The story of the Waco siege -- from the lawyer who got inside

2023/04/17

The Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas seen in March 1993 -- the 51-day siege cost the lives of nearly 80 people

Waco (United States) (AFP) - Blood had already been spilled during the armed standoff between US agents and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, when lawyer Dick DeGuerin got a phone call.

The worried mother of cult leader David Koresh said her son needed legal help. She hired DeGuerin.

He was the first outsider to pass through the security cordon and enter the Mount Carmel compound, where the Davidians were holed up.

DeGuerin came face to face with a badly wounded Koresh, and was in position to try to broker an end to the stalemate.

Three decades later, as the story pours forth from the 82-year-old lawyer, he remains convinced that the 51-day siege could have ended peacefully without the deaths of nearly 80 people.

DeGuerin's account strikes a chord in today's deeply polarized United States, where some see Waco as a symbol of government overreach.

Even now, a memorial at the scene to those killed draws hundreds of visitors a month.

When DeGuerin got the call from Koresh's mother, he knew that the case was of a "magnitude" beyond anything he'd ever faced.

"I had handled some big cases, but nothing like this," DeGuerin recalled from his office in Houston. "The world was watching."
Talking to Koresh

The Branch Davidians were founded in 1959 as a splinter from the Seventh Day Adventist church. They believed in the imminent return of Jesus, and Koresh emerged as their charismatic leader in the 1980s.

In 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) accused the group of stockpiling weapons, and obtained an arrest warrant for Koresh and a search warrant for the compound, where there were also allegations of child abuse.

On February 28, ATF agents raided the complex, a gun battle erupted, several people died, and a tense weeks-long standoff set in.

As he prepared to enter the compound in late March, DeGuerin thought he had worked out a deal with Texas Rangers law enforcement officers to manage Koresh's surrender.

FBI agents took the lawyer close to the compound in the back of a tank, stopping about 100 yards away.

"My handler said, 'Would you like some body armor?' I said, 'No, I'm not afraid of the Davidians... I just don't want you FBI snipers shooting at me.'"

DeGuerin didn't know what to expect, but said he found Koresh, 33, to be intelligent and articulate, and could see he had gunshot wounds to his torso and wrist.

Koresh was "very angry" at the siege by the FBI and ATF agents.

DeGuerin saw it as his mission to get Koresh out of the compound and into court "without anybody else dying."

"I told him, of course, that the law is the law and he had to obey the law even though it might conflict with his religious beliefs. He understood that," he said.
Wait or 'rush in'

As negotiations ground on, DeGuerin returned to the compound with another lawyer, Jack Zimmerman, who represented one of the other cult members.

Patience was wearing thin, particularly among federal agents.

"There were the negotiators that wanted it to end peacefully. And then there were the tactical people that just wanted to rush in and kill anybody and arrest him," DeGuerin said. "The tactical people won."

As a final showdown loomed, DeGuerin sought to go back and make a final appeal for Koresh to surrender to authorities.

But he was turned away.

"This FBI agent told me, 'We don't need you anymore.'"

On that day -- April 19, 1993 -- FBI agents in armored vehicles smashed into the compound buildings and pumped in tear gas.

The causes of the subsequent fires are still disputed, but the compound burnt to the ground, claiming more than 70 lives, including some 20 children.

Investigations cleared law enforcement of wrongdoing, but Waco became a rallying cry for Americans accusing their government of abuse of authority, and it spurred growth of militias across the country.

In 1995, on the second anniversary of the raid, Timothy McVeigh, who had driven to Waco to witness the siege, carried out the Oklahoma City bombing killing 168 people.

For DeGuerin, 30 years on, the lessons of Waco are clear.

The federal agents had grown convinced that Koresh "was fooling them again" and would not surrender, he said.

"They didn't wait. I believe if they'd waited, it would have ended peacefully. But it didn't."

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas hit with new financial disclosure allegations

2023/04/17

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on Oct. 7, 2022, in Washington, DC. - Alex Wong/Getty Images North America/TNS

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was hit with new financial disclosure allegations as reports Monday said he plans to resubmit previous forms that omitted property sales to a GOP mega donor.

In the latest ethics blow for the conservative jurist, Thomas reportedly has claimed that he was paid between $50,000 and $100,000 annually by a Nebraska real estate company set up by his controversial wife, Ginni Thomas.

But the company went out of business in 2006, the Washington Post reported. It was replaced by a new company that took over its land-leasing business, but Clarence Thomas continued to report income from the previous company.

The new allegation came as Thomas reportedly has told associates he will file amended disclosure forms to cover blockbuster revelations in recent days about his financial ties to billionaire Republican mega donor Harlan Crow, CNN reported Monday.

Thomas failed to report sales of three properties, including his elderly mother’s home in Savannah, Ga., to Crow a decade ago. As previously revealed, the judge also failed to report that Crow paid for the Thomases’ lavish vacations, including a $500,000 private plane-and-yacht junket to Indonesia.

Crow, a Texas real estate magnate, denounced the reports Monday as “a political hit job” in an interview with the Dallas Morning News.

Thomas last put out a rare statement claiming he had been told the vacations weremere “personal hospitality” that did not need to be reported to the IRS.

He has not responded to reports about the property sales. Federal law require judges and other officials to disclose all property sales except for homes that they live in.

Congressional Democrats have demanded investigations into the allegations against Thomas, whom they portray as a serial violator of ethics rules.

“There is at least reasonable cause to believe that Justice Thomas intentionally disregarded the disclosure requirement to report the sale of his interest in the Savannah properties in an attempt to hide the extent of his financial relationship with Crow,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said in a joint statement.

