NOTN- A High Wind Warning in Southeast Alaska is disrupting cruise ship schedules in Juneau for tomorrow.
The National Weather Service says winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 are expected through Wednesday evening for the outer coast and islands, including Prince of Wales, Annette, Baranof, Chichagof and Western Kupreanof.
“Over the next 24 hours we are going to see storm-force low along our coast. For the inner channels, we are going to see gale-force to strong gales push up through the inner channels overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.” Said Andrew Park from the National Weather Service Juneau in a social media post.
The Caribbean Princess has extended its stay in Juneau, while the Ruby Princess and Sapphire Princess canceled Wednesday port calls due to the weather.
The Kuskokwim River is seen in this image captured by scientists working on NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment, or ABoVE, which measured the elevation of rivers and lakes in Alaska and Canada to study how thawing permafrost affects hydrology. (Photo by Peter Griffith/NASA)
On Monday, the Alaska Department of Law asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling from a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the state’s existing two-tiered subsistence fishing system last month.
State attorneys have argued unsuccessfully since 2021 that federal law, as interpreted by recent rulings from the Supreme Court, means the state, not the federal government, has the power to regulate fishing in navigable waters on federal land.
A federal law, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, requires that rural Alaskans be given preferential treatment when hunting and fishing are regulated in Alaska. Simultaneously, the Alaska Constitution forbids that kind of preference.
For decades, the result has been a two-tiered system under which the federal government regulates hunting and fishing on federal land and water, and the state regulates it everywhere else.
Under the state framework, someone from Anchorage would have the same fishing rights on the Kuskokwim River as someone who lives a mile away. Under the current system, the local resident gets priority in parts of the river within federal land.
In 2021, a regulatory dispute on the Kuskokwim River during a salmon shortage resulted in the federal government filing a lawsuit against the state. The Alaska Federation of Natives, Association of Village Council Presidents and other Native groups from across the state joined the lawsuit on the side of the federal government.
In 2024, a U.S. District Court judge in Alaska ruled in favor of the federal government, but the state appealed that decision. Last month, three judges from the 9th Circuit again ruled in favor of the federal government. Rather than appeal the issue to the full 9th Circuit, the state is going directly to the Supreme Court.
The state’s filing on Monday was formally known as a “cert petition,” which asks the court to take up the case.
The court takes only about 1% of the cases it receives, though the acceptance rate is higher (about 5%) if the large number of cases involving prisoners representing themselves in court are excluded.
In a written statement announcing the filing, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General designee Stephen Cox said the state believes that federal law gives Alaska control of its navigable waters when it comes to fishing.
“Alaska is asking the Supreme Court to hold fast to the text, because fidelity to the law as written is the foundation of the rule of law,” Cox said in his statement.
Doug Vincent-Lang, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said he believes the 9th Circuit decision “deepens a fractured system that undermines conservation, creates confusion, and threatens equitable access for all Alaskans. Salmon don’t recognize federal and state boundaries — our management shouldn’t either. We remain committed to sustainable management and will continue fighting for a system that works for every Alaskan. The Court should decide this case and reverse the Ninth Circuit.”
Attorneys representing Alaska Native groups said on Monday that they expected an appeal to the Supreme Court, even if they didn’t know the exact timing.
Nathaniel Amdur-Clark, who has represented the Kuskokwim River Intertribal Fish Commission in the lawsuit to date, said by text message on Monday that his clients “are disappointed, but not surprised, to see the state’s cert petition. It is just a continuation of the state’s push to undermine subsistence protections for Alaska Natives and rural Alaskans.”
The Supreme Court does not have a set timeline for considering the state’s petition, which will be taken up in a closed-door judicial conference after both sides of the argument file written briefs on the issue.
Lia Thomas, second from left, stands on the starting blocks during the 500-yard freestyle finals at the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Atlanta on March 17, 2022.Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
With two executive orders related to school sports, President Donald Trump recently tried to settle the growing legal conflict over the right of transgender students to participate in school sports.
Supporters of transgender athlete participation argue that gender is a social construct, shaped by societal norms and cultural beliefs more so than by biology. They say that people should have the right to self-identify. And they argue that there is no significant threat to fairness, safety or opportunity in student sports.
