Enjoy the sky’s great globular – Astronomy Magazine

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Our final summertime globular is M55, which lies 8 east of Ascella (Zeta Sagittarii). It glows at magnitude 6.3 and spans 19'. Youll quickly notice that M55 doesnt have a dense core.

Large scopes with eyepieces that provide high powers (300x and above) will reveal several hundred faint stars. And heres something fun you can try: Insert an eyepiece with a tiny field of view. Through it, M55 looks more like an open cluster than a glob.

A 4-inch scope will resolve dozens of stars around M15s bright central region. Observers specifically target the clusters attractive chains of stars. Because of their position, M15 may appear slightly oval through a small scope.

If you head south to Aquarius and look about 5 north of Beta Aquarii, youll encounter one of my favorite globulars: M2. This stellar beehive glows at magnitude 6.6 and measures 12.9' across. Even a small telescope will reveal M2s slightly elliptical shape, although more northerly observers will need steady air near the southern horizon. Its worth the wait.

While youre in M2s neighborhood, head west one constellation and locate M30 in Capricornus. To find this magnitude 6.9 glob, look about 3 east-southeast of Zeta Capricorni.M30 has a diameter of 11'. Through a small scope, youll see lots of resolvable stars surrounding a large, bright core. To resolve that region, youll need a 12-inch scope and a magnification of 300x or more.

Our final object is the lone entry from the winter sky. M79 in Lepus glows at magnitude 7.8 and spans 8.7'. To find it, draw a line from Alpha through Beta Leporis and extend it 3.5.

Small scopes dont reveal much detail in M79. However, a 10-inch instrument shows a bright, wide core. Use a magnification of 200x or more, and youll resolve scores of stars at the clusters edges.

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Enjoy the sky's great globular - Astronomy Magazine

An unprecedented look at the atmosphere of the supergiant star Antares – Astronomy Magazine

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Sparkling near the heart of the constellation Scorpius lies ruby-red Antares, the 15th-brightest star in the night sky. Like its bloated cousin Betelgeuse, Antares is a red supergiant nearing the end of its life. These enormous yet relatively cold stars sport strong stellar winds that fire heavy elements like carbon and nitrogen into space, providing many of the building blocks for life as we know it.

Exactly how these winds are cast off has largely remained a mystery but it might not stay that way for long. Thanks to both the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the National Science Foundations Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers have peered deep within the atmosphere of Antares, and the insights their observations reveal help bring them one step closer to solving the mystery of superpowered winds from supergiant stars.

The two radio telescopes revealed that Antares is even larger than we previously believed. In visible light, the star is about 700 times larger than the Sun. But when ALMA and VLA looked at it in radio light, they saw that the stars chromosphere the second of a stars three main atmospheric layers extended out some 2.5 times the stars radius. For comparison, the Suns chromosphere extends only 1/200 of its radius.

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Explore the world of galaxies – Astronomy Magazine

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As astronomers have discovered more and more galaxies since the 1920s, they have acquired one fundamental piece of knowledge: The universe is really big! Lets imagine that you could climb into a spaceship and travel out into the universe, seeing more and more distant things as you went on. Lets also imagine that the spaceship could travel at the speed of light the fastest speed we know of in the cosmos. Thats about 186,000 miles per second, the speed at which photons particles of light are striking your eyes, enabling you to read this article. (Photons can travel that fast because they have no mass; spaceships have mass, so we know that spaceships couldnt move that fast. But, for the sake of understanding the size of the universe, lets pretend that our spaceship could.)

In our spaceship, lets set out from the Milky Way Galaxy, our home. The closest galaxy we can encounter is the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, a tiny galaxy that orbits ours. If we move at the speed of light, it would take us 70,000 years to reach this galaxy. Another way of thinking about these enormous distances is to understand how long the light that we now see from other galaxies has been traveling through space to reach us. The light from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy has traveled since humans made their earliest bits of art inside caves in South Africa. If we traveled for 163,000 years in our spaceship, we could arrive at the Large Magellanic Cloud, our galaxys largest satellite. Traveling for 200,000 years would carry us to the Small Magellanic Cloud, another satellite of our Milky Way. The light you see from this galaxy tonight has traveled through space since our earliest human ancestors closely linked to our species walked the African plains.

But those are dwarf galaxies that are very close to us. The largest nearby galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy, which would take us 2.5 million years to reach in our spaceship. The light you see from this galaxy tonight has traveled through space since some of our earliest human ancestors were here on Earth.

And these are just some of the galaxies closest to us. Traveling outward, you would find countless examples of strange and beautiful galaxies at all manner of distances. These would include spirals like IC 239, M100, M106, NGC 210, NGC 2683, NGC 2841, NGC 3310, NGC 3338, NGC 4565, and NGC 6946. You would encounter fields of multiple galaxies like those in the Leo Trio (M65, M66, and NGC 3628), M81 and M82, and the galaxy group Hickson 31. Some galaxies that seem to be connected, like NGC 3314, would grow away from each other as you approached and their visual alignment disappeared. You would encounter numerous weird, distorted galaxies the result of interactions or disruptions by black holes like Arp 188, ESO 243-49, NGC 474, NGC 660, NGC 2685, NGC 4622, NGC 5291, NGC 7714, and UGC 697.

You can see how enormous the cosmos is and understand that, fundamentally, it is filled with galaxies. The Virgo Cluster galaxies would take 50 million years to reach in our light-speed spaceship. More distant galaxies are arranged in clusters and superclusters that we can see from Earth, and some lie hundreds of millions or billions of light-years away. Reaching the most distant galaxies that we can see would take us more than 13 billion years, traveling at the speed of light.

Living our lives on this third planet from the Sun in our solar system, its easy to ignore how unbelievably immense the universe is. But moving farther and farther out into the universe to explore galaxies allows us to understand how the universe came to be, and where its going.

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Infinity and Beyon: Episode 1 The Big Bang – Astronomy Magazine

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Astronomy magazine is excited to introduce a new weekly video series that will let you explore the cosmos from the comfort of your own home. Hosted by Abigail Bollenbach an ambitious and enthusiastic astronomer in the making Infinity and Beyond will introduce you to some of the most fascinating aspects of our solar system, galaxy, and universe!

Bollenbach, who just recently graduated high school, has long been fascinated by space. This is why she plans to study astrophysics when she begins college in the fall. Her drive and passion for knowledge reach far beyond the stars, and she is always up for discussing the cosmos.

I think this is one of the best times to be alive, honestly, and in so many different realms but especially in science, Bollenbach told Astronomy Editor David Eicher in a recent interview.

You can catch Infinity and Beyond each week here on Astronomy.com, as well as on our social media channels.

We hope you enjoy the first episode!

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Infinity and Beyon: Episode 1 The Big Bang - Astronomy Magazine

CHIME study involving U of T astronomers finds fast radio bursts repeat ‘on the time scale of weeks’ – News@UofT

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A Canadian-led team of astronomers, including researchers from the University of Torontos Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, has discovered that a repeating fast radio burst (FRB) originating from a nearby galaxy pulses at regular intervals.

Researchers with theCanadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment(CHIME) Fast Radio Burst Collaboration used the CHIME telescope in British Columbia to show that the repeating radio source known as FRB 180916.J0158+65 first discovered in 2018 by the same group pulsates every 16.35 days.

The findings, described in a studypublished recently in Nature, are the first to demonstrate that repeating FRBs can burst predictably.

The finding was unexpected. We were surprised by the fact that the FRB has regular activity on the time scale of weeks, saidDongzi Li, a PhD student at Dunlap and corresponding author of the paper. Most people would expect it to be at much shorter time scales, like seconds or even milliseconds, from rotation of a compact star. Any explanation for a 16-day cycle is likely very different.

FRBs were discovered over a decade ago. First thought to be singular events, astronomers have since learned that some of these high-intensity blasts of radio emissions, in fact, repeat.

Though the explanation for the mysterious phenomenon is still elusive, the new study is another step towards determining what might be causing FRBs.

There are suddenly lots of concrete questions to ask and to follow-up on, explains Li. If any observed properties of the bursts change regularly with the same 16.35-day period, it will tell us about the environment close to the burst.

Earlier this year,astronomersin Europe, in partnership with the CHIME/FRB Collaboration, were able to pinpoint FRB 180916 to a nearby galaxy located 500 million light years from Earth. Astronomers worldwide are now studying the source with a variety of telescopes, in the hopes of explaining the repetition.