They want Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation and have asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into whether Thomas violated federal ethics laws.

The lapses have shined a spotlight on the virtually nonexistent oversight of Supreme Court justices, who mostly are left to police their own behavior.

Aside from his disclosure failings, Thomas has refused to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election even though his wife is a prominent ally of former President Donald Trump who pushed for him to overturn President Joe Biden’s win.

He was the lone dissenter in an 8-1 decision that forced the handover to the congressional Jan. 6 committee of emails and text messages about the insurrection effort from Trump allies, including several from Ginni Thomas.

© New York Daily News

Senate Democrats want to bring Clarence Thomas before an ethics hearing: report

Matthew Chapman
April 17, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (Photo by Preston Keres/USDA)

Senate Democrats are considering asking Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to come before an ethics hearing following a series of financial scandals, reported POLITICO on Monday.

"Democrats on the Judiciary Committee met Monday evening in Chair Dick Durbin’s (D-Ill.) office to discuss details of the hearing, which is still in the planning stages," reported Katherine Tully-McManus and Burgess Everett. "'We’re going to have hearings. This work period, I hope. Maybe even in the next few weeks,' Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after the meeting. Rather than making the politically explosive move of subpoenaing Thomas, Blumenthal said he hoped the justice would answer committee members’ questions voluntarily."

"'We’re going to have hearings. This work period, I hope. Maybe even in the next few weeks,' Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said after the meeting," said the report. "Rather than making the politically explosive move of subpoenaing Thomas, Blumenthal said he hoped the justice would answer committee members’ questions voluntarily."

Reporting from ProPublica revealed that Thomas, one of the Court's most far-right members, has been accepting hundreds of thosuands of dollars in luxury travel and accommodations from billionaire GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. A follow-up report indicated that Crow also bought real estate from Thomas. None of this was disclosed.

Thomas claimed that ethics laws were vague and he didn't believe disclosure of these transactions were necessary — which legal experts broadly disagree with. He updated his disclosures to reflect the real estate purchase.

"'What he did is really unprecedented, the magnitude of the gifts and luxury travel but the money changing hands and the nondisclosure,' said Blumenthal," the report continued. "Senators are still hoping that the Supreme Court will take its own action, but Durbin said his panel was also open to discussing proposals to impose a formal code of ethics on the court."

Unequal Justice: Clarence Thomas isn't going anywhere

Bill Blum, The Progressive
April 16, 2023

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at Stetson University College of Law. (Credit: Stetson University)

The problem with Justice Clarence Thomas isn’t just that he’s reactionary or morally bankrupt. It’s that he isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Thomas is in his thirty-first year on the high court, placing him twelfth on the list of longest-serving Supreme Court justices in history. While he will turn seventy-five in June, he appears in reasonably good physical health, and has no intentions of stepping down.

In 1993, Thomas told two of his law clerks that he planned to serve on the court until 2034, and that until then he would do his utmost to make the lives of liberals “miserable.” If his plans hold, Thomas will eventually become the longest-tenured Justice of all time, surpassing William O. Douglas, who stayed on the panel for thirty-six years and 209 days.

Earlier this month, Thomas again made good on his pledge to own the libs—and further erode the stature of the Supreme Court in the process, when he issued a statement denying any wrongdoing in response to a bombshell ProPublica article. The investigation revealed a stunning array of secret gifts that Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas, the crackpot uber-right election denier, have received from Texas billionaire and Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow over the past twenty years.

Crow is a founder of the conservative nonprofit Club for Growth. He also sits on the board of the American Enterprise Institute, an aggressive rightwing think tank with a long track record of publicizing and promoting amicus briefs in pending Supreme Court cases. The institute’s roster of affiliated scholars over the decades has included the likes of Newt Gingrich, Dinesh D’Souza, and Robert Bork. Crow also reportedly houses a signed copy of Mein Kampf and two paintings by the Führer himself in the art collection that he maintains at his Highland Park mansion in Dallas County, Texas.

On April 6, ProPublica reported that the Thomases took a 2019 trip to Indonesia on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet, followed by a nine-day island-hopping cruise aboard Crow’s superyacht. ProPublica reporters valued the junket at more than $500,000 dollars, nearly double Thomas’s annual salary of $285,000.

The Indonesia excursion was only one of many trips for which Crow has picked up the check on the Thomases’ behalf. Thomas and his wife regularly take summer vacations at Crow’s rustic resort in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, and have been hosted at Crow’s ranch in East Texas. Crow also paid for Thomas to attend a one-week retreat at the exclusive all-male Bohemian Grove in California. And to top off his beneficence, in 2011, Crow gave half a million dollars to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas, who received a $120,000 salary from the group.

On April 13,ProPublica updated its reporting to add that in 2014, Crow purchased the two-bedroom home in Savannah, GA, where Thomas’s mother lived, along with two nearby vacant lots, for $133,363. The home was jointly owned by Thomas, his mother, and the family of the Justice’s late brother. Expensive improvements were subsequently made to the property, where a source told ProPublica Thomas’s mother still resides.

Thomas’s rejoinder to the original ProPublica story (he has not as yet replied to the update), was released by the court’s public information office. It is a work of evasion and artifice, reading in full:

Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.

That last sentence refers to new guidelines adopted in March by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the administrative arm of the federal courts that modestly tightens the financial disclosures federal judges must make each year for themselves and their spouses under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act (EGA) to safeguard against conflicts of interest.

