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BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A former resident of New Hampshire’s youth detention center testified Thursday that his house leader and another staffer restrained him a stairwell while two other workers sexually assaulted him. The four members of what he and other teens called “the hit squad” then carried him back to his room and tossed him in, he said. “It felt like I hovered over and watched it,” Michael Gilpatrick said, wiping away tears in Rockingham Superior Court. “My body just went blank.” Gilpatrick, 40, was the first former resident to testify at the first civil trial seeking to hold the state accountable for alleged abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly called the Youth Development Center. The three years he spent at the Manchester facility in the late 1990s overlapped with the plaintiff, David Meehan, who alleges the state’s negligence in hiring, staffing and training led to the near-daily rapes, beatings and long stints in solitary confinement he endured. The state, however, argues it was not responsible for the actions of what it calls “rogue” employees. Meehan has yet to take the witness stand in the trial, which began last week and has included testimony from multiple former workers. He and Gilpatrick, who will continue testifying on Wednesday, are among more than 1,100 former residents who have sued the state. Eleven former state workers are facing criminal charges, including several who are accused of abusing Gilpatrick and Meehan. Meehan’s lawyers displayed police booking photos Tuesday of the so-called “hit squad” alongside a photo taken of Gilpatrick when he arrived at the center at age 14. “The four of them used to roll together, and they would go to different cottages and beat kids,” he said. “They would literally come over and just go door to door and beat every single one of us, down the line.” “They were grown men, and we were children, and they would literally swipe us to the ground, bang our heads off the floor, twist our arms behind our backs,” he said. “Anything they felt like doing, they did.” Gilpatrick testified that he ended up at the center after running away from multiple group homes, committing a burglary and stealing food to survive on the street. The sexual assault on the stairwell happened after he ran away while on a furlough, he said. He had already spent several days locked in his empty room wearing only his underwear when the workers brought him to the house leader’s office and then the stairwell, he said. Gilpatrick said he referred to the house leader, Bradley Asbury, as “Hitler.” “He was a very bad man,” he said. “Not only did he have power over all the kids, he had power over the staff as well.” Asbury has pleaded not guilty to charges of being an accomplice to Gilpatrick’s assault. Earlier Tuesday, jurors heard from a former ombudsman who said Asbury was particularly resistant to her attempts to investigate complaints and demanded to be present during any interviews with his staff. “He definitely sent a message to the students and staff that I was not going to be looking into anything there, and if I did he’d micromanage the process,” said Rochelle Edmark, who started her job just before Meehan left the facility. Edmark testified that she often felt like staffers stonewalled her investigations, and administrators failed to act on her recommendations. Lawyers for the state, however, suggested statements she made to investigators in the criminal case painted a different picture. “They didn’t micromanage you, they weren’t contentious with you, they would check in with you for periodic updates and they would compliment your work,” said attorney Martha Gaythwaite. Gaythwaite also pushed back against Edmark’s testimony that the residential cottages did not provide a therapeutic environment, noting that residents were provided individual and group therapy. “My concern was with the tone in the cottages more than the services provided,” Edmark said. The youth center, which once housed upward of 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen, is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu, father of current Gov. Chris Sununu. Since Meehan went to police in 2017, lawmakers have approved closing the facility, which now only houses those accused or convicted of the most serious violent crimes and replacing it with a much smaller building in a new location. They also created a $100 million fund to settle abuse claims. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin voters with disabilities should be able to cast their ballots electronically and failure to provide that option for the upcoming Aug. 13 primary and November presidential election is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the battleground state alleges. The lawsuit seeks to require that electronic absentee voting be an option for people with disabilities, just as it is for military and overseas voters. Under current Wisconsin law, people with disabilities are “treated unequally and face real and considerable hurdles to participating in absentee voting,” the lawsuit argues. Absentee ballots, including who can return them and where, have been a political flashpoint in swing state Wisconsin, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month in a case seeking to overturn a previous ruling banning absentee ballot drop boxes. A federal court sided with disability rights activists in 2022 and said the Voting Rights Act applies to Wisconsin voters who require assistance with mailing or delivering their absentee ballot because of a disability. The ruling overturned a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said only the voter can return their ballot in person or place it in the mail. The new case was filed against the Wisconsin Elections Commission in Dane County Circuit Court by four voters, Disability Rights Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters. Riley Vetterkind, a spokesperson for the elections commission, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Voters with disabilities must have the ability to vote electronically in order for Wisconsin to comply with a variety of state and federal laws related to accommodation and equal-access, the lawsuit argues. Electronic voting will also ensure that people with disabilities are treated the same as