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  • Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out | CNN

    Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Sign up to get this weekly column as a newsletter. We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets.



    CNN
     — 

    In 1917, British analysts deciphered a coded message the German foreign minister sent to one of his country’s diplomats vowing to begin “unrestricted submarine warfare” and seeking to win over Mexico with a promise to “reconquer the lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona” if the US entered the world war. When it became public, the Zimmerman Telegram caused a sensation, helping propel the US into the conflict against Germany.

    “Never before or since has so much turned upon the solution of a secret message,” wrote David Kahn in his classic 1967 history of secret communications, “The Codebreakers.” The Germans had taken great pains to keep their intentions confidential, and the codebreakers in London’s “Room 40” had to do a lot of work to decipher the telegram.

    Their efforts stand in stark contrast to the ease with which secrets came tumbling out of a Pentagon intelligence network when 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard cyber specialist Jack Teixeira allegedly posted hundreds of documents on a Discord chatroom known as “Thug Shaker Central.” The disclosures likely won’t start a war, but they could prove extremely damaging to the US and several of its allies, including Ukraine.

    Teixeira is one of more than one million people who have Top Secret clearance. “The Pentagon has already started taking steps to limit the number of people who have access to such sensitive information,” wrote Brett Bruen, a former US diplomat and Obama administration official. “But much more can be done. … Why do so many people, especially those working short stints in government, have access to information that can shape the fate of nations and their leaders?”

    Writing in the Financial Times, Kori Schake saw “some good news.”

    “While specific details will be incredibly valuable to Russia and other adversaries, these are not bombshell revelations: journalists had already reported Ukrainian ammunition running low; peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv were never likely; allies have long been aware that the US eavesdrops on them; and the disparaging assessment of Ukraine’s forthcoming offensive may prove no more accurate than previous predictions were.” These will not prove as damaging as the Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning disclosures.

    But, she warned, “Technology making data ever more portable, distribution more global and communications more bespoke will make it easier to amass information and distribute it — either privately or publicly.”

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    In less than a week, the two Democrats expelled from the Tennessee House for their participation in a gun control protest were sent back to office by local officials.

    Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. Events this week demonstrated, more than ever, that this is indeed the case…”

    “Over two-thirds of Americans — including four out of 10 Republicans — support the kind of common sense gun safety laws that Rep. Jones, Rep. Johnson and I were protesting in favor of, in the wake of the senseless March 27 Covenant School massacre.”

    “And yet, calls for common sense gun reform measures fall on deaf ears in our legislature where a Republican supermajority is wildly out of step with most people’s values.”

    The politics of gun control have shifted, argued Democratic strategist Max Burns. The NRA’s internal struggles have weakened its influence while Democrats in office, who once feared touching the issue of guns, are increasingly speaking out. And they are making some progress in enacting new state laws, Burns noted.

    “The American people decisively support Democratic proposals for addressing the scourge of gun violence. Political watchers who criticized Democrats for talking too much about abortion during the 2022 midterm elections later ate crow after that once-dreaded culture war topic topped the list of voter concerns nationally…

    “Biden and the Democrats have the rare opportunity to build yet another winning coalition out of an issue once viewed as political poison.”

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    On Friday, the Supreme Court issued an order that temporarily ensured access to a key drug used in many medication abortions. The move gave the justices more time to consider the issue after a Texas federal judge suspended the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill 23 years ago.

    “If abortion opponents are successful, access to the pill — reportedly used in more than half of abortions in the United States — will be severely undercut,” wrote Michele Goodwin and Mary Ziegler.

    “Beyond the dangerous precedent this sets for challenges to other important FDA-approved drugs that some political factions don’t like, the case is an alarming expression of the way right-wing activists are using junk science to bypass the will of the American public and restrict abortion…”

    “There are no grounds for challenging mifepristone’s approval, especially 23 years after the fact. The drug received extensive review — more than four years — before FDA approval. Moreover, claims that mifepristone threatens the health of those who take it are unfounded. The drug has a better safety record for use than Viagra and penicillin. Notably, it was available and used for years without incident in Europe.”

    In 1986, Nicholas Daniloff, the Moscow bureau chief for US News & World Report, was seized by Soviet authorities and locked up in Lefortovo prison. He was the last American journalist to be arrested in Russia before last month’s detention of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who like Daniloff, speaks Russian fluently. Gershkovich has been charged with espionage but US officials have concluded that he was “wrongfully detained.”

    As David A. Andelman noted, Daniloff’s detention in prison lasted for 13 days before he was put under house arrest and then eventually swapped for an accused Soviet spy. In a conversation with Andelman, Daniloff recalled his reaction when he was imprisoned. “I felt claustrophobic, and I felt like I wanted to get out of there immediately. Of course, there was no chance of that. The door slams, and you have all these thoughts and feelings that run through you, and then you settle down and you realize you’re going to be hanging around that cell for some time.”

    Gershkovich’s family in Philadelphia received a letter, handwritten in Russian, from the reporter Friday.

    “I want to say that I am not losing hope,” he noted. “I read. I exercise. And I am trying to write. Maybe, finally, I am going to write something good.”

    The Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” returns this month for its fifth and final season — and David Perry is here for it. The series brings back memories of visiting his grandparents Irma and Mordy in their “tiny rent-controlled Greenwich Village apartment,” an experience that helped shape his Jewish identity.

    “As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression. The moments of peace and joy are as vital as the moments of violence. In fact, it’s the periods of peace, of success, of interfaith community, that reveal the terrible truth about the violence: it wasn’t inevitable. People could have made different choices…”

    “A show like ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ lets me revel in my personal New York Jewish heritage while also getting a little break from all the worry. It’s a warm, funny, sexy, extremely Jewish …. comedy that hits me straight in my glossy childhood memories. That isn’t to say the show isn’t also problematic — it most certainly is.”

    In the latest installment of CNN Opinion’s “Little Kids, Big Questions” series, 10-year-old Ronan wonders if animals are capable of being smarter than humans. With the help of the John Templeton Foundation, which is partnering on the project, the answer came from Jane Goodall, world renowned for her work with chimpanzees.

    “One of the attributes of intelligence is the ability to think and solve problems. In the early 1960s, I was told that this was unique to humans, and only we could use and make tools, only we had language and culture,” Goodall said. “But more and more research has proved that many animals are excellent at solving problems. Many use tools, and many show cultural differences. Some scientists believe that whales and dolphins are communicating with what may be a real language.”

    “Although the difference between humans and other animals is simply one of degree, our intellect really is amazing. …bees can count and do math, and that just shows how much we still have to learn about animal intelligence. But humans can calculate the distance to the stars.”

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    Earlier this month, a Texas jury convicted Daniel Perry of murder for fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. The jury deliberated for 17 hours and decided Perry’s action couldn’t be excused under the state’s “stand your ground” law. Prosecutors argued Perry had instigated the incident and they introduced into evidence messages that suggested the shooting was not a spur-of-the-moment act but a premeditated one.

    On the evening of the jury verdict, Fox News host Tucker Carlson criticized the decision and told viewers he had invited Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the show to ask if he would consider pardoning Perry. Others on the right called for Abbott to issue a pardon, and the governor soon responded with an announcement that he would do just that, as long as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended that Perry should be granted one.

    “Trial verdicts are determined by judges and juries,” wrote Dean Obeidallah. “What Abbott is doing is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. His pardon, when it comes, is not what the rule of law looks like.”

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    Two of the likeliest candidates for president in 2024 haven’t officially committed yet.

    President Joe Biden says he intends to run again but has delayed making a formal announcement. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making all the moves a presidential contender usually makes, including hawking his new book and visiting New Hampshire, but he hasn’t joined fellow Republicans including former President Donald Trump, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson in declaring.

    “DeSantis, who was neck and neck with the former president just a few months ago, may have lost a step or two in more recent polling. But his track record of successful governance in Florida should force GOP voters to think long and hard about what version of their party they want to put forward,” observed Patrick T. Brown.

    “A third Trump presidential nomination would indicate that Republican primary voters may prefer style over substance. But if they are serious about not just making liberals mad but advancing actual policy, GOP voters should consider other names, starting with the Florida governor.”

    Even without an official announcement by the president, wrote Julian Zelizer, the Biden-Harris campaign is very much under way. “By choosing to lie low while Republicans are gearing up for 2024, Biden is employing his version of what has become known as the ‘Rose Garden Strategy,’ whereby the incumbent campaigns by focusing on the business of being president and showing voters that he is the responsible figure in the race.”

