Lily Lines: The story a high school paper is fighting to tell

High school paper fights to tell story of an 18-year-old student doing porn

Bear Creek High School in Stockton, Calif., is at the center of a debate over First Amendment rights. An article in the school’s award-winning paper, the Bruin Voice, is set to publish this week. But it’s encountering resistance from administrators, because it’s a profile of an 18-year-old student at the school who works in the porn industry. Bailey Kirkeby, a 17-year-old junior and editor at the Bruin Voice — which is led by an all-female editorial board — wrote the profile, which she says humanizes the female student.

The school district is threatening to dismiss the paper’s faculty adviser, Kathi Duffel, named educator of the year by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists, if she doesn’t submit the article to them for prior review. Duffel and newspaper staff have argued that the story is on firm footing, and claim the school district has overstepped its authority by insisting to see the article before publication.

Lori Kaye identified as the woman killed in California synagogue shooting

On Saturday, a shooting at the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego left one dead and three injured, authorities said. Rabbi Yonah Fradkin, executive director of Chabad of San Diego County, identified Lori Kaye, 60, as the woman who was killed, according to the Associated Press. Authorities also identified the shooting suspect as John Earnest, a 19-year-old man with apparent anti-Semitic views.

The shooting took place on the last day of Passover, which celebrates Jewish freedom from persecution. “We are deeply shaken by the loss of a true woman of valor, Lori Kaye, who lost her life solely for living as a Jew,” Fradkin said in a statement.

A rise in longer working hours is helping to perpetuate the wage gap

At the top of their fields, educated women represent only 5 percent of chief executives at large companies and a quarter of the top 10 percent of earners in the United States. According to a report from the New York Times, mounting evidence has indicated that a return to longer, more inflexible hours is a big driver in that disparity — especially in what social scientists call the “greedy” professions, such as finance and law.

Workers who log extra-long hours get paid more, but far fewer women, especially mothers, do it, research suggests. This shift in the nature of work particularly affects dual-earning couples who have equal career potential: The woman, more often than the man, will step back from work when inflexible hours get in the way of child care or family time. “Researchers say that because of the changes in work and family, many educated couples are finding that couple equity is out of reach — and many women are left with unused career potential,” the Times piece reads.

At least two pregnant women have contracted measles in the latest outbreak

The number of reported cases in the latest measles outbreak has now hit at least 695, the highest in a single year since the disease was eradicated in 2000. On Wednesday, New York City’s department of health announced that its number of measles cases had risen to 290, including two pregnant women. That’s a concern to doctors: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers women a high-risk population when it comes to measles, and says the disease may cause women to give birth prematurely or have low-birth-weight babies. Multiple studies have also shown that when measles occurs during pregnancy, maternal and fetal deaths increase.

The Lily spoke with two doctors who shared advice for the current outbreak. They say that women who are considering pregnancy should get tested for immunity and advise that pregnant women avoid being in an area of outbreak if they can.

Taylor Swift makes history with ‘ME!’ music video release

Taylor Swift knows how to generate buzz: For weeks, she had been teasing an upcoming release on her social media channels. (The pop star has one of the most loyal fan bases of any modern female pop singer, with 83 million followers on Twitter and 116 million followers on Instagram.) On April 26, at midnight, she delivered, releasing a new song with an accompanying music video. With 65.2 million views within the first day of its release, “ME!” — featuring Panic! At the Disco frontman Brendon Urie — became the most-watched YouTube video in 24 hours by a solo or female artist.

The song broke other records, too, including the most first-day streams on Amazon Music.

Ahead of the release, Lily staff writer Caroline Kitchener spoke with mega fans who consider themselves “Swifties.” The pop star continues to have a huge following among 30-year-old women, and it’s largely because they feel like they grew up with Swift, who released her first single, “Tim McGraw,” in 2006 at age 16. “At 19, everything was way simpler than it is now, being married and having kids,” one fan told Kitchener. “When I’m upset or stressed, I can put Taylor on, and it takes me back to that time and place.”

