Category Archives: Transhuman News

Large language models (LLMs) learn from statistical associations between letters and words to predict what comes next in a sentence and are trained on large amounts of data. For instance, GPT-4, which is the LLM underlying the popular generative AI app ChatGPT, is trained on several petabytes (several million gigabytes) of text.

Biologists are leveraging the capability of these LLMs to shed new light on genetics by identifying statistical patterns in DNA sequences. DNA language models (also called genomic or nucleotide language models) are similarly trained on large numbers of DNA sequences.

DNA as the language of life is an oft-repeated clich. A genome is the entire set of DNA sequences that make up the genetic recipe for any organism. Unlike written languages, DNA has few letters: A, C, G, and T (representing the compounds adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine). As simple as this genomic language might seem, we are far from uncovering its syntax. DNA language models can improve our understanding of genomic grammar one rule at a time.

What makes ChatGPT incredibly powerful is its adaptability to a wide range of tasks, from generating poems to copy editing an essay. DNA language models are versatile too. Their applications range from predicting what different parts of the genome do to predicting how different genes interact with each other. By learning genome features from DNA sequences, without the need for reference genomes, language models could also potentially open up new methods of analysis.

A model trained on the human genome, for example, was able to predict sites on RNA where proteins are likely to bind. This binding is important in the process of gene expression the conversion of DNA into proteins. Specific proteins bind to RNA, limiting how much of it is then further translated into proteins. In this way, these proteins are said to mediate gene expression. To be able to predict these interactions, the model needed to intuit not just where in the genome these interactions will take place but also how the RNA will fold, as its shape is critical to such interactions.

The generative capabilities of DNA language models also allow researchers to predict how new mutations may arise in genome sequences. For example, scientists developed a genome-scale language model to predict and reconstruct the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

In recent years, biologists have realized that parts of the genome previously termed junk DNA interact with other parts of the genome in surprising ways. DNA language models offer a shortcut to learn more about these hidden interactions. With their ability to identify patterns across long stretches of DNA sequences, language models can also identify interactions between genes located on distant parts of the genome.

In a new preprint hosted on bioRxiv, scientists from the University of California-Berkeley present a DNA language model with the ability to learn genome-wide variant effects. These variants are single-letter changes to the genome that lead to diseases or other physiological outcomes and generally require expensive experiments (known as genome-wide association studies) to discover.

Named the Genomic Pre-trained Network (GPN), it was trained on the genomes of seven species of plants from the mustard family. Not only can GPN correctly label the different parts of these mustard genomes, it can also be adapted to identify genome variants for any species.

In another study published in Nature Machine Intelligence, scientists developed a DNA language model that could identify gene-gene interactions from single-cell data. Being able to study how genes interact with each other at single-cell resolution will reveal new insights into diseases that involve complex mechanisms. This is because it allows biologists to pin variations between individual cells to genetic factors that lead to disease development.

Language models can have problems with hallucination whereby an output sounds sensible but is not rooted in truth. ChatGPT, for example, could hallucinate health advice that is essentially misinformation. However, for protein design, this creativity makes language models a useful tool for designing completely new proteins from scratch.

Scientists are also applying language models to protein datasets in an effort to build on the success of deep learning models like AlphaFold in predicting how proteins fold. Folding is a complex process that enables a protein which starts off as a chain of amino acids to adopt a functional shape. Because protein sequences are derived from DNA sequences, the latter determine how the former fold, raising the possibility that we may be able to discover everything about protein structure and function from gene sequences alone.

Meanwhile, biologists will continue to use DNA language models to extract more and better insights from the large amounts of genome data available to us, across the full range and diversity of life on Earth.

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How generative AI language models are unlocking the secrets of DNA - Big Think

NEW YORK DNA is all around us even in the air we breathe. Now scientists found that air quality monitoring stations which pull in air to test for pollution also pick up lots of DNA that can reveal what plants and animals have been in the area.

The method could help solve the tricky challenge of keeping tabs on biodiversity, according to a recent study in the journal Current Biology.

The findings suggest biodiversity data has been collected "on massive scales literally for decades and nobody's noticed," said study author Elizabeth Clare, a biologist at Canada's York University.

As animals and plants go through their life cycles, they leave little bits of themselves in the environment scales, fur, feathers, pollen that carry their genetic signature.

Scientists have long known this kind of environmental DNA floats around in water and used it to track what species are swimming in lakes and rivers. It's been harder to get a genetic picture of what's roaming around on land, said Kristine Bohmann, who studies environmental DNA at the University of Copenhagen and was not involved with the latest study.

Air sampling filters stationed in June 2023 at the Auchencorth Moss research facility in Scotland.

In 2021, both Bohmann and Clare worked on similar projects to see whether they could pull animal DNA from the air. After setting up vacuum pumps in local zoos, the teams were able to sequence DNA from dozens of species.

"You can actually, in a Ghostbuster kind of way, vacuum DNA out of the air," Bohmann said.

Then researchers wanted to try that on a bigger scale.

For this latest study, Clare and her team tested air filters from two monitoring stations, one in London and one in Scotland, that are part of a national network to test for pollution.

After extracting DNA from pieces of the filter disks, the scientists were able to identify more than 180 different kinds of plants and animals, said study author Joanne Littlefair, a biologist at Queen Mary University of London.

The filters picked up on a wide range of wildlife, including grasses, fungi, deer, hedgehogs and songbirds along with "the ubiquitous pigeon," Littlefair said.

Now, the team hopes this method could track ecosystems all over the world. Even though biodiversity decline is a global issue, it's hard to test for on a large scale, Clare said.