    “The president’s understated strategy makes room for Republicans to stoke chaos, tear each other apart and make unforced errors while he remains above the fray for as long as possible. This strategy makes the GOP the focus of the election, allowing Biden to reinforce his message from 2020: do voters want someone who will govern and act in a serious manner or do they want a circus?”

    Gene Seymour: I am betting on Cousin Greg. But I am not a serious person (Spoiler alert)

    Frida Ghitis: Amid fallout of Macron-Xi meeting, another world leader tries his luck

    Michael Bociurkiw: How the battle for Bakhmut exposed Russia’s ‘meat-grinder’

    Peggy Drexler: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s dilemma is a reminder of this universal question

    Christopher Howard: The overlooked problem with raising the retirement age for Social Security

    Elliot Williams: The justice system Trump and other white-collar defendants see is different than what most accused criminals get

    Phoebe Gavin: The hard lessons I learned the first time I was laid off

    Meg Jacobs: ‘Air’ celebrates those who do the hard work and get rewarded

    AND…

    Jill Filipovic recently took a domestic flight in South Africa. “Passengers and airport staff alike were friendly and polite. The airplane seat offered enough room for both of my legs and both of my arms. We took off on time and landed early. My shoes stayed on the whole time I was at the airport.”

    It was a vivid reminder of what’s possible in air travel — and of what’s usually lacking.

    Take the security system: “More than 20 years after Sept. 11, 2001, only passengers who pay for the privilege can avoid removing their shoes and laptops from their bags by submitting their personal information ahead of time and undergoing background checks.”

    Filipovic added, “Admittedly, I do pay — I don’t want to wait in a long security line, walk my stocking feet through a metal detector and have to un- and re-pack the MacBook I’ve carefully crammed into my carry-on. But the existence of pay-to-play shorter-line security options like Clear and TSA Pre-Check make clear that it is indeed possible to pre-screen a critical mass of passengers to avoid the morass of cranky people trying to pull on their shoes while re-packing their electronics.”

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  • Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

    Report finds democracy for Black Americans is under attack

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    Extreme views adopted by some local, state and federal political leaders who try to limit what history can be taught in schools and seek to undermine how Black officials perform their jobs are among the top threats to democracy for Black Americans, the National Urban League says.

    Marc Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who leads the civil rights and urban advocacy organization, cited the most recent example: the vote this month by the Republican-controlled Tennessee House to oust two Black representatives for violating a legislative rule. The pair had participated in a gun control protest inside the chamber after the shooting that killed three students and three staff members at a Nashville school.

    “We have censorship and Black history suppression, and now this,” Morial said in an interview. “It’s another piece of fruit of the same poisonous tree, the effort to suppress and contain.”

    Democracy Threats Black Americans
    Marc Morial, center, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban League, talks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, July 8, 2021, following a meeting with President Joe Biden and leadership of top civil rights organizations. 

    Susan Walsh / AP


    Both Tennessee lawmakers were quickly reinstated by leaders in their districts and were back at work in the House after an uproar that spread well beyond the state.

    The Urban League’s annual State of Black America report being released Saturday draws on data and surveys from a number of organizations, including the UCLA Law School, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The collective findings reveal an increase in recent years in hate crimes and efforts to change classroom curriculums, attempts to make voting more difficult and extremist views being normalized in politics, the military and law enforcement.

    One of the most prominent areas examined is so-called critical race theory. Scholars developed it as an academic framework during the 1970s and 1980s in response to what they viewed as a lack of racial progress following the civil rights legislation of the 1960s. The theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.

    Director Taifha Alexander said the Forward Tracking Project, part of the UCLA Law School, began in response to the backlash that followed the protests of the George Floyd killing in 2020 and an executive order that year from then-President Donald Trump restricting diversity training.

    The project’s website shows that 209 local, state and federal government entities have introduced more than 670 bills, resolutions, executive orders, opinion letters, statements and other measures against critical race theory since September 2020.

    Anti-critical race theory is “a living organism in and of itself. It’s always evolving. There are always new targets of attack,” Alexander said.


    NAACP Hillsborough chapter opens Freedom Library in protest of Florida book bans

    02:31

    She said the expanded scope of some of those laws, which are having a chilling effect on teaching certain aspects of the country’s racial conflicts, will lead to major gaps in understanding history and social justice.

    “This anti-CRT campaign is going to frustrate our ability to reach our full potential as a multiracial democracy” because future leaders will be missing information they could use to tackle problems, Alexander said.

    She said one example is the rewriting of Florida elementary school material about civil rights figure Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat to a white rider on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus in 1955 — an incident that sparked the bus boycott there. Mention of race was omitted entirely in one revision, a change first reported by The New York Times.

    Florida has been the epicenter of many of the steps, including opposing AP African American studies, but it’s not alone.

    “The things that have been happening in Florida have been replicated, or governors in similarly situated states have claimed they will do the same thing,” Alexander said.

    In Alabama, a proposal to ban “divisive” concepts passed out of legislative committee this past week. Last year, the administration of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, rescinded a series of policies, memos and other resources related to diversity, equity and inclusion that it characterized as “discriminatory and divisive concepts” in the state’s public education system.

    Oklahoma public school teachers are prohibited from teaching certain concepts of race and racism under a bill Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law in 2021.

    Democracy Threats Black Americans
    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing HB7, “individual freedom,” also dubbed the “stop woke” bill during a news conference at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., on Friday, April 22, 2022. 

    Daniel A. Varela / AP


    On Thursday, the Llano County Commissioners Court in Texas held a special meeting to consider shutting down the entire public library system rather than follow a federal judge’s order to return a slate of books to the shelves on topics ranging from teenage sexuality to bigotry.

    After listening to public comments in favor and against the shutdown, the commissioners decided to remove the item from the agenda.

    “We will suppress your books. We will suppress the conversation about race and racism, and we will suppress your history, your AP course,” Morial said. “It is singular in its effort to suppress Blacks.”

    Other issues in his group’s report address extremism in the military and law enforcement, energy and climate change, and how current attitudes can affect public policy. Predominantly white legislatures in Missouri and Mississippi have proposals that would shift certain government authority from some majority Black cities to the states.

    In many ways, the report mirrors concerns evident in recent years in a country deeply divided over everything from how much K-12 students should be taught about racism and sexuality to the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

    Forty percent of voters in last year’s elections said their local K-12 public schools were not teaching enough about racism in the United States, while 34% said it already was too much, according to AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of the American electorate. Twenty-three percent said the current curriculum was about right.

    About two-thirds of Black voters said more should be taught on the subject, compared with about half of Latino voters and about one-third of white voters.


    Hate crime reporting to FBI drops despite many incidents last year

    05:12

    Violence is one of the major areas of concern covered in the Urban League report, especially in light of the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The accused shooter left a manifesto raising the “great replacement theory ” as a motive in the killings.

    Data released this year by the FBI indicated that hate crimes rose between 2020 and 2021. African Americans were disproportionately represented, accounting for 30% of the incidents in which the bias was known.

    By comparison, the second largest racial group targeted in the single incident category was white victims, who made up 10%.

    Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, said when all the activities are tabulated, including hate crimes, rhetoric, incidents of discrimination and online disinformation, “we see a very clear and concerning threat to America and a disproportionate impact on Black Americans.”

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  • Supreme Court puts Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling on hold

    Supreme Court puts Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling on hold

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    Supreme Court puts Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling on hold – CBS News


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    The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday put on hold a ruling last week from a Texas federal judge which halted the FDA’s longtime approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. Caitlin Huey-Burns has the latest.

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  • Unique Texas facility prepares first responders for major catastrophes

    Unique Texas facility prepares first responders for major catastrophes

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    College Station, Texas — Simulated train derailments, earthquakes and other emergencies can all be found in a 52-acre complex known as Disaster City in College Station, Texas, where elite rescue teams learn to save lives.

    “There’s no replication of this kind of thing,” Stephen Bjune, Texas Task Force 1 training manager, told CBS News. “There’s smaller sites that have little bits of this, but nothing to my knowledge in the United States, or even the world, has this much disaster on this kind of scale.”

    Texas Task Force 1 is one of 28 nationwide rapid-response Federal Emergency Management Agency search and rescue squads, and it uses Disaster City as its training ground.

    Disaster City has more than a dozen disaster scenarios, each based on a real-life catastrophe, including a flattened parking garage modeled after the one underneath the World Trade Center.

    “So the guys come in and build these shores to help make the structures safe,” rescue specialist Kevin Mathison explained.

