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The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized Friday by the Biden administration. The new provisions are part of a revised Title IX regulation issued by the Education Department, fulfilling a campaign pledge by President Joe Biden. He had promised to dismantle rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who added new protections for students accused of sexual misconduct. Notably absent from Biden’s policy, however, is any mention of transgender athletes. The administration originally planned to include a new policy forbidding schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes, but that provision was put on hold. The delay is widely seen as a political maneuver during an election year in which Republicans have rallied around bans on transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Instead, Biden is officially undoing sexual assault rules put in place by his predecessor and current election-year opponent, former President Donald Trump. The final policy drew praise from victims’ advocates, while Republicans said it erodes the rights of accused students. The new rule makes “crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said. “No one should face bullying or discrimination just because of who they are, who they love,” Cardona told reporters. “Sadly, this happens all too often.” Biden’s regulation is meant to clarify schools’ obligations under Title IX, the 1972 women’s rights law that outlaws discrimination based on sex in education. It applies to colleges and elementary and high schools that receive federal money. The update is to take effect in August. Among the biggest changes is new recognition that Title IX protects LGBTQ+ students — a source of deep conflict with Republicans. The 1972 law doesn’t directly address the issue, but the new rules clarify that Title IX also forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQ+ students who face discrimination will be entitled to a response from their school under Title IX, and those failed by their schools can seek recourse from the federal government. Many Republicans say Congress never intended such protections under Title IX. A federal judge previously blocked Biden administration guidance to the same effect after 20 Republican-led states challenged the policy. Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina and chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the new regulation threatens decades of advancement for women and girls. “This final rule dumps kerosene on the already raging fire that is Democrats’ contemptuous culture war that aims to radically redefine sex and gender,” Foxx said in a statement. The revision was proposed nearly two years ago but has been slowed by a comment period that drew 240,000 responses, a record for the Education Department. Many of the changes are meant to ensure that schools and colleges respond to complaints of sexual misconduct. In general, the rules widen the type of misconduct that institutions are required to address, and it grants more protections to students who bring accusations. Chief among the changes is a wider definition of sexual harassment. Schools now must address any unwelcome sex-based conduct that is so “severe or pervasive” that it limits a student’s equal access to an education. Under the DeVos rules, conduct had to be “severe, pervasive and objectively offensive,” a higher bar that pushed some types of misconduct outside the purview of Title IX. Colleges will no longer be required to hold live hearings to allow students to cross-examine one another through representatives — a signature provision from the DeVos rules. Live hearings are allowed under the Biden rules, but they’re optional and carry new limits. Students must be able to participate from hearings remotely, for example, and schools must bar questions that are “unclear or harassing.” As an alternative to live hearings, college officials can interview students separately, allowing each student to suggest questions and get a recording of the responses. Those hearings were a major point of contention with victims’ advocates, who said it forced sexual assault survivors to face their attackers and discouraged people from reporting assaults. Supporters said it gave accused students a fair process to question their accusers, arguing that universities had become too quick to rule against accused students. Victims’ advocates applauded the changes and urged colleges to implement them quickly. “After years of pressure from students and survivors of sexual violence, the Biden Administration’s Title IX update will make schools safer and more accessible for young people, many of whom experienced irreparable harm while they fought for protection and support,” said Emma Grasso Levine, a senior manager at the group Know Your IX. Despite the focus on safeguards for victims, the new rules preserve certain protections for accused students. All students must have equal access to present evidence and witnesses under the new policy, and all students must have equal access to evidence. All students will be allowed to bring an advisor to campus hearings, and colleges must have an appeals process. In general, accused students won’t be able to be disciplined until after they’re found responsible for misconduct, although the regulation allows for “emergency” removals if it’s deemed a matter of campus safety. The latest overhaul continues a back-and-forth political battle as presidential administrations repeatedly rewrite the rules around campus sexual misconduct. The DeVos rules were themselves an overhaul of an Obama-era policy that was intended to force colleges to take accusations of campus sexual assault more seriously. Now, after years of nearly constant changes, some colleges have been pushing for a political middle ground to end the whiplash. ___ The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm. The decision — part of an ongoing, yearslong fight over whether and how to develop the vast oil resources in the state — finalizes protections first proposed last year as the Biden administration prepared to approve the controversial Willow oil project. The approval of Willow drew fury from environmentalists, who said the large oil project