The Daily Populous

Thursday February 13rd, 2020 night edition

image for Girls sue to block participation of transgender athletes

Smith, the daughter of former Major League pitcher Lee Smith, is among three girls suing to block a state policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The families of three female high school runners filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block transgender athletes in Connecticut from participating in girls sports.

They argue that allowing athletes with male anatomy to compete has deprived them of track titles and scholarship opportunities.

Attorney Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, said transgender girls also are protected by Title IX.

The attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom is asking the court to prevent the transgender girls from competing while the lawsuit moves forward.

Connecticut is one of 17 states that allowed transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions in 2019, according to Transathlete.com, which tracks state policies in high school sports across the country. »

Blasphemy 'is no crime', says Macron amid French girl's anti-Islam row

Authored by theguardian.com

The French president defended the teenager, named only as Mila, who received death threats and was forced out of her school after filming an anti-religious diatribe on social media.

The case has sparked a furious public debate in France, a strictly secular republic with a large Muslim population.

Her outburst sparked death threats and social media users posted her personal information online, including where she was attending school. »

University professor compares 'OK, boomer' to 'n-word,' students say

Authored by edition.cnn.com
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(CNN) A University of Oklahoma professor has apologized after saying "OK, boomer" is the same as saying "n***er," the university's student newspaper.

The professor apologized in an email to students Tuesday evening, the OU Daily said.

"I realize the word was hurtful and infuses the racial divisions of our country, past and present," the professor wrote, according to the paper. »

The use of jargon kills people’s interest in science, politics

Authored by news.osu.edu

They were also less likely to think they were good at science, felt less informed about science and felt less qualified to discuss science topics.

“The use of difficult, specialized words are a signal that tells people that they don’t belong,” Shulman said.

They read a paragraph about each of three science and technology topics: self-driving cars, surgical robots and 3D bio-printing. »

'The Saddest Thing Is That This Won't Be Breaking News': Concentration of CO2 Hits Record High of 416 ppm

Authored by commondreams.org
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According to NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory, an atmospheric baseline station in Hawaii, the daily average of CO2 levels on Feb. 10 was 416.08 parts per million.

In recent years, soaring rates of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have signaled that the world is not ambitiously addressing the climate crisis.

We have officially hit 416.08 ppm #CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere on February 10, 2020. »