other voters, the lawsuit contends. The lawsuit states that because absentee voting for most in Wisconsin is by paper ballot, many people with disabilities are unable to cast their votes without assistance. They could vote in private if electronic voting were an option, the lawsuit argues. “This unconstitutional defect in Wisconsin’s absentee ballot system is well-known yet remains unaddressed,” the lawsuit alleges. The individuals who brought the lawsuit are Donald Natzke, of Shorewood, and Michael Christopher, of Madison, both of whom are blind; Stacy Ellingen, of Oshkosh, who has cerebral palsy; and Tyler Engel, of Madison, who has spinal muscular atrophy. All four of them are unable to vote absentee privately and independently, the lawsuit argues. The lawsuit alleges that not providing electronic absentee voting for people with disabilities violates the state and federal constitutions, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits all organizations that receive federal financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of disability. People with disabilities make up about one-fourth of the U.S. adult population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They have been ensnared in battles over access to the polls as many Republican-led states have passed restrictive voting laws in recent years, including over limits on what assistance a voter can receive and whether someone else can return a voter’s mailed ballot. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh from a Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump plans Tuesday to visit a New York bodega where a man was stabbed to death, a stark pivot for the former president as he juggles being a criminal defendant and the Republican challenger intent on blaming President Joe Biden for crime and inflation. Trump was expected to stop by Sanaa Convenient Store, a tiny bodega that sells chips, sodas and other snacks. Trump aides said the former president and current Republican nominee chose the store because it has been the site of a violent attack on an employee. He will also highlight the rising prices of consumer goods during Biden’s term, aides said. The visit would be Trump’s first campaign appearance since his criminal hush money trial began, making the presumptive GOP nominee the first former president in U.S. history to stand criminal trial. Trump will be confined to the courtroom on most days, dramatically limiting his movements and his ability to campaign, fundraise and make calls. Aides have been planning rallies and other political events on weekends and Wednesdays, the one weekday when court is not supposed to be in session. Plans also include local appearances Trump can make after court recesses each day. Trump has for months assailed Democratic-run cities as crime-ridden and overrun with migrants who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. His local campaign stop in Harlem allows him to blend that familiar message with his promise to make a serious play at winning his native state despite its heavily Democratic lean. In July 2022, Jose Alba, a clerk at the store in Hamilton Heights, a heavily Hispanic section of Harlem, was attacked by 35-year-old Austin Simon. The resulting altercation, captured on surveillance video, ended with Alba fatally stabbing Simon. Alba, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was arrested and charged with murder but the Manhattan district attorney dropped the charges within weeks, saying they could not prove Alba had not acted in self-defense. On another evening in August 2022, according to the New York Post, owner Osamah Aldhabyani was in the store when a customer entered and an altercation between the two ensued. The customer was arrested, the newspaper reported. Before his arrival, Trump’s campaign distributed materials to journalists criticizing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his handling of the stabbing case, including the weeks Alba spent jailed at Rikers Island without bail. Bragg oversees the office now prosecuting Trump. Bragg’s office issued a response Tuesday after news of Trump’s plans emerged. Simon’s death and Alba’s case were “resolved nearly two years ago, and the charges were dismissed after a thorough investigation,” the statement said. “D.A. Bragg’s top priority remains combating violent crime and the office has worked hand in hand with the NYPD to drive down overall crime in Manhattan, including double digit decreases in homicides and shootings since he took office.” The former president’s effort in Harlem on Tuesday affirms his intentions to campaign in his home state, even though New York remains overwhelmingly Democratic. In 2020, Biden garnered more than 60% of the vote in the state and ran up even wider margins in New York City. Trump insists he can win New York in November anyway, and he has mused about holding rallies in the South Bronx and Queens, where the former president was born and grew up, and even Madison Square Garden. “I may rent Madison Square Garden,” he said in an interview with Breitbart News. “That’s the belly of the beast, right?” That would be a prohibitively expensive proposition, particularly as his campaign has worked to save cash as it confronts a fundraising gap with Biden. “You know, the president is very keen on New York,” Chris LaCivita, Trump senior campaign adviser, told The Associated Press last month as he talked up the campaign’s efforts to put more states in play. “I do what the boss says,” LaCivita added, laughing, when asked whether he agrees that New York is winnable. At the least, Trump, long a famous figure for New Yorkers, showed Tuesday that he can still turn heads in the city. Throughout the afternoon, the crowds around the bodega grew half a dozen deep as word of Trump’s impending visit spread. Barricades were set up along Broadway, between 139th and 140th Streets, in advance of Trump’s appearance. The patio of the Mexican restaurant next door was packed with onlookers, and staff from a hair salon on the other side gathered by their open door. “Papito Trump is coming. Yeah!” said one passerby ahead of the former president’s arrival. Trump has argued that the ongoing influx of migrants to the city, where he grew his real estate empire and became a tabloid fixture, has made New Yorkers more willing to vote for him since his 2020 loss to Biden. The city has struggled