Transcript

8.28.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post for Thursday,
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August twenty eighth of twenty twenty five. We haven't got
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much longer before Monday becomes September first, it's three more days.
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And however, a reader is Alis Stainer with the reminder
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that RADIOI is a service for those blind with disabilities
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making it difficult to read and hold printed material. And
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we will start with today's headlines on the front page,
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of which the largest is killer targets children at mass
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in Minnesota. And across the middle of the front page
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is a picture of a woman holding her son as
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close to as her as she can possibly get. He
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looks distressed and he's holding on to her. He's wearing
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two wrist bands. She and in a green shirt and
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she is in sort of a brown and orange shirt.
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In the background are people walking and signaling. They are
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blurred because the focus is on this mom and her son.
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And it's a picture of a mother hugging her son
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after an attack on Annunciation Catholic Church in Minnesota as
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should have killed two people and wounded seventeen. And it's
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a heartwarming picture. To the left of that is CDC's
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head fired after not yielding on vaccines, oasted director accuses
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Kennedy of weaponizing public health for politics. This is by
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Lena Hsn, Dan Diamond, and Lauren webber Well. I didn't
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put to the right of the picture because it's on
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the right hand side of the front page. Eight and
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ten year old slain in their pews. Shoda takes own life,
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FBI suspects hate crime, Mahanna Noles, Sheila Reagan, and Numida
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CoA and Reese Thebault out of Minneapolis. Below the picture
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and the article on the shootings. In the middle of
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the paper is US sends eight warships on anti cartel
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mission rattling Venezuela but terror copp Samantha Schmidt and Anna
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Vanessa Horrero. To the left below the fold, Trump's DC
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surge faces resistance in federal court vite viral sandwich thrower
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among defendants. Jurors have refused to indict Salvador Rizzo and
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Michael Laris and to the right side of that DHS
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bars AID groups from serving the undocumented. New rules require
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US contractors to assist in enforcement operations. By Brianna Sachs
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and in the middle of the below the fold is
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a picture of a chronicler of war becomes a casualty.
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And there is a picture of Palestinians surrounding an AID
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truck Niorafa in Gayza on August four. In this photo
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by Marion Daga, a Palestinian journalist who was killed in
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an Israeli airstrike Monday. So the chronicler of this photo
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of people around a huge truck, one standing on the
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very front, others on top and around the sides. And
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then in the background very hazy of Rafa in Gosam.
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And then below that picture is new Light Grace's Old
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Mystery on Life's Origin by Kasha Patel, and it says
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study gives backstory to molecular Swiss army knives we call proteins.
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I'll start with the article on the children, children prayed
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for a future filled with hope. Then the gunfire began
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on the southwest side of Minneapolis. A school shooter killed
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two students and injured more than a dozen others while
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classes celebrated their first mass. And again there's that picture
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of this young man. Oh, he's got braces on. I
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see it in a larger version by Hannah Knowles, Sheila
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Reagan and Numitaka and Rise the Bould, Minneapolis. The children
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filed into the pews of Annunciation Catholic Church on Wednesday
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morning for their first Mass of the new school year,
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a time of nervous energy and excitement. The theme of
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the coming term was borrowed from the prophet Jeremiah, a
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future filled with hope. But just minutes into the service,
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as the students were reciting Psalm one thirty nine, a
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calling answer prayer about God's all knowing love, the sound
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of gunfire ripped through the air and the church windows shattered.
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In an instant, the back to school glee dissolved into
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terror and chaos. An assailant, later identified as twenty three
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year old Robin Westman, had stood outside the stately brown
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brick church on this city's southwest side and aimed a
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rifle through the glass at the young worshipers within. Authorities
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said the shooter killed two children, ages eight and ten,
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and injured fourteen more before dying of a self inflicted
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gunshot wound in the parking lot. Three elderly parishioners also
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were wounded. The attack took place steps away from the
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church's affiliated school, which enrolled students from preschool through eighth grade.
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It was the nation's first school shooting since the end
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of summer break, expanding the list of communities to suffer
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from a uniquely American epidemic. Just three days into Anunciations
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fall semester, parents, priest and local leaders struggled to articulate
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the anguish they felt from such violence, piercing a place
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they held sacred, a place that, as a school and
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a church, they saw as a refuge. There's nothing about
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today that can fill us with hope, said the school's
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new principal, Matthew de Bois, invoking the words of Jeremiah.
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For Minneapolis, the pain echoed that trauma felt only two
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months ago when a gunman targeted two state lawmakers in
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their homes, killing Representative Melissa Hortmann and her husband and
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injuring a colleague and his wife. Speaking otdividual in Lyndhurst
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Park on Wednesday evening, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frere said students, teachers,
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and faculty at Annunciation threw their bodies on top of
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children to protect them as shots were being fired. They
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did the right thing to protect what could have been
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so many more children dead, Frey said, But what we
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know is that far too often people have robbed that
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childhood because of this senseless gun violence, he said, adding
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and don't let anybody tell you it's not about guns,
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because it is. And there's a picture of a clergyman
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companying a woman at the scene of the shooting. She's
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wearing jeans with a green top, hugging a clergyman in
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his white robes, and he is holding a cell phone.
