REST IN POWER

Deep Sidhu: Indian actor and activist that supported farmer's protest dies

By Swati Gupta and Rhea Mogul, 
CNN
© Sameer Sehgal/Hindustan Times/Getty Images


Indian actor and activist Deep Sidhu, who backed the country's year-long farmer's movement, died in a car crash Tuesday, according to police officials. He was 37.

Sidhu's car crashed into the rear end of a truck in the northern state of Haryana, senior official of Sonipat Police, Virender Singh, told CNN. He died on the spot, Singh said.

Sidhu was traveling with a woman who was unharmed, according to Singh.

Born in Punjab state, Sidhu started his career as a model before landing a role in the film Ramta Jogi in 2015, according to CNN affiliate CNN News-18.

He was a vocal supporter of India's farmer's movement, which saw tens of thousands of farmers camp for months on the outskirts of the capital Delhi. They were protesting against three laws implemented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government that they said could ruin their livelihood.

In a rare retreat, Modi repealed the laws in November last year.

Sidhu's role in the farmer's movement was thrust into the spotlight after he was accused of instigating violence during a Republic Day rally on January 26, 2021, according to CNN News-18.

Sidhu was arrested in February last year on suspicion of inciting protesters during the rally, according to CNN News-18. He was granted bail after spending about 70 days in police custody, CNN News-18 said.

Punjab's Chief Minister Charanjit Channi said he was "deeply saddened" to hear of Sidhu's death.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved family and fans," he wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

Guatemala arrests anti-corruption officials amid brewing political crisis

By Sofia Menchu

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office confirmed on Wednesday the arrest of two assistant prosecutors from the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI), the latest in a string of detentions of anti-corruption officials.

The early morning arrests occurred in the midst of a brewing political scandal that has shaken the Central American nation. Earlier this week, the Salvadoran investigative media outlet El Faro reported that President Alejandro Giammattei received illicit money for his 2019 presidential campaign, sparking widespread outrage.

Giammattei's press secretary has denied the allegations.

Luis Pantaleón, spokesman for the Public Ministry, told Reuters the two assistant prosecutors were facing charges of abuse of authority for allegedly coercing a person into giving testimony.

"By means of threats, violence or an intimidating process, they tried to force the complainant to sign an effective collaboration agreement," a statement from the Public Ministry said.

Both assistant prosecutors were involved in uncovering a corruption plot between lawyers, politicians and businessmen to elect judges. Guatemalan authorities say arrest warrants are pending against two more assistant prosecutors involved in that case.

It was the second time within a week that people working on high-level anti-corruption cases have been arrested.

Last Thursday, authorities arrested Leyly Santizo, a lawyer who worked with the now-defunct International Commission against Impunity (CICIG), the U.N.-backed entity that was expelled from Guatemala in 2018, after probes by the commission led to the imprisonment of former presidents, and high-level businessmen involved in corruption.

Days later, authorities also detained Eva Sosa, a former FECI prosecutor.

Human rights organizations and the international community condemned the arrests of anti-corruption officials.

On Tuesday night, the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry published a statement to "demand" that diplomatic agents accredited in the country "refrain from intervening in internal affairs."

(Reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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DECRIMINALIZE DRUGS

Italy's Constitutional Court vetoes referendum to liberalise cannabis

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Constitutional Court on Wednesday rejected a request to hold a referendum on legalising the cultivation of cannabis, provoking the ire of promoters who called the decision a blow to democracy.

The referendum proposal sought to legalise the growing of weed for personal use and ease sanctions on other cannabis-related crimes, with offenders no longer risking prison sentences for selling small amounts of the drug.

Giuliano Amato, the Constitutional Court president, said the referendum included other narcotics considered to be hard drugs, which could not be liberalised.

"This is enough to make us violate multiple international obligations," Amato, a former prime minister, told a news conference.

Lawmaker Riccardo Magi, one of the referendum's leading advocates, told Reuters the court's decision was "a terrible blow to democracy," after hundreds of thousands of people had signed up to the proposal.

"It's almost impossible to hold a referendum in Italy," he said.

On Tuesday, the Court turned down a right-to-die referendum, saying the proposal did not safeguard minimum constitutional standards governing the protection of human life.

The campaigns launched on the right-to-die and cannabis referendums had gathered together over 1.8 million signatures.