It's easy to use systems that are already in place, pointed out James Allerton, an air quality scientist at the UK's National Physical Laboratory. Many countries have networks set up to monitor air quality, and some of them store their old filters for years or even decades an archive that could help show how ecosystems have changed over time.

More research is needed to see if the data from these filters can show real biodiversity trends over time, said Fabian Roger, who has been working on a similar project at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Still, it's exciting that an existing system could be "co-opted" to monitor wildlife, he wrote in an email.

Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, inspects a dead bat in a cave in Dorset, Vt.

Laura Kloepper, right, a visiting assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, carries out research with students in a bat cave May 2 in Dorset, Vt.

Researchers shine light on clusters of bats roosting in a cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say more bats that hibernate at the Vermont cave are tolerating the disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, points to a bat in a cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say there is a glimmer of good news for the disease. Experts say more bats that hibernate at a cave in Vermont, the largest bat cave in New England, are tolerating the disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

Bats roost in a cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say there is a glimmer of good news for the disease. Experts say more bats that hibernate at a cave in Vermont, the largest bat cave in New England, are tolerating the disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

Laura Kloepper, a visiting assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Center for Acoustics Research and Behavior Lab, carries out research in a bat cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say there is a glimmer of good news for the disease.

Bats roost in a cave May 2 in Dorset, Vt., where some of the mammals are tolerating a deadly disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, reaches toward roosting bats in a cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say there is a glimmer of good news for the disease. Experts say more bats that hibernate at a cave in Vermont, the largest bat cave in New England, are tolerating the disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, stretches the wings of a dead bat in a cave in Dorset, Vt.

Alyssa Bennett, small mammals biologist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, holds a dead bat in a cave in Dorset, Vt., on May 2, 2023. Scientists studying bat species hit hard by the fungus that causes white nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America, say there is a glimmer of good news for the disease. Experts say more bats that hibernate at a cave in Vermont, the largest bat cave in New England, are tolerating the disease and passing protective traits on to their young.

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DNA sucked into air filters can reveal what plants and animals are ... - Lincoln Journal Star

Contact: Kim Kaplan Email: Kim Kaplan

PULLMAN, WA, June 5, 2023Agricultural Research Service and Washington State University scientists have developed an innovative web app called BRIDGEcereal that can quickly and accurately analyze the vast amount of genomic data now available for cereal crops and organize the material into intuitive charts that identify patterns locating genes of interest.

With the rapid advancements in the field of genomics the past 25 years, a game-changer for crop improvement has emerged referred to as the pan-genome, defined as the assembled genome sequences from multiple varieties within a species. But understanding and enhancing crops based on the huge amount of data that have been generated also has created a challenge for researchers due to the lack of efficient and user-friendly bioinformatic tools, particularly ones designed to handle large volume DNA variations in a species.

Take wheat, for example. The standard reference wheat genomewhich was done for the wheat variety Chinese Springis five times larger than the human genome. In addition, researchers have long struggled with the wide variation in the locations of genes that control essential agronomic traits across wheat's 21 chromosomes. Right now, a dozen wheat genomes are publicly available.

This adds up to a huge amount of data, making analysis of it a tedious process even for researchers with advanced bioinformatic skills. It is particularly challenging to sort through all of the data to identify similar stretches of DNA that may control the same trait no matter where they are located on a chromosome.

BRIDGEcereal is designed to transform the process of identifying large DNA variation from tedious to efficient.

"By simply providing BRIDGEcereal with the sequence of DNA you are interested in, it will complete the search process in less than one minute." explained ARS research biologist Xianran Li, the leader of the BRIDGEcereal project. Li is with the ARS Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research Unit in Pullman, Washington.

"And BRIDGEcereal will organize the data it finds and present it to you in easily understood charts that highlight any patterns of where that DNA is," Li added.

An innovative web app developed by ARS and Washington State University scientists is speeding up analysis of the huge amounts of genomic data now available about cereal crops such as wheat.

It only took a minute for BRIDGEcereal to identify a promising candidate gene as the controller of a wheat mutation that reduces the length of awns, the bristle-like extensions from the wheat grain head. It had been known since the 1940s that a gene on wheat chromosome 4A controls awn development, which is an iconic wheat trait. But the exact gene controlling that trait has remained unknown.

"By searching dozens of potential genes through BRIDGEcereal, we were able to quickly identify a gene with a large DNA variation as the one that has been eluding researchers," Li said.

The scientists also designed BRIDGEcereal to be self-teachingalso called unsupervised machine-learningmeaning BRIDGEcereal can autonomously learn to recognize new patterns without the need for explicit instructions to follow.

"So what we've developed is a one-stop gateway to efficiently mine publicly accessible cereal pan-genomes that will only get more efficient as the data continues to mount up," Li said.

Bosen Zhang, a postdoctoral research associate with Washington State University and co-developer of the web app, added, "Researchers will find BRIDGEcereal to be an invaluable tool for selecting and prioritizing candidate genes that control specific traits in cereal crops."

BRIDGEcereal was first developed to work with wheat. It has already been adapted to analyze similar data from barley, maize, sorghum, and rice. This research was published in the journal Molecular Plant.

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in U.S. agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

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BRIDGEcereal: Self-Teaching Web App Improves Speed, Accuracy ... - Agricultural Research

Published 9:00 am Thursday, June 8, 2023

A new federal bill would require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. with children. The End Child Trafficking Now Act, reintroduced Wednesday by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), of Brookhaven, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), comes on the heels of the Department of Homeland Security reportedly ending all DNA familial testing at the border on May 31, 2023.

