In historic vote, House ousts Speaker Kevin McCarthy

WASHINGTON (CN) — Just nine months after he was elected to lead the Republican party’s House majority, Kevin McCarthy’s tenure as House speaker is at an end Tuesday afternoon, as Democrats joined right wing Republicans in a vote to kick him off the dais.

It’s the first time in history the House has successfully voted to remove its top lawmaker.

In a tightly contested, 216-210 vote the lower chamber approved Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz’s motion to vacate the office of the speakership. The move strips McCarthy of his title and leaves a yawning power vacuum at the top of the Republican party.

McCarthy’s ouster also puts the House’s legislative business in suspended animation until Congress can elect a new speaker.

Eight GOP lawmakers joined the House Democrat caucus in passing the motion to remove McCarthy. It was a minority of the chamber’s Republican votes, but more than enough to secure victory for Gaetz and his allies.

Ironically, the groundwork for Tuesday’s motion was first laid in January as part of a deal then-Congressman McCarthy made with right wing lawmakers as he ascended to the speakership.

Under the agreement, reached as House Republicans undertook marathon deliberations to select their new congressional leader, the California lawmaker agreed to pursue a laundry list of conservative policy objectives if elected speaker. McCarthy also reportedly agreed to right wing demands that any member of Congress be allowed to file a motion to vacate the speakership should they become dissatisfied with his work.

Nine months later, that deal has come back to haunt the former speaker.

The man at the helm of McCarthy’s political demise, Florida Congressman Gaetz has in recent months fashioned himself as one of the former speaker’s staunchest critics. The lawmaker has said McCarthy reneged on his promises to right wing Republicans, such as pursuing term limits for members of Congress and reforming federal budget negotiations.

The last straw for Gaetz, however, came over the weekend as McCarthy reached across party lines and worked with Democrats to pass a short-term stopgap budget bill — a move that averted a costly government shutdown after weeks of Republican infighting over federal spending.

Gaetz’s complaints are shared by only a small minority of the Republican caucus. Most GOP lawmakers have stood by former Speaker McCarthy, blasting the Florida Republican for what they see as a shortsighted move that puts in jeopardy Republican efforts to check President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

“This is a sad day, and not a day I expected to live through,” said Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole during floor remarks Monday. “The overwhelming majority of my party supports the speaker that we elected. We’re proud of the leadership he’s shown.”

Without naming Gaetz directly, Cole accused the lawmaker and his allies of working to “plunge this body into chaos, and the country into uncertainty, for reasons that only they really understand.”

“Chaos is Speaker McCarthy,” Gaetz fired back. “Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word.”

Virginia Republican Bob Good, who supported McCarthy’s ouster, said he was sad Congress had arrived at what he framed as “a totally avoidable situation,” but raked the former speaker over the coals for his handling of budget negotiations and his decision to work with the White House during May’s debt ceiling crisis.

“We need a speaker who will fight for something, anything, besides just staying or becoming speaker,” Good said, accusing McCarthy of “surrendering to the Democrats” in spending talks.

Meanwhile, the mood was solemn in the House chamber following the vote to oust McCarthy.

Announcing that “the office of speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant,” North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry ended the lower chamber’s session with a forceful, angry crack of the speaker’s gavel.

McHenry will be the House’s interim leader until a new speaker is elected.

McCarthy had yet to make a public statement about his removal as of Tuesday afternoon.

Some Republican lawmakers backed the former speaker, arguing that GOP policy priorities should come first.

“Now is not the time to remove the Speaker,” said Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. While she said she was “frustrated by the broken promises, secret deals, and failed leadership,” forcing Republicans to elect another speaker “undermines [GOP] priorities at the worst possible time.”

“Electing a new Speaker in this environment risks getting a Speaker that makes deals with the Democrats,” said Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson.

Democrats, for their part, pointed out that McCarthy’s ouster was largely of his own design.

