Maui fires become most deadly in modern US history
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green declared in a nine-minute video that, as of August 13, 93 people have died in the historic wildfires in and around the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. The death toll is expected to rise. Firefighters have mostly contained the blaze that destroyed more than 2,700 structures and caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage.

In addition to sending additional support to conduct search-and-rescue operations, Green has ordered a comprehensive review to understand all of the actions taken before, during, and after last week's wildfires. The governor said, "There is a lot to share. There is a lot of information that people want. And to that end, I've authorized a comprehensive review of what happened in the early hours of the fire and hours thereafter." The cause of the wildfires remains under investigation.

The fires are Hawaii's deadliest natural disaster since a 1946 tsunami killed more than 150 people on the Big Island. The fires have destroyed much of Lahaina, a town of 13,000, leaving more than 4,500 people in need of shelter. About 1,000 people remain missing, and the death toll is expected to grow.

Green attributed such heavy losses to what he calls a "fire hurricane." Temperatures within the blaze — fueled by a dry summer and winds from a passing hurricane reaching 81 miles per hour — reached over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it spread at a rate of about a mile per minute.

Continuing questions linger over the lack of warning and evacuation plans for those in the path of the fire. Sirens did not sound, and emergency management services did not act on early warnings of devastation. The governor did not address these questions.

ACLU calls for federal probe of anti-Queer actions in Texas schools
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas has filed federal complaints against a charter school and a school district that it says violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

In one complaint to the Department of Education's Civil Rights Office, the ACLU alleges that the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts violated Title IX — which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex discrimination as well as sexual orientation and gender identity — by preventing a Transgender student from joining the school's prestigious choir, the Singing Girls of Texas, and adopting a policy requiring students to audition only for choirs matching their sex assigned at birth.

According to the complaint, Transgender and Nonbinary student Margo Moe (a pseudonym) auditioned for a spot in the choir but was not offered an official invitation to join after Paul Gravely, the president and CEO of the school's governing body, called for the board to determine eligibility requirements.

The meeting was marked by anti-Trans statements by the board chair, Daniel Bates. A survey was sent to parents to measure their thoughts, which referenced "indoctrination" and "Radical Gender Theory."

The complaint states, "As a result of the board's vote and the discriminatory and hostile tenor of the board meeting, Margo feels stigmatized, dejected, and no longer welcome as a part of the FWAFA community." It continues, "They are devastated that their school board members voted to keep them from the choir that would allow them to thrive as a non-binary soprano singer and pursue their career aspirations in vocal performance."

The ACLU also alleges in a separate complaint filed August 10 (also with the DOE's Civil Rights Office) that the Keller Independent School District fostered a "pervasively hostile atmosphere" for Queer students.

The school board had voted in a June 28 decision "to enact a 'Facility Standards' policy, which prohibits transgender and nonbinary students from using the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity," and an "'Identification of Students' policy, which allows and encourages teachers, staff, and students to purposefully misgender transgender and nonbinary students at school," according to the ACLU's press release.

Chloe Kempf, ACLU Texas attorney and author of the press release, stated, "It is deeply disappointing that these North Texas school boards have targeted their transgender, nonbinary, and intersex students, who just want to feel as though they belong. They've enacted policies depriving students of books that reflect their experiences. They've banned students from using the facilities and from participating in the activities that align with who they are, all the while subjecting them to harassment and bullying.

Both complaints highlight a 2021 executive order signed by President Joe Biden which makes clear that the discrimination banned by Title IX includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.