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CHIME study involving U of T astronomers finds fast radio bursts repeat 'on the time scale of weeks' - News@UofT

Astronomers Estimate There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way – Universe Today

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Six billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way? If true, thats astounding. But the number needs some context.

The Milky Way has up 400 billion stars. So even if there are six billion Earth-like planets, theyre still spread far and wide throughout our vast galaxy.

A new study came up with the six billion number. The co-authors are Michelle Kunimoto and Jaymie Matthews, both from the University of British Columbia. The studys title is Searching the Entirety of Kepler Data. II. Occurrence Rate Estimates for FGK Stars. Its published in The Astronomical Journal.

An Earth-like world is one thats rocky, roughly the same size as Earth, and that orbits a Sun-like, or G-Type, star. It also has to orbit that star in the habitable zone, which is a range of distance allowing for liquid water on the planet. Its worth noting that the most common type of exoplanet weve detected is a Neptune-size planet far from the habitable zone.

My calculations place an upper limit of 0.18 Earth-like planets per G-type star, said co-author Kunimoto in a press release. Estimating how common different kinds of planets are around different stars can provide important constraints on planet formation and evolution theories, and help optimize future missions dedicated to finding exoplanets.

Previous work on the occurrence of Earth-like planets have come up with other numbers, from 0.02 potentially habitable Earth-like worlds per Sun-like star, up to greater than one per star.

Our Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with seven per cent of them being G-type, said co-author Matthews. That means less than six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy.

The vast majority of the exoplanets weve discovered have been found using the transit timing method. Automated observatories like Kepler monitored stars for the telltale dip in brightness created by a planet passing in front of its star. But that method has an unavoidable bias.

Since a larger planet will cause a much more pronounced dip in starlight than a smaller planet, weve found many more large gas planets than we have smaller, rocky worlds. Kepler was also more likely to spot planets with shorter orbital periods. So we cant just take Kepler data and extrapolate it to the entire Milky Way.

In their paper, the researchers write that Finding Earth-size planets is challenging due to their small sizes and low transit signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns), meaning planet detection pipelines have greater difficulty uncovering them than larger planets, and a higher risk of confusing them with transit-like noise in the data.

To get over this sampling bias, Kunimoto used a technique known as forward modelling.

I started by simulating the full population of exoplanets around the stars Kepler searched, she explained. I marked each planet as detected or missed depending on how likely it was my planet search algorithm would have found them. Then, I compared the detected planets to my actual catalogue of planets. If the simulation produced a close match, then the initial population was likely a good representation of the actual population of planets orbiting those stars.

Their study is based on a Kepler catalogue of about 200,000 stars, and precision radius measurements from the Gaia Data Release 2. They also took into account detection efficiency, and transit-like noise signals in the data. In the end, as the authors write, For planets with sizes 0.751.5R?orbiting in a conservatively defined habitable zone (0.991.70 au) around G-type stars, we place an upper limit (84.1th percentile) of <0.18 planets per star.

But coming up with that number was only part of the study. This new work also had something to say about whats known as the radius gap of planets.

The radius gap is also known as the Fulton gap, after Benjamin Fulton, an astronomer and research scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. It describes a phenomenon outlined in a 2017 paper by Fulton and a team of researchers.

For some reason, its very uncommon for an exoplanet with an orbital period of fewer than 100 days to have a radius between 1.5 and 2 times Earths.

One explanation for this radius gap is photoevaporation. The closest planets are so close to their stars that they lose their atmospheres due to stellar high-energy radiation from their stars. But stars simmer down after 100 million years or so, so larger planets with thicker hydrogen/helium envelopes may still retain some of their envelopes by the time the high energy radiation from their star shuts down. Even if they retain a small percentage of their original H/He atmospheres, thats enough to inflate their radii.

But Kunimoto and Matthews found something else.

They found that this radius gap actually occurs over a smaller range of orbital periods than previous work showed. The teams results can provide constraints on planet evolution models that explain the radius gaps characteristics.

One of the problems in this type of work is the term habitable zone. Theres no exact definition of the term, meaning it can be difficult to compare work between different teams of people. A partial explanation for the lack of consistency between literaturevalues lies in how authors define the HZ, the authors write.

Another problem is the definition of a rocky planet. Another complicating factor is how authors define the size of a potentially habitable, rocky planet. Too small, and a planet will not be able to retain an atmosphere or support plate tectonics.

In this work, the authors use a definition of habitable zone thats becoming more common: from 0.99 to 1.70 astronomical units. They also use a lower radius limit of 0.75 Earth radii for a rocky planet, and 1.5 Earth radii for an upper limit. Other researchers are working with these same definitions.

This wont be the final work on exoplanet populations of Earth-like planets. Were still in the infancy of exoplanet studies, and were only starting to get good at finding exoplanets, and reliably characterizing their sizes, type, and positions. As Kunimoto explained in the press release, this type of research will help us refine our understanding of exoplanet populations, and how to search for them.

But if there are 6 billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way, expect to hear about more of them as time goes on. Missions like NASAs TESS and the ESAs CHEOPS are taking planet-finding to the next level. If there are other planets that are like Earth, they cant hide forever.

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1981: Barbara Williams becomes the first Black woman to get a PhD – Astrobites

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Todays Astrobite looks at the work of Barbara A. Williams, the first African-American woman to achieve a PhD in Astronomy.

Barbara A. Williams started her studies at the University of North Carolina. She then moved to the University of Maryland for her masters degree in Radio Astronomy before also completing her PhD there in 1981 as the first Black American woman to acquire a PhD in astronomy. After her PhD, Williams then moved to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, VA where she continued her focus on radio observations of compact groups of galaxies.

Title: MKW 10: A Group of Galaxies with a Compact CoreAuthor: Barbara A. WilliamsAuthors Institute (at the time of publication): National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VAStatus: Published in Astrophysical Journal [open access]

Todays Astrobite focusses on a single-author paper written by Williams in 1984. Much of Williams research focusses on compact groups of galaxies. Todays paper looks at the galaxy group MKW10, shown in Figure 1.

MKW10 is a small collection, or poor cluster of galaxies (with rich clusters defined as containing more than a thousand galaxies). Originally identified in a previous study in 1975, the system contains 9 bright galaxies (labelled 2-10), with 5 bright members (labelled 3-7) concentrated towards the centre forming a subsystem known as a compact group of galaxies. Many of these compact groups have been identified and were first catalogued by Paul Hickson in 1982, leading to the name Hickson compact groups, which have continued to be studied in detail, including in this astrobite.

The radio observations were made using the 305 m Arecibo telescope during June 1982 and October 1983. The Arecibo Observatory located in Puerto Rico and completed in 1963 was, until 2016, the worlds largest single-aperture telescope. Some eagle-eyed readers may also recognise it from the movie Contact (one of my all time favourites!), as well as James Bonds GoldenEye.

Eight spiral members were detected in the 21cm line of neutral hydrogen, as well as observations of galaxies surrounding the group in order to construct (for the first time) a complete redshift sample of all spiral galaxies within this 10.2 square degree region. The 21cm line, also known as the HI line sits within the radio wavelengths and corresponds to an emission line of neutral hydrogen. When a hydrogen atom transitions from the excited state into the ground state, a photon is emitted at a wavelength of 21cm. This line is very useful in determining the velocity of the source due to doppler shifts in this line. Wilson finds that the spiral galaxies in the compact group show strong signs of tidal interaction due to the strange shapes of their HI profiles. This provides evidence for the fact that the compact group is indeed compact, rather than just being an observational effect.

Williams then looks at the mass-to-light ratios of the galaxies, that is the mass measured within the galaxy as a ratio of the light emitted by the stars. Mass-to-light ratios gives information about the types and ages of a galaxys stars. Spiral galaxies have a large percentage of young stars and therefore have relatively high mass-to-light ratios, whereas elliptical galaxies with mostly older stars have lower values. By studying all of the surrounding galaxies as well as the compact group, Wilson is able to build up a picture of the larger scale environment which may be affecting the evolution of the galaxies. Using these mass-to-light ratios along with the morphological type of the galaxies, she finds that the fraction of early-type (Sc) spiral galaxies is higher in the compact group than in the rest of the group, indicating these galaxies have been more disturbed in some way as the rotation of the stars is not as ordered as late-type spiral galaxies. The dynamical friction timescale is also calculated to be short, meaning that these galaxies are interacting with each other. From this, as well as the density of galaxies, the collision rate of galaxies is calculated to be high in this group a rate of 22 per galaxy per Hubble time (~14 billion years). For this reason, Wilson finds that it is unlikely that the compact group has been compact for a long time. This compact group is likely a bound configuration of galaxies which will coalesce in around a billion years.