“Kevin McCarthy’s sycophantic appeasement of Trump’s MAGA enablers brought to our body chaos, extremism and his own toppling,” said Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin. “Today, unified behind our exceptional leadership, Democrats are clearly the only party capable of ending the dysfunction and governing for the common good.”

Until the House elects a new speaker, lawmakers cannot move forward with legislative business. Such a freeze comes as Congress has a little over a month to approve a federal budget for 2024 — the stopgap measure negotiated by former Speaker McCarthy and House Democrats over the weekend only funds the government through mid-November.

from Courthouse News

Damian Lillard is being traded from the Trail Blazers to the Bucks, ending long saga

(AP) — Damian Lillard is being traded by Portland to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Wednesday, a deal that ends his 11-year run with the Trail Blazers and a three-month saga surrounding his wish to be moved elsewhere in hopes of winning an NBA title.

The seven-time All-Star — a player so elite that he was selected to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team — goes from the Trail Blazers to the Bucks in a three-team deal that sends Jrue Holiday from the Bucks to Portland, Deandre Ayton from Phoenix to Portland and Jusuf Nurkic from the Blazers to the Suns, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because none of the involved teams had announced the agreement.

As with all trades, it cannot be finalized until NBA attorneys review the terms and approve the deal.

It became known on July 1 that Lillard asked the Trail Blazers for a trade, which he was long speculated to be considering given his desire to play for a contender and Portland not seeming to have much of a chance with its current roster.

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He wanted to go to Miami and made that clear. Portland decided not to accommodate that request, and instead, it’s the Bucks who now have an incredibly strong 1-2 punch of Lillard and Antetokounmpo heading into the new season.

The trade continues the Bucks’ dramatic offseason makeover in response to their surprising first-round playoff loss to Miami.

They followed up that playoff loss by firing coach Mike Budenholzer and replacing him with Adrian Griffin, who spent the last five seasons as a Toronto Raptors assistant. Now they trade away the two-time All-Star Holiday to acquire Lillard, a seven-time All-NBA selection.

The acquisition of Lillard comes after Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP, told The New York Times over the summer that he wanted to see how committed the Bucks are toward winning another championship before deciding whether to sign a long-term deal to stay in Milwaukee.

Antetokounmpo’s contract runs through the 2024-25 season, with a player option for 2025-26.

Bringing Lillard to Milwaukee certainly suggests the commitment is there. It also keeps the high-scoring guard away from Miami, one of the Bucks’ biggest Eastern Conference challengers.

When Lillard’s request was made public by the Blazers, general manager Joe Cronin said he would do “what’s best for the team” while grudgingly seeking to facilitate his wishes.

In the end, the deal with Bucks is what Cronin and the Blazers deemed best for all involved. It took a massive package to make the trade happen, especially because Lillard is owed a ransom over the next four years. He will make almost $46 million this coming season and could make as much as $216 million over the next four years if he exercises his option for the 2026-27 season.

It will be a large, and possibly very worthwhile, investment because acquiring Lillard figures to make the Bucks even more of a title contender. He averaged 32.2 points per game this past season, has averaged at least 24 points per game in each of the last eight seasons and has an offensive ignitability that few players in the NBA possess.

He became just the seventh player in NBA history to score more than 70 points in a game when he finished with 71 against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 26. The other names on that list are Wilt Chamberlain (who did it five times), Kobe Bryant, David Thompson, David Robinson, Elgin Baylor and Donovan Mitchell.

All six of the other players on that list were between 23 and 28 when they had their games of 71 points or more; Lillard was 32, a clear indicator that — even after 11 NBA seasons — he’s far from past his prime.

He has been great. The Blazers have not. And evidently, he didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

Lillard was beloved in Portland, but the speculation about his future with the team only intensified when the Blazers took point guard Scoot Henderson with the No. 3 overall pick in the June draft rather than package the pick for a proven commodity that could immediately help transform the team into a contender.

Portland won only four playoff series in Lillard’s 11 seasons, getting to the Western Conference Finals once. The team went 33-49 this past season, the second consecutive year of finishing well outside the playoff picture.