However five other, less high profile referendum proposals about largely arcane aspects of the justice system were accepted. These will be submitted to the popular vote next spring.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante, editing by Gavin Jones, William Maclean)

A GOD GIVEN RIGHT-FREE CHOICE

Italy's Constitutional Court blocks right-to-die referendum

02/15/2022 | 

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Constitutional Court on Tuesday turned down a request to hold a national referendum on the right to die after proponents of the move collected over a million signatures in support.

Italian right-to-die advocates seek to partly abrogate sanctions imposed on those who assist in the suicide of patients who have incurable illnesses or suffer intolerable pain and have already had palliative care.

In a statement, the Constitutional Court said repealing punishments would not safeguard the minimum constitutional standards governing the protection of human life, "particularly for the weak and the vulnerable".

In 2019, the court partially decriminalised assisted suicide under certain conditions if local health authorities and an ethics board approved, but it also advised that parliament should pass a law regulating the practice.

Marco Cappato, one of the leading advocates of a referendum, said the court's decision was "a bad news for those who suffer and will have to (face) even longer unbearable suffering against their will".

Right-to-die proponents last year collected more than twice the 500,000 signatures needed to seek approval of a referendum.

Parliament is debating a law that would allow terminally ill patients to seek assisted suicide through the national health system and protect doctors from any legal suits against them.

"The Constitutional Court's decision must push parliament to approve the law on assisted suicide," Enrico Letta, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), wrote on Twitter.

Italian political parties remain deeply split on the issue, with the centre-left generally supporting it and the centre-right opposed. Pope Francis recently condemned assisted suicide as an unacceptable deviation from medical ethics.

A poll by the SWG research group in 2019 showed 92% of Italians who were asked said they were in favour of allowing assisted suicide and euthanasia. Some 45% said they favoured it generally and 47% were in favour in certain situations.

(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

© Reuters 2022

U.S. lawmakers seek review of FAA Boeing 737 MAX oversight



By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. lawmakers asked the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General to review the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight over Boeing Co's actions surrounding the 737 MAX jet.

The chair of the House of Representatives Transportation Committee, Peter DeFazio, and Rick Larsen, who chairs a subcommittee on aviation, said the request came after the FAA failed to provide an adequate response to a November letter seeking answers about Boeing actions before two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in five months that killed 346 people and led to the plane's 20-month grounding.


© Reuters/Matt McKnightFILE PHOTO: A Boeing 737 MAX 8 sits outside the hangar during a media tour of the Boeing 737 MAX at the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington

Boeing declined to comment. The FAA did not immediately comment.

Boeing agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in January 2021, including the payment of $2.5 billion in fines and compensation stemming from the 737 MAX crashes. Last week, the Justice Department defended the agreement over objections from some victims' relatives.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a Jan. 24 letter made public Tuesday that because of the Justice Department investigation and work by other reviews, the "FAA did not pursue investigations or actions against individuals within the Boeing Company."

The lawmakers in November had asked the FAA what it had done, if anything, to hold Boeing employees responsible for actions in connection with the MAX.

In October, a former Boeing chief technical pilot was charged with fraud for allegedly deceiving federal regulators evaluating the company's 737 MAX jet. The pilot has pleaded not guilty.

DeFazio has questioned the focus on a single technical pilot, saying in October, "Senior leaders throughout Boeing are responsible for the culture of concealment that ultimately led to the 737 MAX crashes and the death of 346 innocent people."

The lawmakers cited Boeing's apparent violation of its approved 737 MAX type design, as well as evidence of an internal plan to downplay the significance of a key safety system called MCAS tied to both fatal crashes.

The FAA is currently scrutinizing a number of issues involving Boeing airplanes.

(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)

ISLAMOPHOBIA

French bill banning hijabs in sports events moves to National Assembly

PHOTOS © Reuters/PASCAL ROSSIGNOL
By Elizabeth Pineau - Yesterday

PARIS (Reuters) - A draft bill that would ban the wearing of the hijab in sporting competitions will pass on to France's National Assembly after the Senate on Wednesday declined to vote on the legislation.

The broader bill is devoted to "democratising sport", including how the big sporting federations are governed. But it includes a clause, previously attached as an amendment by the conservative-dominated upper house, stipulating that the wearing “of conspicuous religious symbols is prohibited” in events and competitions organised by sports federations.