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And he's outside the brick building with restricted parking signs
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blurred on the front. Wednesday's shooting began about eight thirty
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am local time. Police said after Westman approached the House
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of Worship armed with the rifle plus a shotgun and
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a pistol. Within seconds as bullet spray, teaches duck their
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students beneath the sanctuary's wooden pews, shielding them from file.
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Our teachers were heroes, De Boris said it an after
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noon news conference. Students too scrambled to protect their classmates.
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He said, one fifth grader watched his friend get shot
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in the back. Two other middle schoolers had blood on
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their coves when their mothers picked them up. Children and
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at least one adult with a range of injuries, were
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taken to three hospitals, some in critical condition. Several underwent
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surgery into the afternoon, officials said, but all were expected
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to live this year. Cruelty and cowardice of firing into
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a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible, Minneapolis Police
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Chief Brian o'haris said, as church bells told behind him
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while the Pandemonian unfolded in the church, Preschoolers attending class
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in a room below the sanctuary took coup even hiding
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in a play kitchen there. Four year old Alah told
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her father Brooks Turner, there it sounded like somebody was
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trying to break down the ceiling above them. She heard
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a series of loud bangs. Ela and the other children
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lay down flat, and she covered her eyes. She didn't
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want to see anything scary. Turner recounted. When they were
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finally evacuated, a police officer picked her up and carried
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her out. ELA's birthday made her just young enough to
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be placed in preschool. Her father said, if she had
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been in kindergarten, she would have been upstairs celebrating mass.
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It's unimaginable what the parents are going through, Turner said.
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Vincent Francula got a text from his wife about an
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active shooter at Annunciation shortly after dropping off there eleven
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year old Chloe. I was incredulous, he said. I didn't
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really realize what was going on. He sped back to
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the neighborhood and found Chloe safe in the school gym,
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but she was inconsolable. We just cried and asked, are
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you okay? He said. His daughter described bleeding classmates and
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other kids sprawled on the floor. She had run to
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the church basement and pushed the table against the doors.
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She told him. Six graders like Chloe are assigned second
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grade buddies, and Frank Cole said his daughter had been
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racked with guild because she wasn't able to take her
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buddy with her. The younger child was later found unharmed.
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When your daughter tells you that she really thought she
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was going to die, I don't know what to say
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to that. We're trying to put the pieces together right now,
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Francois said. Howard Dodson, a chaplain in Minneapolis, rushed to
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the area to help after seeing an armada of police
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cars racing there. He waited with a parent at the
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perimeter that law enforcement had set up around the school
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and went to a hall where families were being reunited
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with their children. Kids appeared to be in shock, mothers
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were crying. A teacher told him that students had son
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Lord prepare me to be as sanctuary. As they made
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their way from the chapel. In the immediate aftermath, law
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enforcement swarmed the area, coordining it off with yellow tape
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and blocking roads with vehicles. A drone flew overhead, and
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FBI agents knocked on the doors of nearby homes. And
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there is a picture of a dog searching a front
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yard in the same neighborhood as the Annunciation Catholic Church,
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and you see a black lab and a man in
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a flat jacket walking along the grass a block from
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the church. Carla Maldonado broke into tears as she hugged
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another woman. Her young son and daughter stood beside her
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in their school uniforms, safe, still terrified. Maldonado lives in
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the quiet neighborhood around Annunciation and heard the shooting begin.
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She rushed to the scene on foot for her children.
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The horrific moments in church had been a blur. They
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remembered a rage of gunfire, but they weren't sure how
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many shots Laura Kirstein, who also lives nearby, watched in
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horror as parents ran toward the school to look for
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their children. She walked across the street to a neighbor
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and they hugged and cried for several minutes. We didn't
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let go, she said. I'm sorry. This is just horrifying.
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The school. Enunciation community is small and close knit members
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and neighbors, said Margaret Richards, whose children had attended the
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school years earlier, said its size and atmosphere draws many families.
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I'm sick to my stomach. I can't believe this is happening,
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she said. Late afternoon, several vigils have been planned for
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that evening, a show of how far and fast grief
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over the shooting had spread. Alberto Gueriri, a pastor at
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an evangelical church in neighboring Saint Paul, drove to Annunciation
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as soon as he heard the news, looking for someone
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to pray with. It breaks your heart, he said, You're
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talking about children talking about their first week of school,
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and we're talking about the effects of sin and death
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in this world. It makes you cry aloud. To the lord.
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Local authorities that they were still investigating the shooter's motive,
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while the police chief referred to a manifesto that had
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circulated on land but had since been removed. FBI Director
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Cashpitel said his agency is looking into whether the shooting
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constituted and act with domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.
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Officials were working to learn more about Westman, who they
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said acted alone and did not have a criminal history,
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but whose mother had worked as an administrative assistant in
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the Annunciation School's business office. The assailant's name was legally
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changed from Robert to Robin about five years ago because
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Westman identifies as a female and wants her name to
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reflect that identification, according to court records. Police have disclosed
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a few details about the three weapons Westman carried Wednesday,
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but confirmed that they were legally purchased and recently elected.
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Leaders in the overwhelmingly democratic Twin Cities said the shooting
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was just the latest example of the deadly consequences of
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a society awash in guns. Even though Many Minnesota is
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the home to some of the toughest firearm laws in
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the country, advocates said more must be done to premit
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both high profile mass shootings and the gun violence that
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unfolds every day away from the spotlight. I beg you,
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I ask you to please pray, but don't stop with
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your words, said de Boor the school principle. Let's make
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a difference in support this community, these families, these teachers.