The compact central group in the centre of MKW10, known as the Hickson compact group 58 studied in this paper by Williams continues to be studied to this day, as shown in Figure 4 in a more recent observation by SDSS. If you take a look back at the panels of Figure 3, youll notice the top right panel corresponds to the bottom three galaxies in Figure 4 (NGC3852, NGC3848 and NGC 3817) and the bottom left panel of Figure 3 corresponds to the top two galaxies of Figure 4 (NGC 3819 and NGC3820). The difference in resolution is astonishing, and makes the findings from the original studies back in the 80s all the more impressive!

The formation and mere existence of these groups is still a mystery as the lifetimes of these groups is predicted to be quite short, meaning that observing these groups should be rare. However, hundreds of these groups have been observed so far in the local Universe. One significant result that Williams found with this study, which has proven to be true of all similar compact groups was that the observed HI abundance was lower than expected. A likely suggestion for this is that as these galaxies are interacting, their gas is being tidally stripped, but the jury is still out and research is still ongoing. These observations as well as the observational techniques pioneered by Williams paved the way for future deeper understanding of the effect of environment on galaxy evolution.

Following her time at National Radio Astronomy Observatory, she returned to the University of North Carolina as a Research Associate, where she had completed her undergraduate studies, before moving to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Delaware as an Associate Professor, where she also served as Acting Associate Chair. Along with many other awards, Williams was named as the Outstanding Young Woman of America in 1986. As well as her significant contribution to the field of radio observations of groups of galaxies, Williams later studied educational research, with a focus on methods to prevent women from leaving academia.

Williams paved the way for Black American women to follow in her footsteps. As far as I can tell from the information online, Williams is now retired. Wherever you are Barbara, I hope you are enjoying your retirement and that telling your story will continue to inspire generations to come.

About Jessica May HislopDoctoral Student at the Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics in Munich, Germany. Studying the formation of nuclear star clusters and intermediate mass black holes in high resolution simulations of dwarf galaxies.

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1981: Barbara Williams becomes the first Black woman to get a PhD - Astrobites

UI professors mapping the way for the future of plasma physics and fusion energy research – UI The Daily Iowan

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Professor Scott Baalrud is the co-chair of a committee setting a 10 year plan for the future of plasma physics and fusion energy research.

Ryan Adams

Van Allen Hall is seen on Monday, November 18, 2019. Van Allen is the home of the physics and astronomy department.

Molly Allen, News Reporter June 21, 2020

University of Iowa professors are taking the lead on plasma physics and fusion-energy research. A campus committee has created a strategic plan to advise the Office of Fusion Energy Science with the U.S. Department of Energy on how to invest its resources to advance research.

Fusion energy is a type of energy created by fusing together light elements like hydrogen. This is a similar process seen in the sun and stars, according to Fred Skiff, physics and astronomy professor at the UI.

UI Physics and Astronomy professor Scott Baalrud co-chairs the committee that developed a 10-year plan for the future of plasma physics and fusion-energy research.

It also describes what the scientific community feels are the highest priority, basic science questions in plasma science and engineering, Baalrud said.

Baalrud said his committee is prioritizing research on fusion energy because it has the potential to provide a carbon-free source of energy for the world. Fuel for fusion energy is abundant, he said, because the main component is isotopes of hydrogen found in seawater.

Skiff is a member of a committee of experts that will review Baalruds report before sending it to the U.S. Department of Energy. This report is important because it is going to inform the department on how it does its work, he said.

[Baalruds committee] is trying to shepherd and lead the scientific community doing this research, Skiff said. They provide funding from the government and they want to make sure their money is well spent.

Skiff said fusion energy is a better alternative to other types like fission energy which can be used to make nuclear bombs.

Sea water isnt dangerous, Skiff said. Its not like uranium where people also make weapons out of it.

RELATED: University of Iowa Physics and Astronomy department host first-ever virtual astronomy, observation night

Skiff said fission energy leaves behind radioactive waste that lasts for 100,000 years and causes harm to the environment. Fission energy is a kind of nuclear energy that power plants use.

The shift to fusion energy, however, is not simple, he said.

To do fusion, you have to heat the hydrogen to temperatures like there is in the sun, which is 10 million degrees, Skiff said. Thats not easy.

Fusion energy has been researched for 50 to 60 years, Skiff said. Although there has been a lot of progress, he said, people have become skeptical about fusion energy because it is taking so long.

The UI report sets a goal to build a demonstration fusion power plant in the 2040s, Baalrud said.

Its a very hard problem, but when a lot of smart people work on a problem for a long time, you make progress, Skiff said.

Gregory Howes is another UI Physics and Astronomy professor involved in plasma physics research. Howes was a part of the community planning process that established priorities for Baalruds committee to consider.

Howes said that setting priorities for plasma-physics research is crucial to make sure members of the community are using their resources toward common goals.

Otherwise, all of these different little areas are fighting for their slice of the pie, Howes said.

The average person may not realize the wide applicability of plasma physics, he added. The most obvious application is computer technology, he said.

Every chip from your phone to your computer uses what is called plasma processing, Howes said.

Howes said that a new and cutting-edge plasma technology is being used for medicine, including cancer treatments.

The importance of plasma physics research is to provide information for future generations, Skiff said.

Its really not about my career, Skiff said. Its about the next generation of people coming along.

The independent, student-run newsroom at the DI covers the University of Iowa and local community to keep you informed. Your support helps provide the necessary resources and training to continue our mission.

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Astronomers Detect a Fascinating Green Glow in The Atmosphere of Mars – ScienceAlert

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High in the atmosphere of Mars, astronomers have found a phenomenon they've been hunting for decades: a faint green glow, caused by the interaction between sunlight and oxygen in the upper atmosphere.

Previously, this glow has only been detected in one place: the sky above Earth. Its discovery in the Martian atmosphere will help us better understand the processes that drive airglow, both on Earth and elsewhere.

"One of the brightest emissions seen on Earth stems from night glow. More specifically, from oxygen atoms emitting a particular wavelength of light that has never been seen around another planet," said astronomer Jean-Claude Grard of the Universit de Lige in Belgium, the lead author of the new paper describing the phenomenon.

"However, this emission has been predicted to exist at Mars for around 40 years - and, thanks to [ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter], we've found it."

Earth's sky is never completely dark, not even at night, even once you've extracted light pollution, starlight, and diffuse sunlight. The molecules in the atmosphere are constantly undergoing various processes, which causes them to faintly glow across a range of wavelengths.

The glow is not dissimilar to aurora, since it's produced by the same particles - except it's much fainter, and the mechanisms behind it are different. Aurora is produced by charged particles from the solar wind which ionise atmospheric atoms, causing them to form dancing lights across the sky.

Airglow, on the other hand, is caused by the interaction between sunlight and the atmosphere, and falls broadly into two categories. There's nightglow; this occurs when atoms broken apart by solar radiation during the day recombine, releasing their excess energy in the form of photons. Nightglow has previously been observed on both Venus and Mars, as well as Earth.

What astronomers have now observed in the atmosphere of Mars is dayglow - a phenomenon that's much harder to detect, given that its faint presence is vastly outshone by broad daylight.

On Earth, it occurs when molecules in the atmosphere absorb sunlight, which gives them excess energy they emit in the form of radiation at the same or slightly lower frequency as the radiation absorbed in the first place.

In images of Earth taken from the International Space Station, when the camera is looking across the top of the atmosphere rather than straight down, the airglow is much more visible.

On the Red Planet, such dayglow was predicted in 1979, but Mars orbiters, facing directly at the Martian surface, had failed to detect it until now.

Earth's nightglow. (NASA)

So, learning from the ISS, the team reoriented the Nadir and Occultation for MArs Discovery (NOMAD) instrument from its position looking straight down at Mars, to looking across the atmosphere towards the Martian horizon. From this position, they took a range of observations of the Martian atmosphere, at a range of altitudes between 20 and 400 kilometres (12 to 250 miles).

