary care,” he said.

Hale’s reversal of his own order came nearly a week after the Sixth Circuit overturned a similar temporary injunction halting enforcement of a similar law in Tennessee.

In the Kentucky case, seven transgender children and their parents have sued to block the law. They argue that it violates their constitutional rights and interferes with parental rights to seek established medical treatment for their children.

Corey Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, said Friday that the latest ruling “is not the final word” on the matter. The group called it a temporary setback, and Shapiro expressed confidence of achieving a “positive result” before another federal court.

Last month, Hale’s injunction blocking portions of the Kentucky law came a day before the measure was to take effect. At the time, the judge said the plaintiffs showed “a strong likelihood of success on the merits” of their constitutional challenges.

The sweeping transgender legislation was passed this year by Kentucky’s GOP-dominated Legislature over Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto. Beshear said the measure allowed “too much government interference in personal healthcare issues.” Cameron, whose office is defending the law, is challenging Beshear in the race for Kentucky governor. It’s one of the nation’s most closely watched elections of 2023.

The lawsuit challenges sections of the Kentucky law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. It didn’t take aim at other sections dealing with school bathroom policies, guidance for teachers regarding student pronouns and rules on teaching about gender identity and sexual orientation.

At least 20 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama and Indiana. Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.

The states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia.

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By BRUCE SCHREINER and DYLAN LOVAN Associated Press

from Courthouse News

Kansas must stop changing trans peoples sex listing on drivers licenses judge says

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas must stop allowing transgender people to change the sex listed on their driver’s licenses, a state court judge ordered Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the state’s Republican attorney general.

District Judge Teresa Watson’s order will remain in effect for up to two weeks, although she can extend it. But it’s significant because transgender people have been able to change their driver’s licenses in Kansas for at least four years, and almost 400 people had done it by the end of June. For now, Kansas will be among only a few states that don’t allow any such changes.

The judge issued the order three days after Attorney General Kris Kobach sued two officials in Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s administration. Kelly announced last month that the state’s motor vehicles division would continue changing driver’s licenses for transgender people so that their sex listing matches their gender identities.

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Kobach contends that a law, which took effect on July 1, prevents such changes and requires the state to reverse any previous changes in its records. It defines “male” and “female” so that Kansas law does not recognize the gender identities of transgender, nonbinary or gender non-conforming people. The Republican-controlled Legislature enacted it over Kelly’s veto.

Watson wrote in her brief order that for the motor vehicles division to keep making changes for transgender people would cause “immediate and irreparable injury.” Driver’s licenses remain valid for six years, and Watson noted Kobach’s argument that licenses “are difficult to take back or out of circulation once issued.”

“Licenses are used by law enforcement to identify criminal suspects, crime victims, wanted persons, missing persons and others,” Watson wrote. “Compliance with state legal requirements for identifying license holders is a public safety concern.”

Transgender Kansas residents have said in interviews that a mismatch between their identities and their driver’s licenses can complicate getting through airport security, interacting with police or even using credit cards. Jenna Bellemere, a 20-year-old University of Kansas student, said a mismatch also outs transgender people like her during interactions with others, creating the possibility of harassment.

As for Watson and legislators who enacted the new law, Bellemere said, “Whether intentionally or not, they never seem to consider the experiences and needs of the transgender population of the state. It’s frustrating.”

Watson’s order did not address how her directive might play out in transgender people’s daily lives.

The governor’s office said it was working on a response to the order. Kelly won her first term as governor in 2018 by defeating Kobach, who was then the Kansas secretary of state. He in turn staged a political comeback last year by winning the attorney general’s race as she captured a second term — both of them by slim margins.

The governor’s office has said attorneys at the division of vehicles’ parent agency, the Kansas Department of Revenue, do not believe allowing transgender people to change their driver’s licenses violates the new law.

Four times as many people a month have changed their driver’s licenses this year than in previous years. Such changes accelerated in May and June as LGBTQ+ rights advocates encouraged people to do it ahead of the new law.

Taryn Jones, vice chair and lobbyist for the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Kansas, acknowledged the concern that allowing the state to keep making changes would make it more difficult for law enforcement, but asked, “How many criminals are you having that are trans?”

Jones also said potential problems for law enforcement should be weighed against the harm to the mental health and safety of transgender people who don’t have licenses that match their gender identities.

Even with a raft of measures targeting transgender people in statehouses across the U.S. this year, Kansas would be atypical for not allowing them to change sex or gender markers on birth certificates, driver’s licenses or either. Montana and Tennessee also have policies against changing either document, and Oklahoma has a policy against changing birth certificates.