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Never again can we let this happen. Frey was more
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pointed in his remarks to reporters earlier Wednesday, dismissing offers
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of thoughts and prayers as insufficient to a familiar tragedy.
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Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now.
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These kids were literally praying they should be able to
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go to school or church in peace, without the fear
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or risk of violence. De Bois said. There's another picture
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of children consoling each other during a visual wins at
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a Minneapolis park following the shooting and annunciation Catholic church.
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They're both holding Teddy bears and bottles of water, and
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they're hugging each other with just distress on their faces.
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Little AILA's father is among those parents furious with politicians
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who continue to block gun control measures despite shootings like them.
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When his daughter lived through Wednesday, The American political atmosphere
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allows us to happen over and over and over again.
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Turner said there's a problem of a culture of violence
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in America. His family has now experienced that firsthand, and
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even in the security of her home Wednesday afternoon, the
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little girl seemed to be alternating between fear and something
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close to her normal self. He said. They were sitting
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together in the living room, doras and windows thrown open
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on a beautiful late August afternoon, when Aela turned to
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her dad and asked him to shut it all, to
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lock the host down. I heard one little boy talking
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about his friend who was a hero because the friend
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had thrown himself over this young man, who was very
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articulate about what was happening. Our next article The White
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House Fire, CDC director who says rfk JOR is weaponizing
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public health. Susan Minardez was confirmed as the CDC's director
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in July. Three top agency officials unknown to resignations as
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the Trump administration moved to oust her. There's a picture
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of Manara's attending a Senate hearing on her nomination to
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lead the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention in June.
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She has on a black dress with a nice beige
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well grayish top. No jewelry a pen in her hand
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and paper in her right hand, Billina h Son, Dan Daman,
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and Lauren Webber. The White House on Wednesday fired Susan
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manars As, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
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after she refused to resign amid pressure to change vaccine policy,
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which sparked the resignation of other senior CDC officials and
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a showdown over whether she could be removed. Hours after,
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the Department of Health and Human Services announced early Wednesday
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evening that Manaras was no longer the director, her lawyers
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responded with the fiery statement saying she had not resigned
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nor have been fired. They accused HHS Secretary Robert F.
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Kennedy Jr. Of weaponizing public health for political gain and
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putting millions of Americans at risk by purging health officials
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from government. When CDC Director Susan Manares refused to rubble
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stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she
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chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For
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that reason, she has been targeted, her lawyers, Mark s.
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Zaid and Abe Lowell wrote in a statement soon after
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their statement, the White House formerly fired Manars, as her
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attorney's statement makes abundantly clear Susan Manares is not aligned
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with the President's agenda of making America healthy again. Since
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Susan Manaries refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of
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her intent to do so, the White House has terminated
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Manaris from her position with the CDC. White House spokesman
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Cash Kushtisi said in an email said Manaris never intended
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to resign, never told anyone that she intended to do so,
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and legally remains in the position because President Donald Trump
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did not personally fire her. Wednesday shakeups, which include the
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resignation of the agency's chief medical officer, the director of
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its Infectious Disease Center, and other key officials, add to
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the tumult the nation's premier public health agency. Kennedy and
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his allies have long criticized the CDC as too deferential
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to the pharmaceutical industry and vaccine makers. As the nation's
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top health official, Kennedy has upended vaccine policies, including on Wednesday,
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narrowing approval of coronas virus vaccines to high risk groups,
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and he has taken steps that medical experts worry or
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undermining the nation's public health response. Manares, who was confirmed
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in late July, was pressed for days by Kennedy, administration lawyers,
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and other officials over whether she would support rescinding certain
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approvals for coronavirus vaccines, According to two people with knowledge
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of those conversations, Kennedy, who has a long history of
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anti vaccine advocacy, and other officials questioned Manaras on Monday
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on whether she was aligned with the administration's efforts to
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change vaccine policy. The people said. Kennedy and one of
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his top advisers, Stephanie Spear, also pushed Manaris to fire
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her senior staff by the end of this week, According
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to an administration official and another person with direct knowledge
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of that conversation, Spear did not immediately respond to her
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request for comment. Manaras, who was a longtime federal government
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scientist before Trump nominated her to lead the CDC, declined
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to commit to support changing coronavirus vaccine policy without conculer
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her advisors. To people said that prompted Kennedy to urge
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her to resign for not supporting President Trump's agenda. One
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of the people said Manaris declined to resign immediately and
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enlisted Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, chairman of the
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Senate's Health Committee, who cast a pivotal vote for Kennedy's
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confirmation after securing commitments to protect vaccines, said three people
23:29
with knowledge of those conversations. Cassidy privately pushed back on
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Kennedy's demands, the people said, further angering Kennedy, who lambasted
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Manaris for involving the Senator. Administration officials told Manars she
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could either resign or be fired, the people said. The
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officials and other people familiar with efforts to oast Manares
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spoke on the condition of an inimity to discuss a
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sensitive personnel matter. HS said she's no longer the CDC
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director in a post on x on Wednesday evening, we
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thank her for her dedicated service to the American people.