The Biden administrations decision to end DNA familial testing ignores due diligence and common sense when it comes to protecting vulnerable children, who are too often being trafficked across the border by sex traffickers, gang members, or other bad actors, said Hyde-Smith, who serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. This bill would be a step toward strengthening border security and helping children.

As many as 30 percent of children DNA tested were found not to be related to the illegal immigrants posing as family members, Blackburn said. Meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units and seek asylum at our southern border. The Biden administrations decision to halt all DNA familial testing is a grave misstep that not only puts the safety of Americans at risk but also increases the number of migrant children being trafficked. My legislation would stop criminals in their tracks and help protect children from exploitation an idea we should all be able to support.

The End Child Trafficking Now Act would:

In 2019, the ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Executive Associate Directorsaid, It is clear on-site DNA testing has a strong deterrent effect, as HSI agents witnessed multiple instances of individuals confessing to faux families prior to being tested as well.

Additional original cosponsors include U.S. Senators Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.), and John Hoeven (R-N.D.). U.S. Representative Lance Gooden (R-Texas) introduced the House companion bill.

In April, Hyde-Smith also joined Blackburn inintroducing the SAVE Girls Act (S.1200) that would authorize a grant program to provide resources to states, local governments, and nonprofit groups to help end the trafficking of young women and girls, including, but not limited to, vulnerable children who have been smuggled across our border.

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New bill would mandate continuing to use DNA to help stop ... - Dailyleader

Since the first use of DNA evidence in a criminal case in 1986 [1], forensic scientists have considered biological material (such as hair, skin, and bodily fluids) to be relatively reliable physical evidence.

Listen as the researchers discuss their work in the webinar, Stability and Persistence of Touch DNA for Forensic Analysis

While early technology required a substantial amount of biological material to extract enough DNA to build an individual profile for analysis, researchers have since discovered that they can obtain reliable DNA from more than just bloodstains or visible fluids; they can also obtain it from touch DNA that is left behind on surfaces or objects such as doorknobs, window latches, or steering wheels. Although touch DNA can be essential for forensic casework, it also comes with its share of issues, including those related to:

The results from rigorous analysis of these complicated factors have important implications for how touch DNA is collected, analyzed, and interpreted.

In 2018, the Forensic Technology Working Group at NIJ called for comprehensive, systematic, well controlled studies that provide foundational knowledge and practical data about touch evidence persistence in the real world. That same year, Dr. Meghan Ramseys group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory began quantifying how long touch DNA would persist on certain surfaces under specific conditions. Building on that knowledge, and in collaboration with Dr. Ramsey, scientists at South Dakota State University created predictive models of how DNA degrades on different surfaces under a range of environmental conditions.

The researchers addressed two central questions:

To address these questions, scientists deposited control DNA and touch DNA samples [2] onto steel bolts and cotton fabric swatches. Then, they examined the DNA residue over time, across varying temperature and humidity combinations, and under UV light exposure (Figure 1).[3, 4]

Researchers measured:

The ability to obtain a DNA profile using short tandem repeats (or STRs), commonly used in forensic genetic analysis.

Results indicated:

To predict the amount of DNA degradation over time, Dr. Ramsey worked with her collaborators to fit the DNA degradation data (based on temperature and humidity exposure) to a linear, mixed effects model.[5] In doing so, they found:

To further examine DNA degradation, Dr. Ramsey and colleagues compared the completeness whether the DNA profiles could be submitted to a database for a potential match of two DNA profiles: environmentally exposed touch DNA recovered from steel bolts and unexposed reference sample DNA from cheek cells (Figure 3).

Notably:

Throughout the course of this research, low and variable quantities of touch DNA collected remained a challenge; the low quantities of the initial touch DNA that scientists could recover made it difficult for researchers to evaluate the level of DNA degradation properly. Future work aims to increase the initial amount of touch DNA collected to record its degradation more accurately over time.

Still, those in forensics and law enforcement can glean valuable information from this ongoing research regarding the persistence of DNA in certain environmental conditions. For instance, investigators are more likely to recover useable DNA in cool and dry indoor environments than hot and humid outside conditions. Moreover, they may have better success obtaining DNA from stainless steel objects than fabric.

Collectively, these studies provide the most comprehensive information to date on the persistence of touch DNA evidence.

The work described in this article was supported by NIJ grant number 2018-DU-BX-0192 awarded to MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

This article is based on the grantee report, Persistence of Touch DNA for Forensic Analysis (pdf, 24 pages), by Meghan Ramsey.

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Persistence of Touch DNA for Analysis | National Institute of Justice - National Institute of Justice

After SWAT officer Anthony Burke was shot in his right hand his dominant hand by the man who attacked three congregations in the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018, he asked another officer to place a pistol in his left hand so he could get back to work.

Burke testified that when he arrived at the Tree of Life building that morning, he joined an emergency team already forming outside, then entered the building to help protect first responders while they cleared the main sanctuary. The officers then headed to the second chapel where they saw a man who had been gunned down and heard a woman screaming erratically.

Burke was the ninth and final witness Thursday. His testimony followed that of FBI experts regarding data extracted from the defendants cell phone, DNA evidence from the crime scene, and items discovered in the defendants apartment. Other witnesses included New Light Congregations Co-President Stephen Cohen and Tree of Life Congregations President Alan Hausman.