As a professor of sport management with a law degree, I believe the progress in equity, access and participation made by women in sport since the passage of Title IX is at risk if U.S. institutions and legislators depart from the federal law’s original intent: to ensure equal opportunities for women in education settings.
The 2023-2024 academic year saw 235,735 student-athletes participate in NCAA women’s sports. That’s a record high.
When Congress passed Title IX in 1972, the goal was simple: make sure women have the same educational opportunities as men in school, including in sports programs.
Richards was hailed as a pioneer for transgender athletes. But her perspective has shifted over time. In February 2025, Richards said: “I believe that having gone through male puberty disqualifies transgender women from the female category in sports.”
Richards’ perspective underscores the tension between the inclusion of transgender people and maintaining fairness in competition and opportunities for women – a tension that remains at the center of legal debates today.
Court challenges
Courts across the country are now confronting a new wave of challenges to policies on transgender athlete participation from K-12 through college.
In 2021, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a transgender girl, sued the West Virginia Board of Education in federal court over the state’s “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which requires that sport participation in schools must be based on biological sex at birth. Pepper-Jackson argued that the act violated Title IX and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that requires states to treat people in similar situations equally.
In 2024, several college athletes filed a lawsuit against the NCAA and participating universities. The suit claims the organization violated the athletes’ Title IX rights by allowing transgender swimmer Lia Thomas at the University of Pennsylvania to compete at the national championships in 2022. The plaintiffs argued that competing against athletes who had undergone male puberty created unfair conditions in women’s sports.
The suit has not been resolved. But in April 2025, the Department of Education concluded that the University of Pennsylvania violated Title IX by allowing Thomas to swim on the women’s team during the 2021-2022 season. As part of a resolution agreement with the Education Department, the university was required to restore to female athletes all individual Division I swimming records broken by biologically born male athletes competing in women’s categories. Per the agreement, the university also issued an apology to the affected athletes and adopted biology-based eligibility standards.
Studies show that males have strength and size advantages over women. Those differences translate to advantages in sport, even after hormone suppression. To introduce competitive disadvantages in women’s sport threatens the premise of Title IX: to provide women with equal opportunity.
As these court cases unfold, their resolutions will help define standards for transgender participation in women’s sports across educational levels.
They underscore the ongoing challenge for institutions and governing bodies to balance inclusion, competitive fairness and compliance with Title IX.
Amanda Siegrist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Though Kirk has been a wildly popular figure in rightwing media for several years, his death has brought a new level of international attention to his life and beliefs.
Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk, has become an overnight celebrity of sorts, with many praising the young widow for the grace with which she’s handled her sudden loss.
Erika has gained millions of followers in the days since her husband was murdered, and many have praised her first statement to the public.
Charlie Kirk (R) and and his wife Erika Lane Frantzve (L) on stage during the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball at the Salamander Hotel on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. ((Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
The surge in interest in Erika’s career has led to the surprising discovery that she once appeared on a popular Bravo reality show.
Erika Kirk’s ‘Summer House’ cameo nearly led to a full-time role on the show
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, Erika appeared in an episode from the third season of Bravo’s Summer House.
She’s shown going on a date with former Summer House cast member Jordan Verroi.
Carl Radke, a friend of both Jordan and Erika, set up the date, explaining to the camera that Erika is “beautiful” and “happens to be religious,” qualities that he thought would make her a perfect match for Jordan.
Jordan was smitten, revealing in a confessional that he liked Erika’s “beautiful blonde hair, her smile, her radiance,” and noted that she had “outward beauty and inner beauty.”
The relationship proved to be short-lived, however, and Erika explained in a 2019 Instagram post that she turned down an offer to become a full-time cast member on the show.
What’s next for Erika Kirk?
These days, Erika works as a ministry leader and podcast host.
She announced earlier this week that she intends to dedicate herself to her husband’s Turning Point USA organization in order to carry on his legacy.
“The movement my husband built will not die — I refuse to let that happen,” she said.
Sergio Gor, Donald Trump Jr., Charlie Kirk, and Erika Frantzve watch on stage as The Village People perform YMCA during the Turning Point USA Inaugural-Eve Ball at the Salamander Hotel on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Perhaps for his family’s protection, Charlie typically kept his professional and private lives separate, but he and Erika often sang one another’s praises on social media.