violated Biden’s pledge to combat climate change. Friday’s decision also cements an earlier plan that called for closing nearly half the reserve to oil and gas leasing. A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, jumped out ahead of Friday’s announcement about drilling limitations in the National Petroleum-Reserve Alaska even before it was publicly announced. Sullivan called it an “illegal” attack on the state’s economic lifeblood, and predicted lawsuits. “It’s more than a one-two punch to Alaska, because when you take off access to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot explore, you cannot move it — this is the energy insecurity that we’re talking about,” Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said. The decision by the Interior Department doesn’t change the terms of existing leases in the reserve or affect currently authorized operations, including Willow. In an olive branch to environmentalists, the Biden administration also Friday recommended the rejection of a state corporation’s application related to a proposed 210-mile (338-kilometer) road in the northwest part of the state to allow mining of critical mineral deposits, including including copper, cobalt, zinc, silver and gold. There are no mining proposals or current mines in the area, however, and the proposed funding model for the Ambler Road project is speculative, the Interior Department said in a statement. Sullivan accused the administration of undermining U.S. national security interests with both decisions. Alaska political leaders have long accused the Biden administration of harming the state with decisions limiting the development of oil and gas, minerals and timber. President “Joe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing energy and dominating the world’s critical minerals while shutting down our own in America, as long as the far-left radicals he feels are key to his reelection are satisfied,” Sullivan said Thursday at a Capitol news conference with 10 other GOP senators. “What a dangerous world this president has created.” Biden defended his decision regarding the petroleum reserve. Alaska’s “majestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable and healthy landscapes in the world,” are critical to Alaska Native communities and “demand our protection,” he said in a statement. Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a group whose members include leaders from across much of Alaska’s North Slope region, has been critical of the administration’s approach. The group’s board of directors previously passed a resolution opposing the administration’s plans for the reserve. The petroleum reserve — about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — is home to caribou and polar bears and provides habitat for millions of migrating birds. It was set aside around a century ago as an emergency oil source for the U.S. Navy, but since the 1970s has been overseen by the U.S. Interior Department. There has been ongoing, longstanding debate over where development should occur. Most existing leases in the petroleum reserve are clustered in an area that’s considered to have high development potential, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the Interior Department. The development potential in other parts of the reserve is lower, the agency said. The rules announced Friday would place restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in areas designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values and call for the agency to evaluate regularly whether to designate new special areas or bolster protections in those areas. The agency cited as a rationale the rapidly changing conditions in the Arctic due to climate change, including melting permafrost and changes in plant life and wildlife corridors. Environmentalists were pleased. “This huge, wild place will be able to remain wild,” Ellen Montgomery of Environment America Research & Policy Center said. Jeremy Lieb, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the administration had taken an important step to protect the climate with the latest decision. Earthjustice is involved in litigation currently before a federal appeals court that seeks to overturn Willow’s approval. A decision in that case is pending. ___ Daly reported from Washington. 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By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson looks set to push forward this weekend on a $95 billion aid bill for Kyiv, Israel and other allies, despite a firestorm of protest from hardline Republicans that could lead to an attempt to oust him. The aid legislation is the latest in a series of must-pass bipartisan measures that Johnson has helped shepherd through Congress, including two massive spending bills and a controversial reauthorization of federal surveillance programs. His performance, six months after the 52-year-old Louisiana Republican acquired the speaker’s gavel, has won him accolades from centrist Republicans who worry that party infighting could erode U.S. status on the world stage. Johnson was elected speaker after a small band of hardline Republicans ousted his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, a move that brought the House of Representatives to a halt for weeks. “He’s shown tremendous courage,” Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick told Reuters. “He’s not allowing the noise to get to him.” The House is expected to vote as early as Saturday on the aid legislation that provides $61 billion to address the conflict in Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish U.S. weapons, stocks and facilities; $26 billion for Israel, including $9.1 billion for humanitarian needs, and $8.12 billion for the Indo-Pacific. Republicans hold a narrow House 218-213 majority, a margin so scant that Republican Representative Mike Gallagher is postponing his mid-session retirement, originally set for Friday, so he can be present to vote for the bill. Johnson has routinely relied on Democratic votes to pass legislation since becoming speaker, and he is expected to do so again on Saturday. Republican Representative Max Miller, an early critic of Johnson’s speakership, now credits him for quickly adopting the national perspective necessary for the top Republican in Congress. “He’s now seen the light, when it comes to representing not just your district in Louisiana but the entire country,” the Ohio Republican said. “He got a crash course on what the majority of Americans really feel.” ‘COURAGEOUS,’ SAYS PELOSI Johnson’s performance has even led to positive reviews from some senior Democrats. Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who led her party in the chamber for two decades — described him as “courageous” for defying hardline opposition to pass legislation that averted two government shutdowns, safeguarded U.S. efforts to combat terrorism, and would now support Ukraine in its struggle against Russian invasion. The speaker got vital support last week from former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, who said it was “unfortunate” that members would seek Johnson’s ouster “because right now we have much bigger problems.” Many House Republicans fear that ouster would mean unnecessary chaos months before the Nov. 5 election that will determine control of the White House, the Senate and the House. But despite Trump’s support, Johnson faces a growing ouster threat from hardline Republicans, including members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, who oppose aid to Ukraine, favor border restrictions and deep spending cuts and want to curb the federal government’s surveillance powers to protect U.S. citizens. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who filed a motion to vacate Johnson’s seat as speaker, won a co-sponsor this week in fellow hardliner Representative Thomas Massie. And more hardliners seem poised to join in. Even if Greene does not attempt to oust Johnson soon, she predicted he would not hold onto his leadership role in the long run. “The reality for Mike Johnson is that he’s not going to be speaker. But it’s just a matter of when that’s going to happen,” Greene said on Wednesday. Hardline frustrations surged on Thursday after word spread that House Republican leaders were considering a plan to raise the threshold for bringing an ouster motion from a single lawmaker to a majority of the party. Johnson later vowed not to make such a move. For their part, some Democrats have indicated they could consider providing votes to defend Johnson’s leadership if he succeeds in moving Ukraine aid. “I certainly don’t want to do anything personally that would in any way aid and abet Marjorie Taylor Greene’s destructive path,” said Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle. Johnson himself has dismissed the ouster threat, saying he would never be able to do his job if he operated out of fear for his own political future. “History judges us for what we do,” Johnson told reporters this week. “I’m doing here what I believe to be the right thing. I think providing lethal aid to Ukraine right now is critically important. I really do.” (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

By Nichola Groom (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Friday took steps to limit both oil and gas drilling and mining in Alaska, angering state officials who said the restrictions will cost jobs and make the U.S. reliant on foreign resources. The measures are aligned with President Joe Biden’s efforts to rein in oil and gas activities on public lands and conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters to combat climate change. The Interior Department finalized a regulation to block oil and gas development on 40% of Alaska’s National Petroleum Preserve to protect habitats for polar bears, caribou and other wildlife and the way of life of indigenous communities. The agency also said it would reject a proposal by a state agency to construct a 211-mile (340-km) road intended to enable mine development in the Ambler Mining District in north central Alaska. The agency cited risks to caribou and fish populations that dozens of native communities rely on for subsistence. “I am proud that my Administration is taking action to conserve more than 13 million acres in the Western Arctic and to honor the culture, history, and enduring wisdom of Alaska Natives who have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial,” Biden said in a statement. The NPR-A, as it is known, is a 23-million-acre (93-million hectare) area on the state’s North Slope that is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States. The new rule would prohibit oil and gas leasing on 10.6 million acres (4.3 million hectares) while limiting development on more than 2 million additional acres. The rule would not affect existing oil and gas operations, including ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion Willow project, which the Biden administration approved last year. Currently, oil and gas leases cover about 2.5 million acres (1 hectare). The Ambler Access Project, proposed by the Alaska Industrial and Development Export Authority (AIDEA), would enable mine development in an area with copper, zinc and lead deposits and create jobs, AIDEA has said. Interior’s Bureau of Land Management released its environmental analysis of the project on Friday, recommending “no action” as its preferred alternative. The project now faces a final decision by the Interior Department. Republican senators from Alaska and several other states held a press conference on Thursday to slam the administration’s widely anticipated decisions. “When you take off access to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot explore, you cannot move it — this is the energy insecurity that we’re talking about,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said. “We’re still going to need the germanium, the gallium, the copper. We’re still going to need the oil. But we’re just not going to get it from Alaska.” (Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Leslie Adler) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

