Judge: Harvard researcher charged with smuggling frog embryos was unlawfully detained by ICE
Colleagues and academics also testified on Kseniia Petrova's behalf, saying she is doing valuable research to advance cures for cancer.
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Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Extraordinary discovery in underground burrow next to Aussie car park
Next to a car park, near the centre of an Australian capital city, researchers discovered a tiny animal hiding underground just outside their laboratory. Nothing similar to this rare trapdoor spider had been seen in the area for 30 years, and incredibly, researchers believe it could be a new species. The spider was found in an underground burrow, in remnant bushland preserved at a University of Western Australia (UWA) field station in Shenton Park, close to the Perth CBD. The surrounding Swan Coastal Plain has been largely developed and is surrounded by university buildings, houses and sporting grounds. The discovery of the Teyl trapdoor spider came during a joint investigation by Edith Cowan University (ECU) and UWA. Like other spiders in its genus, it was heavy-set and shiny. And even more excitingly, the animal was discovered to be a pregnant female. Exciting moment researchers film trapdoor spider Remarkable video supplied to Yahoo News by Dr Leanda Mason, the research fellow at ECU, shows the spider inside its hole, just metres away from a car park. "Oh my goodness," one of the scientists can be heard saying as she zooms in on the tiny creature. "Isn't she beautiful?" another says. Related: Fears for massive newly-identified trapdoor spider Trapdoor spiders particularly hard hit by development Habitat fragmentation is a problem for all species of native animals in Australia, because it can leave them landlocked in an area. Trapdoor spiders are particularly vulnerable to the problem, as the Western Australian Museum's Dr Mark Harvey explained to Yahoo News in July. 'Once they've been lost from an area, because the native habitat is a patchwork, and no longer connected, they can't move from one place to another to recolonise,' he said. 'Trapdoor spiders are very bad at that at the best of times, because the spiderlings come out of the mother's burrow, they might only walk one, two or three metres before they start their own. And that's where they spend the rest of their lives — so they don't disperse like other animals do.' Trapdoor spider discovery 50 years in the making The team now plan to re-release the mother and her spiderlings after their scientific observations are complete. 'This is a precious opportunity to document life history traits, while also allowing a higher proportion of spiderlings to survive to maturity,' Mason said. 'This foundational knowledge will directly inform future conservation actions and management recommendations for this, and potentially other cryptic species in an area in desperate need of protection.' Ominous sign for Australia's cities after spider discovery in New Zealand Device inside black box holds secret to 'mind-blowing' Tasmanian tiger breakthrough Mutant snails linked to $170 million damage bill in Australia Her colleague, UWA's Professor Kingley Dixon, was excited by the find, calling it a 'rare triumph of nature holding on to life' in an urban environment. 'For almost 50 years I have worked in this bushland, and who would have thought such an extraordinary discovery would happen right on our doorstep — literally at the front door to the laboratory,' he said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas' Republican-controlled House approves new maps to create more winnable GOP congressional seats
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House on Wednesday approved redrawn congressional maps that would give Republicans a bigger edge in 2026, muscling through a partisan gerrymander that launched weeks of protests by Democrats and a widening national battle over redistricting. The approval came at the urging of President Donald Trump, who pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade revision of congressional maps to give his party a better chance at holding onto the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. The maps need to be approved by the GOP-controlled state Senate and signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott before they become official. But the Texas House vote had presented the best chance for Democrats to derail the redraw. Democratic legislators delayed the vote by two weeks by fleeing Texas earlier this month in protest, and they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday's session. The approval of the Texas maps on an 88-52 party-line vote is likely to prompt California's Democratic-controlled state Legislature this week to approve of a new House map creating five new Democratic-leaning districts. But the California map would require voter approval in November. Democrats have also vowed to challenge the new Texas map in court and complained that Republicans made the political power move before passing legislation responding to deadly floods that swept the state last month. Texas maps openly made to help GOP Texas Republicans openly said they were acting in their party's interest. State Rep. Todd Hunter, who wrote the legislation formally creating the new map, noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed politicians to redraw districts for nakedly partisan purposes. 'The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance,' Hunter, a Republican, said on the floor. After nearly eight hours of debate, Hunter took the floor again to sum up the entire dispute as nothing more than a partisan fight. 'What's the difference, to the whole world listening? Republicans like it, and Democrats do not.' Democrats said the disagreement was about more than partisanship. 'In a democracy, people choose their representatives,' State Rep. Chris Turner said. 'This bill flips that on its head and lets politicians in Washington, D.C., choose their voters.' State Rep. John H. Bucy blamed the president. 'This is Donald Trump's map,' Bucy said. 'It clearly and deliberately manufactures five more Republican seats in Congress because Trump himself knows that the voters are rejecting his agenda.' Redistricting becomes tool nationwide in battle for US House The Republican power play has already triggered a national tit-for-tat battle as Democratic state lawmakers prepared to gather in California on Thursday to revise that state's map to create five new Democratic seats. 