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Burke described heading up the stairway in the Tree of Life building and hearing gunfire erupt rapid, multiple shots coming from a pitch-black classroom and his colleague and mentor Officer Timothy Matson screaming in pain. Matson had been shot in his legs.

Matson, Burke said, was trying to crawl out of the third-floor room, head-first. Burke grabbed a strap on Matsons vest to help drag him out of the room.

I could see muzzle flashes, Burke said, and dry wall fragments falling from the ceiling.

Thats when Burkes hand was struck by gunfire.

After he got Matson out of the room, Burke pushed him down a set of five stairs to safety, then tried to grab his rifle, but he couldnt.

My hand wasnt working, Burke said. There was a large wound on the top and bottom of my hand.

He let other officers know he was shot and they applied a tourniquet to help stop the bleeding.

A second round of gunfire began. Burke could hear officers communicating with the defendant, who said he was hurt and he wanted to give up, Burke recounted. He said he wanted us to come in and get him.

Burke said he heard the defendant say that he couldnt stand by and watch Jews do this to this country and all Jews had to die. Eventually, the officers convinced the shooter to crawl out of the room.

Burke had four surgeries to repair the damage to his hand, he said, and he couldnt return to work until December 2019. After his second surgery, a test showed that a nerve in his wrist was not carrying signals to his muscles, so it was replaced with a nerve from a cadaver. When that didnt work, he had a tendon removed from his leg and placed in his hand. While he can still perform his job duties, hes been left with sensory issues in two fingers, cant open his hand completely and has trouble with his fine motor skills, he said.

Earlier in the day, an FBI forensic examiner headquartered in Quantico, Virginia, detailed the analysis of DNA extracted from a Colt AR-15 rifle, two Glock pistols, a canvas bag, earmuffs and safety glasses found at the Tree of Life building and in the defendants vehicle. The probability that the DNA found on those items belonged to the defendant, is very strong, she said.

In fact, FBI forensic examiner Marcy Plaza said that it was 6 septillion times more likely that the defendants DNA was present on those items than that of an unknown, unrelated individual.

Another FBI expert from Quantico, Curtis Thomas, a digital forensic examiner for mobile phones and other electronic devices, testified about the information that was extracted from a cellphone belonging to the defendant, which was locked and encrypted. To gain access, the FBI had to figure out the password. But the phone had been programmed so that if a wrong password was guessed 15 to 30 times, all user data would be erased.

Thomas described the process and software used to override the number of times his team could try a password before the phone erased all data. Once they were successful in doing so and unlocking the phone, they found that, compared to a typical cell phone, there was a low amount of data used. For example, the defendant had only one contact entered, and it had been deleted. There were just nine text messages, which all had been deleted.

Cookies small pieces of data that websites or applications store to remember information about their users indicated that the user of the phone had been active on Gab.com on Oct. 27, 2018, from 9:47 to 9:48 a.m. Gab.com is a social media site popular among the alt-right and some extremists, and on which there is a lot of antisemitic content.

One photo extracted from the phone depicted the defendant making an OK hand gesture. The Anti-Defamation League has classified that gesture as a hate symbol associated with white supremacy and the far right. There were also several photos on the phone of guns and ammunition.

FBI Special Agent Cedric Jefferson, who worked out of West Virginia for the FBIs Pittsburgh team at the time of the shooting, testified he and his team were dispatched to the defendants residence, a one-bedroom apartment in Baldwin, the day of the shooting. Prosecutors displayed several photos of the defendants apartment showing what the FBI found there that day, including a paper target hanging on the living room wall depicting the image of a person, computers, three DVDs related to weapon use including one titled Top Ten Concealed Carry Mistakes and How to Avoid Them a substantial amount of ammunition and several firearms, Jefferson said.

The first witness of the day was New Light Congregations Co-President Stephen Cohen, who testified that the congregation began leasing space from Tree of Life * Or LSimcha in 2017 because the financial burden of maintaining its own building in Squirrel Hill had become too great. The three-year lease agreement with the probability of extension set the rent for the first year at $35,000, with provisions for it to rise each year. Cohen also testified that, after the massacre, the congregation had to find a new space in another congregation.

Tree of Life President Alan Hausman testified that his congregation suffered a financial loss of tens of thousands of dollars resulting from the attack, as it lost revenue from its long-term lease agreements with New Light and Congregation Dor Hadash, as well as from income from renting space to individuals and organizations for life cycle events, meetings and other programs.

Court is in recess until Monday, June 12. PJC Toby Tabachnick can be reached at [emailprotected]. This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial by the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle and the Pittsburgh Union Progress in a collaboration supported by funding from the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.

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Day 8 of trial: SWAT officer testimony, DNA evidence and cell phone ... - thejewishchronicle.net

Thursday, June 8th 2023, 6:15 pm

Tulsa Police Special Victim's unit has solved another old rape case, thanks to grant money that's letting them test old rape kits.

This is the second solved case in the past week and this one, was 15 years old.

Prosecutors have charged Isaias Barron with raping a woman at knife point in 2007, after her rape kit was tested and got a DNA match to Barron, who's already in prison for another rape.

Barron was convicted and sentenced to more than 38 years in prison for raping an 83-year-old woman in her Tulsa home back in 2020. Because he was convicted, his DNA was on file and detectives said that was key to solving the 2007 rape case.

In 2007, the victim told police a man offered her a ride, then demanded sex from her in exchange for money. Police said the victim said no, but said he raped her at knife-point.

That man wasn't identified until six months ago when investigators got a hit from a national DNA database they said connected Barron to the rape.