When they analysed the data, they found the green emission in both optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, in all of the dayside observations.

"The emission was strongest at an altitude of around 80 kilometres and varied depending on the changing distance between Mars and the Sun," explained planetary aeronomer Ann Carine Vandaele of the Institut Royal d'Aronomie Spatiale de Belgique in Belgium.

When the team modelled the process behind the emission, they found that it's produced by a process very similar to airglow on Earth. When solar radiation hits the Martian atmosphere, it splits apart carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide and oxygen. It's the oxygen atoms that are responsible for the green glow.

But there was something interesting, too. The emission's visible wavelength was 16.5 times more intense than its ultraviolet wavelength.

"The observations at Mars agree with previous theoretical models but not with the actual glowing we've spotted around Earth, where the visible emission is far weaker," Grard said.

"This suggests we have more to learn about how oxygen atoms behave, which is hugely important for our understanding of atomic and quantum physics."

This discrepancy, the team notes, could be an issue with the way the instrument taking Earth observations has been calibrated. Obviously the best thing to do is a whole lot more science.

The research has been published in Nature Astronomy.

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Astronomers Detect a Fascinating Green Glow in The Atmosphere of Mars - ScienceAlert

End of the world: Astronomers break silence over June 21 doomsday – Express.co.uk

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Conspiracy theorists had claimed the dates of the Maya calendar had been misinterpreted, and that the end of the world will actually be today. Back in 2012, the internet was abuzz with claims that the Maya calendar was set to end on December 21. That date came and went without the apocalypse, leaving many doomsdayers red faced.

Now however, the bizarre claims are back, with suggestions there were discrepancies in how the calendar had been interpreted.

The claims resurfaced following a tweet from Paolo Tagaloguin, who explained his theory on Twitter.

He said: "Following the Julian Calendar, we are technically in 2012 The number of days lost in a year due to the shift into Gregorian Calendar is 11 days For 268 years using the Gregorian Calendar (1752-2020) times 11 days = 2,948 days. 2,948 days / 365 days (per year) = 8 years."

This takes the apparent end of the world from December 21, 2012, to June 21, 2020.

But once again the claims have been absolutely rubbished by people in the know, stating there is no scientific evidence to support the theory.

Hasan Al Hariri, CEO of the Dubai Astronomy Group, told Gulf News: Science is elegant and beautiful, but it requires effort to understand. This is a golden opportunity to educate people.

"Any person with a scientific temperament, not necessarily a scientist, cannot support these type of messages."

Other astronomers have also dismissed the claim, stating that the maths and new interpretation is simply wrong.

Astronomer Phil Plait explained on SyFy: "The Gregorian calendar does not lose 11 days per year! Basically, the Julian calendar, which was widely used a long time ago, didn't account for leap years very well, so hundreds of years ago countries started switching to the Gregorian calendar, which does a better job (though it's a little complicated).

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End of the world: Astronomers break silence over June 21 doomsday - Express.co.uk

For Astronomy Buff Sushant Singh Rajput, A Tribute From France’s International Space University – NDTV

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A file photo of Sushant Singh Rajput. (Image courtesy: sushant_singh_rajput246)

The International Space University (ISU) in France has paid homage to Sushant Singh Rajput in a statement, saying the news of the actor's death was "deeply saddening." Mr Rajput was found dead at his Bandra apartment on Sunday. According to an official, Mumbai Police found out during the probe that the 34-year-old actor was under medication for depression. The official Twitter handle of ISU on Monday tweeted how Mr Rajput was supposed to visit the campus last year but was unable to due to scheduling conflict.

"We are deeply saddened by the dramatic news on the death of well-known Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Mr Rajput was a believer and strong supporter of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and was following ISU on social media. He had even accepted an invitation to visit ISU's Central Campus in the summer of 2019 but other agenda priorities prevented him from travelling to Strasbourg," the statement by the university read. ISU paid condolences to Sushant Singh Rajput's family and friends, saying the actor's memory will "remain among his thousands of followers across India and all over the world."

Mr Rajput enrolled at Delhi Technical University (DTU) in 2003, which was then known as Delhi College of Engineering but left the course to pursue his showbiz dreams. Even after leaving the four-year degree course, he remained fascinated with science and had a deep interest in astronomy. As part of his research for the film Chanda Mama Door Ke, he also visited the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2017.

Mr Rajput stayed in NASA to train for his role as an astronaut for the film, which was eventually shelved. The actor also owned Meade 14'' LX600 telescope.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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UArizona Offers Free and Discounted Programs to Meet Needs of New Learners – UANews

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The University of Arizona is looking to grow its extended family of learners by making some of its programming more affordable. Through multiple initiatives, the university is offering discounted or free resources to those looking to build on their education and training in a difficult economic environment.

Pay What You Can

Eller Executive Education, a University of Arizona-affiliated nonprofit that provides nondegree, executive-level management and leadership training, is offering its Leadership Readiness for Turbulent Times program on a "pay what you can" basis.

"We listened to our community and realized that some needed help as they were either suffering financially, being furloughed or laid off, while others wanted to help support those who could not afford learning," said Joe Carella, assistant dean for Eller Executive Education. "Learning budgets are often the first thing to be cut during crises, and yet people need to continue to show that they are growing and spending time wisely."

The program is designed to help leaders better manage turbulent situations, such as those created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers areas including making decisions during times of complexity and chaos, how to communicate in a crisis and how to manage and motivate teams in a totally virtual workplace.

Carella says demand for the program has topped expectations, with more than 1,000 participants from around the world. He says about 30% of them have voluntarily paid more for the program to help financially support others wanting to take the class who could not pay as much.

MOOCs

With in-person entertainment options limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are taking the opportunity to learn something new through massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Christopher Impey, University Distinguished Professor of astronomy, is among the University of Arizona faculty members who have found success in offering the not-for-credit courses for "free-choice learners."

"People taking these courses are doing it with the purest of intentions," Impey says. "They're not necessarily doing it to get a better job or to get a degree. They're just doing it because they're interested in the subject."

Among Impey's MOOCs is Astronomy: Exploring Time and Space. He says a recent surge drove up enrollment to 131,000 participants, with almost 10,000 of them currently active. The course features more than 20 hours of video content as well as assignments, quizzes and citizen science activities.

David Soren, Regents Professor of anthropology, also offers a MOOC. Roman Art and Archaeology has attracted more than 30,000 enrollees. The course, which provides an overview of the culture of ancient Rome, features over 70 videos, including some guest lectures.

Corporate Partner Benefits

Through the Arizona Online Corporate Initiative, the university partners with companies and other organizations to offer their employees access to a University of Arizona education on a flexible schedule. Approved corporate partners receive benefits that can include waived application fees, tuition reduction, a dedicated enrollment team, and marketing and promotional support for company management. Arizona Online is now extending those benefits to the immediate families of employees working for partner organizations.

"Uncertain times call for certain action," said Kara Aquilano Forney, executive director of the Arizona Online Corporate Initiative. "We wanted to do whatever we could to create something positive for our partners' employees and their families. By extending partnership benefits, we hope to further eliminate barriers to education for an even wider audience."

Arizona Online corporate partners include American Express, Geico, Banner Health and more than a dozen other companies, organizations and municipalities. More information on the Corporate Partner Initiative is available online.

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Home Invasion: Warrantless Searches in Brazil and the United States – Justia Verdict

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In November 2015, officers of the State of So Paulo received a tip from an informant reporting that an individual (named J.S.) kept weapons and drugs in his residence in a neighborhood of Guarulhos, State of So Paulo. The police carried out in loco investigations over a month, but did not observe any suspicious activity.

A few weeks later, after receiving a new tip, officers returned to the place and, upon seeing police arrival, J.S. quickly entered his house and tried to flee through a back door. The officers arrested J.S. inside his house and undertook a warrantless search. The police seized nine guns (including assault rifles and military-grade firearms), more than a thousand rounds of ammunition, drugs, and chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs.

The Public Prosecutors Office of the State of So Paulo filed drug charges against J.S. in 2013 (according to article 33 of Federal Law No. 11,343/2006) (Case No. 3046559-20.2013.8.26.0224) and gun possession charges in 2015 (after receiving ballistic reports) (according to article 16 of Federal Law No. 10,826/03) (Case No. 0006327-46.2015.8.26.0224). and he was convicted by So Paulo State Courts of drug trafficking and illegal possession of a firearm to 12 years and 10 months imprisonment.