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Senator Kennedy has full confidence in his teen at CDC GOV,
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who will continue to be vigilant in protecting Americans against
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infectious diseases at home and abroad, the agency wrote. In
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social media post lace to Wednesday, Zaide said Manaris was
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notified by a White House staff in the Personnel Office
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that she had been fired, but as a presidential appointee
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Senate confirmed officer, only the President himself can fire her.
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For this reason, Zaide said, we reject notification doctor Manares
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has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC director.
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We have notified the White House Council of position. Cassidy
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posted on x that the departure will require oversight by
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his committee. Since taking office, Kennedy has upended the government's
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approach to vaccination, including firing every member of an advisory
25:13
committee that recommends vaccines, terminating research funding from RNA vaccines,
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and reviving a task force to scrutinize the childhood immunization schedule.
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The leadership disruption at the CDC follows months of chaos,
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including budget cuts, the termination of hundreds of employees, and
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an attack on its Atlanta headquarters by a gunman who
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fired hundreds of rounds at the campus buildings. After news
25:45
of efforts to host man Aarres. The least at least
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three top CDC officials announced resignations Wednesday, citing lost funding,
25:56
the political climate, and a broader attack on public health,
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according to their emails to staff obtained by The Washington Post,
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Dmitri Das Coloccus, the CDC's top respiratory illness and immunization official,
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posted his scathing resignation letter on x where he blasted
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Kennedy and his appointees for unraveling coronavirus vaccine recommendations, which
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he said threatened the lives of the youngest Americans and
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pregnant people. I'm not sure who the Secretary is listening to,
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but it's quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted
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outside organization seemed to be the sources HHSUS over the
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gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources, De
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Caloccus wrote, adding at a hearing, Senator Kennedy said that
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Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the
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contrary and appropriately briefed and incruisition tive Secretary should be
27:01
a source of health information for the people he serves.
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As it stands now, I must agree with him that
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he should not be considered a source of accurate information.
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The CDC's medical Chief Medical Officer, Deborah Hurry, told staff
27:17
that ongoing changes prevent her from continuing in her job.
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Vaccines saved lives. This is an indisputable, well established scientific fact. Recently,
27:31
the overstating of risks and the rise of misinformation have
27:35
cost lives, as demonstrated by the highest number of US
27:39
measle cases in thirty years and the violent attack on
27:43
air agency hurry, wrote Dan Jernigan, a longtime official who
27:49
helped oversee the CDC's infectious disease response, also announced his resignation.
27:55
Public health advocates had hoped Minaris would be on Canadian
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block him from limiting access to vaccines. Kennedy and Wednesday
28:06
announced that the Health agency signed off on new coronavirus vaccines,
28:11
that the agency had limited approval to people sixty five
28:14
and older or who have risk practice for severe coronavirus
28:19
disease instead of everyone six months and older. That ends
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the article. It was an insert. While public health has
28:30
become political science has not been and should not be.
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Since Christi Giuliano, executive director of the nonprofit Big Cities
28:40
Health Coalition, which represents public health officials from major's cities,
28:46
Giuliano said, when a career civil servant that leads an
28:50
agency and this number of senior career officials resign in
28:54
the same day, it raises serious questions about how the
28:58
CDC can and will continue to do its work to
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protect and promote the public's health. It's a real loss
29:06
for the nation's health. Trump nominated Manares after withdrawing his
29:11
first pick, former Republican Congressman Dave Waldon, who was criticized
29:16
for his views on vaccines and autism. Manares was confirmed
29:21
in July after telling Senatus she values vaccines in rigorous
29:25
scientific evidence. Manars is firing comes as the Trump administration
29:30
has questioned federal vaccine data and moved a roll back
29:34
prior recommendations. The CDC is expected to soon issue new
29:40
recommendations on who should receive coronavirus vaccines. Before becoming HHS Secretary,
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Kennedy had falsely called the coronavirus vaccines the deadliest vaccine
29:51
ever made and said they contained a poison. In his
29:56
Senate confirmation hearings this years, Kennedy denied being anti vaccine
30:01
and said he was only seeking additional evidence on the
30:04
shots effectiveness. Minares had scheduled an agency wide call Monday,
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but that was canceled Friday. According to several CDC employees
30:14
who spoke on the condition of amminimnity to discuss internal matters.
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The agency had been reeling from the gunmen's August eighth
30:23
attack on its Atlanta headquarters, which forced hundreds of workers
30:27
into lockdown and left a police officer dead. The shooter
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was frustrated by the coronavirus vaccine and blamed it for
30:36
his health problems, according to law enforcement officials, neighbors, and
30:41
his father. Trump has not publicly addressed the shooting. Minares
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joined several Trump administration officials with brief tenures. The White
30:51
House spared with Ayra sparred with i RS Commissioner Billy
30:57
Long over access to immigrant data before Trump reassigned him
31:01
to serve as ambassador to Iceland. Trump also hosted Michael
31:05
Waltz as National Security Advisor to instead serve as Ambassador
31:11
to the United Nations after Waltz inadvertently added a journalist
31:16
to a group chat about military operations in Yemen. The
31:21
article is now over our next article. DC Judges and
31:27
grand jurors pushed back on Trump policing surge. A federal
31:33
grand jury refused to indict a man who threw a
31:36
sandwich at his federal officer, and grand jurors refused three
31:41
times to indict a woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent.