"Since he was convicted of a sexual assault and sentenced to prison, his DNA was taken at that time ergo now we have this match between this 2007 case and Mr. Barron, said Lieutenant Darin Ehrenrich with the Tulsa Police Special Victims Unit.

Investigators interviewed Barron in prison earlier this year and said, despite theDNA evidence, he denied everything.

"This is a specific example of how testing all kits regardless of the circumstances of each particular case, is going to show us these links and solve more of these cases and get more of these violent offenders off the streets, said Ehrenrich.

Tulsa Police had 3,000 untested rape kits in 2017 and they've tested nearly 1,000, which has led to three arrests this year alone.

Police arrested Alfred Wilson earlier this year after they said DNA evidence linked him to a 2003 rape.

Police then arrested Christopher Corn last week after they said DNA evidence linked him to a 1999 rape.

Officers said most sex offenders are habitual offenders; it's not a one time thing.

"Sexual assault is not just a one-off crime. It is not something someone does just once. It is a consistent pattern of behavior, generally, said Ehrenrich. "We are never going to give up on these cases. They are always there and they are always on our minds, and if there's something we can do to bring justice to these cases, we are going to do it."

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Tulsa Investigators Solve 15-Year-Old Rape Case With Grant ... - News On 6

Cuban snoops

Will China soon have a permanent spying establishment less than 100 miles from Florida soil?

According to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, Cuba and China may have forged a secret agreement to create an electronic eavesdropping facility. Relying on unnamed U.S. officials familiar with highly classified intelligence, the article says Cuba would build such a facility but collect information for China.

The prospects sparked immediate alarms within the Florida congressional delegation.

Make no mistake, Communist China is posing a direct threat to the United States of America with their new spy base in Castros Cuba, tweeted Rep. Carlos Gimnez. The base is only 90 miles away from my district in the Florida Keys.

Several of Floridas leaders demanded immediate action by President Joe Biden to stop any such facility moving forward.

Americas enemies know Biden is too weak to stand up against them, so they are taking advantage of the hospitality offered by the illegitimate communist regime in Cuba, said Sen. Rick Scott. I pray that President Biden will defy our expectations and finally take a stand against this today.

The White House, for its part, wouldnt confirm the Journals reporting but insisted it is taking Chinese intelligence-gathering efforts seriously.

I cannot speak to this specific report, but we are well aware of and have spoken many times to the Peoples Republic of Chinas efforts to invest in infrastructure around the world that may have military purposes, including in this hemisphere, John Kirby, representative for the White House National Security Council, told Reuters.

But Republicans within the delegation voiced fear the recent revelations are just the first troubling ones to go public.

The threat to America from Cuba isnt just real, it is far worse than this, tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican.

Rubio serves as Ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. And while he voiced frustration at whether the Biden administration takes reports seriously, he issued a joint statement with Senate Intelligence Chair Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, making clear the upper chamber does.

We are deeply disturbed by reports that Havana and Beijing are working together to target the United States and our people, the joint statement reads.

The United States must respond to Chinas ongoing and brazen attacks on our nations security. We must be clear that it would be unacceptable for China to establish an intelligence facility within 100 miles of Florida and the United States in an area also populated with key military installations and extensive maritime traffic. We urge the Biden administration to take steps to prevent this serious threat to our national security and sovereignty.

Protecting DNA

Does China want a map of your genome? Rubio said the Chinese Communist Party has stepped up legal and illegal efforts to obtain information on genomes for U.S. citizens. Its time the federal government steps up information security, he said.

The Miami Republican, with Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, reintroduced the Genomics Expenditures and National Security Enhancement (GENE) Act.

The legislation would direct the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to require mandatory filings on any trading of genetic information and require consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services and foreign deals involving genetic data transactions.

There is no reason for our lack of oversight on access to American citizens genomic data, Rubio said. Its imperative that Congress has a seat at the table to confront this growing national security and privacy threat.

Rubio introduced a version of the bill in 2021 and has expressed concerns about China targeting the U.S. biomedical industry since at least 2019.

Reversing overdoses

Florida suffers thousands of fatal opioid overdoses each year. But Sen. Scott wants to raise awareness of a tool that could stop some of those from resulting in a loss of life.

The Naples Republican introduced a resolution with Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, to recognize June 6 as Naloxone Awareness Day. Naloxone is an emergency drug that can quickly reverse the impacts of opioids in an overdose situation without providing increased health risks.

Too many mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and friends have been lost to opioid poisoning in America, Scott said. Naloxone saves lives, and it is a critical tool in our fight to stop the loss caused by opioids in communities across our nation. I am proud to be joined by Sen. Markey and a bipartisan group of our colleagues in the House to introduce a resolution designating June 6 as Naloxone Awareness Day to bring awareness to the issue and educate Americans about this lifesaving drug.

Victorias Voice, a Florida-based foundation named for overdose victim Victoria Siegel, supports the bill.

I also want to highlight the Victorias Voice Foundation and the Siegel Family for the lifesaving work they do on advocacy and education about the dangers of opioids, Scott said. This organization was started following a parents worst nightmare the loss of a child and they have made it their mission to ensure folks are educated and prepared to save lives.

Who is weaponizing?

Nearly three years after President Donald Trump lost re-election, Rep. Matt Gaetz wants punishment for those who investigated the former President.

The Panhandle Republican filed a resolution this week to censure Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chaired the Jan. 6 Committee. Gaetz said Thompson improperly sent records from investigations to the White House for storage.

Lawmakers investigating the weaponization of the federal government are unable to determine which records of the Jan. 6 Select Committee were kept or destroyed before Republicans took control of the House, Gaetz said.