    From 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina to the Surfside condominium collapse, Texas Task Force 1 has been on the front lines of the nation’s biggest disasters.

    Like all task force members, this is a second job for Mathison, who works full-time as a firefighter.

    “These scenarios basically train us for any disaster that could happen in the world,” Mathison said. “It sets it up to where it’s very realistic for us.”

    The task force train on executing technical rescues which require planning and engineering skills, and even sometimes using volunteer victims.

    “It’s a perishable skill, the things that we learn here,” Bjune said. “They’re so technical and so specific that … if you’re not constantly swinging that hammer, or using that saw … it perishes and you’re not ready to be able to do it again when you need it.” 

    Janet Shamlian


    Janet Shamlian

    Janet Shamlian is a CBS News correspondent based in Houston, Texas. Shamlian’s reporting is featured on all CBS News broadcasts and platforms including “CBS Mornings,” the “CBS Evening News” and the CBS News Streaming Network, CBS News’ premier 24/7 anchored streaming news service.

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  • Texas facility prepares first responders for major catastrophes

    Texas facility prepares first responders for major catastrophes

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    Texas facility prepares first responders for major catastrophes – CBS News


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    Disaster City is a 52-acre complex in College Station, Texas, with more than a dozen disaster scenarios designed to prepare elite rescue teams to learn to save lives. Janet Shamlian has more.

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  • 1,000 pounds of illegally caught sharks seized by Coast Guard

    1,000 pounds of illegally caught sharks seized by Coast Guard

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    Roughly 1,000 pounds of illegally caught shark was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard in Southern Texas on Sunday, authorities said. 

    A South Padre Island Coast Guard crew spotted four Mexican fishermen alongside the coastline in a lancha, a slender speed boat often used to fish illegally during the day, the Coast Guard said in a news release on its website. U.S. Coast Guard crews often seize illegal captures of red snapper, sharks and other types of fish. At night, the lanchas can be used to traffic drugs between Matamoros, Mexico, and Texas, according to research conducted by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Coast Guard.

    Video taken by the U.S. Coast Guard aircrew showed the four fishermen wearing fluorescent green waders pulling sharks from the side of their boat. When authorities pulled over the men, in addition to the sharks, they found fishing gear, radios, GPS devices and high flyer fishing poles on board, authorities said. 

    The sharks were seized and the fisherman were transferred to border enforcement agents for processing, the Coast Guard said.

    Sergeant James Dunks, a game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, told NPR in 2011 that people from Playa Bagdad, a small fishing village south of the border, come across searching for fish. 

    “They have just pretty much claimed that they have fished all their fish out of their end of the water, so that’s why they’ve been coming across,” Dunks told NPR.

    A 2021 study showed humans are to blame for the 70%  decline in shark and ray populations around the world. If overfishing isn’t stopped the species could soon be wiped out completely.

    Texas has long been a hot spot for shark fishing and trade. In 2015, Texas banned the trade of shark fins after the state emerged as a “trading hub” when the practice was banned elsewhere, said nonprofit Oceana in a press release. 

    Anglers can fish for sharks in Texas waters and can catch one shark daily, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife. Anglers are prohibited from catching 22 specific shark species but can catch 16 other species, said the Texas Farm Bureau. These restrictions are “for consistent enforcement within state waters,” said Dakus Geeslin, TPWD deputy director of Coastal Fisheries in the news release.

    Cara Tabachnick

    Cara Tabachnick is a news editor for CBSNews.com. Contact her at cara.tabachnick@cbsinteractive.com

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  • Justice Department appeals judge’s ruling on abortion pill

    Justice Department appeals judge’s ruling on abortion pill

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    Justice Department appeals judge’s ruling on abortion pill – CBS News


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    The Justice Department has appealed a ruling by a Texas judge that bans the use of the drug mifepristone. The Biden administration has said it will continue to fight the ruling. Weijia Jiang reports.

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  • Federal judge suspends FDA approval of abortion pill sparking legal fight

    Federal judge suspends FDA approval of abortion pill sparking legal fight

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    Federal judge suspends FDA approval of abortion pill sparking legal fight – CBS News


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    A legal and political fight has broken out after a Texas federal judge suspended the FDA approval of the commonly use abortion pill Mifepristone.This is one of two pills that are used in more than half of all legal abortions and this case is likely to reach the Supreme Court. Nancy Cordes reports.

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  • Health secretary criticizes abortion pill ruling as

    Health secretary criticizes abortion pill ruling as

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    The nation’s top health official said Sunday that a court ruling threatening the availability of a main drug used in medication abortion was “reckless” and he did not rule out defying the judge’s order if necessary.

    “We want the courts to overturn this reckless decision,” Xavier Becerra, President Joe Biden’s health secretary, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We want women to continue to have access to a drug that’s proven itself safe. Millions of women have used this drug around the world.”

    Becerra stressed that for now, women still have access to the abortion medication mifepristone after a federal judge in Texas, Donald Trump-appointee Matthew Kacsmaryk, put his ruling from Friday on hold for a week so federal officials could file a challenge. The drug was approved in 2000 by the Food and Drug Administration, which is overseen by the Health and Human Services Department headed by Becerra.

    “For America’s sake and for women’s sake, we have to prevail in this,” he said.

    Biden has said his administration would fight the Texas ruling. Kacsmaryk’s 67-page order gave the government seven days to appeal.

    “We intend to do everything to make sure it’s available to them not just in a week, but moving forward, period, because mifepristone is one of the safest and most effective medicines that we have seen over the last 20 years to help women with their health care, especially abortion care,” Becerra said.

    Asked whether he might recommend that the FDA ignore a ban, Becerra said, “Everything is on the table.”

    There is uncertainty about access to the most commonly used method of abortion in the United States following two separate and conflicting court rulings in Texas and Washington over the legality of mifepristone.

    Kacsmaryk’s decision ordering a hold on federal approval of mifepristone overruled decades of scientific approval. But a ruling at nearly the same time in Washington state from U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice, an President Obama appointee, directed U.S. authorities not to make any changes that would restrict access to the drug in at least 17 states where Democrats sued in an effort to protect availability.

    Becerra said Kacsmaryk’s order could have dire ramifications for the legality of any FDA-approved drug, such as vaccines, insulin or new Alzheimer’s drugs coming onto the market because it seeks to “turn upside down” the entire FDA approval process.

    The former California attorney general acknowledged a “good chance” that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which last year overturned Roe v. Wade and curtailed access to abortion across the country.

    “If a judge decides to substitute his preference, his personal opinion for that of scientists and medical professionals, what drug isn’t subject to some kind of legal challenge? So we have to go to court,” he said.

    Alluding to Kacsmaryk, Becerra added: “What you saw by that one judge in that one court, in that one state, that’s not America. America goes by the evidence. America does what’s fair. America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do is for the right reasons.”

    Appearing after Becerra on CNN, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said “it’s important that we take care of women” and have “real discussions on women’s health care” but “get off the abortion conversation. Women have a whole lot more other issues than just abortion. … Let’s talk about the other things that are happening in this world.”

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  • Save the date: One year until total solar eclipse sweeps US

    Save the date: One year until total solar eclipse sweeps US

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    NEW YORK (AP) — Dust off your eclipse glasses: It’s only a year until a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America.

    On April 8, 2024, the moon will cast its shadow across a stretch of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, plunging millions of people into midday darkness.

    It’s been less than six years since a total solar eclipse cut across the U.S., from coast to coast. That was on Aug. 21, 2017.

    If you miss next year’s spectacle, you’ll have to wait 20 years until the next one hits the U.S. But that total eclipse will only be visible in Montana and the Dakotas.

    Here’s what to know to get ready for the 2024 show:

    WHERE CAN I SEE IT?

    Next year’s eclipse will slice a diagonal line across North America on April 8, which falls on a Monday.

    It will start in the Pacific and first reach land over Mexico around 11:07 a.m. local time, NASA predicts. Then, it’ll cross over into Texas and move across parts of the Midwest and Northeast in the afternoon.

    All in all, it will hit parts of 13 U.S. states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Cities in its path include Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis; Cleveland and Buffalo, New York.

    Parts of Canada — including Quebec and Newfoundland — will also get a glimpse before the eclipse heads out to sea in the early evening.

    A total eclipse will be visible within a 115-mile wide swath — the path of totality. Outside that path, you can still see a partial solar eclipse, where the moon takes a bite out of the sun and turns it into a crescent shape.

    Total eclipses happen about every 18 months, but a lot of times they cross over remote areas where few people see them.