The new regulations require judges to disclose gifts in excess of $415 from people other than relatives, any complimentary transportation, and any free stays at commercial properties. There is a giant loophole, however, in both the new and old regulations that Thomas has exploited: Free lodging at the personal residences or properties owned by individuals (rather than corporations) is exempt under a “private hospitality exception,” and need not be reported.

The loophole is outrageous, but not as wide as Thomas apparently thinks. Even if he had no obligation to report his sojourns on Crow’s ranch and Adirondack summer playground, Thomas still had a duty to disclose other goodies such as the purchase of his family’s Savannah home, his trip to Bohemian Grove, his numerous rides on Crow’s private jet, and his Indonesian cruise.

“When a Justice’s lifestyle is being subsidized by the rich and famous, it absolutely corrodes public trust,” Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told ProPublica for its initial article. “Quite frankly, it makes my heart sink.”

Thomas’s official statement is also rife with hypocrisy. In a 2020 documentary film about his life, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, Thomas can be seen on-screen, quipping, “I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States. I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it. I come from regular stock, and I prefer that—I prefer being around that.” The documentary was bankrolled in part by—you guessed it—Harlan Crow.

Like Thomas, Crow has released a statement denying any improprieties in his relationship with the Justice.

The ProPublica revelations are by no means Thomas’s first brush with ethics issues. Scandals and controversy have long dogged Thomas, dating back to his raucous 1991 Senate confirmation hearing, when he was credibly accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill and other female colleagues while he was the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In 2011, amid an outcry from Common Cause and other watchdog groups, he was forced to amend thirteen years of disclosures for failing to report his wife Ginni’s income from the Heritage Foundation, Hillsdale College, and other employers. Thomas claimed at the time that he that he had misunderstood his reporting responsibilities, and simply checked the wrong boxes on his disclosure forms, an odd response from a Supreme Court justice, let alone a lawyer.

In 2021 and again in 2022, Thomas arguably crossed ethical lines once more when he failed to recuse himself in cases involving the January 6 insurrection and Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, despite Ginni’s prominent role as an organizer of the “Stop the Steal” campaign. Thomas’s participation in such cases may have violated the federal recusal statute.

As veteran legal commentator Adam Cohen noted in a recent op-ed in The New York Times, Democrats and Republicans in Congress joined forces fifty-four years ago to demand that Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resign as a result of alleged financial improprieties that pale in comparison to those involving Thomas.

Although Thomas is a clear-cut candidate for impeachment or at the very least an investigation by the Senate Judiciary committee, there is no chance today of a similar bipartisan move against Thomas. The Republican Party of 2023 loves Clarence Thomas, and as long as it does, he isn’t going anywhere.

Watch: Protesters disrupt GOP hearings with chants to indict 'traitor' Jim Jordan

Travis Gettys
April 17, 2023

Congressman Jim Jordan speaking with attendees at the 2021 AmericaFest. 

(Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Protesters tried on Monday to disrupt a House Judiciary Committee hearing on violent crime in New York City.

The demonstrators packed into a hallway outside the hearing room with signs calling to indict committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), who they called a "traitor," reported Punchbowl News correspondent Mica Soellner.

The hearing will highlight violent crime in Manhattan, where district attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting Donald Trump on dozens of business fraud charges, and his office dismissed the hearing as a political stunt.

Several witnesses, including the mother of a homicide victim, a bodega clerk who was charged with murder that was later ruled self-defense and an anti-crime activist, are scheduled to testify.

The hearing was organized after Trump was indicted.

Watch the video below.

Watch: Nicolle Wallace nails Jim Jordan over his 'circus' hearing in Manhattan

Sarah K. Burris
April 17, 2023

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace criticized Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for his "circus" hearing, bringing the House Judiciary Committee to Manhattan to attack District Attorney Alvin Bragg for what he said was a high rate of violent crime in the city.

"Whether all of this is really what Republicans should be doing with their time even in front of their own viewers and voters they got an authentic New York City welcome today in that they were routinely shouted at in the hallway," Wallace said. "Something Jim Jordan could have avoided if he had chosen a different location — like one with higher crime rates if that was his ostensible point today, for instance. Or maybe traveling just south of Jordan's own district, Columbus, Ohio, perhaps where the crime rate is about three times that of New York City."

She said that the "clown show" on display in New York wasn't about violent crime there or solving any other problems that Congress typically manages.

"It was about keeping their boss Donald J. Trump happy about showing him, Donald J. Trump, that no political stunt is too idiotic or illogical or unjustified to appease his badly damaged ego," she said.

The whole hearing was broadcast live on Fox News.

"There were witnesses called by the House Republicans, who, most of them are outspoken critics of Alvin Bragg. Many of them have actually really horror stories," said Luke Broadwater, New York Times congressional reporter. "You know, a loved one who was killed in the city or a relative who was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack, things like this. But they have since become outspoken critics of Alvin Bragg. So, they were chosen for those reasons. And that did present some times where Democrats were saying essentially, we feel your pain, we understand your case.

"You've been through a lot, but you are being used here. You are being used as pawns in a political game and that did prompt some backlash from some of the witnesses who went back and forth with some of the Democrats. But this was set up, as you said, with a single purpose to, you know, vilify Alvin Bragg to make him look bad for as long as they could keep it on television. And to support Donald Trump. You know, they definitely got some hours and hours of that in."

See the full conversation about the hearings below.

Wallace encourages Jim Jordan to explore cities with greater violent crime like his districtyoutu.be

CNBC host calls Kevin McCarthy a hypocrite to his face for 'unsustainable' Trump tax cuts

David Edwards
April 17, 2023

CNBC/screen grab


CNBC host Sara Eisen challenged House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Monday after he demanded spending cuts in return for raising the nation's debt limit.