But Gaetz also wants Congress to pressure Mark Pomerantz, a New York prosecutor who investigated Trump in 2021. Republicans on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have wanted Pomerantz to answer to a subpoena. Now Gaetz intends to force the issue.

Through his lack of testimony, Mark Pomerantz has undoubtedly undermined the legitimacy of this witch hunt indictment against President Donald Trump, Gaetz said.

Mr. Pomerantz pled the Fifth to nearly every question about his time in the Manhattan DAs office, despite writing a tell-all book about his time there. I believe Mr. Pomerantz engaged in misconduct in his targeting of President Trump, and his refusal to answer simple questions should not go unpunished.

As it happens, Gaetzs push for action against those who in the past investigated Trump came just as new legal threats arose against the former President.

Trump was indicted in federal court this week on charges related to boxes of unclassified documents found at his Florida estate. Evidence was presented to a court panel in Florida, and Trump is expected to appear in court Tuesday.

Ticket taker

As ticket costs for concerts and sporting events balloon, Rep. Gus Bilirakis says consumers deserve at least some transparency. The House Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee Chair introduced bipartisan legislation with Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, the Committees ranking Democrat, requiring an all-inclusive cost for tickets presented to buyers before purchasing.

There is nothing more disappointing for an avid fan than being lured into the prospect of an affordable ticket to see his or her favorite sports team or band only to learn later in the checkout process that the final price tag is significantly higher, Bilirakis said. Our pro-consumer bill brings much-needed transparency to the whole ticketing industry, and Im committed to working toward reforms that protect consumers and provide certainty in the marketplace.

The TICKET Act would impose similar restrictions on event tickets to those already in place for airline tickets. The total price, including merchant fees, taxes, and anything else upping the charge, would need to be included on the ticket and in any marketing materials promoting the event under the bill.

Fans are incredibly frustrated by how hard it has become to buy event tickets. With every ticketing debacle, from Beyonc to Taylor Swift and so many more, their frustration grows, Schakowsky said. By introducing the bipartisan TICKET Act today, we are proud to be responding to the voices of so many fans to make this process easier and more transparent.

Saving Black moms

More than $2 million will help Black mothers in Tampa Bay with the costs of new babies.

Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat, announced the grant from HHS to Evara Health to improve health outcomes for Black mothers and babies.

It is unacceptable that Black mothers are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than White mothers, due largely to health and social disparities, Castor said.

Evara Health has been on the forefront of working together to ensure that moms and babies across Tampa Bay get the care they need, improve health outcomes, confront racial disparities in maternal care, and make sure children and their mothers are healthy and have every opportunity to thrive. This significant grant funding will support Evaras innovative work in improving the lives of many of our neighbors.

Dr. Deanna Wathington, a member of the Black Infant and Maternal Mortality Task Force, joined Castor for the announcement. She said data points to disparities in care that reach beyond economics.

No matter the education level of a Black woman, her chances of experiencing morbidity and mortality are much higher than other women, Wathington said. I am one of those women who, even with my M.D. and MPH, struggled to get the care I needed after experiencing complications during the birth of my first child. Thanks to the good graces of some of the hospital staff that were involved, Im still here to tell this story all these years later. But my story is not unique; it is a very common issue that occurs every day, and Im thankful for the work being done to improve it.

Evara Health officials said they would use the grant money to tackle the problem directly.

Its inconceivable that in this day and age, women continue to face significant risks during childbirth, particularly those from marginalized communities, said Evara Health CEO Elodie Dorso.

The $2 million grant that we are so excited to have been awarded offers us a unique opportunity to create a lasting impact. With these funds, we can focus on implementing creative and innovative solutions that directly address the underlying causes of the disparities in our community.

Thoroughbred rescue

Rep. Vern Buchanan praised Churchill Downs for taking new steps to protect the health of racehorses.

That comes after the Longboat Key Republican, as Co-Chair of the Congressional Animal Protection Caucus, applied pressure on Americas most famous horse track following the deaths of a dozen thoroughbreds.

Churchill Downs has suspended racing operations for now as it reviews all safety protocols. While investigators continue to study the 12 deaths in a month, Churchill Downs stated that no single factor has been identified as a potential cause, and no discernible pattern has been detected to link the fatalities. Nevertheless, the track limited the number of horse starts over eight weeks and enacted ineligibility standards for poor performance.

Buchanan and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, released a statement as the Kentucky track continues its work.

A dozen racehorse deaths at one track in such a short period of time is extremely concerning and entirely unacceptable, the statement reads.

The newly announced safety precautions from Churchill Downs and (the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority) are long overdue. The health and safety of the horses and their riders should be the top priority. We will continue to insist HISA make its investigation public and look forward to working with industry stakeholders to conduct any necessary oversight or implement any recommended changes to prevent these deaths moving forward.

All aboard

When a storm knocks out roadways, Rep. Byron Donalds wants trains back on track as soon as possible.

Just months ago, Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, causing historic devastation in our community, the Naples Republican said. Among one of the hardest hit entities in Southwest Florida was the Seminole Gulf Railway which incurred catastrophic damage. When a storm of this magnitude hits any area of our nation, it is the federal governments responsibility to make available the necessary resources to rebuild and restore vital components of a community.

He has reintroduced The Short Line Railroad Relief Act (HR 3782), which would provide immediate financial support to keep steel wheels turning after a disaster. And industry leaders remind events of all kinds can stop the trains; then they need to be in motion the most.

