Debate grows in protest movement over how hard to push back against ICE

MINNEAPOLIS — The scene that played out this week in Minneapolis illustrated a growing tension among those protesting federal immigration sweeps: Demonstrate at a distance or become more disruptive, even violent?

A federal agent on the night of Wednesday, Jan. 15, shot a man during a struggle to apprehend him, prompting residents to pour from their homes and protesters to flock to the North Side neighborhood.

Some kept their distance, but other protesters thrust cellphones in the faces of agents and hurled profanities. Some launched fireworks and water bottles at federal, state and local police officers. Three vehicles used by federal agents were ransacked, with vandals taking documents, including agent ID badges, from them.

Authorities fired projectiles and chemicals into the crowd. Soon, thunderheads of noxious green gas billowed through the neighborhoods, and police Chief Brian O’Hara declared the gathering “unlawful” while Mayor Jacob Frey called such actions “not helpful.”

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Trump administration escalates investigations into transgender athlete participation in California

LOS ANGELES — Federal officials have launched an investigation into the California Community Colleges Athletic Assn. and four other state colleges and school districts, alleging that their policies allowing sports participation based on gender identity violate the civil rights of female athletes, U.S. Education Department officials announced this week.

The investigations — which target 18 school districts and colleges nationwide — widen the Trump administration's drive to end the participation of transgender athletes in women's and girls' sports.

The announcements came the same week that a majority of Supreme Court justices appeared ready to uphold the laws of two states that forbid transgender athletes from competition. But it wasn't clear that they would stand in the way of states that chose instead to base participation on gender identity.

California requires K-12 school districts to base sports participation on gender identity and not an individual's biological sex at birth.

—Los Angeles Times

London scientists make progress in figuring out cause of Alzheimer's disease

BERLIN — British scientists have made a potentially important discovery related to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease that could pave the way for the development of drugs to treat the conditions.

In a paper published by npj dementia, a Nature journal, University College London researchers point to a gene called APOE as “probably” linked to half of all dementia cases and “potentially” 90% of those of Alzheimer’s.

According to the university, the findings suggest that the gene and a related protein could be an “under-recognized target for drug development, which could have the scope to prevent or treat a large proportion of all dementia.”

While APOE has long been linked to the diseases, according to the UCL team, their findings suggest that the connection has been “underestimated.” The key to preventing dementia onset, according to UCL’s Dylan Williams, could be to figure out a way to stop the gene’s effects in their tracks and in turn to figure out how the gene interacts with other potential contributors to onset, such as isolation or even cholesterol levels.

—dpa

Trump floats tariffs over Greenland as Denmark woos Congress

President Donald Trump threatened fresh tariffs on goods from nations that oppose his push to take control of Greenland, stepping up his rhetoric while Denmark hosted U.S. lawmakers on its home turf following meetings in Washington this week.

“I may put a tariff on countries if they don’t go along with Greenland, because we need Greenland for national security,” Trump said at a White House event on health care, without providing further details.

Trump has sought to use his sweeping tariff agenda to pressure other nations to make economic concessions and align themselves with his foreign policy priorities, and on Friday signaled he would include Greenland in that push. The president earlier this week threatened to impose 25% tariffs on goods from countries that trade with Iran, but has yet to follow through.

At the same time, a group of U.S. senators and representatives met lawmakers in the Danish parliament on Friday, with protests against Trump’s plans due across Denmark on Saturday.

—Bloomberg News