Supporters of Muslim women soccer players protest against French hijab ban in sports, in Lille

The move is, however, opposed by President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government and its allies who command a majority in the National Assembly, which has the final vote.



The place of religion and religious symbols worn in public is a long-running matter of controversy in France, a staunchly secular country and home to Europe's largest Muslim minority.

Identity and Islam's place in French society are hot-button issues ahead of April's presidential election, with two far-right candidates whose nationalist programmes question Islam's compatibility with the Republic's values polling nearly 35% of voter support between them.



Elsewhere, divisions over the hijab - the traditional covering of the hair and neck worn by Muslim women - have fanned protests in the Indian state of Karnataka after authorities there banned the garment in school classrooms.


© Reuters/PASCAL ROSSIGNOLSupporters of Muslim women soccer players protest against French hijab ban in sports, in Lille

Macron's government had been swift to denounce the amendment. Given the majority wielded by his party and its allies in the lower house, the amendment is likely to be removed from the broader bill.

"Our enemy is radical Islamism, not Islam," Marlene Schiappa, junior minister for citizenship, said on Tuesday.

France will host the Summer Olympics in 2024 and critics of the legislation have questioned how it would affect protocol at the Games, whose participants will include conservative Muslim countries, if it were adopted.

Right-wing Senator Stéphane Piednoir said the Olympic Charter provided for political and religious neutrality.

"We cannot compromise secularism and France cannot undercut the Olympic movement," Piednoir told the upper house.

He said the bill was designed to allow "all women to participate in sports competitions without any differentiation, without any sign of discrimination, without any symbol linked to the veil which we know is a political tool".

The Olympics charter states that "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; writing by Richard Lough, editing by Tassilo Hummel)

Lions become first CFL team to hire full-time female coach by adding Walter to staff

The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Tanya Walter is used to pushing her way into unusual spaces.

The former linebacker broke a whole new barrier Tuesday when she was named defensive assistant for the B.C. Lions, becoming the first full-time female coach in CFL history.

“In my mind, there’s nothing that is off limits if I put in the time and put in the effort," Walter said on a video call. "I’ve never been one to think, ‘maybe that’s not for me’ or ‘maybe that opportunity’s not there.’”

Walter, 30, knows she's making history and that her new job will have a big effect on future generations, but she's staying focused on the responsibilities of her new role.

"Obviously, yes, being the first female is a huge win. But myself, I look at it as the job is the job and I’m here to coach," she said.

“It’s great to be the first and I’m honoured to be the first, but to really measure the success, I think it’s about what happens next.”

Walter began playing football in 2013 with the Edmonton Storm of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League.

But growing up in Forestburg, Alta., she played basketball and was repeatedly told she was too loud and too aggressive on the court, and that she took the game too seriously.

“I didn’t have female role models and I looked up to a lot of male athletes, so really, I was just doing what they did," Walter said. "And it wasn’t until later on when I got into football that I realized there was a space for an athlete of my mindset."

She didn't watch football growing up and didn't know much about the sport when she got on the field.

“It took, honestly, probably two or three years of being a player before I actually fully understood the game," said Walter, who also played for Alberta's provincial squad and the Canadian women's team that won a silver medal at the 2017 IFAF women’s world championship.

Once she felt she had a solid grasp on the X's and O's, Walter turned to coaching.

She started at Edmonton's St. Francis Xavier High School in 2017 and continued through last season. A guest coaching spot with the Canadian Junior Football League's Edmonton Huskies followed, as did an assistant's role with the West Edmonton Raiders girls tackle football squad.

The coaching spots were volunteer gigs, so Walter spent 10 years working full time as a personal trainer. In 2020, she took on a role with a minor football association in Edmonton and later started working for a non-profit organization that helps kids play sports.

When B.C. Lions head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell spoke with Walter about the defensive assistant job, he liked her passion for the game and her work ethic. Working in football takes someone with experience and the right demeanour, he said.

“You kind of have to have the right frame of mind and I think she has all those things," Campbell said.

“The thing I really like about football is you can’t hide. You’re either contributing to the team or you’re not. I fully anticipate her contributing in a big way.”

Walter said she's spoken with a number of female friends who are already working in professional football, including Katie Sowers (who worked for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs), Phoebe Schecter (a former coach for the Buffalo Bills) and Lori Locust (assistant defensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Their advice has been helpful, she said, as she prepares to take on this new challenge.