Kobach has argued that the new Kansas law also prevents transgender people from changing the listing for their sex on their birth certificates, but the lawsuit he filed Friday doesn’t address those documents. The settlement of a 2018 federal lawsuit requires Kansas to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates, and more than 900 people had done it by the end of June.

The new Kansas law defines a person’s sex as male or female, based on the “biological reproductive system” identified at birth, applying that definition to any state law or regulation.

It also says that “important governmental objectives” of protecting people’s privacy, health and safety justify single-sex spaces such as bathrooms and locker rooms. However, that part of the law contains no enforcement mechanism.

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By JOHN HANNA AP Political Writer

from Courthouse News

Monday may have set a global record for the hottest day ever. Tuesday broke it

(AP) — The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project.

For two straight days, the global average temperature spiked into uncharted territory. After scientists talked about Monday’s dramatic heat, Tuesday soared 0.17 degrees Celsius (0.31 degrees Fahrenheit) even hotter, which is a huge temperature jump in terms of global averages and records.

The same University of Maine climate calculator — based on satellite data and computer simulations — forecasts a similar temperature for Wednesday that would be in record territory, with an Antarctica average that is a whopping 4.5 degrees Celsius (8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1979-2000 average.

High-temperature records were surpassed July 3 and 4 in Quebec and northwestern Canada and Peru. Cities across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon, to Tampa, Florida, have been hovering at all-time highs, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Beijing reported nine straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

“The increasing heating of our planet caused by fossil fuel use is not unexpected, it was predicted already in the 19th century after all,” said climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany. “But it is dangerous for us humans and for the ecosystems we depend on. We need to stop it fast.”

The daily but preliminary and unofficial heat record comes after months of “truly unreal meteorology and climate stats for the year,” such as off-the-chart record warmth in the North Atlantic, record low sea ice in Antarctica and a rapidly strengthening El Nino, said University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado.

This global record is not quite the type regularly used by gold-standard climate measurement entities like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. But it is an indication that climate change is reaching into uncharted territory. It legitimately captures global-scale heating and NOAA will take these figures into consideration when it does its official record calculations, said Deke Arndt, director of the National Center for Environmental Information, a division of NOAA.

“In the climate assessment community, I don’t think we’d assign the kind of gravitas to a single day observation as we would a month or a year,’’ Arndt said. Scientists generally use much longer measurements — months, years, decades — to track the Earth’s warming. In addition, this preliminary record for the hottest day is based on data that only goes back to 1979, the start of satellite record-keeping, whereas NOAA’s data goes back to 1880.

But Arndt added that we wouldn’t be seeing anywhere near record-warm days unless we were in “a warm piece of what will likely be a very warm era” driven by greenhouse gas emissions and the onset of a “robust” El Nino. An El Nino is a temporary natural warming of parts of the central Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide and generally makes the planet hotter.

Human-caused climate change is like an upward escalator for global temperatures, and El Nino is like jumping up while standing on that escalator, Arndt said.

On Tuesday, American independence day, Earth’s average temperature spiked at 17.18 degrees Celsius or 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a common tool often used by climate scientists for a good glimpse of the world’s condition. Tuesday’s temperature was nearly a full degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the 1979-2000 average, which is itself is warmer than the 20th and 19th century averages.

On July 3, the reanalyzer had the temperature at 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The reanalyzer is based on a NOAA computer simulation intended for forecasts that use satellite data. It is not based on reported observations from the ground. So this unofficial record is effectively using a weather tool that is designed for forecasts, not record-keeping.

The global daily average temperature for July 3 came in at 17.01 degrees Celsius or 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This average temperature may not seem that hot, but it’s the first time in the 44 years of this dataset that the temperature surpassed the 17-degree Celsius mark and then it went even higher.

“A record like this is another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who was not part of the calculations.

Hotter global average temperatures translate into brutal conditions for people all over the world.

In the U.S., heat advisories are in effect this week for more than 30 million people in places including portions of western Oregon, inland far northern California, central New Mexico, Texas, Florida and the coastal Carolinas, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. Excessive heat warnings are continuing across southern Arizona and California, they said.

When the heat spikes, humans suffer health effects.

“Those hotter temperatures that happen when we get hotter than normal conditions? People aren’t used to that. Their bodies aren’t used to that,” said Erinanne Saffell, the Arizona state climatologist and an expert in extreme weather and climate events.

Saffell added that the risk is already high for the young and old, who are vulnerable to heat even under normal conditions.

“That’s important to understand who might be at risk, making sure people are hydrated, they’re staying cool, and they’re not exerting themselves outside and taking care of those folks around you who might be at risk as well,” she said.

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By MELINA WALLING and SETH BORENSTEIN

Borenstein reported from Washington and Walling from Chicago.

Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

from Courthouse News