“5 years ago today, we sat inside Bills Burgers in NYC deep in conversation and banter over theology, philosophy and politics and at the end, you paused, looked at me and said, ‘I’m going to date you,’” she wrote in 2023 to mark the anniversary of their first meeting.
“Dating with intention to marry is way different than dating to ‘see where it goes.’ Let God write your love story,” she concluded.
Our thoughts go out to Erika and her two children during this enormously difficult time.
Lydia Plath never seems like she’s having much fun on her family’s reality television show, does she?
Heck, on the latest episode of Welcome to Plathville, Lydia’s mom Kim told Lydia that she might be making “the biggest mistake” of her life by marrying Zac Wyse.
On last week’s installment of Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo‘s podcast this week, Lydia was actually joined by her spouse… and she revealed the reason she has continued to appear on the long-running series..
(TLC)
“There have been many times where it’s just like, ‘I’m done, I can’t do this,’” she explained on air.
“After every season, I’m always like, ‘I’m not doing another one. This is too much.’ I can’t tell you how many times I was, like, at my wit’s end. I was done, on one of my many walks, talking to the Lord like, ‘God, I am not going to do another season. I’m just not gonna do it.’
“And then I was like, ‘Well, OK, I’m not going to unless you show me that you really want me to.’”
As it turns out, God apparently did reach out and send a sign to Plath.
“Every time I got to that position, the very next message I would read was someone going deep into how my story had impacted them and gave them a desire to follow the Lord,” Lydia claimed on this podcast.
Lydia Plath on an episode of her family’s TV show. (TLC)
Her alleged loved ones always seem to be causing problems.
But you can’t argue with a Higher Power, can you? As Lydia continued:
“Every time, without fail, when I’m like, ‘God I’m not going to do [this show] anymore. I can’t do this anymore. I’m not seeing any fruit. It’s hurting my own life. Is this really actually worth it?’”
“And then, right there, someone telling me how deeply it’s impacted their life and I’m like, ‘OK, God, if this is actually from you then I guess I’ll do my best, only if you help me and you’re with me.’”
Lydia Plath announced her engagement in late 2024. (TLC)
Lydia also told Jeremy and Jinger Duggar that she is often envious of her older sister, Hosanna, because she declined to appear on the program.
“I have been so jealous of her for so many years for choosing [to not be on the show],” Lydia said.
“I used to always say, ‘I’m going to be like my oldest sister and just get married and not be on the show anymore.’ But then I got married on the show instead!”
Ironic, huh?
As for any criticism that’s been leveled at her husband? By her own parent?
“It really hurts to see my family saying things about Zac and I that if they would have just come to us, and known us, it would have all been answered and clear that all Zac was doing in that month leading up to the wedding was caring for me and being there for me,” Lydia wrote online this weekend.
“He’s truly the most selfless man I’ve met and loves me in such a pure way!”
TMZ looked into the specific barrier itself, just to confirm that we’re not seeing some sort of football-related training equipment or whatever.
Per the report, this is a bullet-resistant portable shield partition — just as many suspected.
The retail price is about $6,000.
While there is no confirmation that Taylor was within the barrier, it seems like only one part of a hefty and expensive security arrangement.
Far-right influencer Charlie Kirk speaks at the opening of the Turning Point Action conference on July 15, 2023. (Photo Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Is this related to the Charlie Kirk shooting?
On Wednesday, September 10, a single shot ended the life of far-right influencer Charlie Kirk during one of his crowd-work events at Utah Valley University.
Authorities arrested a suspect last week. The accused individual is a 22-year-old named Tyler Robinson.
In the wake of the shooting, many politicians and political influencers — on both sides of the aisle — went on high alert, fearing copycat or retaliatory shootings.
Alt-right figures like Ben Shapiro canceled upcoming appearances.
Robinson appears to be a Groyper — a group of extreme fringe-right, terminally online young men who follow Nick Fuentes.
This group has publicly feuded with Charlie Kirk in the past.
In 2019, they ran a campaign to publicly push him to double-down upon extreme rhetoric rather than merely hinting at it.
It is important to note that Kirk and Fuentes made a sort of peace a couple of years ago.
However, they very recently split again after Kirk pushed for the release of the Epstein Files while Fuentes and his followers did not. This video may help explain Groypers because … it’s a lot.