During an interview in New York, McCarthy told Eisen that the country was like a child with a credit card.

"Would you just raise the limit?" he asked.

"Well, if it meant playing with America's standing and full faith and credit of U.S. government debt, I feel like you can deal with the spending in other ways, which is totally legitimate," Eisen observed.

McCarthy suggested that there was no other way to reduce the nation's debt.

"You did it three times in the Trump administration," Eisen noted.

"We never raised the debt ceiling by itself," McCarthy insisted.

"And tax cuts," Eisen interrupted. "That was like $2 trillion in deficit."

But McCarthy argued that the Trump-era tax cuts were good for the economy.

"So I was going to ask you about taxes because I wonder, because you want to extend the Trump tax cuts, correct?" Eisen asked. "But isn't that a little hypocritical when you're talking about finding savings everywhere and being on an unsustainable fiscal path?"

"How's that hypocritical when it's bringing tax cuts, tax savings?" McCarthy retorted. "I will always advocate for the idea that we are streamlining our tax policies, that we're also streamlining our regulation."

Watch the video below from CNBC.

Fox News host calls out GOPer's George Soros lie: 'He did not give money directly to Bragg'

David Edwards
April 16, 2023

Fox News/screen grab

Fox News host Eric Shawn fact-checked Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) live after the lawmaker suggested liberal billionaire George Soros was directly funding New York County District Attorney General Alvin Bragg.

Van Drew told Shawn that he disagreed with Bragg, the prosecutor of former President Donald Trump's felony criminal case.

According to the lawmaker, Bragg was prosecuting the wrong people because Soros funds him.

"You see it in Washington," Van Drew said. "You see it in Seattle. You see it in New York. These are George Soros-funded people."




"Soros does give money," Shawn interrupted. "He says he did not give money directly to Bragg. He gave money to an organization that supports Bragg. But you do have a point."

As the interview ended, Van Drew suggested Soros was behind the rising crime.

"Bragg is the centerpiece for it," Van Drew insisted. "Man, he is just the guy that represents it all, along with his buddy George Soros."

"Well, I don't know if they're buddies," Shawn replied.

"He gave them money. In a sneaky way," Van Drew asserted.

"Alright," the Fox News host laughed. "We'll see what comes out of the hearing."

Van Drew said he would attend a House Judiciary Committee hearing held in New York on Monday. Committee members expect testimony from "victims" of Bragg's policies.

George Soros reportedly contributed to an organization that supported Bragg's campaign, but there is no evidence that the billionaire directly contributed to the district attorney's campaign or office.

Watch the video from Fox News 

 

Jake Tapper slaps down GOP lawmaker: Murders are higher in your state's cities than Manhattan

Matthew Chapman
April 17, 2023

Screengrab of CNN's Jake Tapper.

CNN's Jake Tapper grilled Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) on Monday over why Republicans held a field hearing in Manhattan to focus on crime, when Manhattan is one of the safest large urban areas in the United States — and considerably safer than major cities near his own district.

This parallels a number of fact-checks highlighting Republicans from areas with worse violent crime than Manhattan accusing the District Attorney of ignoring crime as part of their attempt to delegitimize his prosecution of former President Donald Trump, including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

"Let's start with the House Judiciary Committee in New York City today," said Tapper. "Republicans being very critical of the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, depicting him as soft on crime, lots of people testifying about their experiences as victims or their family members' victims. Democrats are calling it a political stunt, and they say it's being undertaken to slam Bragg because he's prosecuting Donald Trump and not these other criminals. What's your take on it all?"

"Well, Jake, I think there's a bigger story here and that crime is at crisis levels across our inner cities, including New York, but Chicago, L.A., I mean, we could we could go down the list," said Waltz. "At the end of the day, to hear the actual stories from these victims, who themselves are the victims, not the criminal, and to hear time and time again that the perpetrators of these violent crimes on on their relatives were not prosecuted or were basically slapped on the wrist, is something certainly I think worthy of the Judiciary Committee highlighting."

"I take your point, and it is horrible what's happening nationwide, although the statistics differ here and there," said Tapper. "I mean for example, you represent Florida's Sixth Congressional District, it's between Jacksonville and Orlando. Both of them have higher homicide rates than New York City, that's according to an analysis from the conservative organization Wirepoints. New York City, statistically, is one of the safest big cities in the country in terms of murder, and that's why I think this focus on New York might look political to some."

Waltz insisted that that's just "one statistic ... look at the amount of assaults, for example on subway stations." (Neither Jacksonville nor Orlando have subways.) He proceeded to say, "Crime is up and crimes up in cities all over the country, including in Florida, and you have to look, for example, you just mentioned Orlando, that's largely a Democrat-run city and county."

Watch video below or at this link.

'It's over': Controversial conservative complains that straight white men are 'at the bottom of the heap'

Gideon Rubin
April 17, 2023

Kevin McCarthy, Mitch McConnell (Photo via AFP)

A conservative political author on Monday asserted that America’s efforts to promote diversity are leading to “civilizational suicide,” The Daily Wire reports.

Heather Mac Donald said she believes Black people in America enjoy advantages in a society that unfairly punishes white people for past injustices.

Mac Donald made the remarks during an appearance on Sirius XM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” podcast.

The “Diversity Delusion” author claimed that the “phony charge of racism” is contributing to the decline.

“America is tearing down every meritocratic institution on the phony charge of racism,” she said.

“It has to end.”