That’s not Lillard’s fault. His career average of 25.2 points per game ranks 11th among all players in NBA history who have appeared in at least 500 games. He’s had 17 games of at least 50 points in his career — two of them in the playoffs — and is a past rookie of the year, teammate of the year and winner of the NBA’s citizenship award.

He’s been an Olympic gold medalist, was the unanimous selection as MVP of the seeding games when the “bubble” season resumed at Walt Disney World during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and even won the 3-point contest at All-Star weekend in February.

And he has an absolute flair for drama. His series-winning shot to eliminate Oklahoma City from the 2019 NBA playoffs — a stepback 3-pointer over Paul George from nearly 40 feet as time expired — is one of the iconic postseason moments in not just Portland history but NBA history as well.

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By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

AP Sports Writer Steve Megargee in Milwaukee contributed.

from Courthouse News

FTC hits Amazon with antitrust suit

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general sued Amazon on Tuesday, accusing it of forming monopolies and hiking prices for shoppers, and seeking to reign in the tech giant’s power.

“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a press release. “Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition.”

Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the United States. On top of its online retail business, the company has expanded into myriad industries, including health care, food and movies. In recent years, the company has purchased Whole Foods, MGM and One Medical.

David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel, said the lawsuit means the FTC has “radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition.”

He said the challenged actions drive competition and innovation.

“If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers, and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do,” Zapolsky said in a statement. “The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

In the antitrust lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the government stops short of seeking to break up Amazon, but it accuses the company of using “a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power.” 

Amazon stifles competition, overcharges sellers and degrades quality for shoppers through actions that affect a massive portion of the online economy, said John Newman, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.

“Amazon is a monopolist that uses its power to hike prices on American shoppers and charge sky-high fees on hundreds of thousands of online sellers,” Newman said in a press release. “Seldom in the history of U.S. antitrust law has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people.”

The lawsuit accuses Amazon of anticompetitive conduct in its online market serving shoppers and its marketplace where sellers purchase services.

For sellers, the FTC claims Amazon suppresses listings for lower-priced goods so they “become effectively invisible.”

The federal and state authorities filing suit also say the company requires sellers to use Amazon’s fulfillment service to qualify for Prime eligibility, which regulators say is a necessity for conducting business on the site. The requirement makes it “substantially more expensive” for sellers to use other platforms.

Combined with other fees, sellers could be forced to pay close to 50% of their revenue to Amazon, according to the lawsuit.

Shoppers pay their own price in turn, the suit says, as searches are biased toward favoring Amazon’s products over others that might be of better quality. Searches also replace organic results with paid advertisements.

The FTC is joined in the lawsuit by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

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DC Circuit rejects Utah effort to block ‘good neighbor’ emissions rule

WASHINGTON (CN) — A D.C. Circuit panel ruled on Monday against an effort by Utah and industry groups to block an Environmental Protection Agency rule that seeks to limit emissions across state lines, also known as the “good neighbor rule.” 

The challenge, brought by Utah Governor Spencer Cox and state Attorney General Sean Reyes, with support from the Energy Infrastructure Council and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, argues that the rule wrongly intrudes on the state’s sovereignty. 

A three-judge panel made up of U.S. Circuit Judges Cornelia Pillard, Justin Walker and J. Michelle Childs ruled 2-1 to block the challenge, finding that Utah did not satisfy the “stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.” Walker, a Donald Trump appointee, was the sole dissenter. 

The rule, also known as the Ozone Transfer Rule, was established in 2015 to target “ozone-forming emissions of nitrogen oxides” from power plants and industrial facilities that travel downwind into neighboring states and affect those states’ air quality standards.

According to the EPA’s findings, nitrogen oxide from coal-fired power plants in northeast Utah has drifted into the state’s eastern neighbor, Colorado, and has partially caused the Denver metro area to not meet federal ozone standards. 