"(They said) 'Yes, in the beginning you’ll have to show you’re there, you know what you’re doing,'" Walter said. "And when it comes down to it, it’s just allowing people to judge you on your abilities. And the gender part doesn’t matter.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press

US women's soccer coach earned 28% 

of US men's coach pay

NEW YORK (AP) — Vlatko Andonovski earned $357,597 over his first full year as U.S. women’s soccer coach, less than 28% of the $1,291,539 that went to men’s coach Gregg Berhalter.

The figures were revealed in the U.S. Soccer Federation’s tax filing for the year ending on March 31, 2021, which was released Wednesday.

Berhalter’s salary was roughly the same as the $1,294,871 he earned in the previous 12 months. He was the USSF's highest-paid employee.

Andonovski, hired in October 2019, earned about half of the $718,352 made by his predecessor, Jill Ellis, in the year ending March 31, 2020, but that fiscal year included the Women’s World Cup, where the Americans won their fourth title. U.S. coaches' contracts contain large bonuses for World Cup performance.

Ellis, listed as an ambassador and former key employee, earned $413,440 in the latest fiscal year under a contract that ended in March 2021.

Former men’s player Earnie Stewart, promoted in August 2019 to federation sporting director from men’s national team general manager, earned $799,699, up from $731,261. Brian McBride, a former men’s player who replaced Stewart as GM in January 2020, earned $338,417.

Women’s team general manager Kate Markgraf earned $500,000. She also has the title of head of women's football and her duties include interacting with FIFA, CONCACAF and national associations.

Will Wilson, hired as chief executive officer in March 2020, earned $414,270. His predecessor, Dan Flynn, was listed at $242,353 as an ambassador and former officer.

Cindy Parlow Cone, the USSF president, does not receive a salary. A bylaw amendment proposed by the federation's rules committee would establish a $125,000 annual salary for the federation president. The amendment is to be considered during the federation's annual general meeting, scheduled for March 3-6 in Atlanta.

John Cone, her husband, received $112,606 as payment and expense reimbursement for his work with the USSF coaching education team.

Brian Remedi, fired as chief administrative officer after Wilson was brought in, earned $457,949.

Jay Berhalter, brother of the men’s coach, earned $209,385. He was the USSF’s No. 2 as chief commercial and strategy officer before leaving in February 2020. He earned $614,054 in the previous fiscal year.

Linda Wahlke, who resigned as chief legal officer in May 2020 after a backlash against legal filings the USSF made in the lawsuit filed by women soccer players, was at $323,271,

Earnings were listed for several of the players on the U.S. women team, including Alyssa Naeher ($255,783), Julie Ertz ($254,945), Becky Sauerbrunn ($254,533), Abby Dahlkemper ($253,283) and Crystal Dunn ($253,283).

Eligible players for the women’s national team are guaranteed a $100,000 salary plus bonuses for appearances, wins and draws. The fiscal year included bonuses for Olympic qualifying and the SheBelieves Cup.

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Ronald Blum, The Associated Press

New NBPA head Tamika Tremaglio: 'Next generation leader' for a complicated time

Scooby Axson -USA TODAY SPORTS

In February for Black History Month, USA TODAY Sports is publishing the series 28 Black Stories in 28 Days. We examine the issues, challenges and opportunities Black athletes and sports officials continue to face after the nation’s reckoning on race two years ago.

Michele Roberts, near the end of 2019, let coworkers know that she planned to retire and to start looking for her replacement as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.

Roberts had led the union in her seven-plus years through relatively quiet labor peace with the league, and expertly guided the players through a 2020 season that was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic. Games were restarted under less-than-ideal conditions in the bubble in Orlando, and Roberts partnered with the league to further social justice platforms after the murder of George Floyd.

The pandemic made the process of finding Roberts’ replacement a challenge. That didn’t mean, of course, the NBPA wasn’t going to try.

"We had people from the highest echelons of politics, business, sports, labor" apply for the position, said Ron Klempner, Senior Counsel of the NBPA.

"But then when you add in the social justice component and everything that had been done," he said, "forget about it. Everyone wanted in."

It turns out the union didn’t have to look far to choose its next leader.

Last September, the NBPA announced it hired 51-year-old Tamika Tremaglio, who for

the past 11 years was a managing principal at Deloitte, a London headquartered professional services firm with more than 14,000 employees in the Washington, D.C. area.