“The culture in those [Black] communities has to change,” Mac Donald said.
“There’s a very terrible, destructive, self-destructive ideology in black communities that says that academic effort is acting white. So, if you are a black student who is studying, who is paying attention in class, you will be demeaned as somehow betraying your race.”

She insisted that systemic racism no longer exists in America.

“That is not our reality today,” she said.

“Here’s the reality Megyn, Black privilege. It’s not white privilege, it’s Black privilege. The reality is being Black today, in any mainstream institution confers an enormous advantage ... There is not a single law firm, a single bank, a single tech lab in Silicon Valley, a single science lab that’s not twisting itself into knots to try to find, hire and promote as many as remotely qualified Blacks as possible.

“White heterosexual males, it’s over for them. They are at the bottom of the heap.”

Akili Labs and BGI Genomics to deliver their first commercial clinical sequencing facility in Africa

Business Announcement

BGI GENOMICS

 

IMAGE: AKILI LABS AND BGI GENOMICS TO DELIVER THEIR FIRST COMMERCIAL CLINICAL SEQUENCING FACILITY IN AFRICA view more 

CREDIT: BGI GENOMICS

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA and SHENZHEN, CHINA - 31.03.23

Akili Labs (Pty) Ltd, a pioneer of cost-effective molecular diagnostics and secure genomic data storage solutions, and BGI Genomics Co. Ltd, the world’s leading integrated solutions provider of precision medicine, today announced the signing of a technology transfer agreement that will provide the Southern region of Africa with clinical-grade sequencing solutions.

"Improving the cost and turnaround time of genetic sequencing services will play a major role in the expansion of precision medicine-driven healthcare in Africa," said Charles F.J. Faul, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Akili. "Locally provided services have struggled with capacity restraints and are challenged with local pricing of reagents and equipment. Often, the only solution is to send samples to Europe or the USA, where sequencing is cheaper. However, this comes at a price: the application for export permits can be a lengthy process, and then there is the risk of sample loss or damage during shipping.

“Access to sequencing is only one part of the equation”, said Stuart A. Ali, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Akili. “This partnership supplies the first truly Africa-based service to meet our client needs. With this partnership, we can process samples locally in full compliance with regional data protection laws.”

“We are thrilled to see the progress being made in genomics sequencing development in Africa.”, said Ronnie Mao, Business Manager of Southern Africa, BGI Genomics. “With the continent being home to the world's most diverse genomics data, it's crucial that local talent has the tools and resources to further our understanding of clinical genetics, we welcome the initiative to develop localized genomics sequencing capabilities in Africa, with a focus on clinical genetics and improving health outcomes. This will not only benefit the people of Africa but also it's important to enable and empower local talent to lead this effort and bring their unique perspectives to the field. We look forward to seeing the positive impact that this development will have on the health of individuals and communities in Africa.”

About Akili

Akili specializes in cost-effective and accessible diagnostic services through a combination of careful technology selection and process optimization. Aiming for vertical integration to drive precision medicine, our services are supported by a proprietary cloud platform and data is stored using highly secure encryption and compression algorithms. Akili Labs has regional offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, Lusaka, Zambia and Maryland, USA. These locations collectively establish the start of a global network for precision medicine and consumer genetics services.

About BGI Genomics:

BGI Genomics, headquartered in Shenzhen China, is the world’s leading integrated solutions provider of precision medicine. Our services cover over 100 countries and regions, involving more than 2,300 medical institutions. In July 2017, as a subsidiary of BGI Group, BGI Genomics (300676.SZ) was officially listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Binghamton University receives $9.3 million in federal funding to train school-based mental health professionals

Grant and Award Announcement

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS FROM BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY INTERN AT JOHNSON CITY HIGH SCHOOL IN JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. view more 

CREDIT: BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY, STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Economically disadvantaged students face food scarcity, unreliable access to services and other stressors, which can have a huge impact on their mental health. In Broome and Tioga counties, more than 50% of children live in families characterized as low income. New federal funding will help to put more Binghamton University social work students in schools to provide the services that these students need to succeed.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded two 5-year awards, totalling $9.3 million, to Binghamton University Community Schools (BUCS) to expand mental health services in New York’s Southern Tier as part of its Mental Health Service Provider Demonstration Grant Program.

“Both grants aim to put more social workers in schools, and we have a really great opportunity to do this because we have an excellent social work education program and strong relationships with our local schools,” said Naorah Rimkunas, assistant professor of social work and education at Binghamton University’s College of Community and Public Affairs (CCPA) and principal investigator for both awards. “And we can leverage that and put those students who are training to become social workers into schools to offset the shortage of mental health providers.”

Laura Bronstein, founding director of BUCS and CCPA dean, is thrilled that the work of BUCS will be expanded by these two new grants.

“As a leader in university-assisted community schools for small cities and rural communities, BUCS works with communities locally and beyond to support success for all students through out-of-classroom support in collaboration with universities and other community partners,” Bronstein said. “Increasingly, children are being left behind due to challenges that even the best teachers can’t address on their own. This includes issues like anxiety and depression, violence, poverty and many others that interfere with students’ abilities to focus on learning in the classroom. These new federal grants allow us to provide support for mental health challenges that have been skyrocketing among youth, especially since the advent of the pandemic.”

“As a social worker who has worked in and with schools for the past 20 years, I have witnessed the need for mental health support and the importance of family engagement to ensure that the two most important systems children engage with every day are aligned in true partnership around the needs of children,” said Luann Kida, co-principal investigator and executive director of BUCS. “This funding will allow Binghamton University to support our local schools while also providing social work interns valuable field experiences that will not only serve young people and their families, but also strengthen skills for emerging professionals preparing them to work within or alongside school systems. These proposals are the example of what can happen when partners build plans that are mutually beneficial on a core foundation of trust.”