31:46
There's a picture of Trump at a podium with the
31:49
presidential seal in front and members of his staff around
31:54
him looking very grim, I mean, buttoned down lips, no
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smiles at all on their faces, and it's they're speaking
32:07
to the press on August seven about deploying federal law
32:12
enforcement agents in Washington to bolster the local police force.
32:18
Basalvaldor Rizzo and Michael Lauris. President Donald Trump's surge of
32:24
federal law enforcement on the streets of DC is meeting
32:27
resistance in the city's federal courthouse, where magistrate judges have
32:31
admonished prosecutors for violenting defendants' rights and court rules, and
32:36
grand jurors have repeatedly refused to issue indictments. On Tuesday,
32:42
a federal grand jury refused to intrite a former Justice
32:45
Department employee who threw a sandwich at a federal law
32:49
enforcement agent in an incident this month that went viral
32:53
on social media. According to two people with knowledge of
32:57
the case who spoke on could ddition of anonymity because
33:01
they weren't authorized to discuss it publicly. Prosecutors had sought
33:06
to charge Sean Charles Dunn with a felony count of assaulting, resisting,
33:12
or impeding a federal officer. Trump declared a crime emergency
33:17
this month, giving federal law enforcement agencies in National Guard
33:21
members unprecedented authority to patrol the nation's capital, while also
33:27
enlisting the district's thirty one hundred member police force to
33:31
assist with immigration enforcement. More than a thousand arrests have followed,
33:35
according to the White House. Meanwhile, d c's top prosecutor,
33:40
Jeanine Pierrot, ordered her staff to file the stiffest possible
33:45
charges in every case, but there are emerging signs that
33:50
not all of the arrests will stand up to scrutiny
33:53
in court. Before prosecutors failed to indict done a grand
33:58
jury on three occasions this month refused to indict a
34:02
DC woman who was accused of assaulting an FBI agent,
34:06
another extraordinary rejection of the prosecutor's case. Days later, a
34:12
federal magistrate judge said an arrest in Northeast Washington was
34:15
preceded by the most illegal search I've ever seen in
34:20
my life, and described another arrest as lacking basic human dignity.
34:27
While judges are known to criticize prosecutors from time, to time,
34:32
grand jurors only in rare cases refused to issue an indictment,
34:36
which requires them to find only probable cause that a
34:41
crime was committed, the lowest evidentiary bar in criminal cases.
34:47
Instances of failed indictments have begun to crop up more
34:51
since Trump took office. This year, Grand jurors in Los
34:55
Angeles have rejected indictments of people who were arrested for
34:59
protests the administration's immigration enforcement actions. According to the Los
35:04
Angeles Times, the July twenty second scuffle at issue in
35:09
DC Federal Court occurred weeks before Trump's law enforcement order,
35:14
but the grand jurors were presented with the case this month,
35:19
just as federal agents were descending on Washington. Prosecutors alleged
35:24
that Sydney Reid was obstructing and recording agents from the
35:28
FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement as they attempted
35:33
to arrest a gang member being released from the DC
35:37
jail who was slated for deportation. An FBI agent scraped
35:42
her hand against a wall amidst the fracas, and prosecutors
35:47
planned to charge Reed with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a
35:51
federal officer, a felony offense, punishable by up to eight
35:56
years in prison under the Fifth Amendment. However, charges that
36:01
carry potential penalties of more than a year in prison
36:05
must be approved by a grand jury. At least twelve
36:08
members must vote to authorize an indictment. After striking out
36:13
with this, DC grand jury prosecutors dropped the effort to
36:17
charge Read with a felony and instead dead filed a
36:20
misdemeanor charge that does not require grand jury approval. The
36:25
maximum penalty for a misdemeana is one year in jailed.
36:31
After miss Reed was wrongly arrested, the ICE agent told her,
36:36
you should just have stayed home and minded your business,
36:40
reads Public defenders therez Abe and Eugene Ohm said in
36:44
a statement, adding, as a United States citizen and a
36:50
compassionate person, caring about fellow DC residents getting snatched off
36:54
the streets by ICE agents is her business and should
36:58
be of concern to all human beings. They added, the
37:03
US attorney can try to concoct crimes to quiet the people,
37:08
but in our criminal justice system, the citizens have the
37:11
last word. We are anxious to present the misdemeanor case
37:15
to a jury and to quickly clear Misread's name. Several
37:20
recent cases, including duns, have involved the same felony statute
37:24
that prosecutors tried to apply to Reed's case. Pureau declined
37:29
to speculate about how juries in DC when ninety percent
37:33
of voter's cast ballots with Trump's opponent in the twenty
37:36
twenty four presidential race might respond to criminal cases as
37:41
federal crackdown continues. The only thing that I can say
37:46
is we are prosecutors. We are the tip of the spear.
37:50
We are the ones who take these cases into court,
37:53
and the burden is on us to prove these cases,
37:55
and we welcome that burden beyond a reasonable date, Buro
38:00
said it a news conference Thursday Tuesday, adding sometimes a
38:05
jury will by it and sometimes they won't, so be it.
38:09
That's the way the process works. A spokesman for Perro
38:14
did not say whether federal prosecutors would try to present
38:17
the Done case to a grand jury a second time.