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Familiarity with the league’s inner workings was crucial to her landing the job. Tremaglio, a 1992 graduate of Mount St. Mary's, has law degrees from University of Maryland and an MBA from University of Baltimore. She had a hand in the WNBA’s labor discussions and also worked on a team that probed the union’s practices and possible business improprieties under then-director Billy Hunter. She also has more than a quarter century of consulting experience, including the NBPA for the past 10 years.

It was clear what the union was looking for in Tremaglio: a person savvy enough to get business deals done, but also someone with a forensic mindset to keep the money flowing and an awareness to capitalize on the opportunity of future revenues.

"Tamika has been by our side for many years, advising us on the best practices and policies needed for our organization to operate more like a successful business," New Orleans Pelicans guard and NBPA President CJ McCollum said at the time of her hiring. "Given Michele’s strong leadership and guidance that have brought us to where we are today, we were looking for a next generation leader, who has the skills, vision, and credibility to pick up where Michele will leave off and to elevate our union to even greater heights."

For Tremaglio, who also is known to her colleagues for her immaculate style, her basketball journey started with observation. Her father and uncle played the game in St. Mary’s County, Maryland and grew up with Tubby Smith, who was the coach at Kentucky when it won the NCAA championship in 1998 and is now the head coach at High Point University in North Carolina. Tremaglio was also a basketball cheerleader in high school and college.

"Unfortunately, I did not play basketball," Tremaglio said, who is married with two teenage sons. "But it was the center of many things that I did growing up. It’s always been something near and dear to our heart."

During the ongoing pandemic, Tremaglio began to reflect on her next steps and how she wanted a new challenge after the success at Deloitte. She suddenly thought about the impact COVID had on her, and set out to do something about it.

"I felt like I made a difference at Deloitte, but it was time to move on and do that somewhere different and quite frankly to do it in a place that I could help," Tremaglio said. "And to say I can officially retire.

"I have less days left of my life unfortunately, and that sounds kind of morbid at 51 years old but it’s the truth. And given that, I always thought, ‘What do I want to do that is going to be impactful? What’s going to be significant?' Living a life of significance, that was something that I really reflected upon during COVID."

In the early days of the pandemic while still at Deloitte, Tremaglio and her fellow executives were at a loss for what to do concerning the health and safety of their employees.

Information about COVID and masks were scarce. The issue became political.

"I recognized very early on that there was an exponential amount of people of color who were dying from COVID as opposed to those who were not," Tremaglio said. "That was a rude awakening to me."

She drove to a New Jersey warehouse by herself in April 2020 with a hazmat suit borrowed from a neighbor that worked in an emergency room to buy 350,000 masks, costing Deloitte $1 million, to give to people in the Washington D.C. area that did not have access to any personal protective equipment.

"It was one of my proudest moments. Because I was scared to death. I saw the world very differently then," she said. "COVID impacted everyone different. Even in the NBA world. I lost family members and it was a very challenging time."

The NBPA hopes Tremaglio can bring that level of empathy, awareness and efficiency to her new job.

While there is no set job description of the executive director, labor peace is obviously first on the list.

The union and the league have enjoyed labor peace since the 2011 lockout. Klempner and Tremaglio don't see that changing anytime soon, though the current collective bargaining agreement runs through the conclusion of the 2023-24 NBA season. Both sides can mutually opt-out of the deal at the end of next season.

"The respect, the credibility and trust does exist. It’s done with a good amount of vigilance. You’re always going to be weary of someone who you’re bargaining against," Klempner said. "So, we are very careful and mindful. These are successful businessmen that we are dealing with on the other side. All billionaires. And they got that way for a reason."

Tremaglio says nothing has really surprised her in the first month on the job (her four-year term started Jan. 10), but she did have time to reflect on the things she hopes to accomplish.

Furthering social equity and continuing to protect players during the pandemic were her top priorities. There was something else.

"While we are always concerned from a health perspective physically, we often times are not thinking about the mental health concerns," she said. "We know mental health is really critical. We stop and we pause quickly every time someone breaks a leg or ankle, but we quite don’t understand as a society, the impact that could occur from losing a loved one or someone close to you."

Her transparency and honesty with her staff and those she comes into contact with has been hailed as another Tremaglio trademark.