A total of $5.7 million will fund the Rural Mental Health in Schools Expansion. This initiative will expand social work support to middle and high school students and families in four high-needs school districts (Harpursville, Whitney Point, Windsor, and Owego-Apalachin). Approximately 3,300 students at seven schools will be served through this initiative, which builds on a pilot telemental health project where Binghamton University social work students were trained to provide solution-focused telemental health virtually to young people in partner schools.

“During the pandemic, everything was disrupted; our schools were closed. Schools are a source of all things for children and families. They’re a source for services, especially through our community schools initiatives, and mental health services were interrupted,” Rimkunas said. “By doing a telemental health pilot, we were able to see that parents and students were accessing the services. This new funding allows us to expand on that so we can educate more social work students to have the skills, tools, and competencies to reach more students and families.”

The telemental approach will be implemented in tandem with an in-person approach that includes on-site mental health services for children and intensive outreach to the most hard-to-reach families with the intent to connect them as partners in the education and development of their children. This project will not only target social work interns serving in their field placements; it will also build capacity to increase the number of social work field instructors and provide technical assistance to school partners around building a culturally responsive, trauma-informed approach that fosters safety and professional growth for students, families and staff. One new social worker will be placed in each partnering school district and up to four social work interns will complete their practicums in each school, up to 16 per year.

The other $3.5 million will fund the Family Partner Program, which will serve approximately 3,700 students at the Chenango Forks and Maine-Endwell school districts.

“The Family Partner Program is really about building out our family engagement practices,” Rimkunas said. “We’ve been doing family engagement through our community school work for over a decade and this program will provide additional education to the social work students in these family engagement practices. The point of this is to bring in families as partners in the academic growth and social and emotional well-being of their children. But it takes skill to do that, so being able to teach social work students to do that will help to 1) make that a solid practice for them and 2) reach more families and students because there will be more social workers in our schools.”

“Our staff and CCPA student interns will greatly expand their support for mental health through schools by collaborating with families as partners in this work, building on over a decade of family engagement work that is core to our community schools approach,” Bronstein said. “The prevention and interventions we will provide through these grants are built on cutting-edge research developed by CCPA faculty, including Youjung Lee and Kelley Cook’s telemental health model. Lastly and equally important, these grants advance the education of the next generation of a diverse group of social workers in evidence-based, skill-rich approaches that center on the child, families and caregivers, so that all children may not only survive, but thrive.”

Rimkunas said that BUCS will spend the spring and summer hiring field instructors and recruiting social work students for participation in the fall. She is excited about the impact that the grants will have in local schools.

“It just means so much for our local community,” Rimkunas said. “To be able to bring attention to mental health to the area, and then also be able to offer innovative training for our social work students, I’m thrilled.”

Researchers trace genetic agent in life-threatening fungal disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF IOWA BIOLOGISTS HAVE UNCOVERED A SHARED GENETIC FACTOR AMONG DISEASE-CAUSING FUNGI, INCLUDING ONE SPECIES THAT HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH HOSPITAL OUTBREAKS IN THE US. THE IMAGE SHOWS PROTEINS ENCODED BY THE HIL GENE FAMILY THAT ROOT THEMSELVES IN CELLS AND USE STICKY, OR ADHESIVE, PROPERTIES TO ATTACH THEMSELVES TO MEDICAL DEVICES, SUCH AS CATHETERS, TO TISSUE OR TO CREATE A DRUG-RESISTANT WALL CALLED BIOFILM. view more 

CREDIT: BIN HE LAB, UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Nature has an ingenious way of taking advantage of beneficial situations.

Take Candida auris, for example. This yeast was unknown as recently as 2009, but it burst onto the scene when scientists learned it was causing life-threatening invasive infections to patients in hospitals and nursing-care facilities. In 2019, the danger from C. auris was grave enough that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named it a serious global health threat, citing the yeast’s spread and its resistance to a host of anti-fungal drugs. Last month, the CDC reported C. auris has been detected in nearly half the states in the U.S.

So, how did a simple, unknown yeast suddenly become a public health enemy? Part of the answer, say biologists at the University of Iowa, is found in a gene family that encodes sticky properties, or adhesins, that appear central to the virulence in fungal diseases, including some that threaten humans.

In a new study, the researchers report one such adhesin family, called the Hil family, existed in the common ancestor of all yeast species, but is more numerous in disease-causing species than benign ones. Moreover, the researchers found, some disease-causing species with a large Hil gene family are distantly related, suggesting that each species with a large Hil family independently evolved the family size, rather than having the genes passed down.

“We found this gene family has specifically and repeatedly expanded by gene duplications in pathogenic yeast lineages,” says Bin He, assistant professor in the Department of Biology and a co-corresponding author on the study. “Moreover, their sequences evolved rapidly after the duplications, possibly generating functional diversity to allow the yeast to adapt to the complex host environment.”

The adaptation element is key: The Hil genes likely encode proteins that allow the organism to become adhesive. More specifically, the proteins, through their structure, help yeast cells to stick to host tissue and inanimate surfaces (such as catheters), and to stitch themselves together, like interlocking Legos, to form a nearly impenetrable, drug-resistant wall, called biofilm.