38:21
The spokesman, Timothy Law, alleged that a government lawyer had
38:25
violated a court rule requiring confidentiality and grand jury proceedings
38:29
by declosing the decision not to indict Done. The grand
38:34
jury's move in that case was first reported by The
38:36
New York Times. Dun's attorney, Sabrina Schroff, declined to come in.
38:42
US Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey said at a hearing
38:46
this month that prosecutors should have promptly notified the court
38:52
about the grand jury's decision not to indict Read, but
38:56
that they held off for days, violating a court rule.
39:00
I've taken up that issue with the US Attorney's office,
39:03
Harvey said last week. But the most pointed criticisms of
39:08
Trump's law enforcement surge have come from Magistrate Judge Zia M.
39:12
Farquah Faruqua, who has castigated law enforcement officials for wearing
39:19
masks while tackling and arresting a Venezuelan national who worked
39:23
as a food delivery drima, for disobeying and order the
39:27
judge issued this week to release a woman from the
39:29
DC jail, and for arresting and jailing a thirty seven
39:33
year old because he was a black man going into
39:37
traded Joe's. I'd say we live in a surreal world
39:41
right now, Baruki said at a court hearing for Christian
39:45
Ulriqi Carras Torres, who was taken down by masked federal
39:50
agents as he exited a Bluestone Lane coffee shop with
39:54
a delivery order, an arrest that was captured on video
39:57
by a Washington Post reportal this is not consistent with
40:02
what I understand the United States of America to be.
40:07
The judge told Karros Therres, you should be treated with
40:10
basic human dignity. We don't have a secret police. Piro's
40:15
office said in a court filing that Coodaras Torres ran
40:19
after officers, ran after officers approached him, struggled as he
40:25
was being taken down, and tried to flee from a
40:27
police vehicle after being handcuffed, adding that he had missed
40:31
his immigration court hearings since entering the country in twenty
40:35
twenty three. Violent crime is down twenty seven percent so
40:39
far this year compared with the same period in twenty
40:42
twenty four, according to DC Police data, and has declined
40:46
fifty one percent when measuring the year over year period.
40:50
Since Trump issued his order August eleventh, the president has
40:56
painted a portrait of crime, bloodshed, bede and squalop in
41:02
the district, bleaming years of passive policing by local authorities
41:06
and lenient criminal justice policies from Democratic officials, but now
41:12
they are allowed to do whatever the hell they want.
41:15
Trump said of DC police as he announced his moves.
41:18
He said, criminals in the city are rough and tough,
41:22
but we're rougher and tougher. Carres Theres was charged with assaulting, resisting,
41:28
or impeding federal officers, just as Done and Red had been,
41:33
after an officer injured his head while helping take him
41:36
to the ground, Wherewicki ordered that cord Arastorus be released
41:41
pending trial, acknowledging that Ice would have had an opportunity
41:45
to take him into custody to enforce a removal order
41:49
issued by immigration court last year. In another case, federal
41:54
prosecutors charged Crystal Rios as Quiville with a felony vihilation
42:00
of the same statute, which makes it illegal to assault
42:03
federal officers. Her alleged defense started when she walked through
42:08
a door that was marked staff only at the National
42:11
Zoo's bird House, tripping an alarm. As National Zoo Park
42:16
officers arrested her for unlockedful entry, Escoval spat on two
42:21
of them and kicked one, Prosecutors alleged Her attorney has
42:25
criticized the arrest as an instance of over policing. Rios
42:30
Escoval was held for five days in the DC jail
42:34
before making her initial appearance Monday in Ferruqui's court room,
42:39
which Foreruki said was bad enough. The judge ordered Rios
42:43
Escoval released a pending trial, but the DC Department of
42:47
Corrections did not free her the same day. Feriki threatened
42:51
to impose sanctions in a scathing court ordered issued Tuesday
42:57
that said officials has subjected rio esco Ball to illegal
43:00
detention and she was released. What is especially troubling is
43:07
that this is not even the first time in the
43:09
past four months that the court has encountered this same
43:13
problem of false imprisonment. For Rookie wrote, citing another case
43:17
from April, had yet another court hearing scrutinizing police tactics
43:22
in DC. For Rookie reprimanded federal prosecutors this week for
43:26
charging Torres Riley with illegally possessing firearms. The judge found
43:31
that DC police officers, who were on patrol of federal agents,
43:35
violated Rileigh's privacy rights by searching his bag, where they
43:40
found two guns. Riley had previously been convicted of weapons offenses,
43:44
prosecutors said. Police said in court documents that Raleigh's bag
43:50
had been searched in part because it appeared to contain
43:53
something heavy, but that observation was not enough to show
43:57
probable cause that Riley had committed a crime. The court
44:01
found it was, without a day, the most illegal search
44:06
I've seen in my life, said Farquey, a former DC
44:10
federal prosecutor, adding that Raleigh had been jailed and kept
44:13
away from his three children and pregnant wife for a
44:16
week because he was a black man going into traded. Joes.
44:22
Pierrot's office then foiled court papers to dismiss the case,
44:26
and the judge ordered rally release from a DC jail facility.