An unhurried person by nature, she is measured in just about everything she does, whether it’s sleeping with an Oura ring to help regulate her sleep, or sporting a Fitbit to measure a 10,000 step-a day goal.

"In some ways, it’s a good thing, in other ways I would bet it’s a little OCD. It is something that I consider really important," Tremaglio said. "I think the players deserve me at my best so if that means I have to pause for a moment, then that’s what I’ll do."

And one of her main beliefs?

"Never to become comfortable," she says. "When you are comfortable, you are not growing. You have to do something to take a risk and do what you would do if you weren’t afraid."



This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New NBPA head Tamika Tremaglio: 'Next generation leader' for a complicated time

A new discovery could help save this 10-foot-long 'living fossil' fish

The alligator gar is a snaggle-toothed fish longer than a park bench and heavier than a mountain lion. Bony scales covering its body make it look like an armored dinosaur, and for good reason: North America’s second-biggest fish has been thriving since the late Jurassic period, 157 million years ago.


© Photograph by Charles Carpenter/Field Museum Library/Getty Images

Richard Raddatz, of the Field Museum, stands next to an alligator gar in Chicago, Illinois, in 1905.

Jason Bittel - Yesterday 
National Geographic

Many don’t realize that the 10-foot-long alligator gar still exists, but when they do, their first thoughts often turn to fear, says Solomon David, a fish ecologist at Nicholls State University in Louisiana.

But “they’re not like alligators, lions or other animals that can tear off pieces of prey,” says David. “They have to swallow their prey whole, so they’re harmless to humans.”

Alligator gar, which can weigh more than 300 pounds, are like their namesake in one way: They’re apex predators, which means they provide critical ecosystem services to their home habitats—which is mostly the middle and lower Mississippi River watershed in the U.S. The freshwater species keep prey populations in check by hunting smaller fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds, David says. (Learn more about freshwater fish.)

But their role as top hunter has earned alligator gar a bad reputation with anglers and even state wildlife managers, who sometimes tried to exterminate the animals, thinking they were competitors to game fish. In the 1930s, the Texas Game and Fish Commission even built a boat that discharged electric volts into the water. They called it the Electrical Gar Destroyer.


© Photograph by JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

Alligator gars have a wide range that includes Central America and Cuba.

Combine those direct threats with habitat loss due to dam construction and floodplain draining, and alligator gar are now extremely rare in the upper river systems of America where they were once common. In some states, such as Ohio and Illinois, the species has disappeared completely and is considered locally extinct or extirpated. Alligator gar, found as far south as Central America, are more common in the southern parts of their range, especially in U.S. states such as Texas and Louisiana—which is why they’re listed as of least concern by IUCN.


© Photograph by Kent Ozment/Solomon David

The GarLab team—from left, Audrey Baetz, Solomon David, and Derek Sallmann—measures a large alligator gar at the St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi in 2021. All fish are safely released after data collection.

“It’s a matter of scale. What might be of ‘least concern’ globally is definitely not the case on the local scale,” says David.

That’s why David and his colleagues are trying to reverse the fish's decline, for instance by breeding them in captivity and devising ways to learn more about the creatures without harming them. In a January study in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, David and colleagues showed that instead of cutting into the fish’s flesh to gather samples, taking small clips of fin can provide the same information.

“Just the sheer size of these animals blows you away when you're in their presence,” David says. “These are river giants.”
Fin clips, for the win

To protect gar, scientists first need to know basic information, such as where the behemoths roam and what they’re eating. To do that, they’d normally need to take a nickel-size sample of the fish’s tissue, which contains traces of elements scientists can use to track the fish’s whereabouts.

However, because gar have scales like medieval chain mail, the time-consuming and traumatic practice of extracting that amount of tissue can cause stress on the animal, says Thea Fredrickson, an aquatic biologist with the Lower Colorado River Authority in Texas.

“It can definitely be lethal. There’s no way around it.”

Fortunately, in their new study, Fredrickson and David have just proven that fin clipping is much easier on the gar.

“It also allows us to sample organisms repeatedly,” says David, who notes the fins grow back quickly. “Let’s say we catch the same fish a month or two later, or maybe a year later. We can see how that fish might be changing with its growth.”

“I found the results [of] the paper very promising,” says Zeb Hogan, a research biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, who was not involved in the study.

Some alligator gars live to be 95 years or more, Hogan says, making each individual precious. (Read about Hogan’s quest to find the world’s biggest fishes.)

