The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear a case over state restrictions on which school sports teams transgender students can join.

Just two weeks after upholding a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, the justices said they will review lower court rulings in favor of transgender athletes in Idaho and West Virginia. The case will be argued in the fall.

The nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls on girls sports teams has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

More than two dozen states have enacted laws barring transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports competitions. Some policies have been blocked in court.

At the federal level, the Trump administration has filed lawsuits and launched investigations over state and school policies that have allowed transgender athletes to compete freely. This week, the University of Pennsylvania modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation on the women’s swimming team, part of a resolution of a federal civil rights case.

Separately, Senate Democrats in March blocked a Republican push for a national ban.

Immigration detains, moves to deport boxer

United States immigration agents have detained prominent Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Jr. and are working to deport him, with officials saying he has “an active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Chávez in Los Angeles on Wednesday and are processing him for expedited removal from the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

A Homeland Security news release said Chávez had been flagged as a public safety threat, but “the Biden administration indicated in internal records he was not an immigration enforcement priority.”

Chávez’s manager, Sean Gibbons, told the Los Angeles Times they are currently “working on a few issues” following the boxer’s arrest but had no further comment.

The son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, Chávez Jr. faced off last month against influencer-turned-fighter Jake Paul and lost.

U.S. officials announced the arrest Thursday, referring to the younger Chávez as an “affiliate of the Sinaloa cartel.”

The Trump administration has designated the Mexican drug trafficking group as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

“Under President Trump, no one is above the law — including world-famous athletes,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

First national school voucher plan approved

Congress has approved the first national school voucher plan, which will help all but the wealthiest families pay for private school and other educational expenses.

The voucher plan, passed Thursday as part of Republicans’ all-encompassing domestic policy bill, now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.

Families who earn up to 300% of their area’s median income, equivalent to more than $300,000 in some parts of the country, will be eligible, including those who already send their children to private schools.

The legislation is the culmination of a decades-long campaign by a coalition of private-education advocates, religious conservatives and some parents, who argued that families should have the freedom to choose the best K-12 school option for their children and get help paying for it.

But in a significant concession during last-minute negotiations in the Senate, the program will be limited to states that opt in.

Congressional estimates suggest the program, which is structured as a tax credit, could result in as much as $4 billion in lost revenue a year. But there is no cap, and some critics fear runaway costs.

California wildfire largest of season

A wildfire in a wilderness area of central California exploded in size as dry, hot weather Thursday raised the fire risk for large portions of the state ahead of the July Fourth holiday.

The Madre Fire became California’s largest blaze so far this year, ripping through grasslands after breaking out Wednesday in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, on the state’s central coast northwest of Los Angeles. It swiftly grew to more than 55 square miles. There was just 5% containment.

The fire was pushed by summer gusts that typically increase as the sun starts going down, said meteorologist Ryan Kittell with the National Weather Service.

“The winds are pretty light during the day, but they do pick up pretty substantially in the afternoon and evening hours,” Kittell said.

He said gusts could reach 40 mph (64 kph) later in the day Thursday, posing new challenges for firefighters working in 95-degree heat (35 Celsius).

Dozens of smaller wildfires were burning across the state.

Pardoned rioter gets life in separate plot

A Tennessee man pardoned by President Donald Trump for taking part in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has been sentenced to life in prison for hatching a separate plot to assassinate the law enforcement officers who investigated his role in the riot.

The life term imposed on the man, Edward Kelley, came during a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn. Kelley was convicted at a trial there in November of charges that included conspiracy to murder federal employees and threatening federal agents.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that in 2022, while Kelley was at home facing charges in his Jan. 6-related case, he formed a group “that was preparing for armed conflict against the United States government” — specifically, the FBI. Kelley, a former Marine, had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He made a list of nearly 40 people who had been involved in his arrest or who had helped to search his home as part of the Jan. 6 investigation, targeting them for assassination, prosecutors said.

Kelley also planned to attack an FBI office in Knoxville, prosecutors said, using improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles and drones.

He was ultimately turned in by one of his co-conspirators who secretly recorded him.

N.C. governor vetoes three anti-DEI bills

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein vetoed on Thursday three anti-DEI bills and another measure that in part would target transgender rights. His actions set up more showdowns with Republican lawmakers who pitch the legislation as doing away with structured racial bias in government and public education, protecting women and empowering parents.

Stein criticized the Republican-controlled legislature for focusing on these measures while they’ve yet to enact a budget for the fiscal year that started this week. Instead, Stein said in a news release, it “wants to distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us.

These mean-spirited bills would marginalize vulnerable people and also undermine the quality of public services and public education.”

The measures cutting or eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in state and local governments, K-12 public schools and the university system have been a major priority for GOP lawmakers.

They argue the programs targeted have overemphasized identity to the detriment of merit and societal unity.

Myanmar rebels claim downed fighter jet

A Myanmar military fighter jet crashed in a combat zone in the country’s east, according to an anti-military resistance organization that claimed to have shot it down. State-run media reported the disappearance of an aircraft.

Maui, the vice commander-in-chief and Secretary No. 2 of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, or KNDF, told The Associated Press on Thursday that a jet had been shot down early Wednesday by the resistance fighters during heavy fighting near Hpasawng township in Kayah state, which is also known as Karenni.

Hpasawng is about 100 miles southeast of the capital, Naypyitaw.

Claims of aircraft being shot down are difficult to independently confirm, because of tight restrictions on the media and the remoteness of where much combat takes place.

Character actor Michael Madsen dies at 66

Michael Madsen, whose menacing characters in “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill” made him a standout in Quentin Tarantino’s films, has died. He was 66.

Madsen was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, Calif., on Thursday morning and pronounced dead, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Watch Commander Christopher Jauregui said.

He is believed to have died of natural causes and authorities do not suspect any foul play was involved. Madsen’s manager Ron Smith said cardiac arrest was the apparent cause.

Madsen’s career spanned more than 300 credits stretching back to the early 1980s, many in low-budget films.

However, his most memorable screen moment may have been the sadistic torture of a captured police officer — while dancing to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” — as Mr. Blonde in 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs.”

He would become a Tarantino regular, appearing in the “Kill Bill” films and “The Hateful Eight.”