44:31
A spokesman from Puero said that as soon as she
44:34
was shown the body worn camera footage on Friday, she
44:38
ordered the dismissal of charges. The motion to dismiss was
44:42
filed Monday. In response to for Rouqui's criticism, Spiro said
44:47
in a statement, this judge has a long history of
44:51
bending over backwards to release dangerous felons in possession of firearms,
44:56
and on frequent occasions he has downplayed the seriousness of
45:00
felons who possess illegal firearms and the danger they posed
45:05
to our community. But for Rookui also admonished Raleigh over
45:09
his fire on possession. You will die, you will kill somebody,
45:14
or you will end up in jail, the judge said.
45:17
Raleigh is set to face consequences in Maryland, where we
45:21
said authorities would use what they learned in the blatantly
45:25
illegal DCEs search to show he violated his probation in
45:30
an earlier gun possession case. A bench warrant was issued
45:35
Monday over the probation violation, according to records from Prince
45:39
Georgie's County Circuit Court. Raleigh's wife, Crashwana Williams, said she
45:46
took a week off from the beauty classes she's enrolled
45:48
in to deal with her husband's case while taking care
45:52
of their boys, ages three, eight and twelve. I feel
45:56
like he shouldn't have been arrested in the first place,
45:58
Williams said, but she added what could they do? I'm
46:03
going to read something about life. The article simple Chemistry
46:08
helps Explain the Origin of life. News Studies suggests scientists
46:15
have figured out how proteins may have been created on
46:19
early Earth, and there is a picture of molecules in
46:23
hot springs such as Yellowstone's Grand prismatic spring could have
46:29
been a source of early life. And there is a
46:32
picture of the springs looking like a rainbow and a
46:36
sun with orange and yellow and greens and purples and
46:40
shades of blue around it, with steam rising and the
46:45
walkways around this part of Yellowstone by Kasha Patel. When
46:53
a bone grows our bodies, proteins help provide the structure.
46:58
When a muscle tears, proteins help rebuild it. When we
47:03
fight in infection, transport oxygen on our blood, or send
47:08
messages to a cell, proteins often step up to the plate.
47:14
But how did these skilled molecules first form on Earth
47:18
and help give rise to life? The mystery, which has
47:22
ebated scientists for more than five decades, can be explained
47:26
with rather simple chemistry, according to a study published Wednesday
47:31
in Nature. In lab experiments, scientists have successfully shown how
47:37
two basic ingredients of life, ribonucleic acid are ina and
47:45
amino acids can combine to start protein synthesis. The basic
47:52
ingredients and conditions in water are thought to have been
47:56
around on Earth about four billion years ago, providing clues
48:01
as to how as to how early life may have
48:05
been kick started or could arise on other planets. It
48:10
seems pretty probable that this reaction could have been occurring
48:15
on early Earth, said Matthew Pawner, a chemist at University
48:21
College London and an author of the new study. Lab
48:27
investigates the chemical process that lead to life, exploring key
48:32
mechanisms seen in all living organisms. One of the most
48:36
fundamental processes is how selves make proteins, the complex molecules
48:41
responsible for our growth and survival, from bone formation to
48:46
immune support. Proteins are made of amino acids, which are
48:51
thought to have been around long before life emerged. Proteins
48:56
can't replicate themselves and are built from blue tint prints
49:00
provided by nucleic acids like DNA and RNA that instruct
49:06
the amino acids to a symbol. In fact, Francis Crick,
49:11
a codes discoverer of the structure of DNA, proposed the
49:16
sie in the nineteen fifties that information in biology flows
49:20
from DNA to RNA and then to protein, But since Crick,
49:26
the process of moving from RNA to protein hasn't been understood.
49:30
Poner said the information in DNA and RNA is written
49:35
in a different language than the information in proteins, and
49:39
so it must be translated in living organisms. Today, amino
49:45
acids combined with RNA to make a protein, but this
49:49
translation process requires a set of protein enzymes that paradoxically
49:54
are made by protein synthesis. It becomes a chicken or
49:58
egg problem. How is the protein made without a protein?
50:02
We wanted to find the chemistry that unites in links
50:06
the RNA and amino acid which we were required to
50:09
make proteins, Ponner said. First, the team took an amino
50:14
acid and activated it, basically removing a water molecule, which
50:18
made it reactive and able to form a bond with
50:21
other molecules. But the activated amino acid wouldn't directly bind
50:26
to RNA in this form. The team needed to find
50:30
a helper molecule that would aid the amino acid in
50:33
binding to RNA. Ponner and his colleagues decided to experiment
50:38
with a class of compounds called thiols, or molecules with
50:43
a sulfur attached to a carbon. These molecules are better
50:47
known for their role in energy production and regulation in
50:50
cells than for protein synthesis, but the team previously found
50:56
they were fairly easy to make under basic condition that
51:00
would have existed on a Baby Earth. When the theol
51:06
was introduced, the team found it first reacted with the
51:09
activated amino acid in water and then slowly transfer that
51:13
amino acid to RNA. More of these compounds combine and
51:18
form proteins in cells. The binding was very unexpected and
51:24
wasn't what we said to achieve, Pona said. He said,
51:29
this mechanism essentially solves how to initiate protein synthesis without
51:34
another protein in a scenario where you have amino acids,
51:40
where you have RNA molecules, if you have theos sulfur molecules,
51:45
this is I think almost inevitable that this kind of
51:49
process can happen, Pona said. Evolutionary evidence indicates this protein
51:56
synthesis process is the most ancient feature of molecular biology
52:02
that is still found in ourselves today, said Aaron Goldman,
52:07
a biologist at Oberlin College who was not involved in
52:10
the study. Other researchers have even previously preposed proposed that
52:16
the binding of amino acids to RNA could have been
52:19
co opted to establish an early form of genetic code. Yet,
52:24
although synthesis evolved early in the history of life, we
52:29
don't have a clear understanding of what preceded it. Golmann said,
52:34
the new study identifies intriguing new chemistry that sheds light
52:39
on a possible forerunner that enabled this important process. The
52:45
teen doesn't quite know why the the old group allows
52:47
the amino acid to transfer to the RNA. Palmer said
52:52
that in general, the sulfur group is situated in a
52:55
sweet spot of reactivity, which allows it to react variously
53:00
and selectively with RNA. Four billion years ago. These reactions
53:06
could have taken place in pools or lakes on Earth,
53:09
although the concentrations of the chemicals would probably have been
53:14
too diluted in oceans. Whether or not this specific hypothesis
53:20
is correct, the binding of amino acids to RNA's appears
53:25
to have been an important reaction during the evolution early
53:30
evolution of life, as it still is in every organism today.