Utah has disputed those findings, leading the EPA to reject Utah’s State Implementation Plan for cutting ozone in February, instructing the state to prepare for more cuts. The state began its preparations at the statehouse, setting aside $2 million for legal fees to sue the EPA.  

In its petition for review, the state argued that when the EPA decided to expand the rule from 12 Eastern states to 23, adding Utah along with states in the South and the Southwest, the agency wrongly applied a four-step test that was still geared toward Eastern states and did “not properly account for conditions in the West.” 

The state went further in its statement of issues, claiming the rule wrongfully singled out certain industries that emit above the agency’s standards while excluding other similar industries and that the agency did the same for states, forcing some states to follow “draconian reductions” while going easier on other states that pollute at the same levels. 

Eastern states were the first required to follow the rule for both power plants and other polluting industries in 2015, based on a four-step test used to determine which states should be regulated under the rule. 

Included under the initial rule were Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

The test requires the EPA to determine which downwind states are being affected by outside emissions, where the emissions are coming from and if they can be linked, the specific source of the emissions and what measures can be taken to reduce those emissions. 

The agency announced an expansion of applicable states in March 2022, raising the total number included to 23. Southern states like Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas were added as states required to follow the rule for both power plants and other industries, while Utah, Minnesota and Nevada were the three newly added states. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Alabama are the only three states where the rule applies to just power plants. 

California was also added in the 2022 expansion, but only for non-power plant emissions. The agency is also considering whether to add states like Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Wyoming.

When Utah filed its challenge in June, Governor Cox, Attorney General Reyes, the state’s congressional delegation and legislative leadership all filed a joint statement framing the challenge as a fight against government overreach. 

“As Utah’s elected state leaders, we stand united in pushing back against the administration’s egregious power grab that harms Utahns,” the officials said in the statement. “We will fight for a responsible energy policy that embraces efficiency and is based in reality because keeping the lights on is the only option.” 

The Attorney General’s office did not reply to a request for comment. 

A coalition of environmental groups filed amicus briefs in support of the rule, including the Environmental Defense Fund, Clean Air Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, Downwinders at Risk, the Sierra Club and more. 

Following the panel’s decision, the coalition applauded the decision in a statement.

“The court’s refusal to block this protective air rule serves as a critical step towards holding upwind polluters accountable for their contribution to cross-state smog,” the coalition said on Monday.

from Courthouse News

Oklahoma man executed after Supreme Court denies new lawyer more time

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court refused on Thursday to stop the execution of an Oklahoma man to give his new attorney more time to review his case. 

Anthony Castillo Sanchez, 44, was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m. following a three-drug injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Sanchez was sentenced to death for the 1996 murder of Juli Busken. The University of Oklahoma dance student was 21 years old when she was abducted from her apartment complex. Busken’s body was later found at Lake Stanley Draper. She had been bound, sexually assaulted and shot in the head. 

The high court declined Sanchez’s emergency application and certiorari petition asking for more time for his new attorney to review his case. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the case. 

Despite DNA found at the crime scene, Busken’s murder went unsolved for eight years. However, in 2004, investigators got a break in the case. Sanchez’s DNA would match sperm found on Busken’s clothing at the crime scene after he was sent to prison for a burglary conviction. 

Sanchez was convicted of Busken’s murder in 2006 and sentenced to death. 

Despite the DNA evidence, Sanchez claimed he was innocent. Sanchez challenged his conviction on direct appeal, four post-conviction proceedings and federal habeas review but came up short. In June 2022, Sanchez lost his fight against the state’s execution protocol. His execution was then scheduled for Sept. 21. 

After facing another loss in proving his innocence in February, Sanchez moved for new counsel. A court found that his representation had been appropriate despite Sanchez’s claims that they had abandoned him. 

Sanchez’s new attorney, who was representing him pro bono, argued the execution needed to be put on pause in order for him to get up to date on the case. 