    WHAT HAPPENS DURING AN ECLIPSE?

    Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes in between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun’s light from reaching us.

    Even though the moon is about 400 times smaller than the sun, it’s also about 400 times closer to Earth, explained University of Colorado astronomer Doug Duncan. So when the orbits line up just right, the little moon can block out the whole sun. Those who are standing in the right spots will experience totality: when the moon casts its shadow over the landscape.

    “In just seconds, you go from bright, bright daylight to like the middle of the night,” said Dr. Debby Brown, who saw her first total eclipse in 2017 with Duncan in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

    “The stars are out. All of a sudden, all the animals are quiet,” recalled Brown, of Arlington, Virginia.

    During the 2024 eclipse, totality will stretch to around four and a half minutes — almost twice as long as in 2017.

    WHAT’S THE BEST SPOT?

    To catch the full eclipse experience, planning ahead is key, Duncan said. Weather could be a big factor since the eclipse is coming in the spring, when conditions are unpredictable. That’s why Duncan selected Texas for his eclipse tour next year, where there are better odds of clear skies.

    Your choice also depends on what kind of experience you’re looking for, said Bob Baer, who’s coordinating eclipse plans at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

    Carbondale — in the crossroads of both the 2017 and 2024 eclipse paths — will hold a viewing event at the school’s stadium again. It’s a big group experience, Baer said: “The last 20 minutes before totality, the stadium gets as loud as a football game.”

    But you can find eclipse events of all different flavors planned along the eclipse path: luxury cruises in Mexico, music festivals in Texas, farm camping in Arkansas, planetarium visits in upstate New York.

    “The goal, at the end of the day, is to get as many people outside as possible, looking up during totality,” said Dan Schneiderman, who is helping the Rochester Museum and Science Center plan events. “Hopefully with their close friends and loved ones.”

    You’ll want to grab eclipse glasses to see the partial phases before and after totality, Schneiderman added. Looking at the partially covered sun without protection can cause serious eye damage.

    Brown and her husband are planning to join Duncan’s eclipse tour in Austin. Her first eclipse experience flew by.

    “I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy this even longer,” Brown said. “To be able to just lean into the moment.”

    WHAT OTHER ECLIPSES ARE COMING UP?

    The U.S. will get some eclipse action ahead of the big event in 2024. There will be an annular eclipse — when the sun isn’t completely covered, but appears like a ring of fire in the sky — later this year, on Oct. 14.

    The path of that eclipse will cross from Oregon down through California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

    Later this month, there will be a rare hybrid eclipse, which switches between a total and an annular eclipse at different points along its path. But few people will see it. The April 20 eclipse is mostly over the Indian Ocean, and only crosses over a few slivers of Australia and Southeast Asia.

    With a 20-year gap until the next total solar eclipse in the U.S., Duncan says it will be worth it to be in the path of totality next year. He’s witnessed 12 total eclipses so far.

    Seeing a partial eclipse — even if it’s 90% covered — means “you missed all the good stuff,” he said.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Texas Gov. Seeks To Pardon Army Sergeant Convicted Of Murder

    Texas Gov. Seeks To Pardon Army Sergeant Convicted Of Murder

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    AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Saturday that he is seeking to pardon a U.S. Army sergeant who was convicted of murder in the 2020 fatal shooting of an armed protester during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice.

    Abbott tweeted that because the state constitution limits him to a pardon only on a recommendation by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles he is asking the board to recommend a pardon and to expedite his request in order to pardon Sgt. Daniel Perry.

    “I look forward to approving the board’s pardon recommendation as soon as it hits my desk,” Abbott wrote.

    Perry was convicted Friday by a Travis County jury of fatally shooting 28-year-old Garrett Foster during a protest in Austin. He faces up to life in prison when sentenced.

    “Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said.

    A phone call to District Attorney José Garza’s office on Saturday was not answered.

    Perry’s attorneys argued that the shooting was self-defense as Foster approached Perry’s car with an AK-47 rifle. Prosecutors said Perry could have driven away before firing his revolver and witnesses testified that Foster never raised his rifle at Perry.

    FILE – This undated photo provided by the Austin Police Department shows U.S. Army sergeant Daniel Perry. Jury selection began Monday, March 27, 2023, in the trial of Perry, who was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an armed protester in Austin in 2020 during nationwide protests against police violence and racial injustice. (Austin Police Department via AP, File)

    Perry, who was charged in 2021, was stationed at Ft. Hood about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Austin in July 2020 when he was working for a ride-sharing company and turned onto a street and into a large crowd of demonstrators in downtown Austin.

    In video streamed live on Facebook, a car can be heard honking before several shots ring out and protesters begin screaming and scattering.

    When Foster was killed, demonstrators in Austin and beyond had been marching in the streets for weeks following the police killing of George Floyd.

    Floyd died May 25, 2020, after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against the Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

    Floyd’s killing was recorded on video by a bystander and sparked worldwide protests as part of a broader reckoning over racial injustice.

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  • Legal analysis of a federal judge’s ruling halting FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone

    Legal analysis of a federal judge’s ruling halting FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone

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    Legal analysis of a federal judge’s ruling halting FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone – CBS News


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    A federal judge in Texas on Friday halted the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge was joined by CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson to examine the ruling.

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  • Rival rulings on medication abortion hypercharge the post-Roe legal war | CNN Politics

    Rival rulings on medication abortion hypercharge the post-Roe legal war | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A pair of conflicting federal court rulings on Friday created arguably the most contentious and chaotic legal flashpoint over abortion access since the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the right to an abortion nationwide.

    Within less than an hour, two major rulings came down in separate, closely watched cases concerning medication abortion – in lawsuits that are completely at odds with each other.

    In one case, filed by anti-abortion activists in Texas, a judge said the FDA’s 2000 approval of mifepristone – one of the drugs used to terminate a pregnancy – should be halted. But the court paused its ruling for a week so that it can be appealed, and that appeal is already under way.

    In the second case, where Democratic-led states had sued in Washington to expand access to abortion pills, a judge ordered the federal government to keep the drug available in the 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that brought the lawsuit.

    On their face, both cases deal with the administrative law that controls how the US Food and Drug Administration goes about regulating mifepristone. The disputes did not rely directly on the question of whether there is a right to an abortion – the question that was at the center of the Supreme Court’s ruling last June. But tucked in the Texas ruling, by US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, was the idea that embryos could have individual rights that courts can consider in their rulings.

    Both cases emerge from a political environment that was unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade reversal and a willingness to push the legal envelope that the Supreme Court ruling created. The abortion issue is now on a path back to the Supreme Court, as higher courts are asked to sort out the contradictory commands of Friday night’s decisions.

    Because the Texas judge has paused his ruling, it has no immediate impact on the availability of medication abortion drugs. But the next several days stand to be a dramatic and combustible legal fight over the order – a fight ratcheted up by the rival ruling in Washington.

    Besides pausing his ruling for one week, Kacsmaryk – an appointee of former President Donald Trump who sits in Amarillo, Texas – seemed to hold nothing back as he ripped apart the FDA’s approval of mifepristone and embraced wholeheartedly the challengers’ arguments the drug’s risks weren’t adequately considered.

    Kacsmaryk, whose anti-abortion advocacy before joining the federal bench was documented by a recent Washington Post profile, showed a striking hostility to medication abortion, which is the method used in a majority of the abortions in the United States.

    Leading medical organizations have already condemned his opinion and pushed back at the judge’s analysis of the safety of medication abortion.

    The judge said that the FDA failed to consider “the intense psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress women often experience from chemical abortion,” in what was a repeated invocation of “chemical abortion,” the term preferred by abortion opponents. Kacsmaryk suggested that the FDA’s data was downplaying the frequency with which the drug being mistakenly administered to someone who had an ectopic pregnancy, i.e. a pregnancy outside the cavity of the uterus. He repeated the challengers’ accusations that the FDA’s approval process had been the subject of improper political pressure.

    He said the FDA’s refusal to impose certain restrictions on the drug’s use “resulted in many deaths and many more severe or life-threatening adverse reactions.”

    “Whatever the numbers are, they likely would be considerably lower had FDA not acquiesced to the pressure to increase access to chemical abortion at the expense of women’s safety,” he said.

    Jack Resneck Jr., the president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement that Kacsmaryk’s ruling “flies in the face of science and evidence and threatens to upend access to a safe and effective drug.”

    “The court’s disregard for well-established scientific facts in favor of speculative allegations and ideological assertions will cause harm to our patients and undermines the health of the nation,” the AMA president said.