Travis Kelce, left, and Taylor Swift react as the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers play during the first period in Game Four of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena on June 12, 2025. (Photo Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
What could one have to do with the other?
We go into detail on the Charlie Kirk shooting because many may ask what it could possibly have to do with Taylor Swift. Two far-right factions beefing should not, in theory, have anything to do with a singer, right?
Well, it’s important to note that Taylor’s ultra-rare political statements have resulted in explosive hatred from influential political figures like Donald Trump.
Neither is the fact that a Groyper attack, if that is what happened last week, does not have to “make sense.” (Seriously, watch the video that we linked)
We should also acknowledge that, you know, maybe she wanted privacy. If she was looking to avoid attention, however, this stunt may have backfired.
Denise Richards’ acrimonious split marches on. And it involves over a dozen pawed innocents.
The good news is that she pulled it off with much less drama than we’ve seen in the rest of the divorce.
Unfortunately, the bad news is that this bitter divorce has set a very low bar for “less drama.”
Over the weekend, she collected belongings from her former home. In addition to furniture, that meant 15 dogs.
On ‘Denise Richards & Her Wild Things,’ the titular actress speaks about the complex realities of parenting teen girls (and one young adult). (Image Credit: Bravo)
Denise Richards retrieved her furniture (and dogs)
On Saturday, September 13, Denise Richards returned to her former home under less than ideal circumstances.
Arriving with four movers and multiple moving trucks, she was there for furniture.
More importantly, she was there to retrieve fifteen dogs from the Calabasas rental home where Aaron Phypers has been residing following the split.
Denise Richards moves 15 dogs and furniture out of rental house amid divorce.
Less than 36 hours later, the FBI arrested Tyler Robinson in connection with the murder.
In the days since, investigators, journalists, and amateur online sleuths have been working around the clock to try and pin down Robinson’s views in hopes of discovering his motives.
The mug shot of suspected Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson. (FBI)
That task has been surprisingly complicated, thanks in large part to politically motivated reasoning from both sides of the ideological divide.
New information about Tyler Robinson’s roommate could shed light on motives
Each new piece of information about Robinson’s life has been dissected for information that might help to explain his alleged act of violence.
And now, information about his roommate is receiving the same treatment.
Multiple outlets are now reporting that Robinson was living with an individual named Lance Twiggs in the months leading up to his arrest.
The New York Post describes Twiggs as a transgender “aspiring pro gamer” whose identity and social media activity might contain clues as to Robinson’s lifestyle and beliefs.
Charlie Kirk, who founded Turning Point USA, speaks before Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) gives remarks at a campaign rally at Arizona Christian University on July 31, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Axios has gone so far as to report that Twiggs’ views “may lead to [Robinson’s] motive” for allegedly shooting Kirk.
According to the Post, Twiggs’ posts were “rarely political.”
The outlet notes that Twiggs “frequently referenced his gender transition, as well as being a former Christian.”
“We are riding with Biden on this glorious subreddit,” Twiggs reportedly wrote at one point.
The Post notes, however, that that particular subreddit was “filled with sarcastic comments,” including a later comment in which Twiggs praised former Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
CEO of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk speaks on stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“One day Jeb will be president and America will fully reform into a utopia,” Twiggs reportedly wrote.
In other posts, Twiggs reportedly complained of suffering from a wide array of physical and mental health issues.
“I have been getting recommended treatments for schizophrenia, bpd [borderline personality disorder], and a brain tumor recently by my social media advertisements. This meme is perfect, thanks,” one post reads.
Again, the exact nature of Twiggs’ political beliefs is unclear, and there’s no indication that Robinson shares his roommates’ views, whatever they may be.
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said on Monday that she was fired from the publication over social media posts she made following the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Writing in a lengthy Substack post, Attiah said she was dismissed over her posts on Bluesky that she says were deemed to be “unacceptable,” “gross misconduct” and that endangered the physical safety of her colleagues.
“They rushed to fire me without even a conversation,” she wrote. “This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.”
A spokesperson for the Washington Post declined to comment on personnel matters. The Washington Post’s public social media policyrequires employees to ensure any posts made do not make “reasonable people question their editorial independence, nor make reasonable people question The Post’s ability to cover issues fairly.”