State Courts dismissed J.S. claims under the exclusionary rule. The Criminal Judge in Guarulhos stated that a warrant was not necessary because there was a reasonable suspicion of an ongoing drug offense in the house and previous anonymous tips confirmed such suspicion. The Court of Appeals, by rejecting a habeas corpus requested by J.S. attorneys (Habeas Corpus No. 2078076-14.2017.8.26.0000), also held that the warrantless search was lawful and anonymous tips are the only means informants living in the vicinity of the underworld of drug trafficking have to alert police authorities. The attorneys sought habeas relief. The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) denied, in 2018.

Finally, J.S. attorneys appealed to the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) and Justice Edson Fachin remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with the merits of a landmark STF decision in Public Prosecutors Office of the State of Rondonia x De Lima (Extraordinary Appeal No. 603616). The STJ issued a second decision in 2020 in favor of J.S. unexpectedly concluding that police infringed the inviolability of J.S. home. The Court stated that the anonymous tip and the suspect behavior (running after police approach) did not give police a probable cause.

The described situation illustrates the big picture of Brazilian problems related to insufficient systematization of legal concepts and principles; as a result, judicial decisions in Brazil are unpredictable. The Brazilian Federal Constitution is partly to blame: it simply states that the home is the inviolable refuge of the individual, and no one may enter therein without the consent of the dweller, except in the event of flagrante delicto or disaster, or to give help, or, during the day, by court order (article 5, XI).

The STF decision (Extraordinary Appeal No. 603616, mentioned above) about home inviolability is basically a play on words: it basically states that a warrantless entry into a private home is lawful only if there is a clear showing of probable cause (well-founded presumption) shown after the fact that the suspect is committing a crime (flagrante delicto).

The Court did not define well-founded presumption and it did not elect review standards; as a result, it failed to reduce indeterminacy of an open textual legal principle. The STJ (second highest federal court in Brazil) jurisprudence (case law) reflects such disorientation: although it has accepted J.S. allegations reaffirming recent holdings e.g. Habeas Corpus n 435.465 (2018), Habeas Corpus n 83.501 (2018) and Habeas Corpus n 512.418 (2019) (a suspect quickly entering a house after noticing police approach and/or an anonymous tip do not give police a probable cause), it has also decided in a doublethink fashion that police are not required to carry out in-depth, but rather a brief investigation in order to ratify information anonymously received of informants (steps observed in J.S.).

By limiting the scope of protection offered by home inviolability the Court has also ruled that police had probable cause when (i) officers smelled marijuana couple with suspect nervousness; (ii) officers received an anonymous tip and, by nearing the scene, saw suspects leaving the residence in possession of drugs; (iii) officers received an informant tip and saw paraphernalia inside suspects apartment; (iv) officers were dispatched to the scene after an anonymous tip and saw people using drugs at the window; and (v) a suspect ran into his house after seeing a police unit dispatched after an anonymous tip.

The two-way road of Brazilian courts interpretation about home inviolability is apparently shared by American courts. Many conflicting decisions regarding Fourth Amendment interpretation (and syllogistically of probable cause and exigent circumstances) may be identified. For example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit decided in United States v. Mongold and Moore that the officers observation of the odor of marijuana provided them with sufficient probable cause; on the other hand, the Supreme Court ruled in Kentucky v. King that the smell of burning drugs and the sound of movement inside the suspect apartment did not create an exigent circumstance to justify a warrantless entry.

The Fourth Amendments broad scope may be a source of diverging interpretations as it simply states that [t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Due to the amendment, any evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment will be excluded from criminal proceedings (Exclusionary Rule), except for a few exceptions (e.g., exigent circumstances) and as long a probable cause is present. Thus, if the State does not adequately establish both probable cause and exigent circumstances, or another recognized exception to the warrant requirement, then evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless entry will be excluded from evidence (Gutierrez v. State, 221 S.W.3d 680).

The problem (or fact) is that it has been broadly left to judges to decide whether exigent circumstances and probable cause are present in a real situation, and judges are not mere rule appliers and unbiased fact finders. Legal uncertainty is a feature of Brazilian and American legal systems, but it should have some rational limitations. Kit Kinports believes that the United States Supreme Court opinions articulating the standard of exigency necessary to trigger the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendments warrant requirement have been maddeningly opaque and confusing. Some cases require probable cause, others call for reasonable suspicion, and still others use undefined and unhelpful terms such as reasonable to believe in describing how exigent the situation must be to permit the police to proceed without a warrant. Not surprisingly, the conflicting signals coming from the Supreme Court have led to disagreement in the lower courts.

Therefore, some interpretation standards are indispensable for defining the scope of protection of home inviolability and some additional reasonableness (influenced by a realistic rationality) should have a greater influence on judicial decisions: as ruled by a Canadian Court of Appeals, both a justice and an arresting officer must assess the reasonableness of the information available to them before acting and the law does not expect the same kind of inquiry of a police officer deciding whether to make an arrest that it demands of a justice faced with an application for a search warrant (R. v. Golub).

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German Regulator Softens the Tone with Online Casino and Poker – GamblingNews.com

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The Regional Council of Darmstadt was effectively forced to reconsider its enforcement policies regarding online casino and poker operators in the country, after a test court case brought by an operator successfully challenged a prohibition order issued by the regulatory body under the Third Amendment on the State Treaty on Gambling. The council is now more willing to develop transitional regulations to pave the way towards the Fourth Amendment coming into force, instead of issuing blocking orders.

The Deutscher Verband fur Telekommunikation und Medien (DVTM) informed that both the plaintiff and the Council requested the suspension of proceedings, to provide time for the development of transitional regulatory environment alongside private gaming operators. The operator will not be subjected to enforcement actions during the suspension period.

The DVTM also pointed out any continuation of the enforcement policies against payment providers such as Visa contravenes European Law and all German states face millions in financial sanctions, with the sums getting bigger the longer the prohibition order is in effect. As the Lower Saxony operates collectively for all states, all of them are facing the risk of legal action.

The regulatory body from Lower Saxony issued its first prohibition order in the summer of 2019 against Paypal, effectively forcing the payment processor out of the country. In February 2020 another unnamed operator was issued a blocking order, with the Ministry of the Interior and Sport in the state seeking to demonstrate its resolve to deal with illegal online gambling.

Besides payment providers, sports betting operators are also liable to sanctions from the regulator, despite the licensing process being halted in court in April, when Austrian sports book operator Vierklee argued and managed to convince the judges the process was lacking transparency and was discriminatory against businesses that were not already active in the market. The Council announced in May, though, it will continue to accept license applications and will appeal the court ruling.

The report in DVTM pointed out some court proceedings in other German states are already taking into account the incoming changes agreed by the State Ministers in Berlin in May 12, 2020, along the terms of which operations that are now subdued to sanctions will be legal, effective July 1, 2021.

Moreover, DVTM Chairman Renatus Zilles insists Lower Saxony immediately suspend any enforcement actions and start working on transitory regulatory framework to facilitate the implementation of the incoming new gaming rules as per the Fourth Amendment of the State Treaty on Gambling. Otherwise, they all work in favour of the offshore operators from Asia and Russia who besides anything else, do not pay state taxes.

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Evaluating the GOPs JUSTICE Act – National Review

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Senator Tim Scott (R., S.C.) speaks about his new police reform bill during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 17, 2020.(Yuri Gripas/Reuters)Its better than the Democrats proposal, but it goes too far on neck restraints and not far enough on no-knock warrants, and it fails to address qualified-immunity doctrine.

George Floyds tragic death at the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has sent shockwaves through an America understandably outraged and traumatized by the unnecessarily fatal episode. Public unrest has spurred political action. In Washington, both Democrats and Republicans have pulled together fast-track legislation aimed at police reform the Justice in Policing Act and the JUSTICE Act (Just and Unifying Solutions To Invigorate Communities Everywhere Act), respectively.

The lead sponsor of the Republican bill, Senator Tim Scott (S.C.), is one of only two African-American men in the upper chamber (and the only black Republican). Hes done an admirable job on a short timeframe. His bill is a better approach overall than the Democratic alternative, a well-intentioned effort that nevertheless overreaches in some areas, with very real public-safety costs in the balance. The Republican bill is generally more modest seeking data and transparency when solutions arent clear but is still a significant effort aimed at addressing more clearly defined problems.