    Kacsmaryk’s opinion paid no heed to the argument made by the FDA’s defenders that cutting off access to medication abortion would put the health of pregnant people at risk and that it would force abortion seekers to terminate their pregnancies through a surgical procedure instead.

    Instead, the judge wrote that a ruling in the challengers’ favor would ensure “that women and girls are protected from unnecessary harm and that Defendants do not disregard federal law.”

    As he explained why the preliminary injunction – which was being handed down before the case could proceed to a trial – was justified, he said that embryos had their own rights that could be part of the analysis. That assertion goes farther than what the Supreme Court said in its June ruling, known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

    “Parenthetically, said ‘individual justice’ and ‘irreparable injury’ analysis also arguably applies to the unborn humans extinguished by mifepristone — especially in the post-Dobbs era,” Kacsmaryk said Friday.

    Whereas Kacsmaryk had been asked by the challengers in Texas to block medication abortion, US District Judge Thomas Owen Rice, who sits in Spokane, Washington, was considering whether abortion pills should be easier to obtain.

    Rice, an Obama appointee, granted the Democratic attorneys general who brought the lawsuit a partial win.

    They had asked Rice to remove certain restrictions – known as REMS or Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy – the FDA has imposed on mifepristone, with the blue states arguing the drug was safe and effective enough to make those restrictions unnecessary.

    While Rice is rejecting that bid for now, he granted a request the states also made that the FDA be ordered to keep the drugs on the market. But Rice’s ruling only applies in the 17 plaintiff states and the District of Columbia.

    His decision maintains the status quo for the availability of abortion pills in those places and he specifically is blocking the agency from “altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability of Mifepristone under the current operative January 2023 Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy.”

    Rice’s opinion was a striking split screen to Kacmsaryk’s. While the Texas judge said the FDA did not adequately take into account the drug risks, Rice showed sympathy to the arguments that the rules for mifepristone’s use were too strict and that the agency should be taking a more lenient approach to how the abortion pill is regulated.

    Ultimately, he said he would not grant the Democratic states’ request that he remove some of the drug restrictions at this preliminary stage in the proceedings, because that would go well beyond maintaining the status quo while the case advances. He noted that if he had granted that request, it would also undo a new FDA rule that allows pharmacies to dispense abortion pills. That would reduce its availability and would run “directly counter to Plaintiffs’ request.”

    If Kacsmaryk’s ruling halting mifepristone’s approval is allowed to go into effect, it will run headlong into Rice’s order that mifepristone remain available in several states. Kacsmaryk’s ruling is a nationwide injunction.

    The Justice Department and Danco, a mifepristone manufacturer that intervened in the case to defend the approval, both filed notices of appeal. Both Attorney General Merrick Garland and Danco said in statements that in addition to the appeals, they will seek “stays” of the ruling, meaning emergency requests that the decision is frozen while the appeal moves forward.

    They’re appealing to the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is sometimes said to be the country’s most conservative appeals court. Yet some legal scholars were skeptical that the 5th Circuit, as conservative as it is, would let Kacmsaryk’s order take effect.

    Washington, where the blue states’ lawsuit was filed, is covered under the 9th Circuit, a liberal appellate court. But it’s unclear if the ruling from Rice will be appealed. Garland said the Justice Department was still reviewing the decision out of Washington. A so-called circuit split would increase the odds that the Supreme Court would intervene. But given how the practical impact of the two district court rulings contradict each other, the Supreme Court may have no choice but to get involved.

    The lawyer for the challengers in the Texas case, anti-abortion medication associations and doctors, said Friday evening that he had not reviewed the Washington decision, so he could not weigh in on how it impacted Kacsmaryk’s order that the drug’s approval be halted.

    “I’m not sure whether there’s a direct conflict yet and with the Washington state decision just because I haven’t read it yet, but there may not be a direct conflict,” Erik Baptist, who is an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, said. “But if there is a direct conflict then there may be – it may be inevitably going to the Supreme Court, but I’m not convinced that it’s necessary at this point to make that conclusion.”

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  • DOJ reaches tentative $144.5 million settlement with victims of Sutherland Springs church mass shooting | CNN

    DOJ reaches tentative $144.5 million settlement with victims of Sutherland Springs church mass shooting | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Department of Justice on Wednesday announced it had reached an “agreement in principle” to settle claims from the November 2017 mass shooting at a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church for $144.5 million, according to a news release.

    A federal court in 2021 ruled the US government was liable for damages caused by the shooting, in which 26 people were killed and 22 others wounded. The Air Force, a judge concluded, failed to exercise reasonable care when it didn’t submit the shooter’s criminal history to the FBI’s background check system, which increased the risk of physical harm to the general public.

    A court must still approve some parts of the settlements, the DOJ release said.

    “No words or amount of money can diminish the immense tragedy of the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs,” Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said. “Today’s announcement brings the litigation to a close, ending a painful chapter for the victims of this unthinkable crime.”

    This story is breaking and will be updated.

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  • After Nashville, Congress confronts limits of new gun law

    After Nashville, Congress confronts limits of new gun law

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Nine months ago, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bipartisan gun law, the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades.

    “Lives will be saved,” he said at the White House.

    The law has already prevented some potentially dangerous people from owning guns. Yet since that signing last summer, the tally of mass shootings in the United States has only grown. Five dead at a nightclub in Colorado. Eleven killed at a dance hall in California. And just this past week, three 9-year-olds and three adults were shot and killed at an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

    A day after that school shooting, Biden’s tone was markedly less optimistic than it was the signing ceremony.

    “What in God’s name are we doing?” he asked in a speech Tuesday, calling for a ban on so-called assault weapons like those that were used to kill at The Covenant School in Nashville. “There’s a moral price to pay for inaction.”

    Biden and others had hailed last year’s bipartisan gun bill — approved in the weeks after the shooting of 19 children and two adults at a school in Uvalde, Texas — as a new way forward.

    Several months in, the law has had some success: Stepped-up FBI background checks have blocked gun sales for 119 buyers under the age of 21, prosecutions have increased for unlicensed gun sellers and new gun trafficking penalties have been charged in at least 30 cases around the country. Millions of new dollars have flowed into mental health services for children and schools.

    But the persistence of mass shootings in the United States highlights the limits of congressional action. Because the law was a political compromise, it did not address many Democratic priorities for gun control, including universal background checks or the ban on “assault weapons” for which Biden repeatedly has called.

    Now, in the wake of the Nashville shooting, Congress appears to have returned to a familiar impasse. One of the top Republican negotiators on the gun law, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, has said new compromise is unlikely. In the House, the new GOP majority favors fewer restrictions on guns, not more.

    Asked Thursday about a way ahead, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said legislation alone cannot solve the gun violence problem. He said Americans need to think deeply about mental illness and other factors that drive people to act.

    In contrast, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Congress should “act with the fierce urgency of now.”

    “Our classrooms have become killing fields,” he said. “Is that acceptable in America?”

    Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, the lead negotiator on the 2022 bill, says he thinks it represented a paradigm shift in how Congress considers gun legislation. But, he said, “I don’t think that will happen all at once.”

    “This is sickening, but the opportunities for legislative change normally come after really terrible mass shootings,” said Murphy, who has been the lead Senate advocate for gun control since the 2012 mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. “I hate that, I wish that wasn’t how it works.”

    Tensions were running high on both sides of the Capitol this past week.

    On Wednesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., stood outside the House chamber and yelled that Republicans are “cowards” for not doing more on gun control, eventually arguing with Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who advocated for allowing teachers to carry guns.

    “More guns lead to more deaths!” Bowman screamed at Massie. “Children are dying!”

    In the Senate, Republican Ted Cruz of Texas tried on Thursday to force a vote on legislation that would boost police presence at schools. He all but blamed Democrats, who had blocked the same legislation last year, for the Nashville shooting and called the 2022 law “meaningless.” Murphy angrily objected to Cruz’s bill, arguing that Cruz wasn’t serious about compromise and that his move was a stunt for the cameras.

    Despite the frustrations, lawmakers who negotiated the compromise last year say they see slivers of hope.

    Murphy said the implementation of the new law, and some of its early successes, will ultimately persuade Republicans to get on board with more legislation.

    “What happened last year was seismic for Republicans,” Murphy said.

    In terms of the bill’s success, “People don’t get excited about the mass shootings that didn’t happen,” Murphy said, and that can be a challenge as they talk about it and contemplate what more could be done. But the dynamics can change quickly, he said.

