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fb777 124 Before being elected as the first transgender woman to the US Congress, 34-year-old Sarah McBride said she expected hostility. A harsh national spotlight has fallen swiftly upon her. "They may try to misgender me, they may try to say the wrong name, they will do what we can predictably assume they might do," she told the TransLash podcast last month ahead of her resounding election victory on November 5. "They are going to do that to get a rise out of me and my job will be to not give them the response they want," the Democrat from Delaware explained. Ahead of her arrival in the House of Representatives on January 3, McBride was targeted by a resolution this week from a right-wing Republican colleague that would ban transgender women from women's toilets in the Capitol. "Just because a Congressman wants to wear a mini skirt doesn’t mean he can come into a women’s bathroom," South Carolina firebrand Nancy Mace wrote on social media as she led a highly personal campaign against McBride. House Speaker Mike Johnson, after initially seeking to buy time to debate the issue, came out in support of a ban, saying that all single-sex facilities would be "reserved for individuals of that biological sex." McBride -- who wears knee-length dresses, not miniskirts -- issued a statement saying that she said would respect the rules "even if I disagree with them." "I'm not here to fight about bathrooms," said the politician and activist, who transitioned as a 21-year-old and told her parents on Christmas Day 2011. Donald Trump repeatedly raised transgender issues in the closing stages of his presidential campaign, with aides noting how questions around trans identity struck a nerve with swing voters. Two of the biggest issues -- at the heart of ongoing "culture wars" between conservatives and progressives -- are whether transgender women should be allowed in women's toilets and be admitted in women's sport. Mocking transgender athletes and "woke ideology," Trump promised to get "transgender insanity the hell out of our schools, and we will keep men out of women’s sports." McBride has long been an advocate for trans rights and she helped campaign for a law banning gender discrimination in her home state of Delaware, during which she was publicly called a "freak" and the "devil incarnate". "Listening to that was demeaning and dehumanizing for my child," her mother Sally told The Washington Post in a 2018 profile. "I still have a hard time coping with that." Undeterred, McBride rode the blows and was elected as the first US transgender state senator in 2020. She has been open about her mental health struggles growing up as a boy named Tim and the personal tragedy that has marked her life since, writing a memoir called "Tomorrow Will Be Different" in 2018. "I remember as a child praying in my bed at night that I would wake up the next day and be a girl," she told a TED talk in 2016. She first gathered major public attention with an open letter while a student leader at American University in Washington that announced her transition. She went on to encounter President Joe Biden and his family, also Delaware natives, when she became active in grassroots politics there. After interning at the White House under President Barack Obama, she secured an invitation to speak at the 2016 Democratic Party convention. The White House was also the scene of her first encounter with her late husband, Andrew Cray, a transgender man and LGTBQ+ activist. They married two years later shortly before Cray died from cancer. Knowing the attention she is destined for in the US Congress, she says her aim is to be an effective congresswoman focused on everyday voter priorities such as housing and inflation. But she knows she will be constantly pushed to be a spokeswoman -- and defender -- of the trans community. "I can't do right by the trans community if I'm not being the best member of Congress that I can be for Delaware," she told TransLash. "It's the only way that people will see that trans people can be good doctors, can be good lawyers, good educators, good members of Congress. I can't be there to put out a press release and tweet every time someone says something." adp/bgsCONWAY — The stores at Settlers Green are stocked and ready for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season. It all kicks off on Friday with extended store hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Expect in-store promotions of up to 70 percent off. Locallyowned stores like North Conway Olive Oil, The Soapery Off Main and The SoakingPot Infusion Spa will have great gift packages made and ready to go for any holiday occasion. Pajamas seem to be everywhere this season including many stores with matching pajama sets for the entire family at stores like Gap Outlet, Old Navy Outlet and JCrew Factory Store. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

Rebecca Sneed , wife of convicted killer Lyle Menendez, is speaking out to confront shocking allegations of his alleged affair with a 21-year-old British woman. In a message on Lyle's Facebook page, Sneed announced their separation but emphasized they remain friends and will always be family, vowing never to stop fighting for him. "Guys! This is NOT a cheating scandal. Lyle and I have been separated for a while now but remain best friends and family," Sneed wrote to the page. "I continue to run his Facebook pages, with input from him, and I am forever committed to the enduring fight for Lyle and Erik's freedom, as has been so evident over the years." On August 20, 1989, Lyle and his brother Erik Menendez gunned down their parents, José and Kitty Menendez with 14 shots as the couple sat watching TV in the den of their home. Lyle, who was then 21, and Erik, then 18, admitted they shot-gunned their entertainment executive father and their mother, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father's long-term sexual molestation of Erik. Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, have spent three decades behind bars. The alleged affair stems from a report in The Daily Mail , which details a "clandestine fling" between Lyle and Milly Bucksey, a University of Manchester student. Ironically, the romance began this year when Lyle spotted Milly in the same Facebook group managed by his wife. He allegedly approached her using an alias before revealing his true identity, according to the outlet. Bucksey endured a 5,300-mile journey from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility to visit Lyle, who is 35 years her senior. While it is unclear whether Erik's stepdaughter, Talia, was also addressing the affair rumors, she posted on her Instagram story on Thursday, "I want to make it clear that Erik and Lyle are two separate individuals. The decisions of one brother shouldn't overshadow the truth about the other one." Talia is the daughter of Chuck Saccoman and Tammi Menendez , who is married to Erik. Tammi was married to Chuck and lived with him when she began following the brothers' trial on TV in 1993. Feeling sympathy for Erik, she wrote him a letter in prison, not expecting a reply. To her surprise, she received one. Her then-husband, Chuck, died in June 1996, just a month before Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to People , Tammi and Chuck had a nine-month-old daughter, Talia, when he died. Tammi continued visiting Erik for the next six months and in 1998 he proposed. Although she felt it was a little soon, she was grateful for the proposal as she couldn't imagine her life without him. The two got married on June 12, 1999, in Folsom State Prison. Lyle Menendez's Marriage Status Lyle married twice. His first wife, Anna Eriksson, like Tammi, saw Lyle on TV during his initial trial and decided to write him a letter. Lyle responded to her letter, and their exchange soon developed into a relationship, according to The Sun . The outlet reported in 1994 that Eriksson moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Lyle, taking a job as a contract administrator for a record company. After meeting in person, they fell in love and married in 1996 on July 2, 1996—the day of Lyle and Erik's sentencing. Their relationship flourished until 2001 when Eriksson discovered Lyle had been unfaithful with another pen pal. They divorced soon after. In 2003, two years later, Lyle married Sneed. The couple exchanged vows in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison near Sacramento, after nearly a decade of knowing each other, a spokesperson told the Associated Press. "Our interaction tends to be very free of distractions and we probably have more intimate conversations than most married spouses do, who are distracted by life's events," Lyle told People in 2017. "We try and talk on the phone every day, sometimes several times a day. I have a very steady, involved marriage and that helps sustain me and brings a lot of peace and joy. It's a counter to the unpredictable, very stressful environment here." Lyle Menendez's Facebook Page Although Lyle doesn't manage his own Facebook page due to his lack of social media access in prison, Sneed oversees it. The page aims to raise awareness and support individuals who have experienced abuse. Lyle, however, personally wrote to articulate the purpose and message he hopes the page conveys. His message reads: "I thank my family for helping me with this page. I don't have internet access so this site depends on them. I have been told that setting up this page will open me up to ridicule and criticism. That's probably true, but it's something I'm already used to. It is very hard to accept that sexual assault can be the punchline of jokes or the subject of ridicule, but it has occurred—to me—and to many others. If I am mocked for this page, the shame of that belongs on the mocker and not on me or anyone who shares their story here. There is, quite simply, nothing funny about child rape or other abuse. "The purpose is to provide a safe place for people to talk about their similar experiences and find comfort in others who have suffered in silence in the same way. Those of us who have suffered abuse understand the healing power of sharing our experiences. This page's platform is to oppose all forms of child abuse: physical, sexual and emotional abuse perpetrated by anyone, including but not limited to parents, a teacher, a coach, a priest and the government. We also oppose all forms of domestic violence and sexual assault." Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story or the Menendez Brothers? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.comStock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market

While the rest of the Notre Dame community figures out whether it's worth paying four figures for a ticket to the College Football Playoff first-round home game against Indiana, the men's basketball team continues to figure out how to survive without Markus Burton. Notre Dame (5-5) hosts its next-to-last nonconference game Wednesday night against Dartmouth (4-4), which plays its sixth contest of a seven-game road trip. The Fighting Irish took a promising step -- and snapped a five-game losing streak -- on Saturday by edging Syracuse 69-64 in their ACC opener. "We needed to be in a close game and we needed to win a close game so our guys can build some belief back," head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "We can't take any steps back on Wednesday." Without Burton -- the stat sheet-stuffing sophomore point guard who injured the medial collateral ligament in his knee Nov. 26 against Rutgers -- the Irish are struggling to find someone to run the offense, as evidenced by their seven assists versus 15 turnovers against Syracuse. At the same time, players are filling the scoring void. Braeden Shrewsberry poured in a career-high-tying 25 points versus the Orange while hitting 6 of 11 3-point attempts. Tae Davis averaged 12.4 points and 7.2 shots per game when Burton was healthy, but he has upped his mean production to 16.6 points and 12.2 shots in the past five games. Micah Shrewsberry, though, prefers to measure progress on a possession-by-possession basis. "Just the toughness," he said. "There have been times when we haven't gotten the key stop. We haven't gotten the bucket when we quite need it. It gets deflating sometimes." Dartmouth knows that feeling. On Sunday, the Big Green took a one-point lead with 4:03 left in overtime at UIC -- and then failed to score on their final six possessions to suffer a 69-68 loss. The Big Green, who haven't posted a winning season since 1998-99, believe whole-heartedly in launching 3-pointers as they take 48 percent of their shots from behind the arc. Senior Cade Haskins (13.6 ppg) has hit a team-high 28 of 68 3-pointers this season, though fellow senior Ryan Cornish stacks up as the team's top scorer (14.3 ppg), passer (3.0 assists per game) and defender (2.3 steals per game). In its only previous game against a power-conference opponent, Dartmouth upset Boston College 88-83 on Nov. 29. --Field Level MediaCommanders place kicker Austin Seibert on injured reserve