In the event of a natural disaster, short-line railroads can play a critical recovery role, moving relief goods in and debris of all kinds out, yet no significant federal disaster relief options are available to them beyond small loans, said Chuck Baker, president of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

The Short Line Railroad Relief Act would provide parity across transportation modes, allowing for immediate deployment of grant funding to short line railroads, enabling them to turn their attention to rebuilding the local economy, particularly crucial in the small town and rural communities that we serve. Representative Donalds was spurred into action by the devastation to the Seminole Gulf Railway in his district, caused by Hurricane Ian last year. The concern, however, is applicable nationwide, resulting in Congressional support throughout the country for this effort. We applaud each of the co-sponsoring members of Congress for their leadership.

Safer railways

Meanwhile, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said there are resources on the way to make some of Southeast Floridas rail networks safer. She announced $15.7 million in funding to Broward County and Fort Lauderdale, courtesy of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Acts Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program.

I want to deliver safer, speedier travel and cut down commute times in South Florida, and that requires an across government effort, so Im proud that President Biden and Congress partnered to deliver that help to our community, the Weston Democrat said.

These rail improvement grants will help our community save lives and arrive to work, school and shops more swiftly. Thats why I did not hesitate to write to Secretary Pete Buttigieg (to) urge him to fund Broward Countys application.

Broward County will receive the bulk of the funding, $15.4 million, to improve exit gates and medians for 21 existing Florida East Coast Railway road crossings. Brightline uses that line for passenger travel as well. The funding will see a 20% local match by the regions Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Another $280,000 goes to Fort Lauderdale to study 15 intersections within the city to find ways to improve safety and reduce delays.

Fighting an epidemic

Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse (MAPDA) honored Rep. Mario Daz-Balart with the 2023 Humanitarian Award for his efforts in curbing the opioid crisis.

The threat of prescribed and illicit opioid overdose among Americans is more prevalent than ever before, the Hialeah Republican said. With 300 Americans dying daily from fentanyl poisoning, we must redouble our efforts to combat the opioid and fentanyl epidemic that continues to plague our nation. I am grateful for (MAPDAs) advocacy and commitment to this important mission, and I am honored to receive the 2023 Humanitarian Award.

Mary Bono, a former Congresswoman who served with Daz-Balart, chaired the board for MAPDA and praised the Congressmans work.

All of us at Mothers Against Prescription Drug Abuse thank Congressman Diaz-Balart for his dedication and leadership in addressing the opioid and fentanyl epidemic that is affecting every single community in America, Bono said.

Chinese refugees

As China continues to bring charges against Uyghurs protesting ethnic persecution by China, Rep. Mara Elvira Salazar wants the U.S. to provide refugee status to those fleeing the nation. The Coral Gables was the only Republican to serve as an introducing sponsor for the Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, which would expedite asylum applications for minorities fleeing the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Uyghur Genocide perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party is one of the most horrific crimes against humanity we have ever witnessed, Salazar said.

Our refugee system was designed to provide protection to those who need it most. We must ensure this system is ready to receive those that are able to escape the systematic persecution and torture Uyghurs and other oppressed minorities are suffering from in Xinjiang.

The legislation would grant a Priority-2 designation for the Uyghurs, the same priority available to nationals fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

Other introducing sponsors include Democratic Reps. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, Gregory Meeks of New York, and Don Beyer and Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

On this day

June 9, 1915 William Jennings Bryan resigns as Secretary of State via Today in World War I The break between Secretary Bryan and President Woodrow Wilson at a contentious cabinet meeting had not been repaired. Bryan felt Wilson and his advisers were being too generous to the Allies when both sides were violating the rights of neutrals (even if the Germans were doing it more violently). Bryan held that American citizens had no right to expect safety on a passenger ship of a belligerent nation. In contrast, Wilson disagreed and asserted these rights in a draft note to the Germans. Bryan felt continually sidelined; Wilson increasingly handled foreign policy without him.

June 9, 1954 Joseph Welch rebukes Joe McCarthy via Today in Civil Liberties History At the Army-McCarthy hearings, where Sen. McCarthy recklessly accused the Army of employing Communists, McCarthy attacked one of the Armys civilian attorneys for his alleged left-wing associations years earlier. Another legal team member, the prominent Boston attorney Welch, rebuked McCarthy on this day, asking rhetorically, Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you no sense of decency? Shamed, McCarthy did not reply. Welchs rebuke was a pivotal event in the downfall of McCarthy.

___

Delegation is published by Peter Schorsch, compiled by Jacob Ogles, edited and assembled by Phil Ammann and Ryan Nicol.

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Delegation for 6.9.23: Snoops DNA opioids weaponization ... - Florida Politics

Viv Haggren was returning from a fishing trip near her hometown in Stockholm when she heard a radio report on illegally adopted children from Chile. As she listened, a hunch that she had harbored for decades grew impossible to ignore. Suddenly, I thought, it was time, she told Rest of World.

Haggren knew she was adopted from Chile her Swedish adoptive parents had told her as a child. But that had been in 1973, the year that Augusto Pinochet staged a coup in Chile. Her parents believed that the vague paperwork was due to the political instability in the country at the time. The only information the Swedish adoption agency provided was that she was abandoned at a hospital, and that her birth mother had called her Luisa.

After some research, Haggren came across Nos Buscamos, a small Santiago-based NGO that specializes in connecting illegally adopted Chilean babies and their biological families. According to the organization, since it was founded in 2014, it has reunited 400 families unpicking five decades of half-truths and cover-ups by adoption agencies and former government officials that made it so difficult for adoptees like Haggren to trace their ancestry.