    While Republicans in the past might have tried to shy away from gun measures even if they supported them, Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have been promoting the new law and have discussed it frequently. Late last year, they joined Murphy, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and FBI Director Christopher Wray on a visit to an FBI facility in West Virginia for a briefing on how the background checks were working.

    “I am proud to see this commonsense legislation already making a difference,” Tillis said in a statement afterward.

    According to recent data obtained by The Associated Press, those who were flagged in the stepped-up background checks and prevented from buying a gun included an 18-year-old in Nebraska who had made terroristic threats and was prone to violent outbursts, a 20-year-old drug dealer in Arizona and an 18-year-old in Arizona who had been previously charged with unlawful possession of weapons and was found carrying fentanyl. All were attempting to purchase long guns.

    Tillis said he is aware of a separate case in his home state where a person under 21 who had been charged with assault and battery and assaulting a police officer was flagged and prevented from buying a gun.

    “It’s just one of those bills that’s going to age well,” Tillis said, noting that the number of denials of gun sales is a very small fraction of total sales.

    Cornyn said that so far, the bill “seems to be working.” But he said he doesn’t expect Congress to go any further any time soon. He said would strongly oppose an “assault weapons” ban, as Biden is proposing.

    When Biden and other lawmakers talk about “assault weapons,” they are using an inexact term to describe a group of high-powered guns or semi-automatic long rifles, such as an an AR-15, that can fire 30 rounds fast without reloading.

    Most Republicans are steadfastly opposed to such a ban, arguing that it would be too complicated, especially as sales and varieties of the firearms have proliferated. There are many more types of these high-powered guns today than in 1994, when the ban was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

    Law- abiding citizens own those guns, Cornyn said, and “no law-abiding citizen is a threat to public safety.”

    Despite the current standstill, John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group, says last year’s bill was proof that they can break gridlock.

    “It was never the finish line,” he said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

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  • At least 26 dead, dozens more injured as tornadoes hit Midwest, South and Northeast

    At least 26 dead, dozens more injured as tornadoes hit Midwest, South and Northeast

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    A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday — and then hit the Northeast on Saturday — spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, and collapsed a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois. In total, at least 26 weather-related deaths have been reported across eight states, according to the latest numbers compiled Saturday by CBS News, and tens of thousands of customers were without power. 

    At least nine storm-related deaths were reported in McNairy County, Tennessee, the McNairy County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to CBS News Saturday night. 

    In Tennessee’s Tipton County, one weather-related fatality and 28 injuries were blamed on the storm, according to Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley.    

    On Saturday evening, at least one person was killed when a suspected tornado caused a structure to collapse near the Delaware town of Greenwood, the Sussex County government reported.  

    Bethany DeBussy, a town manager for nearby Bridgeville, Delaware, told CBS News in an email that there were multiple reports of vehicle accidents and entrapments, downed power lines and gas leaks. DeBussy could not immediately confirm if there were any injuries.  

    Near Huntsville, Alabama, a 90-year-old woman died inside her home after it was destroyed by a tornado, Don Webster, a spokesman with Huntsville Emergency Medical Services told CBS News.

    The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated. The town’s coroner told CBS News there were four people dead there. Officials also said there were people trapped in the debris of destroyed homes. More than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. One weather-related death was reported in North Little Rock, according to Madeline Roberts, a spokesperson for the Pulaski County Emergency Management Agency.

    Sullivan County, Indiana’s emergency management director Jim Pirtle told CBS News that there had been three deaths there. 

    A theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring about 40 others, officials said in a news briefing Saturday. The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage. 

    The collapse occurred at the Apollo Theatre during a heavy metal concert in the town located about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. 

    Two of the injured had life-threatening injuries, two had severe injuries, 18 had milder injuries, and five had minor injuries, Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said Saturday. 

    Severe Weather Illinois
    Authorities work the scene at the Apollo Theatre after a severe spring storm caused damage and injuries during a concert, late Friday, March 31, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill.

    Matt Marton / AP


    Three people were killed when a residential structure collapsed in Crawford County, Alicia Tate-Nadeau, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, confirmed to CBS News. 

    A 13-year-old girl in Warren Township, Ohio, was killed Saturday afternoon when a large oak tree fell onto her home, trapping her under the rubble, according to the Warren Township Police Department.

    Firefighters were delayed in reaching the girl due to the extensive damage, which made the structure unstable, police said. She died at the scene. Warren Township is about 50 miles east of Cleveland. 

    One weather-related death and four injuries occurred in Pontotoc County Friday, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. 

    The destructive weather came as President Biden earlier Friday toured the aftermath of the tornado that struck Mississippi one week ago, killing at least 21 people. Mr. Biden promised the government would help the area recover.  

    As of Saturday night, more than 201,000 customers in Pennsylvania were without power, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. More than 109,000 were without power in Ohio, along with another 94,000 in Virginia, 51,000 in West Virginia and 46,000 in North Carolina. 

    Meanwhile, the Little Rock tornado tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

    Severe Weather Arkansas
    A home is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Andrew DeMillo / AP


    Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV Friday that 21 people had checked in there with tornado-caused injuries, including five in critical condition.

    Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who announced that he was requesting assistance from the National Guard, tweeted Friday evening that property damage was extensive and “we are still responding.”

    Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard to help local authorities respond to the damage throughout the state.

    In Little Rock, resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say a tornado was headed her way. She could hear glass shattering as the tornado roared past and emerged afterward to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn’t have a tree fall on it.

    “It’s just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud,” Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area.

    At Clinton National Airport, passengers and workers sheltered temporarily in bathrooms.

    About 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, the small city of Wynne, Arkansas, saw widespread tornado damage, Sanders confirmed.

    Severe Weather Iowa
    Homes are damaged after a tornado swept through Coralville, Iowa, Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Ryan Foley / AP


    City Councilmember Lisa Powell Carter told AP that Wynne was without power and roads were full of debris.

    “I’m in a panic trying to get home, but we can’t get home,” she said. “Wynne is so demolished. … There’s houses destroyed, trees down on streets.”

    One tornado veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Video from KCRG-TV showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off an apartment building in the suburb of Coralville and significantly damaged homes in the city of Hills.

    In neighboring Oklahoma, wind gusts of up to 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35.

    APTOPIX Severe Weather Arkansas
    A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Andrew DeMillo / AP


    In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

    Fire crews battled several blazes near El Dorado, Kansas, and some residents were asked to evacuate, including about 250 elementary school children who were relocated to a high school.

    At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a traffic management program was put into effect that caused arriving planes to be delayed by nearly two hours on average, WFLD-TV reported.

    The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had forecast an unusually large outbreak of thunderstorms with the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and strong tornadoes that could move for long distances over the ground.

    Such “intense supercell thunderstorms” are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

    The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week.

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  • Tornadoes strike Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee; at least 21 dead, dozens injured in Midwest

    Tornadoes strike Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee; at least 21 dead, dozens injured in Midwest

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    A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning deadly tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers in Arkansas, and collapsing a theater roof during a heavy metal concert in Illinois. In total, at least 21 weather-related deaths have been reported across six states, according to the latest numbers compiled Saturday by CBS News. 

    Seven people were killed in McNairy County, Tennessee Mayor Larry W. Smith told CBS News on Saturday. The mayor has declared a state of emergency for McNairy County. Near Huntsville, Alabama, a 90-year-old woman died inside her home after it was destroyed by a tornado, Don Webster, a spokesman with Huntsville Emergency Medical Services told CBS News.

    The town of Wynne in northeastern Arkansas was also devastated. The town’s coroner told CBS News there were four people dead there. Officials also said there were people trapped in the debris of destroyed homes. More than two dozen were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area, authorities said. One weather-related death was reported in North Little Rock, according to Madeline Roberts, a spokesperson for the Pulaski County Emergency Management Agency.

    Sullivan County, Indiana’s emergency management director Jim Pirtle told CBS News that there had been three deaths there. 

    Authorities said a theater roof collapsed during a tornado in Belvidere, Illinois, killing a 50-year-old man and injuring about 40 others, officials said in a news briefing Saturday. The Belvidere Police Department said the collapse occurred as a heavy storm rolled through the area and that calls began coming from the theater at 7:48 p.m. It said that an initial assessment was that a tornado had caused the damage. 

    The collapse occurred at the Apollo Theatre during a heavy metal concert in the town located about 70 miles northwest of Chicago. 

    Two of the injured had life-threatening injuries, two had severe injuries, 18 had milder injuries, and five had minor injuries, Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle said Saturday. 

