Rosemary Ketchum has made LGBTQ HERstory: last week she won a seat on the Wheeling City Council, making her the first openly transgender elected official in West Virginia.
"We ran a really, really close campaign with our competitors, but we were able to run a grassroots campaign that, despite the obstacles of COVID, we were able to win," the councilwoman-elect told Cheddar on Tuesday.
Ketchum's victory came after a tight non-partisan race in which she defeated her opponent by just 15 votes. When Ketchum takes office on July 1, she will be one of only 27 transgender elected officials in the United States, according to Victory Fund.
Even though she has a few weeks before she's sworn in, Ketchum said she is already getting the ball rolling on issues she wants to tackle in office.
"Already, I am meeting with constituents to tour spaces that need to be rehabilitated. I've spoken to communities that are vulnerable and need assistance and need a platform and a stage to speak," Ketchum said.
Just a week after Ketchum's win, the larger LGBTQ community won a decisive victory from the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court ruled that under existing civil rights law, LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination, meaning gay and transgender employees cannot be fired based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
"This is an incredibly powerful and meaningful ruling by [the Supreme Court]," Ketchum continued. "Truthfully, I wasn't confident that this Court would be thoughtful around this issue and I was very excited that they decided to vote in favor of this and that the majority opinion was written by Justice Gorsuch."
Justice Neil Gorsuch, known as a conservative member of the bench, was President Donald Trump's first nominee to the Supreme Court. He, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, another Republican nominee, joined the Court's more liberal contingent to deliver the 6-3 ruling.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook's lawyer says she'll sue President Donald Trump's administration to try to prevent him from firing her. Longtime Washington attorney Abbe Lowell said Tuesday that Trump “has no authority to remove” Cook. If Trump succeeds in removing Cook from the Fed's board of governors, it could erode the Fed’s political independence, which is considered critical to its ability to fight inflation because it enables the Fed to take unpopular steps like raising interest rates. The Republican president said Monday he was removing Cook because of allegations she committed mortgage fraud. Cook was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022 and says she won't step down.
Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook late Wednesday said she wouldn’t leave her post after Trump on social media called on her to resign over an accusation from one his officials that she committed mortgage fraud.
Politico's Marcia Brown breaks down the MAHA draft roadmap: industry-friendly, light on regulation, heavy on research and voluntary food policy changes.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan says he’s “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards” after coming under pressure following President Donald Trump’s call for him to resign.
Millions of Americans saving for retirement through 401(k) accounts could have the option of putting their money in higher-risk private equity and cryptocurrency investments.
A new federal rule would make it easier for companies to use drones over longer distances out of sight of the operator without having to go through a cumbersome waiver process.
President Donald Trump has signed the GENIUS Act into law, setting new regulations for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency tied to assets like the U.S. dollar.
A top Federal Reserve official said late Thursday that the central bank should cut its key interest rate later this month, carving out a different view than that of Chair Jerome Powell