to house the new arrivals, putting many up in city hotels. “I think we have a chance. New York has changed a lot in the last two years,” he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “The people of New York are angry. People that would have never voted for me because I’m a Republican … I think they’re going to vote for me.” Trump cited the 2022 New York governor’s race, when Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul prevailed over Republican former Rep. Lee Zeldin — but by a much tighter margin than usual for her party’s statewide nominees. His prospects will depend on voters like Lesandra Carrion, a 47-year-old who lives in the neighborhood and came out to see the former president when she heard he might be visiting. She said she doesn’t agree with everything Trump says or does but declared that “he speaks the truth.” Carrion cited the rising migrant population and strained city resources. “I think that he will make a difference,” she said of Trump. As for his troubles at the courthouse at the south end of Manhattan, Carrion was dismissive. “He’s going to beat that,” she said. “We all make mistakes at the end of the day. But he’s the truth and light. I feel that God is in him.” Not everyone was on board Tuesday, though. At least a few usual Sanaa customers expressed frustration over their lack of access to the store. “I gotta deal with this s—-!” one yelled. ___ Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — China is fueling the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. by directly subsidizing the manufacturing of materials that are used by traffickers to make the drug outside the country, according to a report released Tuesday by a special House committee focused on countering the Chinese government. Committee investigators said they accessed a government website that revealed tax rebates for the production of specific fentanyl precursors as well as other synthetic drugs as long as those companies sell them outside of China. “Through its actions, as our report has revealed, the Chinese Communist Party is telling us that it wants more fentanyl entering our country,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the special House committee. “It wants the chaos and devastation that has resulted from the epidemic.” In November, President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a resumption of bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics with a focus on reducing the flow of precursor chemicals and synthetic drug trafficking. But the congressional report raises questions about whether China is following through. The report’s findings were released Tuesday as part of a hearing examining China’s role in the fentanyl epidemic in the U.S. Most overdose deaths in the U.S. continue to be linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. Inexpensive fentanyl is increasingly cut into other drugs, often without the buyers’ knowledge. The Chinese government not only subsidizes the manufacturing of precursor chemicals, but the report says it has also thwarted investigations into illicit manufacturers by warning the targets of an investigation when U.S. law enforcement has sent a formal request for assistance. Investigators said multiple current and former federal agents have described the notification of targets, leading those targets to revamp operations and make it harder to detect their activities. Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers in Tuesday’s hearing that it’s hard to believe that a country with the most pervasive surveillance system in the world is not fully aware of the massive drug trafficking taking place. He said the committee’s report “uncovered persuasive evidence” that China’s government is not just a bystander, but is “knee deep” in sponsoring and facilitating the export of fentanyl precursors. Barr recommended the U.S. use its trade and economic power to seek greater enforcement from Chinese authorities. He also said victims should bring civil actions against companies and individuals involved in distributing the precursors and synthetic drugs. “I don’t think we can count on their goodwill, as we have in the past,” Barr said. A Chinese official in a statement didn’t directly address the allegation of China subsidizing the production of fentanyl precursors, but the official did list several steps the nation has taken to curb fentanyl production. Following the Biden-Xi meeting in November, China issued a notice to remind relevant enterprises and individuals to be cautious in the sale of substances used for producing narcotic drugs. And on Jan. 30, a China-U.S. counter-narcotics working group officially launched, said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington. China has also pushed forward with a campaign that has involved “severely cracking down on illegal activities involving smuggling, manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of fentanyl substances and their precursor chemicals,” Pengyu said. And drug control authorities from the two countries are in regular communication with the Chinese updating U.S. officials on progress related to law enforcement actions and responding to requests for verification. “All these fully show that China’s drug control authorities have taken active actions to implement the consensus reached by the two Presidents, fully demonstrating China’s sincerity,” Pengyu said in a written statement. “It is very clear that there is no fentanyl problem in China, and the fentanyl crisis in the United States is not caused by the Chinese side, and blindly blaming China cannot solve the US’ own problem.” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on the committee, said Chinese companies are also currently selling synthetic opioids on their websites, and pointed to a screenshot of one such solicitation that committee staff found just Monday night in advance of the hearing. He said such posts have to be taken down immediately. “There are hundreds of these website posts — hundreds” Krishnamoorthi said. “This is completely unacceptable.” The chemical companies providing fentanyl precursors often have legitimate businesses with customers around the world. The report said fentanyl precursors and other synthetic narcotics are a “side hustle” designed to maximize profits. Businesses that deal in fentanyl precursors and narcotics on the side are particularly vulnerable to U.S sanctions. The same goes for companies such as banks, online platforms and shipping companies that enable illicit fentanyl trade. The report calls on Congress to clarify the power of the president to sanction those involved in drug trafficking, for the U.S. to impose financial sanctions on violators and for regular reports to Congress on how often sanctions have been undertaken. It also calls for forming a task force that would place intelligence, economic and enforcement resources under one roof. The head of the group would report directly to the attorney general of the U.S. and serve as a special assistant to the president on the National Security Council with authority over the opioids portfolio. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s transgender sports ban violates the rights of a teen athlete under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the law cannot be applied to a 13-year-old who has been taking puberty-blocking medication and publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade. In February 2023, the court had blocked the state’s bid to kick Becky Pepper Jackson off her middle school cross country and track and field teams if the law were enforced. Judge Toby Heytens wrote that offering her a “choice” between not participating in sports and participating only on boys teams “is no real choice at all.” “The defendants cannot expect that B.P.J. will countermand her social transition, her medical treatment, and all the work she has done with her schools, teachers, and coaches for nearly half her life by introducing herself to teammates, coaches, and even opponents as a boy,” Heytens wrote. The court ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union, its West Virginia chapter and LGBTQ interest group Lambda Legal. They sued the state, county boards of education and their superintendents in 2021 after Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill into law. “This is a tremendous victory for our client, transgender West Virginians, and the freedom of all youth to play as who they are,” ACLU West Virginia attorney Joshua Block said in a statement. The court noted that Jackson has been living as a girl for over five years and changed her name, and the state of West Virginia has issued her a birth certificate listing her as female. The court said she takes puberty-blocking medication and estrogen hormone therapy. Starting in elementary school, she has participated only on girls’ athletic teams. “B.P.J. has shown that applying the act to her would treat her worse than people to whom she is similarly situated, deprive her of any meaningful athletic opportunities, and do so on the basis of sex. That is all Title IX requires,” Heytens wrote. While the ruling makes clear that the law is discriminatory, ACLU-West Virginia spokesperson Billy Wolfe said in a statement, “as far as we know, our client is the only child currently impacted by this law. If others find themselves in this situation, we encourage them to contact the ACLU-WV legal team.” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was “deeply disappointed” in the decision, the Republican said. His office said except for the specific case decided Tuesday, the ban remains in place. “I will keep fighting to safeguard Title IX. We must keep working to protect women’s sports so that women’s safety is secured and girls have a truly fair playing field,” Morrisey said. “We know the law is correct and will use every available tool to defend it.” In January 2023, a federal judge dissolved a preliminary injunction that was granted in July 2021. The judge also ruled the state’s transgender law did not violate Title IX. The appeals court noted it did not find that government officials are barred from establishing separate sports teams for boys and girls or that they lacked authority to police the line drawn between those teams. “We also do not hold that Title IX requires schools to allow every transgender girl to play on girls teams, regardless of whether they have gone through puberty and experienced elevated levels of circulating testosterone,” the court wrote. “We hold only that the district court erred in granting these defendants’ motions for summary judgment in this particular case and in failing to grant summary judgment to B.P.J. on her specific Title IX claim.” Dissenting Judge G. Steven Agee wrote that the state can separate teams by gender assigned at birth “without running afoul of either the Equal Protection Clause or Title IX.” Sports participation is one of the main fronts in legislative and legal battles in recent years over the role of transgender people in U.S. public life. Most Republican-controlled states have passed restrictions on participation, as well as bans on gender-affirming health care for minors. Several have also restricted which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender people can use, particularly in schools. West Virginia is one of at least 24 states with a law on the books barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls sports competitions. The bans are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. In addition to West Virginia, judges have temporarily put enforcement of the bans on hold in Arizona, Idaho and Utah. But the 2nd Circuit revived a challenge last year to Connecticut’s policy of letting transgender girls compete in girls sports, sending it back to a lower court without ruling on its merits. In a related case, an Ohio judge ruled Tuesday that enforcement will be put on hold for a state law to ban gender-affirming care for minors as well as keep transgender girls out of girls scholastic sports competitions. The law was to take effect on April 24, but is now paused for two weeks, or until there’s a hearing on it. Franklin County Judge Michael Holbrook said in a written opinion that it’s likely that it violates a requirement that state legislation deal with a single subject. The Biden administration originally planned to release a new federal Title IX rule addressing both campus sexual assault and transgender athletes. Earlier this year, the department decided to split them into separate rules, and the athletics rule now remains in limbo. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the court found the ban discriminated against a teen athlete, but did not overturn it. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com