    Severe Weather Illinois
    Authorities work the scene at the Apollo Theatre after a severe spring storm caused damage and injuries during a concert, late Friday, March 31, 2023, in Belvidere, Ill.

    Matt Marton / AP


    Three people were killed when a residential structure collapsed in Crawford County, Alicia Tate-Nadeau, director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, confirmed to CBS News. 

    One weather-related death and four injuries occurred in Pontotoc County Friday, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. 

    The destructive weather came as President Biden earlier Friday toured the aftermath of the tornado that struck Mississippi one week ago, killing at least 21 people. Mr. Biden promised the government would help the area recover.  

    As of Saturday evening, more than 235,000 customers in Ohio were without power, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us. More than 275,000 were without power in Pennsylvania, and another 93,000 in Tennessee, along with 73,000 in West Virginia and 53,000 in Kentucky. 

    Meanwhile, the Little Rock tornado tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

    Severe Weather Arkansas
    A home is damaged and trees are down after a tornado swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Andrew DeMillo / AP


    Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV Friday that 21 people had checked in there with tornado-caused injuries, including five in critical condition.

    Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who announced that he was requesting assistance from the National Guard, tweeted Friday evening that property damage was extensive and “we are still responding.”

    Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard to help local authorities respond to the damage throughout the state.

    In Little Rock, resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say a tornado was headed her way. She could hear glass shattering as the tornado roared past and emerged afterward to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn’t have a tree fall on it.

    “It’s just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud,” Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area.

    At Clinton National Airport, passengers and workers sheltered temporarily in bathrooms.

    About 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, the small city of Wynne, Arkansas, saw widespread tornado damage, Sanders confirmed.

    Severe Weather Iowa
    Homes are damaged after a tornado swept through Coralville, Iowa, Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Ryan Foley / AP


    City Councilmember Lisa Powell Carter told AP that Wynne was without power and roads were full of debris.

    “I’m in a panic trying to get home, but we can’t get home,” she said. “Wynne is so demolished. … There’s houses destroyed, trees down on streets.”

    The unrelenting tornadoes continued spawning and touching down in the area into the night.

    The police department in Covington, Tennessee, said on Facebook that the west Tennessee city was impassable after power lines and trees fell on roads when the storm passed through Friday evening. Authorities in Tipton County, north of Memphis, said a tornado appeared to have touched down near the middle school in Covington and in other locations in the rural county.

    Tipton County Sheriff Shannon Beasley said on Facebook that homes and structures were severely damaged.

    Tornadoes moved through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage.

    One tornado veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa. Video from KCRG-TV showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off an apartment building in the suburb of Coralville and significantly damaged homes in the city of Hills.

    In neighboring Oklahoma, wind gusts of up to 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35.

    APTOPIX Severe Weather Arkansas
    A car is upturned in a Kroger parking lot after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023.

    Andrew DeMillo / AP


    In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria. More than 109,000 customers had lost power in the state as of Friday night.

    Fire crews battled several blazes near El Dorado, Kansas, and some residents were asked to evacuate, including about 250 elementary school children who were relocated to a high school.

    At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a traffic management program was put into effect that caused arriving planes to be delayed by nearly two hours on average, WFLD-TV reported.

    The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had forecast an unusually large outbreak of thunderstorms with the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and strong tornadoes that could move for long distances over the ground.

    Such “intense supercell thunderstorms ” are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

    The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week.

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  • Tornadoes In The South And Midwest Pulverize Homes; 1 Dead

    Tornadoes In The South And Midwest Pulverize Homes; 1 Dead

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    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A monster storm system tore through the South and Midwest on Friday, spawning tornadoes that shredded homes and shopping centers, overturned vehicles and uprooted trees as people raced for shelter. At least one person was reported dead and two dozen or more were hurt, some critically, in the Little Rock area.

    The town of Wynne in eastern Arkansas was also devastated, and officials reported destroyed homes and people trapped in the debris as unrelenting tornadoes kept moving east into the evening. Police in Covington, Tennessee, reported downed power lines and toppled trees.

    There were more confirmed twisters in Iowa, damaging hail fell in Illinois and wind-whipped grass fires blazed in Oklahoma, as the storm system threatened a broad swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

    The destructive weather came as President Joe Biden toured the aftermath of a deadly tornado that struck in Mississippi one week ago and promised the government would help the area recover.

    The Little Rock tornado tore first through neighborhoods in the western part of the city and shredded a small shopping center that included a Kroger grocery store. It then crossed the Arkansas River into North Little Rock and surrounding cities, where widespread damage was reported to homes, businesses and vehicles.

    In the evening, officials in Pulaski County announced a confirmed fatality in North Little Rock but did not immediately give details.

    The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center in Little Rock was operating at a mass casualty level and preparing for up to 20 patients, spokesperson Leslie Taylor said. Baptist Health Medical Center-Little Rock officials told KATV in the afternoon that 21 people had checked in there with tornado-caused injuries, including five in critical condition.

    Mayor Frank Scott Jr., who announced that he was requesting assistance from the National Guard, tweeted in the evening that officials were aware of 24 people who had been hospitalized in the city.

    “Property damage is extensive and we are still responding,” he said.

    Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders activated 100 members of the Arkansas National Guard to help local authorities respond to the damage throughout the state.

    The interior of store is damaged after a severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday, March 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew DeMillo)

    In Little Rock, resident Niki Scott took cover in the bathroom after her husband called to say a tornado was headed her way. She could hear glass shattering as the tornado roared past, and emerged afterward to find that her house was one of the few on her street that didn’t have a tree fall on it.

    “It’s just like everyone says. It got really quiet, then it got really loud,” Scott said afterward, as chainsaws roared and sirens blared in the area.

    Outside a Guitar Center, five people were captured on video aiming their phones at the swirling sky. “Uh, no, that’s an actual tornado, y’all. It’s coming this way,” Red Padilla, a singer and songwriter in the band Red and the Revelers, said in the video.

    Padilla told The Associated Press that he and five bandmates sheltered inside the store for around 15 minutes with over a dozen others while the tornado passed. The power went out, and they used the flashlights on their phones to see.

    “It was real tense,” Padilla said.

    At Clinton National Airport, passengers and workers sheltered temporarily in bathrooms.

    “Praying for all those who were and remain in the path of this storm,” Sanders, who declared a state of emergency, said on Twitter. “Arkansans must continue to stay weather aware as storms are continuing to move through.”

    About 50 miles west of Memphis, Tennessee, the small city of Wynne, Arkansas, saw “widespread damage” from a tornado, Sanders confirmed.

    City Councilmember Lisa Powell Carter told AP by phone that Wynne was without power and roads were full of debris.

    “I’m in a panic trying to get home, but we can’t get home,” she said. “Wynne is so demolished. … There’s houses destroyed, trees down on streets.”

    Police Chief Richard Dennis told WHBQ-TV that the city suffered “total destruction” and multiple people were trapped.

    Multiple tornadoes were reported moving through parts of eastern Iowa, with sporadic damage to buildings. Images showed at least one flattened barn and some houses with roofing and siding ripped off.

    One tornado veered just west of Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, which cancelled a watch party at an on-campus arena for the women’s basketball Final Four game. Video from KCRG-TV showed toppled power poles and roofs ripped off an apartment building in the suburb of Coralville and significantly damaged homes in the city of Hills.

    Nearly 90,000 customers in Arkansas lost power, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks outages.

    About 32,000 were without electricity in neighboring Oklahoma, where where wind gusts of up to 60 mph fueled fast-moving grass fires. People were urged to evacuate homes in far northeast Oklahoma City, and troopers shut down portions of Interstate 35 near the suburb of Edmond.

    More outages were reported in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

    In Illinois, Ben Wagner, chief radar operator for the Woodford County Emergency Management Agency, said hail broke windows on cars and buildings in the area of Roanoke, northeast of Peoria.

    Fire crews were battling several blazes near El Dorado, Kansas, and some residents were asked to evacuate, including about 250 elementary school children who were relocated to a high school.

    At Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a traffic management program was put into effect that caused arriving planes to be delayed by nearly two hours on average, WFLD-TV reported.

    The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center had forecast an unusually large outbreak of thunderstorms with the potential to cause hail, damaging wind gusts and strong tornadoes that could move for long distances over the ground.

    Such “intense supercell thunderstorms ” are only expected to become more common, especially in Southern states, as temperatures rise around the world.