Decades after they were adopted, new and more easily accessible technologies are opening up the possibility for these adoptees to finally find their families, in searches spanning continents and traversing languages. At the center of this search by Chiles kidnapped adoptees is not a genetic-testing giant, like 23andMe, but rather Nos Buscamos. The organization leverages custom-built database software, social networks, and artificial intelligence to complement what DNA testing alone often cannot achieve: the reunification of long-lost families.

[Nos Buscamos] works a bit like Tinder: Theres the adopted children, and theres the family, founder Constanza del Ro told Rest of World, clasping her hands together to illustrate the reunion. Two groups searching for one another.

The nature of how these Chilean children were abducted and given up for adoption is what makes Nos Buscamos mission so unique. Over the course of the 1970s and 80s, tens of thousands of Chileans were irregularly or illegally adopted through infant-trafficking schemes, which Pinochet facilitated in an effort to slash poverty rates by sending babies from poor families abroad. Subsequent investigations into this practice revealed nationwide trafficking networks that included lawyers, social workers, midwives, doctors, and middlemen who scouted vulnerable pregnant women, often from Indigenous communities. A Chilean judge investigating these adoptions estimated that the number of illegal or irregular cases could be as high as 20,000; Nos Buscamos believes the total might actually be closer to 50,000.

A few years ago, the Chilean government launched an initiative to take DNA swabs from families trying to track their children, but promptly scrapped it when Covid-19 hit. Nos Buscamos and another outfit called Hijos y Madres del Silencio are the only organizations in Chile actively conducting searches to find matches.

Instead of broadly tracing peoples overall genealogy, as a genetic-testing company would, Nos Buscamos starts by looking for and compiling official data, such as birthdays or hospital records. This can significantly narrow the search to smaller groups sometimes communities and families. Nos Buscamos then works with MyHeritage, a genetic-testing company, to test targeted individuals in these groups who might be biologically related to an adoptee.

Step one the compiling of official data before any DNA work is conducted currently involves over 7,000 entries, del Ro said. Even if the information available is often sparse, she said most people know certain details: where they were born, a hospital name, a birth name, a contact for an adoption agency. Due to the illicit nature of these adoptions, comprehensive data is rare, but every bit helps.

This information is then broken down into variables, and any coincidences between the two groups generate an email notification from Nos Buscamos platform. I first began with a notebook, thinking wed have no more than 50 cases, said del Ro. But as more cases came, it became evident we needed to build customized software. She said its a fairly straightforward program, but one that is optimized for the unique needs of the organization.

For instance, when 42-year-old American Scott Lieberman read a People magazine article about illegal adoptions in Chile last year, he began wondering about his own story. He knew he was adopted from Chile, but was not aware of the circumstances. He registered with Nos Buscamos in 2022, which started an investigation to find leads and eventually tracked down a potential relative. The organization then supplied her with a MyHeritage DNA test kit. Lieberman also sent in a DNA sample. They received their results in a few weeks: They were half-siblings.

Even if Lieberman had taken a DNA test on his own, without Nos Buscamos, it is highly unlikely that his half-sister would have, and hed have remained in the dark about his past.

Our dream is that all people who have been victims of child trafficking should have free access to DNA tests.

Nos Buscamos survives off donations, and can only afford the around 100 DNA tests gifted by MyHeritage every year. This means it needs to be very certain it is targeting the right people. Adoptees living abroad must do their own DNA testing. Del Ro said Nos Buscamos helps out some families in Chile, particularly in rural areas where the mother doesnt have the internet, doesnt know how to use the internet, doesnt speak English, doesnt have a phone, doesnt know what a DNA test is.

Nos Buscamos is now looking into using AI to help automate and organize the existing process, said del Ro. For instance, the team needs to verify that each case qualifies as an irregular or illegal adoption, and is not simply an attempt to track down an estranged family member. The small team of volunteers must therefore still manually review all cases.

Del Ro prefers to work with MyHeritage even though Chiles state-run legal medical service SML currently has a small genetic-testing program. But SML can only handle direct DNA comparisons finding genetic links between two selected samples at a time, rather than identifying an extended family tree. As a private, international company, MyHeritages DNA database is also far larger than SMLs archives.

Our dream is that all people who have been victims of child trafficking should have free access to DNA tests from MyHeritage, del Ro said.

Bioethicists have cautioned against relying so heavily on private genetic-testing companies, since many have previously shared customers genetic data with third parties. When you upload data to these companies, theres fairly broad things they can do with it, said Anna Lewis, a research associate who focuses on genomics at the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

She highlighted that DNA collected from Indigenous groups, such as the Mapuche, must be treated with care. The way genetic research has interacted with Indigenous communities has a bad track record, Lewis said, referencing the case of Arizonas Havasupai tribe, whose blood samples were tested for genetic links without the volunteers consent. They sued the universitys governing board, leading to a settlement of the charges that included the infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations.

Ultimately, in the context of Chilean adoptees trying to find their families through genealogy websites, Lewis believed the pros probably outweigh cons, but proceed with care.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, Haggren just celebrated her 50th birthday. She enjoyed a week of fishing at a picturesque coastal spot in the south of the country. Shes waiting on the DNA results for a potential genetic match carried out by Nos Buscamos in Chile. Haggren has considered that her biological family may not want to meet her, and may not even be searching. I just want them to know that I have had a great life, she said. Above all, Haggren just wants to find out the truth. I need to know what really happened.

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DNA tests help Chiles stolen babies reunite with families - Rest of World