Trump Administration Tries to Control Minneapolis Shooting Narrative, and Winter Storm Shatters Records

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, January 26th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13The second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis has kicked off what's become a new pattern from the Trump administration, of officials immediately going on the offensive, demonizing the victim, and often distorting the facts of what happened. On Saturday morning, Alex Preddy, a Minneapolis resident who worked as an ICU nurse at the VA, had gathered with a small group of protesters near where federal agents were operating. These kinds of scenes have become common in Minneapolis and across the country. Demonstrators opposed to the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement come to blow whistles or record on their phones.

0:50Videos show Preddy stepped between a woman and an agent who was pepper spraying her. He was then pepper sprayed, and a group of agents piled onto him. They pinned him down and appeared to pull a handgun off of Preddy's hip before agents opened fire, killing him. Videos show Preddy, who had a permit to carry a firearm, never drew his weapon. This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem immediately claimed Preddy assaulted the officers. You do not get to attack law enforcement officials in this country without any repercussions.

1:30That was echoed by the head of the FBI, Kash Patel. The suspect put himself in that situation. The victims are the Border Patrol agents there. And by a senior Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino. Stephen Miller, one of President Trump's top advisors, went further, calling Preddy a would-be assassin and a domestic terrorist. Administration officials made similar claims, with no evidence, about Renee Good, who was killed in her car by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this year. I'm rejecting the rush to judgment within 15 minutes of this, which they did last time. They're telling you not to trust your eyes and ear, not to trust the facts that you're seeing in front of them.

2:09Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he had called the White House to demand that the state handle the investigation into Preddy's death, saying the federal government cannot be trusted. Despite that, state authorities say they've been cut out again, like they were after Good's killing. Over the weekend, they took the extraordinary measure of getting an emergency court order to bar federal officials from destroying any evidence. Still, they say they haven't received basic facts from the government, like the identities of the agents who opened fire.

2:43In Washington, meanwhile, the uproar over Petty's killing could lead to a partial government shutdown at the end of the week. The Senate was set to vote on legislation that funds a broad range of government programs. But some key Democrats now say they're opposed to it, since it includes over$60 billion for DHS, including$10 billion specifically for ICE. I hate shutdowns. I'm one of the people that helped negotiate the solution to the last, the end of the last shutdown. But I can't vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under these circumstances. Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, where federal agents have also launched a ramped up immigration enforcement operation, said on CBS yesterday that he shared Democrats' concerns and that ICE funding should be voted on separately.

3:30By itself, let's have an honest negotiation, put some guardrails on what's going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem. We don't have to have a shutdown. At least one Republican senator has also raised concerns about the shooting. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said it was incredibly disturbing and called for a joint federal-state investigation, saying, quote, the credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake.

4:02The gigantic winter storm that crossed over much of the U.S. this weekend brought record-breaking low temperatures, dumped more than a foot of snow in 17 states, and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. It's getting a lot worse, the snow coming down at a much heavier pace compared to earlier. The National Weather Service said Bonito Lake, New Mexico, got the most snow of anywhere in the country, recording 31 inches. Again, it's just waves of snow. The heavy snow, combined with ice in the south, caused chaos for travelers. Yesterday, nearly 40 percent of all flights in the country were canceled.

4:40The storm also turned deadly in some states. At least 11 people, from Texas to New York, died amid the bitter cold. Forecasters are now warning that those dangerous conditions could remain for days. About 80 % of Americans will see freezing temperatures in the next week, and many cities have been rushing to open warming centers for those affected by the cold.

5:08About a decade ago, genetic researchers started recruiting kids across the U.S. for an ambitious study to track brain development. They did MRIs, clinical tests, and took DNA samples, telling parents that it could help lead to breakthrough discoveries. They also told the families that all that sensitive data would be closely guarded by the National Institutes of Health. That is not what happened. Instead, a group of fringe researchers got around the NIH's safeguards and accessed data from over 20 ,000 kids. They used it to churn out at least 16 papers arguing things like white people are intellectually superior or ranking ethnicities by IQ scores.

5:53Those conclusions, which mainstream scientists have rejected as biased and unscientific, have become fodder for racist posts that have gone viral on social media. And some of the papers are being cited by AI bots like ChatGPT and Grok. The national co-director of the original study called this use of the data evil, saying, quote, It's not just that the science is faulty, but it's being used to advance an unethical agenda. The misuse of the data has underscored broader concerns about the security of genetic information at the NIH. The agency grants tens of thousands of requests from researchers to use its databases.

6:34But the Times has found that in dozens of cases, data was made vulnerable to theft, used for unapproved purposes, or released improperly. For example, two years ago, an unidentified researcher in China was able to access Americans' genetic information, even though it's not supposed to be shared with people in adversarial countries that could use it for blackmail or military purposes. In a statement, an NIH official said the agency has taken new steps to protect data, including the brain development study. The one geneticist who filed a complaint with the agency about the way data is handled told the Times, Our scientific institutions sort of assume good faith in people.

7:16And he added, quote,

7:26And finally, Dry January Day 25, four weekends in a row. This is the month, every year, when millions of Americans rethink their relationship with alcohol. Either going sober, going kinda sober. Now, many people are going Cali-sober. Cali-sober, if you don't know what it is, is typically using marijuana in your sobriety, so you're not drinking or not using... Liquor sales during the month of January are bleak, and they've been consistently losing ground to THC-infused drinks like mocktails, seltzers, and teas. Manufacturers of the drinks say their customers aren't just young people. They're also seeing rising interest from older women in particular, who are trying them amid concerns about links between alcohol and various diseases.

8:15Despite that growing market, though, the whole industry could be at risk of disappearing. A federal law kicks in this November that puts strict new limits on the amount of THC that can be in products like those drinks. While some of the beverages currently have 5 to 10 milligrams, the new limit will be 0.4 milligrams. The CEO of an industry group told The Times that could be devastating for business. Quote, it's like saying you can still buy pens, but they won't have any ink in them.

8:50Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.