'This is a new Democratic Party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country,' California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. 'And we're going to fight fire with fire.' A new California map would need to be approved by voters in a special election in November because that state normally operates with a nonpartisan commission drawing the map to avoid the very sort of political brawl that is playing out. Newsom himself backed the 2008 ballot measure to create that process, as did former President Barack Obama. But in a sign of Democrats' stiffening resolve, Obama Tuesday night backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. 'I think that approach is a smart, measured approach,' Obama said during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm. The incumbent president's party usually loses seats in the midterm election, and the GOP currently controls the House of Representatives by a mere three votes. Trump is going beyond Texas in his push to remake the map. He's pushed Republican leaders in conservative states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to create new Republican seats. Ohio Republicans were already revising their map before Texas moved. Democrats, meanwhile, are mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps as well. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. Texas Democrats decry the new maps In Texas, there was little that outnumbered Democrats could do other than fume and threaten a lawsuit to block the map. Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice. Democrats noted that, in every decade since the 1970s, courts have found that Texas' legislature did violate the Voting Rights Act in redistricting, and that civil rights groups had an active lawsuit making similar allegations against the 2021 map that Republicans drew up. Republicans contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. Democrats and some civil rights groups have countered that the GOP does that through mainly a numbers game that leads to halving the number of the state's House seats that will be represented by a Black representative. State Rep. Ron Reynolds noted the country just marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act's passage and warned GOP members about how they'd be remembered if they voted for what he called 'this racial gerrymander.' 'Just like the people who were on the wrong side of history in 1965, history will be looking at the people who made the decisions in the body this day,' Reynolds, a Democrat, said. Republicans hit back at criticism Republicans spent far less time talking on Wednesday, content to let their numbers do the talking in the lopsided vote. As the day dragged on, a handful hit back against Democratic complaints. 'You call my voters racist, you call my party racist and yet we're expected to follow the rules,' said State Rep. Katrina Pierson, a former Trump spokesperson. 'There are Black and Hispanic and Asian Republicans in this chamber who were elected just like you.' House Republicans' frustration at the Democrats' flight and ability to delay the vote was palpable. The GOP used a parliamentary maneuver to take a second and final vote on the map so it wouldn't have to reconvene for one more vote after Senate approval. House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced as debate started that doors to the chamber were locked and any member leaving was required to have a permission slip. The doors were only unlocked after final passage more than eight hours later. One Democrat who refused the 24-hour police monitoring, State Rep. Nicole Collier, had been confined to the House floor since Monday night. Some Democratic state lawmakers joined Collier Tuesday night for what Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez dubbed 'a sleepover for democracy.' Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust several Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Someone reportedly fired a shot into Andy Reid's office in 2024 while the Chiefs coach was inside
Someone fired a shot into the office of Chiefs head coach Andy Reid in 2024 while the Chiefs coach was inside, The Kansas City Star reports. Neither Reid nor anyone else was injured, but he now sits behind bulletproof glass in his office window, according to the report. Citing "several sources," including a spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department, the Star reported Wednesday that the shooting took place in May of last year. Per the report, Reid was working alone in his office at the Chiefs practice facility after midnight on May 4 when someone from outside the building fired a shot through a window in his office. The bullet then lodged into the wall between the door to Reid's office and his bathroom, roughly 15 feet away from Reid's desk, per the report. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] The shooting had not previously been reported or publicly disclosed until Wednesday. Investigation is ongoing KCPD spokesperson Capt. Jacob Becchina told The Star that no arrests have been made or charges filed, and that an investigation is ongoing. The Chiefs declined to comment to the Star about the incident. The motive for the shooting is unclear. 'There is no indication this was a targeted incident at any person or organization," Becchina told the Star. 'Because the building was occupied at the time of the bullet coming through the window, the case is being investigated as an aggravated assault." Per the report, two other bullets were fired at the building during the shooting. One hit the third floor, one floor above Reid's second-story office. The other hit an outdoor air-conditioning unit. Kansas City's practice facilities reside at the Harry S. Truman Sports Complex, which sits between the Chiefs' home field at Arrowhead Stadium and Kaufmann Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals. The facility also houses the Chiefs' front-office staff and corporate offices. Reid, 67, has coached the Chiefs for 12 seasons. He's led the Chiefs to five Super Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl victories in the last six seasons. He was three months removed from leading the Chiefs to a Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at the time of the shooting. The Chiefs are currently preparing for their third and final preseason game against the Chicago Bears on Friday. The Chiefs will open their regular season at home against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 5.