Kansas rules state constitution protects abortion rights

In a win for abortion rights supporters, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state’s constitution protects abortion rights, blocking a 2015 state law that banned a second-trimester abortion procedure. The ruling, which would allow abortion to remain legal in the state even if Roe v. Wade were overturned by the Supreme Court, could set up similar legal challenges in other states. The ruling comes as several others across the country are passing laws that ban abortion procedures after six weeks.

Looking toward 2020

Democratic contenders in the 2020 presidential race generated quite a bit of news last week.

Early last week, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) joined Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) in calling for the House to impeach President Trump following the release of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Warren generated buzz herself when she unveiled a sweeping education policy that would eliminate up to $50,000 in student loan debt for households making less than $100,000, which would affect an estimated 42 million Americans. The plan would also make tuition to public colleges free and allocate funding to aid historically black colleges. Given that women are disproportionately saddled with student loan debt, we asked eight about the burdens of their student loans, and what they’d do if that debt were suddenly erased.

At She the People, a presidential candidate forum addressing women of color, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was met with jeers and boos when he took to the stage. That could point to challenges ahead for Sanders when it comes to minority voters, a group he has struggled to win support from in the past.

Finally, on Thursday, in a video posted to social media, former vice president Joe Biden — who has recently been accused of touching women inappropriately — announced he will make his third run for president. Biden reportedly called Anita Hill ahead of the announcement to express “his regret for what she endured” when he oversaw the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, but Hill told the New York Times that she was unsatisfied with his apology.

ICYMI

• In one of the highest profile #MeToo cases to hit basketball so far, sports reporter Kelli Tennant filed a lawsuit last week alleging that Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton had sexually assaulted her when he was an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.

• On Wednesday, mourners, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, gathered in Ireland for the funeral of journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead while covering a police raid and riot in Northern Ireland on April 18.

• Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, has opened an investigation into the finances of the National Rifle Association, her spokeswoman announced Saturday. James had pledged during her campaign last year to investigate the legitimacy of the NRA’s not-for-profit status if elected.

• On Sunday, Stéphanie Frappart made history as the first woman to referee a top-flight professional soccer game in France. She will officiate her second Women’s World Cup in France this summer.

Amber Heard tells us which female-directed film she’s excited to see at Tribeca Film Festival

For the first time ever, half of the films featured at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival, which runs until May 5, will be female-directed. Hollywood has a notorious issue with highlighting female-directed films: Only five women have been nominated for best director at the Academy Awards since its inception in 1929. At an event ahead of the festival, Tribeca Enterprises executive vice president Paula Weinstein said that while 50 percent female-directed films in a given competition “is extraordinary,” it isn’t enough. “It’s just the beginning, and we are not resting on our laurels,” she said.

We asked actress Amber Heard, who’s starring in “Gully” — a film set in dystopian Los Angeles and premiering at the festival — which female-directed Tribeca film she is most looking forward to seeing. She said that she is primarily excited by the sheer number of female-directed films. “It’s a thrilling and encouraging signal of what we all feel on the ground, that the world is rapidly changing and women are stepping up in unprecedented numbers to demand our place in it is represented,” she said.

But there was one in particular she highlighted: Sharon Maymon and Tal Granit’s “Flawless,” a scripted drama about three teenage girls, starring transgender model and actress Stav Strashko. “It follows the story of an aspect of the female experience that is perhaps the least represented in entertainment, the one that is perhaps the most fought for and yet is still the most precarious and difficult to protect: the one of the trans woman,” Heard said.

Mielle Organics mint almond oil

My 4C hair can start to get super dry throughout the week between my twist outs. To help remedy this, I wanted to find a lightweight oil with a great scent that I could use daily. After reading some positive reviews for Mielle Organics mint almond oil, I decided to pick up a bottle, and I’m so glad I did. I only need to add a couple of drops to the palms of my hands, then massage it into my hair and scalp. It keeps my hair feeling soft and moisturized day to day.

—Macy Freeman, Washington Post multiplatform editor

Boundaries aren’t a bad idea — they’re the key to lasting friendships. I learned that the hard way.

In a new book, this writer argues that for black women, motherhood is political

This is why 30-year-old women still love Taylor Swift. It’s the same reason they still love ‘Gilmore Girls.’