    Meteorologists said conditions Friday were similar to those a week ago that unleashed the devastating twister that killed at least 21 people and damaged some 2,000 homes in Mississippi.

    The toll was especially steep in western Mississippi’s Sharkey County, where 13 people were killed in a county of 3,700 residents. Winds of up to 200 mph (322 kph) barreled through the rural farming town of Rolling Fork, reducing homes to piles of rubble, flipping cars and toppling the town’s water tower.

    The hazardous conditions were a result of strong southerly winds transporting copious amounts of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico north, where they will interact with the strengthening storm system.

    The weather service is forecasting another batch of intense storms next Tuesday in the same general area as last week. At least the first 10 days of April will be rough, Accuweather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said earlier this week.

    Associated Press writers Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Harm Venhuizenin in Madison, Wisconsin, Isabella O’Malley in Philadelphia, Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, Michael Goldberg in Jackson, Mississippi and Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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  • Texas Republican Falls For The Old Filthy Fake Name Prank In Hearing

    Texas Republican Falls For The Old Filthy Fake Name Prank In Hearing

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    Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach (R) has become the latest lawmaker to fall victim to the fake name prank.

    After a third-grade teacher spoke out against an anti-trans bill to the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence on Wednesday, Leach called on other constituents whose names had been registered to comment.

    “Is there a Connie Lingus here?” he asked, as people giggled around the room.

    “What about Anita Dickenmee? Or Holden, Holden Middick?” he added.

    “OK. Are any three of those people here?” Leach asked, appearing to know full well that they most definitely weren’t in attendance.

    “All right,” he added. “You got your moment. I hope you enjoy it.”

    Leach took the gag in good spirits, telling Mediaite he looked forward “to meeting Connie, Holden and Anita one day soon.”

    As did members of a Virginia school board in 2021, when Phil McCracken, Eileen Dover, Wayne Kuhr, Suk Mahdik, Ophelia McCaulk and Don Kedick all featured.

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  • Florida’s Public-University Board Approves Firing Poorly Performing Tenured Professors

    Florida’s Public-University Board Approves Firing Poorly Performing Tenured Professors

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    The governing board overseeing Florida’s public universities on Wednesday approved a post-tenure-review process that allows for poorly performing professors to be fired.

    About 10 Florida professors and students urged the board during the meeting’s public-comment section not to approve the regulation. They argued that it would weaken tenure and drive talented scholars away from Florida. They also said that professors are already evaluated a considerable amount.

    Wearing his academic regalia, Andrew Gothard, president of the statewide United Faculty of Florida, told board members they should vote against post-tenure review, not because it is a bad thing but because the regulation is “undercooked — it needs to stay in the oven for a little while longer to continue making improvements.”

    Gothard said that if the rule were approved, Florida’s 12-campus university system would go from the most competitive in the country to the least, because the regulation would turn tenure into a five-year revolving contract.

    Matthew Lata, a professor of music at Florida State University, told the board that approving the regulation would dampen recruitment. The first step faculty-search committees take is emailing and phoning prospective hires, Lata said. During those conversations, “more and more often, we are hearing, ‘Florida? Not Florida. Not now. Not yet,’ because they are looking at regulations” like this one, as well as bills passed and proposed by the Florida Legislature.

    State U. System of Florida

    Ray Rodrigues, the State U. System of Florida’s chancellor

    Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System, countered those concerns. Every university in the system that grants tenure — 10 of the 12 — already has post-tenure review, he said, because the Florida Board of Regents, the governing board’s predecessor, approved such a regulation in the mid-1990s.

    Rodrigues said a review of the meeting minutes from that period showed the concerns raised then are remarkably similar to the ones voiced now. Yet “we know that adopting post-tenure review did not stop people, highly talented faculty members, from coming to the state of Florida. And I can say that with conviction, because we just heard from … them who testified before us, all of them who have chosen to come to Florida, knowing that there was a post-tenure-review policy,” the chancellor said.

    What the regulation would do, Rodrigues said, is make the post-tenure-review process uniform across campuses. “We didn’t make that decision overnight,” he said. “We didn’t make that decision unilaterally. It has taken us a year to get here.”

    ‘Deadweight Cost’

    The regulation comes at a turbulent time for tenure, both nationally and in the Sunshine State. The employment protection has taken ample punches from conservatives in recent years. Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that, if enacted, would ban public institutions from granting tenure starting on September 1. Earlier this year, Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, said that “unproductive” tenured professors are the “most significant deadweight cost” at universities. He then proposed sweeping — and contentious — changes in the state’s higher-ed system. House Bill 999, pending legislation that includes many of DeSantis’s proposals, would permit the governing board to require that tenured professors go through post-tenure review “at any time for cause.”

    Wednesday’s vote was set in motion by DeSantis and the Florida Legislature in 2022. They enacted a law allowing Florida’s Board of Governors to call for professors to undergo post-tenure review every five years.

    Under the approved regulation, professors will be judged on that timeline on their research, teaching, and service, their “history of professional conduct and performance of academic responsibilities,” and any noncompliance with state laws and university regulations, unapproved absences from teaching, or “substantiated” student complaints, among other factors.

    A professor will ultimately be rated as “exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” “does not meet expectations,” or “unsatisfactory.” The rating will be made by the professor’s dean, and the university’s chief academic officer can then reject, accept, or change it.

    For those rated as meeting or exceeding expectations, the dean will recommend to the provost “appropriate recognition and/or compensation.”

    Those rated as “does not meet expectations” will be placed on a performance-improvement plan with a deadline that cannot exceed 12 months. Professors who fail to meet the requirements of their plan by the deadline will be fired, the regulation says.

    The regulation also says that professors who are rated as “unsatisfactory” will be fired.

    Under the plain language of the regulation, it seems that professors deemed unsatisfactory could be fired without being put on a performance-improvement plan first. That concern was raised by some professors in the months leading up to Wednesday’s meeting.

    But at a November 2022 meeting, Timothy M. Cerio, a governing-board member, said that for a professor to be fired under the regulation, that person would first have to have been placed on a performance-improvement plan and then still not improved. When asked how to square Cerio’s comment with the written regulation, a spokesperson for the State University System told The Chronicle in an email that “the performance-improvement plan is indeed required, as Gov. Tim Cerio stated,” before someone is fired.

    An earlier version of the regulation also explicitly referred to House Bill 7, a Florida law, also known as the “Stop WOKE Act,” that restricts how race-related topics can be taught on campus and that has been partly blocked in court. The earlier version said any violation of that law would be considered during post-tenure-review — a controversial provision to which many professors objected, fearing it would be used to get rid of scholars who taught or researched topics unpopular with lawmakers.

    References to HB 7 were struck from the version approved on Wednesday.

    Objections Remain

    Other parts of the regulation that have generated concern remain.

    While the revisions are “a great step,” Jennifer Proffitt, a professor of communication at Florida State, told the governing board on Wednesday, “weakening tenure in any form means weakening academic freedom.” The revised policy “still lacks the critical protections of due process and peer evaluation,” and is redundant, she said.

    In written comments submitted to the system last fall, the University of South Florida’s Faculty Senate questioned how “substantiated student complaints” would play a role in evaluating professors’ performance: “Complaints about what? About too much homework? She’s a tough grader? That is another element of the process that could easily be abused.”

    The University of Central Florida said in comments submitted last year that one year to improve performance is not enough if the issue is research: “For example, it can take longer than one year for submitted journal articles to be reviewed, or for grants to be proposed and funded.”

    Heather Russell, vice provost for faculty leadership and success at Florida International University, wrote that the process described in the regulation “deviates from the normal evaluation process typically followed by most institutions.” Usually, post-tenure review entails review by only a department chair, a dean, or both, she wrote. But under the regulation, the provost, with “guidance and oversight from the university president,” is the ultimate evaluator.

    “In short,” Russell wrote, “the proposed moves the evaluative process away from the actual environment in which the work is being conducted.”

    The provost also makes the final call on what’s required in a professor’s performance-improvement plan. “Again, that is not the typical method where the direct supervisor (i.e., the chair) would make that decision,” Russell wrote. “This is because the chair has/should have more knowledge about the faculty member.”

    At Wednesday’s meeting, Rodrigues noted that the system had received substantial input from provosts, faculty senates, and the public, and had made revisions. “This is a policy that has been well developed and will serve the institution[s], will serve the system, and I believe ultimately will serve our faculty and our students well.”

    Two governing-board members — Nimna Gabadage, the sole student on the board, and Deanna Michael, chair of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates — voted no. All other board members who were present voted yes.

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    Emma Pettit

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