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A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid.

U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, opens new tab rejected various arguments that the four states led by Alabama made in challenging U.S. Department of Education regulations that say a federal law barring sex discrimination in education extends to gender identity.

The regulations also bar harassment against LGBTQ students, such as refusing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns, and changes the procedures schools must use in investigating accusations of student misconduct.

Axon, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, said the claims by the states and several conservative groups were conclusory and not backed by court precedent.

"Although Plaintiffs may dislike the Department’s rules, they have failed to show a substantial likelihood of success in proving the Department’s rulemaking was unreasonable or not reasonably explained," Axon wrote.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday on a Middle East tour aimed at intensifying diplomatic pressure to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza this week to end the bloodshed between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

On his 10th trip to the region since the war began in October, Blinken will meet on Monday with senior Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior State Department official said.

After Israel, Blinken will continue onto Egypt.

The talks to strike a deal for a truce and return of hostages held in Gaza were now at an "inflection point", a senior Biden administration official told reporters en route to Tel Aviv, adding Blinken was going to stress to all parties the importance of getting this deal over the finish line.

"We think this is a critical time," the official said.

The mediating countries - Qatar, the United States and Egypt - have so far failed to narrow enough differences to reach an agreement in months of on-off negotiations, and violence continued unabated in Gaza on Sunday.

The Chicago Sky will break ground this fall on a purpose-built training center, delivering on team ownership’s promise to provide exclusive player facilities.

The $38 million facility will be built in partnership with the Village of Bedford Park and located next to the Wintrust Sports Complex just south of Midway Airport. The Sky expect construction to be completed by December 2025 and the 40,000-square-foot facility to be fully available for the 2026 WNBA season.

For co-owner and operating chair Nadia Rawlinson, completion of this facility is a crucial step forward amid an era of rapid growth for women’s basketball.

“We aren’t derivative of anyone,” Rawlinson said. “We stand on our own two feet. We are an organization that has our own needs, wants, desires, goals and outcomes that we’re driving toward that are uniquely ours.