SEATTLE (AP) — Saturday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when college students gather — at 4:20 p.m. — in clouds of smoke on campus quads and pot shops in legal-weed states thank their customers with discounts. This year’s edition provides an occasion for activists to reflect on how far their movement has come, with recreational pot now allowed in nearly half the states and the nation’s capital. Many states have instituted “social equity” measures to help communities of color, harmed the most by the drug war, reap financial benefits from legalization. And the White House has shown an openness to marijuana reform. Here’s a look at 4/20’s history: The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky. Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or that it derived from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain of “Everybody must get stoned” — 420 being the product of 12 times 35. But the prevailing explanation is that it started in the 1970s with a group of bell-bottomed buddies from San Rafael High School, in California’s Marin County north of San Francisco, who called themselves “the Waldos.” A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he was growing in the woods at nearby Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes. During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice, the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur, smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420” — would take on a life of its own. The Waldos saved postmarked letters and other artifacts from the 1970s referencing “420,” which they now keep in a bank vault, and when the Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited some of those documents as the earliest recorded uses. A brother of one of the Waldos was a close friend of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, as Lesh once confirmed in an interview with the Huffington Post, now HuffPost. The Waldos began hanging out in the band’s circle and the slang spread. Fast-forward to the early 1990s: Steve Bloom, a reporter for the cannabis magazine High Times, was at a Dead show when he was handed a flier urging people to “meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.” High Times published it. “It’s a phenomenon,” one of the Waldos, Steve Capper, now 69, once told The Associated Press. “Most things die within a couple years, but this just goes on and on. It’s not like someday somebody’s going to say, ‘OK, Cannabis New Year’s is on June 23rd now.’” While the Waldos came up with the term, the people who made the flier distributed at the Dead show — and effectively turned 4/20 into a holiday — remain unknown. With weed, naturally. Some celebrations are bigger than others: The Mile High 420 Festival in Denver, for example, typically draws thousands and describes itself as the largest free 4/20 event in the world. Hippie Hill in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has also attracted massive crowds, but the gathering was canceled this year, with organizers citing a lack of financial sponsorship and city budget cuts. College quads and statehouse lawns are also known for drawing 4/20 celebrations, with the University of Colorado Boulder historically among the largest, though not so much since administrators banned the annual smokeout over a decade ago. Some breweries make beers that are 420-themed, but not laced, including SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta, which is throwing a 420 music festival this weekend and whose founders went to the University of Colorado. Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California, releases its “Waldos’ Special Ale” every year on 4/20 in partnership with the term’s coiners. That’s where the Waldos will be this Saturday to sample the beer, for which they picked out “hops that smell and taste like the dankest marijuana,” one Waldo, Dave Reddix, said via email. 4/20 has also become a big industry event, with vendors gathering to try each other’s wares. The number of states allowing recreational marijuana has grown to 24 after recent legalization campaigns succeeded in Ohio, Minnesota and Delaware. Fourteen more states allow it for medical purposes, including Kentucky, where medical marijuana legislation that passed last year will take effect in 2025. Additional states permit only products with low THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient, for certain medical conditions. But marijuana is still illegal under federal law. It is listed with drugs such as heroin under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has no federally accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. The Biden administration, however, has taken some steps toward marijuana reform. The president has pardoned thousands of people who were convicted of “simple possession” on federal land and in the District of Columbia. The Department of Health and Human Services last year recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration that marijuana be reclassified as Schedule III, which would affirm its medical use under federal law. According to a Gallup poll last fall, 70% of adults support legalization, the highest level yet recorded by the polling firm and more than double the roughly 30% who backed it in 2000. Vivian McPeak, who helped found Seattle’s Hempfest more than three decades ago, reflected on the extent to which the marijuana industry has evolved during his lifetime. “It’s surreal to drive by stores that are selling cannabis,” he said. “A lot of people laughed at us, saying, ‘This will never happen.’” McPeak described 4/20 these days as a “mixed bag.” Despite the legalization movement’s progress, many smaller growers are struggling to compete against large producers, he said, and many Americans are still behind bars for weed convictions. “We can celebrate the victories that we’ve had, and we can also strategize and organize to further the cause,” he said. “Despite the kind of complacency that some people might feel, we still got work to do. We’ve got to keep earning that shoe leather until we get everybody out of jails and prisons.” For the Waldos, 4/20 signifies above all else a good time. “We’re not political. We’re jokesters,” Capper has said. “But there was a time that we can’t forget, when it was secret, furtive. … The energy of the time was more charged, more exciting in a certain way. “I’m not saying that’s all good — it’s not good they were putting people in jail,” he continued. “You wouldn’t want to go back there.” ___ Associated Press writer Claire Rush contributed from Portland, Oregon. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com