When players from the University of Utah women’s basketball team were participating in the NCAA Tournament regional games being played in Spokane, Wash, they were unable to get rooms there because of insufficient housing in the area and booked accommodations in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Utah’s team and members of the Utes’ travel party encountered a truck displaying a Confederate flag while walking to dinner at a local restaurant on Thursday night. The Confederate flag-flying truck driver greeted the women with a barrage of racial slurs, “including the ‘N’ word."

When players and others left the restaurant, the driver, along with “reinforcements from fellow racists,” followed them back to the resort while “continuing the racial threats while revving up their engines,” Stewart said.

The players “rushed back to the hotel” and, along with coaches and other staff, checked out early to stay in hotels elsewhere in Washington state, Stewart said.

“To the young women who endured racial slurs while visiting, I offer my most sincere apology,” Coeur d’Alene Mayor Jim Hammond said at the news conference. “We, all of us, stand with you. We embrace you. We celebrate your accomplishments and strongly denounce any malicious treatment towards you.”

S'okay, though: Idaho does not have a hate crime statute.

Two days earlier, Idaho governor Brad Little bragged about signing a bill banning ‘diversity statements’ ACROSS STATE GOVERNMENT!” [his caps]

Because, of course.

gazette.com - Idaho police FBI investigate possible hate crime against utah women s basketball team

X (Twitter): Brad Little on X: "It’s official