“Clemency or post-conviction counsel under the standards provided by the ABA Guidelines must investigate claims,” Eric Allen, an attorney from Ohio, wrote in Sanchez’s emergency application before the court. “This cannot be done. Counsel only took possession of the file last Friday.” 

Allen told the court he would have had to review 50 boxes full of paperwork prior to submitting an appeal to the district court — a task he says is impossible. 

“Mr. Sanchez has diligently pursued relief for the alleged Constitutional violations every step of the way in the District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, in the Tenth Circuit, and in the United States Supreme Court, only to be stymied by his own counsel when they refused to provide Mr. Sanchez’s own file to him,” Allen wrote. “What is more, any delays in resolving this litigation fall solely on that same counsel when they failed to visit or communicate with him for years.” 

Sanchez alleged that his counsel’s refusal to speak with him left him unable to participate in his defense or even review his files. 

“Under these circumstances and this timeline, Mr. Sanchez did not unnecessarily delay this litigation,” Allen wrote. “The District Court and the Circuit Court both denied applications for a stay. The boxes of information have not been reviewed in total and the questions remains, is Petitioner guilty of killing the victim in this case.” 

Following the court’s order, Allen continued to advocate for the state to pause Sanchez’s execution.

“I am deeply saddened by the court’s denial of our petition for certiorari and the application for stay,” Allen said in an email. “The state of Oklahoma should stay this execution to review and investigate the innocence claim showing it was Sanchez’s father who committed this crime.”  

Oklahoma argued that Sanchez replaced attorneys who represented him for decades four months before his execution even though he did not have any open cases challenging his conviction or sentence. 

“Petitioner now wants this Court to stop a lawful execution that has survived nearly twenty years of scrutiny so that he can start over from scratch,”’ Jennifer Crabb, Oklahoma’s assistant attorney general, wrote in a brief before the court. “The petition is frivolous.” 

Crabb declined to comment on the justices’ order prior to Thursday’s execution. 

from Courthouse News

Network of ancient American Indian earthworks in Ohio named as UNESCO World Heritage sites

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A network of ancient American Indian ceremonial and burial mounds in Ohio described as “part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory” was added Tuesday to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Preservationists, led by the Ohio History Connection, and indigenous tribes, many with ancestral ties to the state, pushed to recognize the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks for their good condition, distinct style and cultural significance — describing them as “masterpieces of human genius.”

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee approved the application during a meeting in Saudi Arabia.

The massive earthworks comprise eight ancient sites spread across 150 kilometers (90 miles) of what is present-day southern Ohio, including one located on the grounds of a private golf course and country club. The designation puts the spot in the same category as wonders of the world including Greece’s Acropolis, Peru’s Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China.

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“Pure excitement and exhilaration” were the immediate reactions of Chief Glenna Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

“Tears came to my eyes, and exhilaration turned into reflection, knowing that the world will now see and recognize the commitment, spirituality, imaginative artistry and knowledge of complex architecture to produce magnificent earthworks,” she said in a statement. “Our ancestors were true geniuses.”

Constructed by American Indians between 2,000 and 1,600 years ago along central tributaries of the Ohio River, the earthworks were host to ceremonies that drew people from across the continent, based on archeological discoveries of raw materials from as far west as the Rocky Mountains.

Elaborate ceremonialism linked to “the order and rhythms of the cosmos” is evident in the “beautiful ritual objects, spectacular offerings of religious icons and regalia” found at the sites, the application said.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the designation is a “tremendous” recognition of America’s Indigenous people.

“World Heritage designation is an opportunity for the United States to share the whole story of America and the remarkable diversity of our cultural heritage, as well as the beauty of our land,” she said in a statement.

The eight Hopewell sites are noteworthy for their enormous scale, geometric precision and astronomical breadth and accuracy — such as encoding all eight lunar standstills over an 18.6-year cycle.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said the earthworks’ inclusion on the heritage list “will make this important part of American history known around the world.”