Still, the GOP bill could be improved. There are some ways in which the bill probably does not go far enough, and others in which it may go too far. And it omits an important area of focus, included in the Democrats bill, that Republicans should address.

Where could the Republican bill go further? It could do more to constrain no-knock warrants, which authorize police to enter a dwelling forcefully, and without notice, often in the late-night or early-morning hours. There is certainly a case for such tactics in at least some cases. Organized-crime hideouts, for example, are often heavily armed. The Democrats approach a complete ban on no-knock raids in all drug cases would unnecessarily risk officer safety.

No-knock warrants are probably overused sometimes tragically, including in the case of Breonna Taylor, whose name is affixed to the corresponding section of Senator Scotts legislation. Consider also a 2014 raid in which police threw a flashbang grenade into the bedroom of Alecia and Bounkham Phonesavanh in Wisconsin. The grenade landed in the crib of their 18-month-old toddler, who took the brunt of the flashbangs blast, suffering a collapsed lung as well as severe burns to his face and chest; the child was in a medically induced coma for more than five weeks, and the family faced $1 million in medical bills. The target of their investigation did not live at the residence and was not there when police performed the raid.

The Republicans JUSTICE Act uses Congresss spending powers to encourage police departments to meet various reporting requirements relating to no-knock warrants. Such data would be useful, but there is room for more here. Congress should also push police departments to require a high-level commanding officer to sign off on any no-knock warrant. Judges already must approve, as required by the federal Constitutions Fourth Amendment, but they may lack the capacity to weigh safety-risk tradeoffs and may give police undue latitude. Requiring a commanding officer to sign off and assume public accountability in the event things go awry would help deter overuse of no-knock warrants.

While the JUSTICE Act could go further on no-knock warrants, it may go too far on the controversial use of neck restraints or chokeholds, as theyre more commonly known. Theres certainly no case for applying full body pressure on an unresisting suspects neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds the indefensible use of force that killed George Floyd. But just as no-knock warrants probably have legitimate uses in at least some cases, neck restraints can be a way for a police officer to gain control of a resisting suspect, avoiding deadlier applications of force.

We dont have a lot of data here. We dont really know, for example, just how likely it is that temporary application of a neck restraint, for the purpose of securing a suspect, will result in serious injury or death. Its vital to gather more data.

We do know one thing, however: Shooting a suspect with a gun is much deadlier than using a neck restraint. The JUSTICE Act doesnt go as far as the Democrats bill, which would ban neck restraints in all cases; the JUSTICE Act limits such restraints to cases in which deadly force is required. But such deadly-force situations also would offer a complete defense to officers shooting a suspect. If officers options for securing a resisting suspect are limited, either the Democrats or the Republicans bill could unintentionally lead to more police shootings. The dramatic reduction of such shootings over time is an unappreciated success. In New York City, for example, the number of individuals wounded and the number of individuals killed by police using a firearm each fell 90 percent between 1971 and 2016. We dont want to see that trend reverse itself.

Conspicuously absent from the JUSTICE Act is any mention of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that the Democrats bill would eliminate as applied to police. The Democrats bill may go too far, but the Republicans should nonetheless address the issue.

Qualified immunity shields police officers (and other government officials), under certain conditions, from lawsuits based on an 1871 federal law. The 1871 statute enables citizens to collect money damages from state and local government for violations of constitutional rights. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that government officials couldnt be sued for actions that were not known to be unconstitutional at the time: It wouldnt allow a lawsuit against police officers for acting in 1961 to enforce a law that was declared unconstitutional in court four years later.

Both critics and defenders of qualified-immunity doctrine tend to overstate its practical importance at least with respect to police use of force. The doctrine does nothing to shield officers from criminal prosecution or disciplinary actions. Most lawsuits against police uses of force and other alleged misconduct dont involve the federal constitution. And even when they do, qualified immunity usually doesnt matter: In a 2017 article in the Yale Law Journal, professor Joanna Schwartz (a critic of the doctrine) found that qualified immunity was the basis for dismissal or summary judgment in less than 4 percent of the cases she sampled.

That qualified immunity isnt used often doesnt mean that it doesnt matter at all. It also doesnt mean that the Supreme Court got it right, or that Congress should avoid the issue. As mentioned, the underlying statute was enacted in 1871 decades before the modern Federal Rules of Civil Procedure made federal lawsuits much easier to file, imposing sizable discovery costs on defendants, win or lose. Congress should legislate a standard, rather than leave it up to unelected judges.

It makes little sense to hold government officials liable for actions based on changes in the law. When the Supreme Court announced, in the 1966 case of Miranda v. Arizona, that police officers had to read criminal suspects their rights, it would have made little sense to allow lawsuits against officers who hadnt done so in 1965. Police departments arent Supreme Court seers, and they wont change their behavior based on unknown future changes in the law. Such lawsuits would act as little more than a tax on policing one ultimately borne by the taxpayers.

In some cases, however, the doctrine of qualified immunity has been used to shield police from liability when the contours of the general legal concepts at issue are clear, but the specific factual circumstances are different. Judges have dismissed lawsuits based on trivial factual distinctions between an officers actions and earlier cases that established a clear legal principle. Congress might helpfully clarify that the qualified-immunity doctrine applies only to clear changes in legal rights not idiosyncratic fact patterns.

Although we think the JUSTICE Act could be improved, we appreciate the effort Senator Scott has made to craft a thoughtful legislative reform proposal in such a short time. In a country of 330 million people, well never eliminate the possibility of police misconduct, any more than well be able to eliminate violent crime. That doesnt mean we cant do better.

James R. Copland is a senior fellow and the director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Rafael A. Mangual is a fellow and the deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.

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Barr sides with Idaho on preventing transgender women from playing women’s sports | TheHill – The Hill

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Attorney General William BarrBill BarrBarr: 'Developments' likely in Durham investigation this summer More than 100 former Manhattan prosecutors condemn Berman firing Low voter registration poses a threat to American democracy MORE filed a statement of interest Friday defending Idahos law that bans transgender female athletes from competing in womens sports.

In the statement, Barr referred to transgender women as biological males and says that allowing them to compete inwomen's sport leagues is fundamentally unfair to female athletes.

In March, Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) approved legislation to prohibit sex changes on birth certificates and ban transgender girls and women from competing in women's sports leagues. Civil rights groups promptly filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law.

Barr wrote that under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, Idaho is allowed to recognize the physiological differences between the biological sexes in athletics.

Because of these differences, the Fairness Acts limiting of certain athletic teams to biological females provides equal protection, he wrote. This limitation is based on the same exact interest that allows the creation of sex-specific athletic teams in the first place namely, the goal of ensuring that biological females have equal athletic opportunities. Single-sex athletics is rooted in the reality of biological differences between the sexes and should stay rooted in objective biological fact.

The ban applies to all teams associated with or sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities and cites different athletic capabilities between men and women. It is set to be enacted on July 1.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has argued that the state law is unconstitutional, citing violations of the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause and the Fourth Amendment's protections against invasions of privacy.

The ACLU also argues that the law opens the door for any women to be probed about their gender, potentially in the form invasive genital and genetic screenings.

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What Is Qualified Immunity and Why Do Some Want To End It? – Snopes.com

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Rumors are surging in the wake of George Floyds death and resulting protests against police violence and racial injustice in the United States. Stay informed. Read our special coverage, contribute to support our mission, and submit any tips or claims you see here.

Viral video of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for nearly nine minutes before his death resulted in widespread outrage and weeks of civil rights protests across the U.S. Amid a groundswell of popular pressure, prosecutors took the unusual step of arresting and charging Chauvin with second-degree murder and also charging three other officers at the scene with aiding and abetting him.

But even if Chauvin is found guilty, attorneys we spoke to who are experts in a legal doctrine called qualified immunity told us it would still be an uphill battle for Floyds family to successfully sue for restitution.

Thats because qualified immunity, though obscure, is a significant legal hurdle for civilians who try to sue police for claims of constitutional violations, such as the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure, when police kill or injure someone. To get past it, plaintiffs in lawsuits have to show that the exact manner in which a police officer violated their rights has been clearly established as wrongful by legal precedent. That means they must be able to point to another court case with circumstances nearly identical to theirs, and in which a court ruled that an officer had violated the Constitution.

