Mother of missing journalist meets with top Biden official
WASHINGTON — The mother of Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria in 2012, met at the White House with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday after criticizing the Biden administration for being a “hurdle” to the release of her son.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the meeting between Debra Tice and Sullivan and said the administration was doing everything it could to free Tice. She declined to provide an update on his case.
“I can’t give you an assessment. Obviously we’re going to do everything we can,” Psaki said. “It’s our standard practice not to share any specific details about any potential meetings or specific cases out of respect for the families, and to preserve confidentiality.”
Tice, at a press conference on Thursday, said that her son’s case must “go up the chain” for there to be progress toward his release after nine years.
She noted that President Joe Biden “has never said Austin’s name publicly.”
Officials from the Trump administration made a push for Tice’s release in 2020, meeting with Syrian officials to discuss potential terms for his release.
The United States does not recognize the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and the Biden administration will not say whether it is willing to engage with it directly to secure Tice’s freedom. Psaki said last month that the administration’s view of Assad has not changed in light of several countries in the Middle East reestablishing diplomatic ties with Damascus.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
U of Fla. to probe possible pressure to destroy COVID data
TAMPA, Fla. — The University of Florida said Friday it has launched an investigation into allegations that some of its researchers faced pressure from outside the school to destroy COVID-19 data.
The allegations surfaced earlier this week in a report by a Faculty Senate committee looking into issues of academic freedom at the university.
“(UF) takes breaches in research integrity very seriously and has a long-standing, rigorous process in place to investigate them,” vice president for research David Norton said in a message to faculty and staff.
The Faculty Senate report was commissioned after three political science professors were initially barred from testifying in a lawsuit against the state over voting rights, prompting an outcry. The report outlined widespread concerns among faculty — from a professor who was challenged when he used the words “critical” and “race” to describe his specialization, to researchers who, while working with an unnamed state agency, faced “external pressure to destroy” COVID-19 data.
In a statement earlier this week, Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the governor’s office did not apply any pressure toward UF and called into question some of the allegations.
“The report contains plenty of unsourced allegations and innuendo, but zero evidence that Governor DeSantis or anyone connected to the governor’s office has exerted or attempted to exert improper influence on UF,” the statement said. “This is because it did not happen. The task force stated clearly that they ‘did not fully investigate these reports,’ admitting that this is hearsay that they cannot back up with verifiable facts.”
The university said results of the investigation will be made public.
—Tampa Bay Times
Minnesota lakes are losing ice coverage as winters warm
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota lakes are losing one of the main things that makes them special: ice. Winters have warmed to the point that the state's lakes have lost an average of two weeks of ice coverage since the late 1960s, according to data released this week by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources.
The loss of ice has been one of the main drivers of toxic algae blooms, which have shut down lakes across the state, as well as a key reason that walleye, cisco, lake trout and other cold water-loving fish have been struggling and losing territory to species such as bass.
"We're the land of ten thousand lakes, the state of hockey, the state of fishing," she said. "These unique qualities of our state's identity face an uncertain future," said Sarah Strommen, DNR commissioner.
The DNR and Pollution Control Agency are pushing to use federal infrastructure dollars, as well some of the state's projected $7.7 billion surplus, to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that have been warming the climate.
The state has fallen woefully behind its promises to cut emissions.
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Ex-Sen. Perdue sues over ballots from 2020 Georgia election
ATLANTA — Republican candidate for Georgia governor David Perdue filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to inspect absentee ballots in Fulton County, repeating some of the same unproven allegations as in a lawsuit dismissed two months ago.
Perdue’s complaint, filed four days after he launched his campaign, revives a series of failed lawsuits by supporters of former President Donald Trump searching for fraud in last year’s election.
Perdue has put false claims of election fraud at the center of his campaign against incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. The former U.S. senator said he wouldn’t have certified the election results and wanted a special legislative session to delve into conspiracy theories about the outcome.
State election officials have said there’s no indication of fraud after three ballot counts and multiple investigations. Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump by about 12,000 votes in Georgia.
Perdue’s lawsuit echoes a case that also sought to inspect about 147,000 absentee ballots in Fulton County. Digital images of the ballots were made public earlier this year, but the plaintiffs want to review the originals.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