“Just three months after rejoining UNESCO, the United States has its twenty-fifth site inscribed on the World Heritage List, which illustrates the richness and diversity of the country’s cultural and natural heritage,” she said. “This inscription on the World Heritage List highlights the important work of American archaeologists, who discovered here remains dating back 2000 years, constituting one of the largest earthwork constructions in the world.”

The National Congress of American Indians, the Inter-Tribal Council representing tribes living in Northeast Oklahoma and the Seneca Nation of New York State were among tribes that supported the UNESCO designation.

The application process was slowed by a protracted court battle to restore public access to one of the earthworks leased to the Moundbuilders Country Club, whose members-only golf course sits inside it. A ruling of the Ohio Supreme Court in December allowed Ohio History Connection, the state’s historical society, to proceed with an ongoing effort to gain control of the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, one of eight sites recognized.

History Connection CEO and Executive Director Megan Wood said that Tuesday’s inscription of the site was the culmination of more than a decade of work by her organization and its partners, including tribes and the National Park Service.

“We are beyond excited to share these sites with more and more Ohioans, Americans and world travelers,” she said.

Other sites included under the new designation are: Fort Ancient Earthworks in Oregonia and Great Circle Earthworks in Heath; and five sites within the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe: Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, Seip Earthworks, High Bank Earthworks and Hopeton Earthworks.

Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he anticipates that Ohio’s first World Heritage site will draw “even more visitors to see these amazing places” to “experience the awe-inspiring earthworks that are such a special part of Ohio’s history.”

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By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press

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Baylor settles yearslong federal lawsuit in sexual assault scandal that rocked Baptist school

(AP) — Baylor University has settled a yearslong federal lawsuit brought by 15 women who alleged they were sexually assaulted at the nation’s biggest Baptist school, ending the largest case brought in a wide-ranging scandal that led to the ouster of the university president and its football coach, and tainted the school’s reputation.

Notification of the settlement was filed in online court records Monday. The lawsuit was first filed in June 2016.

The lawsuit was one of several that were filed that alleged staff and administrators ignored or stifled reports from women who said they were assaulted on or near campus.

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Among the early claims from some women in the lawsuit was that school officials sometimes used the campus conduct code that banned alcohol, drugs and premarital sex to pressure women not to report being attacked. Another previously settled lawsuit alleged Baylor fostered a “hunting ground for sexual predators.”

The terms of the settlement announced Monday were not disclosed.

“We are deeply sorry for anyone connected with the Baylor community who has been harmed by sexual violence. While we can never erase the reprehensible acts of the past, we pray that this agreement will allow these 15 survivors to move forward in a supportive manner,” Baylor University said in a statement.

The scandal erupted in 2015 and 2016 with assault allegations made against football players. The school hired Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton to investigate how it handled those assaults and others.

The law firm’s report determined that under the leadership of school President Ken Starr, Baylor did little to respond to accusations of sexual assault involving football players over several years. It also raised broader questions of how the school responded to sexual assault claims across campus.

Starr, the former prosecutor who led the investigation of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal, was removed as president and later left the university. Starr died in 2022.

Also fired was football coach Art Briles, who denied he covered up sexual violence in his program. Briles had led the program to a Big 12 conference championship, but he has not returned to major-college coaching.

Baylor officials have said the school has made sweeping changes to how it addresses sexual assault claims and victims in response to the Pepper Hamilton report. That report has never been fully released publicly, despite efforts by the women suing the school to force it into the open.

Chad Dunn, an attorney for the women who settled Monday, said the lawsuit and scandal went far beyond the problems in the football program that captured early attention.

“Their bravery and strength has created legal precedents that empower others to gain relief from the injuries inflicted by their universities, while also securing safer education environments for future generations,” Dunn said.

“Baylor’s focus of media attention on football tried to misdirect attention from institutional failures of the Baylor administration. Our clients would have none of that,” Dunn said. “Their determination brought the focus on officials in the ivory tower and ‘the Baylor way.’ ”

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By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press

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