This doctrine encourages police to act with impunity because they know there will be no consequences, said Scott Michelman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, D.C.

Though the immunity has been in place for more than 50 years, opposition to it is growing, with Floyds death driving discussions about police accountability and violence, particularly against the Black community. Protesters at Black Lives Matter rallies have carried signs calling for an end to qualified immunity, as have legislatorsand professional athletes. But when the matter came before the U.S. Supreme Court on June 15, 2020, the high court punted, leaving the issue to Congress.

Nonetheless, on June 19, 2020, the state of Colorado took matters into its own hands, with Gov. Jared Polis signing into law a bill that ends qualified immunity as a defense for violent police officers.

Qualified immunity grants government officials like police officers legal protection from financial liability in civil cases. It was invented out of whole cloth by the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning it represents judicial policy making, Clark Neily, vice president of criminal justice for the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, told us, adding that the judicial branch making public policy goes against the Constitution.

The way the Constitution does it, is it allocates responsibility among different branches of government. People who are elected and have to stand for reelection are the ones who should make policy, Neily said. People who have lifetime appointments and serve in a branch of government that the Constitution doesnt give any policy making power to [i.e., the judicial branch], shouldnt because they are not politically accountable. And simply because the Constitution doesnt give them that authority. The Constitution is 100% clear on that.

Writing for the legal website The Appeal, Amir Ali and Emily Clark, the deputy director for the Supreme Court and the appellate program at the MacArthur Justice Center and appellate research specialist at the Center, respectively, trace the history of qualified immunity to 1967, writing that over time, the interpretation of qualified immunity has become more narrow, favoring police:

The Supreme Court invented qualified immunity in 1967, describing it as a modest exception for public officials who had acted in good faith and believed that their conduct was authorized by law. Fifteen years later, in Harlow v. Fitzgerald, the Court drastically expanded the defense. The protection afforded to public officials would no longer turn on whether the official acted in good faith. Instead, even officials who violate peoples rights maliciously will be immune unless the victim can show that his or her right was clearly established. Since the Harlow decision, the Court has made it exceedingly difficult for victims to satisfy this standard. To show that the law is clearly established, the Court has said, a victim must point to a previously decided case that involves the same specific context and particular conduct. Unless the victim can point to a judicial decision that happened to involve the same context and conduct, the officer will be shielded from liability.

The difficulty of meeting this standard, and the dearth of other options for seeking justice, leaves many plaintiffs in such cases with no recourse, even when video evidence would seem to make the case clear.

Qualified immunity has the effect of closing off all avenues of redress for citizens who accuse police of violating their constitutional rights, Neily told us.

This is important because it is extremely rare for police who kill people on duty to be convicted of a crime, according to research. While a database maintained by The Washington Post since 2015 has logged an average of nearly 1,000 fatal police shootings every year, criminologist Philip Stinson determined that between 2005 and 2019, out of 104 state and local law enforcement officers who have been arrested for murder or manslaughter for fatal on-duty shootings since 2005, 36 have been convicted of a crime.

The only time you see a police officer prosecuted criminally is when the thing they did was caught on video or gets picked up by the media, Neily told us by phone. Prosecutors have a massive conflict of interest. They work together. They depend on cops to bring them cases and testify in court. So criminal law is not going to do it.

Police can also conduct internal investigations into an officers behavior, but Neily noted they are ineffective because youre asking police to decide if the police did anything wrong. And they almost always say no.

Lawsuits, then, are the only route citizens can initiate themselves to seek justice. But qualified immunity throws up a hurdle so big, most cases never see their day in court.

In May 2020, Reuters conducted a study in which reporters analyzed 529 federal circuit court opinions published from 2005 through 2019 on appeals of cases in which cops accused of excessive force raised a qualified immunity defense. Reuters concluded:

Our analysis of this data showed the appellate courts growing tendency, influenced by guidance from the Supreme Court, to grant police immunity. More than ever, they are ignoring the question of whether cops have violated a plaintiffs constitutional rights, thereby avoiding establishing a precedent for future cases and making it harder to win cases against the police. The failure to set precedents is particularly challenging for plaintiffs because the data also showed that appellate courts are increasingly requiring a nearly identical case from the past to serve as a precedent that clearly establishes an officers actions as illegal a high standard that again makes it hard to win against the police.

The hardest thing for lawyers to do is try to get their clients to understand how they can never even get to a trial even though the evidence is clear that their rights were violated, said Jeremy Beaver, an Oklahoma-based attorney who represented the family of Johnny Leija. Leija was a 34-year-old man hospitalized for pneumonia. Police were called when Leija became disoriented and tried to leave the hospital to go home. He died of suffocation when responding police officers tackled him and used stun weapons on him.

You have to find a case with exactly the same facts where another court has said this is a violation, or you cant get past qualified immunity, Beaver said. In the case of Leijas family, Beaver told us the case was eventually thrown out because there wasnt another case in which a mentally, physically compromised patient wanted to leave a hospital against medical advice, and had been shot with a taser and died.

On a very basic level, even if youve been wronged and everyone agrees youve been wronged in a very harmful way, you cant have a remedy. Not because of a legislative process or law, but because of a Supreme Court doctrine that says you cant, Beaver continued. There is no deterrent to the police, and the people who have been wronged have no recourse.

In testimony before the U.S. Senate on June 16, 2020, Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes said that his organization, a lobbying group that represents 330,000 member police officers, is strongly opposed to any legislative effort to end qualified immunity, because in the field, police are often faced with a wide range of split-second decisions.

Every single factual scenario an officer encounters is different and unknown, Yoes said during his testimony. It is extremely difficult for an officer to determine how a legal doctrine will apply to a split-second factual scenario that the officer confronts. Thus, unless there is existing precedent that squarely governs the facts [laid out] before the officer, the reasonable officer needs to be afforded a certain degree of discretion to make split-second decision in situations that could put lives, including their own, at risk. Officers should not be punished for doing so.

According to the legal blog Lawfare, the Supreme Court justified qualified immunity by stating broadly that it gives government officials breathing room to avoid fear of being sued when performing public services, but in regards to police:

Also at the core of the Supreme Courts jurisprudence is the contention that it would be unfair to hold government officials to constitutional rules they were not aware of at the time of the violation. The court first articulated this idea in a pre-Harlow decision, stating that [a] policemans lot is not so unhappy that he must choose between being charged with dereliction of duty if he does not arrest when he has probable cause, and being mulcted in damages if he does. Then in Harlow, the court wrote: If the law at that time was not clearly established, an official could not reasonably be expected to anticipate subsequent legal developments, nor could he fairly be said to know that the law forbade conduct not previously identified as unlawful. And a recent case described the focus of qualified immunity as whether the officer had fair notice that her conduct was unlawful.

The phrase qualified immunity was probably unknown to most until the protests of spring 2020. But in a phone interview, Ali told us he is somewhat optimistic that recent increased public awareness and engagement could bring change.

Once people understand what it is, its not hard for them to see it makes very little sense and is in fact quite perverse, Ali, the MacArthur Justice Centers deputy director of the Supreme Court and Appellate Program, told us by phone.

Qualified immunity has opponents from the full spectrum of political ideology, with liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and conservative Justice Clarence Thomas voicing opposition to it, and organizations like the libertarian Cato Institute and the NAACP fighting to overturn it in court.

The Supreme Courts decision not to hear a case challenging qualified immunity has left the question to Congress, Ali noted. As protests against institutional racism and police violence swept the country in 2020, both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate set upon crafting police-reform legislation.

But U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, said any legislation addressing qualified immunity is a poison pill for Republicans, who control the Senate. And thats because the White House has stated the President will not sign a bill that repeals Qualified Immunity, said Sean Smith, a spokesman for Scott, in an email.

I think [President Trump] will reconsider, and I think so will the Republicans on the Hill once they truly understand what were talking about here, Ali told us by phone.

Ali also said that local and state governments can also create their own laws, independent of the federal government, so that qualified immunity is no longer used in defense in cases of alleged police misconduct, like the state of Colorado did.

Ali connected qualified immunity to the death of Floyd, stating he believed the ongoing lack of accountability for police who commit acts of misconduct had created an environment in which they dont view themselves as being accountable for their actions:

If you study qualified immunity cases, you cant help but draw a pretty clear connection to what we all saw in the video tape of Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd. You can find cases of police officers putting their knees on peoples necks in the absence of a threat. And when people have tried to hold these precursors to Chauvin accountable, they have been kicked out of court, not because anyone thinks the officer acted reasonably or constitutionally, but because the [the court says] the officer is entitled to immunity even if what he did violated the Constitution.

