Transgender treatment ban fails in Alabama Legislature
CBSN
Alabama lawmakers ended their legislative session without a vote on one of the most controversial bills before them: a measure to outlaw gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors.
The Senate-passed bill died on the final night of the legislative session after it was placed at the end of a debate agenda that lawmakers did not have time to finish before the session adjourned around midnight on Monday. The demise of the bill was a victory for advocacy groups and transgender youth and their parents, who held rallies outside the Alabama Statehouse to oppose the bill. "This important victory is the result of trans people and their families mobilizing to defend this life-saving medical care in Alabama and around the country," said Chase Strangio, deputy director for trans justice with the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project.The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.