The Biden administration announced today that the US will protect gay and transgender people against sex discrimination in health care.

The move is a reversal of a Trump-era policy that defined sex as an assigned gender at birth which excliuded transgender people from protection under the law.

The Department of Human Health and Services will now begin investigating discrimination complaints on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

A former Anoka theater teacher faces 10 felony counts of sexually abusing minors.

Jefferson Fietek, a 47-year-old, stood up for LGBTQ students during a federal probe into anti-gay bullying in the Anoka-Hennepin school district.

According to the Star Tribune, school officials or leaders of the Young Artists Initiative that Fietek created, had been warned about Fietek’s close relationships with male students on three occasions.

Gasoline futures are ticking higher today following a cyber extortion attempt on a vital US pipeline that carries fuel from the Gulf Coast to the northeast.

Colonial pipeline says it has halted all pipeline operations following the ransom-ware attack.

Two people close to the investigation say the shutdown was carried out by a criminal gang known as darkside that cultivates a robin hood image of stealing from corporations and giving a cut to charity.

The Colonial pipeline transports gasoline and other fuel through 10 states between Texas and New Jersey. The company says it delivers roughly 45% of fuel consumed on the East Coast.

Mae Macfarlane can be reached at Macf7507@stthomas.edu.