It’s natural selection at its finest, or most devilish, one could say. The Hil genes either are not present or not active in a bunch of other yeast species, such as baker’s yeast, that are in fact beneficial to humans (assuming people like bread). But in species that are pathogenic, the researchers found, the Hil (short for the Hyr/Iff-like) family is very much alive and well, wreaking its adhesive havoc.

“That’s convergent evolution,” He says. “You find a way to succeed in an environmental niche.”

The researchers sequenced the proteins in the adhesin family, and searched all other organisms—including the plant, animal, and bacterial kingdoms—to find out whether any other species had a similar protein sequence. They found the Hil gene family in just one place, the Saccharomycetes class, part of the Fungi kingdom.

The analysis revealed another important clue: The Hil family popped up in species that had no close relatives, taxonomically speaking. For instance, the Hil family is present, and active, in C. auris and another disease-causing species, Candida albicans. But when the researchers looked at more closely related species for each, the Hil gene number was either low, or it didn’t exist at all.

“That’s the idea of a parallel, or independent, evolution,” He says. “Basically, these genes reached the same end state, not by descending, not by inheritance, but by independent evolution. They all took similar evolutionary paths.”

The study itself sprang from a graduate-level bioinformatics class at Iowa. In fall 2019, the course’s instructors centered the curriculum on C. auris, whose 5,000-gene genome had recently been sequenced. One student group decided to investigate C. auris’ penchant for stickiness.

It was a wise, and fruitful, selection.

“We picked proteins based on domains with keywords that we thought could be involved in making a fungal pathogen sticky and came up with this group of adhesins,” explains Lindsey Snyder, who was a student in the class and is pursuing a doctorate in genetics at Iowa. “At the time, there were two small adhesin families reported in the genome we were working with, so once we realized how large this (Hil) family was, we were pretty sure we found something that hadn’t been characterized yet in this species.”

Jan Fassler, a professor in the Department of Biology who conceived the class in 2013 with fellow biology associate professor Albert Erives, says the instructors would choose genomes that were new in the literature and had intriguing biological attributes.

“We chose recently sequenced genomes so that there would be very little prior investigation, thus allowing students to feel as if they were (and they were) making new discoveries,” says Fassler, director of the biomedical sciences program and the co-corresponding author on the study.

The researchers next want to investigate, through experiments, specifically how the Hil family allows C. auris to become adhesive. This would advance the research beyond identifying the genes involved and could lead to medical advances.

“Here is the hope: We have identified a gene family that may play an important role in the pathogenesis and is restricted to this group of fungi. This could be a drug target if we can figure out how to inhibit it,” He says.

The study, “Parallel expansion and divergence of an adhesin family in pathogenic yeasts,” was published online in the journal Genetics on Feb. 16.

Rachel Smoak, who earned a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Iowa in 2022 and was a member of the graduate student group that investigated the Hil gene family, is a contributing author on the study.

The National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation funded the research.

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JOURNAL

Genetics

DOI

10.1093/genetics/iyad024 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Parallel expansion and divergence of an adhesin family in pathogenic yeasts

NCD Academy launches new Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health course

Innovative online education platform helping global healthcare professionals address non-communicable diseases

Business Announcement

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY

Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ: VTRS), a global healthcare company, and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) today released the latest NCD Academy course, Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health in NCDs, coinciding with World Health Day and the theme “Health for All.” The NCD Academy is a user-friendly, interactive online platform developed by the ACC in partnership with the NCD Alliance and the World Heart Federation and sponsored by Viatris. The program is designed to equip primary healthcare professionals with educational resources and skills to enhance their ability to prevent and treat non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The NCD Academy’s overarching goal is aligned with the vision to make health for all a reality, by providing continued education for skilled health workers and supporting people-centered care.

Health equity, as described by the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), is the absence of inequalities in healthcare that are avoidable by reasonable means. The new Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health in NCDs course aims to educate and increase awareness of health inequities and provide support on how to address them to achieve equitable care for all. Course topics led by leading experts in global health equity include an overview of social determinants of health; a closer look at the impact of structural discrimination; and strategies for tackling disparities in vulnerable communities, as well as low- and middle-income countries.

“Health equity and broadening access to healthcare is core to Viatris’ mission of empowering people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life. We are proud to collaborate with our NCD Academy partners to support the launch of the new course on Health Equity, as part of our continuing efforts to deliver access to health education on a global level,” said Lobna Salem, Head of Medical Affairs, Developed Markets. “NCDs account for over 70% of deaths globally, many of which are preventable. Viatris is committed to helping to reduce this number, as demonstrated through one of our initial sustainability goals announced in our 2021 Sustainability Report: to impact 100 million patients via HCP education and outreach regarding prevention, diagnosis and treatment options for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and other important chronic conditions to improve outcomes through the NCD Academy by the end of 2025.”

Launched in 2020, the NCD Academy features courses on nearly all aspects of NCDs, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. More recent courses also address mental health and advocacy and their respective roles in the NCD crisis, from which no country is immune. The new Health Equity course is being rolled out throughout the month of April, available at ACC.org/NCDAcademy.

“Health equity is a critical global health issue that must be addressed if we are to truly stem the tide of NCDs,” said Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, MACC, former ACC president and a past chair of the College’s Health Equity Task Force. “Transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all needs to start with solving for health equity. The ACC is proud to partner with Viatris, WHF and NCD Alliance to drive awareness and action around this important topic. Together we are delivering global education that inspires global action and, while there is still much work to be done, it is exciting to see how far we’ve come to date.”

For more information about the NCD Academy and to view available courses visit ACC.org/NCDAcademy.