53:37
Golman said, this is a short article and I think
53:41
is just kind of of fun. Man gets eighty nine
53:45
days in prison for every day he faked death to
53:50
leave his wife Wisconsin. Man Ryan Bergwat faked his droning
53:56
with an overturned kayak to establish a new life in
53:59
Eastern Europe with a woman he met online. Prosecutors said
54:06
by Annabel Timson, and there's a picture of this gentleman
54:09
in Green Lake, Wisconsin in an orange jumpsuit. A Wisconsin
54:15
man who faked his death and fled overseas to be
54:18
with a woman he met online, leaving his wife and
54:21
children behind, was convicted of obstructing an officer and sentenced
54:26
to eighty nine days in jail. The sentences length is
54:30
equal to the number of days Ryan Bargwart, forty five,
54:34
obstructed law enforcement as he built a new life in
54:38
the country of Georgia last year while authorities back home
54:42
search for him, Judge Mark T. Slat said Tuesday in
54:45
court in Green Lake County. Officials initially believed that Bargwa
54:49
had drowned in the lake that they came to suspect
54:52
that he was alive after they found out Canadian authorities
54:56
had run his name in the days after he disappeared,
54:59
for and anyone else who was thinking about faking their death.
55:03
If you persist in your deception, the longer you obstruct,
55:06
the longer you are duplicitous instead of coming forward and
55:10
emitting your mistake, the longer the penalty should be. Slat said.
55:15
Under the terms of a plea agreement, The state's prosecutor
55:19
requested a sentence of forty five days in prison, but
55:22
Slat nearly doubled that, stating that eighty nine days had
55:26
elapsed between when Bargwart was reported missing and when authorities
55:31
made contact with him, and said he hoped the most
55:34
severe punishment would deter anyone thinking of committing a similar crime.
55:39
Bargwart pleaded no contest to the charges against him. Before
55:43
his sentence was announced, he briefly addressed the court, saying,
55:47
I deeply regret the actions that I did that night
55:50
and all the pain that I caused my family and friends.
55:53
Bargwat was reported missing in August the twelfth of twenty
55:56
twenty four, after his family said he didn't return from
55:59
a yak trip to Green Lake and Central Wisconsin the
56:03
night before. Officers from the Lake County Sheriff's Office found
56:07
several clues in and around the lake that suggested Barbwark
56:11
may have drowned, including an overturned kayak, his phone, and
56:15
his fishing pole and tackle box containing his id. According
56:19
to the criminal complaint, local and regional authorities and community
56:24
groups deployed extensive resources to search for Bargwart, including fisherman
56:29
sonars and cadavindogs, while his wife and three children were
56:33
left to believe that he was missing or worse dead,
56:37
green Lake County District Attorney Jeris Laspisa said Tuesday in court.
56:43
After fifty eight days without finding a body, investigators started
56:46
digging into Bulwark's background and discovered a search for his
56:50
name by Canadian Border Patrol. They inspected his laptop and
56:54
found he had been communicating with a woman in Uzbekistan
56:58
before his disappearance and had made the inquiries about moving
57:01
money to a foreign bank. Green Lake County Sheriff Mark
57:05
put Old said at a news conference in November. Bargwak
57:08
also allegedly replaced the hard drive on his laptop before
57:12
the kayaking trip. At that point, investigators began to suspect
57:16
that Bargwak was still alive and it fled the country.
57:19
They contacted him by email on November the eighth of
57:23
twenty twenty four, and he returned to the United States
57:25
to face trial one hundred and twenty one days after
57:28
he was reported missing. His wife of twenty two years
57:32
filed for divorce Shortly thereafter. His lawyer told the court
57:37
that his client was deeply remorseful and taking responsibility for
57:41
his actions. He didn't have to come back because his
57:45
crime was non ex extradible misdemeanor extraditable MINA. And he
57:53
argued that Bargwak's in voluntary return showed that he wanted
57:57
to make amends, and he did not immediately respond for
58:00
further comment on Wednesday morning. And with that I conclude
58:05
the reading for Today's Washington Post for Thursday, August the
58:10
twenty eighth and twenty twenty five. Thank you for listening,
58:13
and please continue listening to program on RADIOI