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A Vermont television station has deleted the online version of a news story that garnered national attention and provoked a barrage of transphobic messages toward a transgender Randolph student and her family. Links to the original story from Sept. 28 on the website for WCAX now turn up an error message and related social media posts have disappeared. The story’s deletion was first reported by Seven Days. WCAX’s story quoted a Randolph Union High School volleyball player who objected to a transgender teammate’s use of a school locker room. The story was then cited in media reports by Fox News,...

The family of a transgender student in Randolph is reeling from an onslaught of transphobic messages and social media posts fueled by what it says were inaccurate news stories about a locker room incident. “It’s been an absolute nightmare. Horrifying. My family is in constant pain from the lies and harassment,” said the mother of the 14-year-old student, who attends Randolph Union High School. Around midday on Monday the mother said she was heading to the school to pick up her daughter early because she “can’t make it through the day at this point.” Get all of VTDigger's daily news....

The Randolph Board of Education did an about-face Monday evening on its decision to remove holiday names from the school calendar following tremendous backlash from the public. Following the board’s action, all holidays will be listed by name on the school calendar, including Columbus Day. At its May meeting, the board voted to refer to Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Then on June 10 — over loud objections — the board voted to label holidays generically on its one-page calendar. Holidays including Christmas and Veterans Day were just listed as a “Day Off,” with no mention of the holiday...

More than 2,500 people have signed a petition calling for the Randolph board of education to resign days after the district voted to remove the names of holidays from the school calendar following a earlier debate about how to refer to Columbus Day. “(Superintendent) Jen Fano and all of the Board of Education Members have disgraced our community and clearly do not have the best interests of our children in anything they do,” the online petition started late last week reads. “They represent everything that is wrong in education today and are completely incompetent in every aspect of their role.”...

A new petition is calling on New Jersey school board members to resign after they voted to remove holidays from the official school calendar Thursday. The petition was created by a user with the name Thomas Tatem on Friday and demands Randolph Township school board members and Superintendent Jen Fano to "resign immediately," saying they "clearly do not have the best interests of our children in anything they do." The board voted to start listing holidays, including religious and national holidays such as Thanksgiving and Memorial Day as "day off" on the school calendar after receiving backlash for renaming Columbus...

In a historic victory, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley unseated Rep. Mike Capuano, a progressive Congressional favorite first elected in 1998 in Massachusetts' seventh congressional district. Capuano took the stage shortly after 9:15 p.m. and conceded the race. "I'm sorry it didn't work out, but this is life," Capuano told supporters. "This is OK. America is going to be OK. Ayanna Pressley is going to be a good congresswoman, and Massachusetts will be well served. "This is not the side we wanted to be on," he added. "Clearly the district wanted a lot of changes." Pressley, 44, mounted a surprising...

Grace Randolph Scoop: Kathleen Kennedy Almost Fired as Head of Lucasfilm... But... Her video is here. If you don't want to watch, here's the quick written version: Disney staged a big "secret" conference call with ranking people in the Star Wars division. Security guards were posted outside the doors at offices to prevent eavesdropping. Pixar and Marvel representatives were able to listen in on the call, but not speak on it. Apparently this was allowed to get feedback, I guess at a later point, about the Star Wars situation. Disney's head Bob Iger wants to fire Kathleen Kennedy, but there's...

On the same week that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin doubled down on waterboarding remarks she made, the campaign of CD3 GOP Primary candidate Steve Lonegan said it would welcome Palin in to campaign with the movement conservative candidate. “Darn right I’d do whatever it takes to foil [terrorists’] murderous jihadist plots – including waterboarding,” Palin, a Republican, wrote in a Facebook post Monday night, following up on controversial comments made last weekend at the annual National Rifle Association meeting in Indianapolis. “Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists,” Palin told...

Updated 4:37 p.m. | New Jersey Republicans avoided a nightmare scenario Wednesday night in the highly competitive, open-seat race for the 3rd District. Ocean County Republicans endorsed former Randolph Mayor Tom MacArthur as their preferred nominee. The endorsement comes five days after the Burlington County GOP also backed MacArthur.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The head of the SC NAACP, Lonnie Randolph, was arrested Friday night at a Five Points dry cleaners after a disagreement with employees. According to the incident report, Columbia police were called to Tripp’s Fine Cleaner at 830 Harden Street around 7:15 p.m. Friday. An employee told officers that Randolph, 63, refused to pay his bill, refused to leave the premises after being asked to do so several times and then began to act erratically. Once Randolph was escorted out of the business by police officers, the employee told officers the manager wanted Randolph banned from the...