About the NCD Academy

NCD Academy equips healthcare professionals, such as general practitioners, internists, nurses and community health workers, with high-quality continuing education available anytime, anywhere, and free of charge on fundamental skills to prevent, manage and mitigate today's leading causes of death and disability. Courses address non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through an intersectional lens given shared risk factors and the tendency of NCDs to coexist with one another, as well as with infectious diseases. Courses include eLearning that emulates the experience of intensive face-to-face training through interactive knowledge application and practice in the form of patient cases and games such as trivia. The Academy has hosted 44 trainings, equipping more than 70,000 health care professionals across ten countries with the latest science, technology, resources and tools to manage and prevent NCDs. The program has reached physicians and patients across many countries including Argentina, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Iraq, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain and the United States.

About the American College of Cardiology

The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is the global leader in transforming cardiovascular care and improving heart health for all. As the preeminent source of professional medical education for the entire cardiovascular care team since 1949, ACC credentials cardiovascular professionals in over 140 countries who meet stringent qualifications and leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. Through its world-renowned family of JACC Journals, NCDR registries, ACC Accreditation Services, global network of Member Sections, CardioSmart patient resources and more, the College is committed to ensuring a world where science, knowledge and innovation optimize patient care and outcomes. Learn more at ACC.org or follow @ACCinTouch.

About Viatris
Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ: VTRS) is a global healthcare company empowering people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life. We provide access to medicines, advance sustainable operations, develop innovative solutions and leverage our collective expertise to connect more people to more products and services through our one-of-a-kind Global Healthcare Gateway®. Formed in November 2020, Viatris brings together scientific, manufacturing and distribution expertise with proven regulatory, medical, and commercial capabilities to deliver high-quality medicines to patients in more than 165 countries and territories. Viatris' portfolio comprises more than 1,400 approved molecules across a wide range of therapeutic areas, spanning both non-communicable and infectious diseases, including globally recognized brands, complex generic and branded medicines, and a variety of over-the-counter consumer products. With approximately 37,000 colleagues globally, Viatris is headquartered in the U.S., with global centers in Pittsburgh, Shanghai and Hyderabad, India. Learn more at viatris.com and investor.viatris.com, and connect with us on Twitter at @ViatrisInc, LinkedIn and YouTube.

 

Adolescents who use smartphones for more than three hours a day suffer more from back pain

The finding is from a longitudinal study conducted in Brazil. Analyzing data for high school students aged 13-18, it concluded that the problem affects girls more than boys and is associated with physical inactivity and low academic achievement

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

Thanks to the popularization of smartphones and tablets, and the multiplication of video channels, computer games and educational apps, children and adolescents are spending more and more time looking at screens, usually with bad posture, which can cause back pain, among other problems.

A study by Brazilian researchers, funded by FAPESP and reported in an article published in the scientific journal Healthcare, identified several risk factors for spinal health, such as looking at screens for more than three hours a day, proximity of the eyes to the screen, and sitting or lying on the stomach.

The study focused on thoracic spine pain (TSP). The thoracic spine is located at the back of the chest (the thorax), mostly between the shoulder blades, extending from the bottom of the neck to the start of the lumbar spine. The data analyzed came from surveys of 14- to 18-year-old male and female students in the first and second years of high school in Bauru, a medium-sized city in São Paulo state.

A baseline questionnaire was completed in March-June 2017 by 1,628 participants, of whom 1,393 completed a follow-up questionnaire in 2018. The analysis showed a one-year prevalence of 38.4% (the proportion reporting TSP in both the baseline and follow-up surveys) and a one-year incidence of 10.1% (new TSP reported only in the follow-up survey). More girls than boys reported TSP.

Risk factors

TSP is common in different age groups of the general population worldwide, with prevalence ranging from 15%-35% in adults and 13%-35% in children and adolescents. Explosive growth in the use of electronic devices during the COVID-19 pandemic clearly made the problem worse. The risk factors associated with TSP are physical, physiological, psychological and behavioral, according to several investigations. There is also strong evidence of the effects of physical activity, sedentary habits and mental disorders on spinal health. All these factors are considered critical by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest global review of evidence and guidelines.

“The study can be used to inform health education programs for school students, teachers, staff and parents,” said Alberto de Vitta, first author of the article. He has a PhD in education from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in public health at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Botucatu. 

“This is in line with some of the objectives of the National Curriculum Parameters [PCN, Brazilian government guidelines for secondary schools], according to which schools are responsible for health education, including identification of risks to individual and collective health and interventions to combat them, as well as promotion of self-care habits with regard to the body’s possibilities and limits,” said Vitta, who is currently teaching and researching at Eduvale College as a faculty member in its Department of Physical Therapy in Avaré, São Paulo state, and the University of Sapucaí Valley’s Graduate Program in Education, Knowledge and Society in Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais state.

Information on risk factors for TSP in high school students is important because children and adolescents with back pain are more inactive, achieve less academically and have more psychosocial problems, according to the article. In addition, fewer studies have been conducted on TSP than on lower back and neck pain. A systematic review of the literature on TSP found only two prospective studies regarding prognostic factors.

The other authors of the article are Matias Noll of the Federal Institute of Goiás (IFG) and the Federal University of Goiás’s School of Physical Education and Dance (FEFD-UFG) in Brazil; Nicoly Machado Maciel of the University of São Paulo (USP); and Manuel Monfort-Pañego and Vicente Miñana-Signes of the University of Valencia in Spain.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)

The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.

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JOURNAL

Healthcare

DOI

10.3390/healthcare11020196 

ARTICLE TITLE

Thoracic Spine Pain in High School Adolescents: A One-Year Longitudinal Study