“We need to understand their biology and their ecology, but you don’t want to sacrifice a fish that’s that old or that grows so slowly,” says Hogan, who is also a National Geographic Explorer.

Though the fin-clipping technique has been shown to work for other fishes, no one had ever tried it with alligator gar. Now that it’s been proven, the scientists have already started using the technique at St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi.

In February, David and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and their gar biologist, Kayla Kimmel, caught numerous gar at the refuge, including a massive specimen longer than David is tall. They tagged the animals and captured 10 individuals to be used in a captive-breeding program at the wildlife service’s Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery. If all goes well, the offspring of these 10 fish will be reintroduced into U.S. areas where gar have disappeared.
Evolutionary wonders

There are seven species of gar found worldwide, and all have changed relatively little over time, which is why they’re known as “living fossils.” (Go underwater into the underlooked world of freshwater animals.)

“They found a body plan that worked, and they’ve stuck with it,” says David, explaining that the fish’s long, narrow shape allows them to lunge quickly at their prey.

Alligator gars can also breathe air, allowing them to survive in hot, low-oxygen environments, including brackish estuaries or even salt water.

Another useful adaptation? Poisonous eggs. Interestingly, alligator gar eggs don’t seem to be lethal to other fishes—only mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and especially arthropods, such as crustaceans. This may mean they evolved the poison specifically to protect their eggs from crabs and crayfish, says David.

“But ‘don’t eat gar caviar’ is the take-home message for people,” he laughs

Save the freshwater giants

Freshwater megafauna, loosely defined as species that weigh over 66 pounds on average, are among the most endangered animals on Earth. Global populations have declined by almost 90 percent since 1970—twice as much as the loss of vertebrate populations on land or in the oceans, according to a 2019 study in Global Change Biology.

Large fish, such as sturgeons, salmons, and giant catfishes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, have experienced even higher declines, because of overfishing, pollution, and dams. 

(Read more about how dams in Southeast Asia are threatening megafish.)

This is why David is trying to change the perception of these animals any way he can. Sometimes it’s making gar puns on social media, and other times it’s testifying before the Minnesota Legislature in favor of a new bill that would provide gar and other so-called “rough fish” with some protections, rather than allowing them to be killed indiscriminately.

“It's a privilege to work alongside the growing number of conservationists garnering more respect for these charismatic megafish,” David says.

Of course, when he says “garnering,” the emphasis is on the gar.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FOSSIL FISH 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON 

University of Lethbridge student solidarity groups show support for faculty association amid job action

Quinn Campbell - Tuesday 
Global News

Two groups representing University of Lethbridge students say they are concerned about the ongoing faculty strike at the post-secondary institution.


© Global NewsThe University of Lethbridge

Faculty took to the picket line last Thursday and the student organizations are accusing the university's board of governors of using "aggressive tactics."

Read more:
U of L Faculty Association begins strike

"We demand that the board and upper administration start putting actions behind their words and put students first," said Angie Nikoleychuk, a third-year undergraduate student in the department of psychology. She is also an executive with the U of L Student Solidarity and Action Council and the U of L Student Action Assembly.

The student-led organizations said they feel the University of Lethbridge's board of governors are putting out misinformation about bargaining and trying to create a rift between faculty and students.

"They have used what appears to many students to be dishonest framing of the faculty, threats and political theatre to win points at the bargaining table and in the public eye," Nikoleychuk said


University of Lethbridge faculty vote 92% in favour of strike, negotiations continue

The student organizations said the U of L board and administration have interfered with the pay of some student employees and failed to provide students with practicums currently in place with solutions.

Karina Almeida, another executive with the student groups, said the board is also impacting critical research projects by locking faculty out of their emails and the facilities.

"They are preventing faculty from continuing their research, which can cause unnecessary and likely irreparable damage to the university's reputation as a research facility."

Read more:

U of L Faculty Association initiates strike vote following prolonged negotiations

The university responded in a statement, saying "it would be unfair for ULFA (University of Lethbridge Faculty Association) members to engage in non-essential research for professional and academic benefit, while at the same time withholding instructional services from students.

"Regarding critical or time-sensitive research, faculty members through ULFA can request access either physically or electronically to their research," the university said.

Students are still able to access the campus, however, the university formally closed all workplaces to ULFA members Friday morning.