DNA of wolf declared extinct in wild lives on in Texas pack
DALLAS — Researchers say a pack of wild canines found frolicking near the beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast carries a substantial amount of red wolf genes, a surprising discovery because the animal was declared extinct in the wild nearly 40 years ago.
The finding has led wildlife biologists and others to develop a new understanding that the red wolf DNA is remarkably resilient after decades of human hunting, loss of habitat and other factors had led the animal to near decimation.
“Overall, it’s incredibly rare to rediscover animals in a region where they were thought to be extinct and it’s even more exciting to show that a piece of an endangered genome has been preserved in the wild,” said Elizabeth Heppenheimer, a Princeton University biologist involved in the research on the pack found on Galveston Island in Texas. The work of the Princeton team was published in the scientific journal Genes.
The genetic analysis found that the Galveston canines appear to be a hybrid of red wolf and coyote, but Heppenheimer cautions that without additional testing, it’s difficult to label the animal.
Ron Sutherland, a North Carolina-based conservation scientist with the Wildlands Network, said it’s exciting to have found “this unique and fascinating medium-sized wolf.” The survival of the red wolf genes “without much help from us for the last 40 years is wonderful news,” said Sutherland, who was not involved in the Princeton study.
Industry wary of alternatives tries to protect a word: meat
LINCOLN, Neb. — More than four months after Missouri became the first U.S. state to regulate the term “meat” on product labels, Nebraska’s powerful farm groups are pushing for similar protection from veggie burgers, tofu dogs and other items that look and taste like real meat.
Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”
Similar measures aimed at meat alternatives are pending in Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming. They come amid a debate over what to call products that are being developed using the emerging science of meat grown by culturing cells in a lab. Supporters of the science are embracing the term “clean meat” — language the conventional meat industry strongly opposes.
The issue strikes a particularly strong chord in Nebraska, one of the nation’s top states for livestock production, where cars roll down the interstate with “Beef State” license plates and the governor each year proclaims May as “Beef Month.”
Polish mayor stabbed on stage, condition very serious
WARSAW, Poland — A convicted criminal with a knife rushed on to the stage during the finale of a charity event and stabbed a Polish mayor in the abdomen multiple times Sunday before shouting that he did it for political revenge, in an attack that left the politician fighting for his life.
Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz grabbed his belly and collapsed in front of the audience during the “Lights to Heaven” fundraiser organized by the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, Poland’s most important charity.
From wire sources
Polish President Andrzej Duda said he was informed that “doctors succeeded in reanimating the heart of the seriously injured Mayor Pawel Adamowicz and there is hope, but his condition is very difficult.” He called for people to pray for the mayor.
Adamowicz was taken to a hospital where he underwent surgery. Medical officials appealed for blood donations. More than five hours after the attack there were no updates on his condition. Gdansk Archbishop Slawoj Leszek Glod went to the hospital while the operation was underway, the internet news portal Onet reported.
Polish broadcaster TVN said the assailant shouted from the stage that he had been wrongly imprisoned under a previous national government led by Civic Platform, a party to which the mayor formerly belonged. The suspected attacker was arrested.
Man who killed officer said he was hit by ultrasonic waves
DAVIS, Calif. — The man who shot and killed a rookie California police officer left a letter on the bed in the home where he lived claiming police bombarded him with ultrasonic waves, officials said.
Police in the college town of Davis near Sacramento on Saturday made public the one-paragraph letter they said was written by Kevin Douglas Limbaugh, 48. He killed himself Thursday after fatally shooting Officer Natalie Corona.
Police spokesman Lt. Paul Doroshov said the paper was found face up on the gunman’s bed.
“The Davis Police department has been hitting me with ultra sonic (sic) waves meant to keep dogs from barking,” the letter said. “I notified the press, internal affairs, and even the FBI about it. I am highly sensitive to its affect (sic) on my inner ear. I did my best to appease them, but they have continued for years and I can’t live this way anymore.”
The handwritten note was signed “Citizen Kevin Limbaugh.” Also recovered as evidence from the man’s home were two unregistered guns.
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Trump’s weekend: new Russia questions, shutdown irritants
WASHINGTON — It wasn’t the weekend that President Donald Trump wanted: largely alone at the White House, irked by a pair of startling Russia headlines and baffled that he’s not getting more credit for staying put during the partial government shutdown.
Trump surprised his aides by deciding, with just a few hours’ notice, to call in to Jeanine Pirro’s show on Fox News on Saturday night to push back against coverage of his presidency on multiple fronts, particularly published reports about his approach toward Russia.
Even then, the president avoided directly answering when Pirro asked whether he currently is or has ever worked for Russia. The question came after The New York Times reported that law enforcement officials began investigating, in 2017, whether Trump had been working on behalf of Russia against U.S. interests. The newspaper said the investigation came after the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey.
“I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,” Trump told Pirro, a personal friend. “I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written, and if you read the article you’ll see that they found absolutely nothing.”
Trump went on to assert that no president has taken a harder stance against Russia than he has.
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