The guidance also urges staffers to “avoid curating your feeds in ways that suggest you have a partisan point of view on an issue The Post covers,” though the policy specifically states that does not apply to columnists, critics and other practitioners of opinion journalism posting as part of their work.
Earlier this year, the publication shifted its opinion section to focus on supporting “personal liberties and free markets.” Owner Jeff Bezos said at the time that a “broad-based opinion section” was no longer needed because a diversity of opinions were available online.
In a statement, the Washington Post guild called Attiah’s firing “unjust” and said it would continue to defend her rights.
“The Post not only flagrantly disregarded standard disciplinary processes, it also undermined its own mandate to be a champion of free speech,” the guild said in a post on X. “The right to speak freely is the ultimate personal liberty and the foundation of Karen’s 11-year career at The Post.”
Some of Attiah’s social media posts condemned political violence but also highlighted Kirk’s divisive comments on Black women. In her only post directly mentioning Kirk, she quoted the Turning Point USA founder’s comments that Black women lack “brain processing power.”
“I made clear that not performing over-the-top grief for white men who espouse violence was not the same as endorsing violence against them,” Attiah said.
Attiah, who started her career at The Washington Post in 2014, said the publication “silenced” her. She warned her firing is part of a larger trend.
The socialist brand is on the rise, according to recent polling, fueling the left flank of the Democratic Party to argue its ideology is becoming more mainstream.
Shortly after Gallup released data showing Democrats and independents are cooling toward capitalism, a progressive organization is out with a poll finding that more than half of likely Democratic voters prefer socialist-aligned figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani to establishment politicians like Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jefrries and Nancy Pelosi.
Democratic voters also view elected officials who describe themselves as democratic socialists about as positively as those who identify as Democrats, and they prefer democratic socialism to capitalism when written definitions of each are read aloud to them, according to the poll conducted by Data for Progress and shared first with POLITICO.
“What the mainstream of the party wants is both democratic socialism as a value system and democratic socialist politicians,” said Gabe Tobias, executive director of the Democratic Socialists of America Fund, a political nonprofit organization that funded the survey with the magazine Jacobin and the Berlin-based democratic socialist group Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.
Though Democratic voters are warming to socialism, the ideology is toxic to most Republicans and many independents, making it difficult for socialists to win in battlegrounds. Even within the Democratic Party, some voters are skeptical about the electability of democratic socialists in swing areas, a reality Sanders faced during his two unsuccessful presidential runs.
Democrats find themselves in turmoil after the national drubbing they took last year, and have been tussling for months over how to rebuild their party. Progressives andmoderates alike have sought to shape the debate through polling, memos and in-person gatherings as they bicker over the path out of the wilderness.
This survey marks the first formal poll the DSA Fund has released — the latest example of the left seeking to professionalizeits operationsand create infrastructure to build on its recent electoral victories. The organization said it plans to share its findings with hundreds of socialists elected around the country.
Fifty-three percent of Democratic voters said they preferred politicians described as similar to Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani, while 33 percent favored those similar to Schumer, Jeffries and Pelosi. Fourteen percent didn’t choose.
Though Democratic voters reported viewing elected officials who describe themselves as Democrats or democratic socialists roughly equally, independent and Republican voters saw the socialists far more negatively. Both types of hypothetical politicians were described as having the same affordability-focused agenda.
The results help explain why socialists and progressives have found success in blue seats and cities — underscored by Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary in June — but have struggled to appeal to swing voters in battleground areas.
In the poll, democratic socialists were defined as believing “that the government should take a more active role to improve Americans’ lives. They generally support higher taxes on corporations and high-income earners, support regulations that protect workers and consumers, and want more public ownership of key industries like housing, health care and utilities.”
The survey described capitalists as believing “that the private sector is best equipped to make improvements to Americans’ lives. They generally support lower taxes, oppose government regulations of businesses, and want the private sector to own key industries like housing, health care and utilities.”
After hearing each description, 74 percent of likely Democratic voters said democratic socialism comes closest to their viewpoint, while 16 percent said the same of capitalism. A plurality of independent voters and a majority of Republicans said they preferred capitalism.
The survey of 1,257 likely voters nationwide, conducted from Aug. 22 to 24 using web panel respondents, had a 3-point margin of error.