In a bizarrely timed housecleaning, Minaya fired Willie Randolph, pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto shortly before midnight West Coast time (3 a.m. in New York) after all three had just returned from a 9-6 win here over the first-place Angels. Randolph was replaced by bench coach Jerry Manuel, a former AL Manager of the Year with the White Sox, while Triple-A New Orleans pitching coach Dan Warthen is taking over for Peterson. New Orleans manager Ken Oberkfell also is joining Manuel's staff along with Luis Aguyo. Minaya, who had flown to California during the game,...

10/29/2007 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Hundreds of Airmen, Air Force civilians, and their family members lined both sides of the main street here Oct. 26 to pay their respects to a Soldier killed in Iraq. U.S. Army Spc. Vincent A. Madero, 22, died Oct .17 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee. Word spread quickly across the base that a warrior was making his final flight home. The crowd began lining up along the route that would take the Soldier's body off base. When Specialist Madero's body arrived...

Is Randolph College haunted? While it may have a new name, some say there are a few old spirits still lurking around the former Randolph-Macon Woman's College campus. A bevy of ghost hunters paid a visit over the weekend, and they seemed to encounter some strange circumstances. Their quest began in the basement of the library. Ghost hunter John James turned out the lights and set up his video camera. They returned 45 minutes later to find his two-hour tape completely used up. James was also nearly hit by a flying object. "I know it hit the metal. I heard...

RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP, N.J. A horse is a horse, of course, of course -- but what about a donkey? That's the legal issue set for argument in a Randolph Township courtroom tomorrow as neighbors seek to force a 79-year-old Italian immigrant to give up ``Dominick the Christmas Donkey.'' It seems the two-year-old burro has been wandering off Luigi Catizone's property in search of a mate. Neighbors also say the donkey produces ``ear-splitting'' brays at all hours of the night. And then there's the smell. Catizone and his wife moved to Randolph in 1996 and his son bought the donkey last year...

A 16-year-old girl who had been missing since Saturday was found stabbed to death and dismembered — and police say her killer lived right next door. Jonathan Zarate, 18, appeared Monday in Morris County Court to face charges of murder, weapons offenses, and hindering apprehension in the slaying of Jennifer Parks. Zarate lived next door to Parks in their Randolph, N.J., neighborhood, and prosecutors say the 16-year-old victim left her house early Saturday morning to watch TV with Zarate. But then, authorities said, the two became embroiled in an argument that led to Parks' gruesome killing.

Security guards protecting union opponent By J.D. Walker -- Staff Writer, The Courier-Tribune Posted: 03/15/05 - 10:20:19 pm CST HIGH POINT - A Thomasville man is under 24-hour security detail after allegedly being threatening because of his opposition to union activity at his workplace. Jeff Ward filed a complaint against the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at Thomas Built Buses after a card-check petition verified in March 2004 established the union as the sole representative for employees there. The Thomas Built plant is located half in Guilford and half in Randolph counties. Ward filed his complaint with the help of...

The Rev. William M. Naughton made a surprise announcement one Sunday in February 2001 from the pulpit of Resurrection Church in Randolph. He needed a change of scenery, he said, so he was leaving the parish he had served as pastor for half its history. The true reason for Naughton's sudden departure was whispered at spaghetti dinners, rummage sales and other places where parishioners gathered, but it remained officially a secret, never addressed by Naughton's successor and never explained by the church. Connell made no mention of the amount of money involved, but some parishioners have said it was around...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

KAANAPALI, Hawaii -- Two California men were arrested in the death of an 18-year-old New Jersey cheerleader whose naked body tumbled from the ninth floor balcony of a Maui hotel. The two men, whose identities were not immediately released, were arrested Tuesday on charges of second-degree murder in the death of Lauren Crossan, of Randolph, N.J., said Lt. Tivoli Faaumu. Crossan was part of a group from the National Association of American Cheerleaders that was on Maui to participate in Saturday's Hula Bowl college football game. Her body was discovered Monday morning on the grounds of the Hyatt Regency Maui...