Publisher drops childrens illustrator for antitrans notes

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A children’s book illustrator from Alaska known for drawing mother-baby animal pairs like sea otters and wolves was dropped by his publisher this week after authorities allege he left transphobic notes threatening children. Mitchell Thomas Watley, 47, will have a preliminary hearing April 11 in Juneau on a single count of terroristic threatening for allegedly placing notes in businesses that included an assault rifle superimposed over the transgender flag. The text on the notes read: “Feeling Cute Might Shoot Some Children.” The notes were found during a period of heightened rhetoric and laws targeting transgender people…