So when you look into the eyes of Derek Chauvin and see that he didnt have a care in the world many observed he had his hands in his pocket, sunglasses peacefully resting on his head as he slowly took the life of George Floyd, the question is, why does this officer clearly think he can get away with murder? Part of the answer to that is that courts through qualified immunity have communicated to officers that they can get away with this. I think we all cant help but be shocked and should be shocked when we see the video. But at the same time I dont think that we can pretend to be surprised.

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What Is Qualified Immunity and Why Do Some Want To End It? - Snopes.com

GBI Says Fulton DA Blindsided Agency Amid Investigation in Brooks Case – All On Georgia

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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says it was unaware that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard planned to file charges against the officers involved in the Rayshard Brooks case while the agency was still conducting its investigation.

Approximately an hour after Howard announced the charges Wednesday, the agency posted on social media:

The GBI was not aware of todays press conference before it was conducted. We were not consulted on the charges filed by the District Attorney. Despite todays occurrence, the GBI will complete its mission of completing an impartial and thorough investigation of this incident and we will submit the file, once completed, to the Fulton County District Attorneys Office.

The now-former Atlanta police officer involved in the officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of Rayshard Brooks has been charged with felony murder and 10 other criminal charges.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced Wednesday that Garrett Rolfe, who was fired over the weekend, would stand trial on 11 counts including felony murder and a number of assault charges.

Howard said Wednesday that Brooks never displayed any aggressive behavior toward the officers during the nearly 42-minute exchange with officers, while referring to Brooks as jovial. He went on to say that the officers failed to provide timely medical attention to Brooks after he was shot and that Rolfe kicked Brooks as he was lying on the ground, fighting for his life.

The second officer at the scene, Devin Brosnan, faces three charges, including aggravated assault for standing or stepping on Brooks shoulder after he was shot. He has already agreed to serve as a witness for the state and testify against Rolfe, according to Howard. They also offered him a bond of $50,000 in exchange for his cooperation.

Atlanta officers responded to a call Friday night due a man, later identified as Rayshard Brooks, asleep in his vehicle and blocking the drive-thru lane. Body camera footage shows Brooks move his vehicle to a parking spot where he hits several bushes. After conducting a field sobriety test for possible DUI, officers decided to take Brooks into custody but Brooks resisted. A scuffle ensued and Brooks began resisting. Officers attempted to restrain him and to tase him, but Brooks took possession of the taser and began to flee. Surveillance from the Wendys shows Brooks turn around and point the taser at Officer Rolfe, who fired his duty weapon. The autopsy concluded that Brooks was shot twice in the back.

Pundits and activists alike have contended that Rolfe should have used a different form of force of the less-than lethal variety or allowed Brooks to flee with his taser. Case law on the matter sets a different precedent, however.

In the 1994 Supreme Court case Scott v. Henrich, 39 F.3d 912 (9th Cir. 1994) the Plaintiff argued that an officer should have used alternate measures prior to deadly force, basically asserting that deadly force wasnt necessary. The Court stated:

as the text of the Fourth Amendment indicates, the appropriate inquiry is whether the officers acted reasonably, not whether they had less intrusive alternatives available to them. Requiring officers to find and choose the least intrusive alternative would require them to exercise superhuman judgmentImposing such a requirement would inevitably induce tentativeness by officers, and thus deter police from protecting the public and themselves. It would also entangle the courts in endless second-guessing of police decisions made under stress and subject to the exigencies of the moment.

Attorneys for the Brooks family have stated that police should have called family members or an Uber for Brooks instead of arresting him.

The charges by Howard, who is under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation himself and is embroiled in a contentious primary election, are a substantial shift from last weeks press conference during which Howard said that a taser is a deadly weapon under Georgia law. The clip of that video is below.

The district attorneysaidthis is the 40th time his office will be prosecuting a police officer for misconduct and the 9th time a police officer has beencharged in a homicide.

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GBI Says Fulton DA Blindsided Agency Amid Investigation in Brooks Case - All On Georgia

HART: Wow! The reopening of our country has been a riot – Odessa American

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It has been a terrible year so far. We had a pandemic that crashed a great economy, then a mixed-messaged lockdown and skyrocketing unemployment, followed by riots, looting, destruction of monuments and talk of defunding the police. My dad always told me that he was going to slap me into next year. I wish he were around to do it today.

Woke millennials in Philadelphia protested, demanding the city take down the statue of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky when word circulated among them that he reportedly beat up two black guys in the 1980s.

In retrospect we can get a sense of just how odd a year it has been. Tiger King is starting to seem normal. Now the country is torn apart with hatred, but back then the country united, all hating Carole Baskin.

Suddenly, fashionable cocktail party chatter is all about defunding the police. As a libertarian, I believe that if a service can be found in the Yellow Pages, government should not be doing it. So lets defund the entirety of government with its $1 trillion-a-year deficits, see what we miss, and hire it back. My guess it the police might be the only thing we miss.

All I know is that if Democrats abolish the police, driving my sports car drunk is going to be a lot less dangerous for me.

Our taxpayer-funded government workers, who get their full pay while staying home, tell the rest of us we cannot go to work or to our businesses to make our living. We are in a world where government arrests business owners for opening their businesses but will not arrest looters who destroy someone elses business.

It might be easier to defund bad schools now that kids are being homeschooled and taking tests online. If this keeps up much longer, liberal teachers unions fear that kids might start questioning their value and, even worse, might start thinking for themselves. I think kids will be better off being taught at home by day-drunks than being entrusted to the liberal education system that indoctrinates rather than educates.

Peaceful and mindful protests are great. And governments need to standardize rules on the use of force and weed out bad cops. We all agree. But it is hard to have a reasoned conversation with groups that are looting Nike stores and are frustrated trying to figure out that HDMI setting on their new 75-inch Vizio TVs.

Was it Dr. King, Rosa Parks or Gandhi who said that in order to change society and effect true change, you must burn down the only Wendys willing to open in your neighborhood?

Now those who want to take down statues, rather than contextualizing them, also want to decide what movies we can watch. Gone with the Wind in Atlanta will soon be replaced with Gone with the Wendys.

To make matters worse, Washington is getting involved. Now, when emotions are raw and folks are reactionary, is NOT the time to layer another hastily contrived law upon the heap of laws we have now. Lets take time and reason it out. Knee-jerk reactions by Washington to the attacks of 9-11 got us two worthless, trillion-dollar Middle East wars, the NSA, TSA and Homeland Security, and trampled the Fourth Amendment to give us FISA Court warrants to spy on U.S. citizens.

Government and the media told us for decades that when African-Americans and more women ran cities, police forces, etc., things would get better. It seems eerily odd that in these Democrat cities with black women mayors, police chiefs are the ones with problems. How does systemic racism escalate in a black-run city? Dems are worse off in Dem-controlled cities, yet they have somehow succeeded in offloading the perception of their problems onto white Republicans.

We are in this bizzaro world where millennials, celebs and the media are trying to out woke each other. White hipster art history majors with $125,000 of student loan debt and no jobs are there to interpret for us what African-Americans are feeling. Its nice that these kids have taken it upon themselves to interpret the race dialogue we should be having. If successful, it may be the best articulation of black-to-white jive interpretation since Barbara Billingsleys role as a passenger in the movie Airplane!

While we are distracted, our enemies conspire. U.S. intelligence agencies say they uncovered a plot by Russia, China and the Taliban to just sit back and enjoy watching us implode.

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HART: Wow! The reopening of our country has been a riot - Odessa American

Google stokes GOP allegations of tech bias – Politico

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With help from Cristiano Lima and John Hendel

Programming announcement: This 10 a.m. version of Morning Tech will end daily publication this fall and move to a week-ahead style newsletter that publishes on Monday mornings. The daily 6 a.m. version will continue for POLITICO Pro subscribers. For information on how you can continue to receive daily policy content, as well as information for current POLITICO Pro subscribers, please visit our website.

GOP vs. Google: Googles dominance of online advertising is already under Justice Department scrutiny. Now, Republicans are pointing to Googles move to cut off ad revenue to a right-wing blog as proof of alleged anti-conservative bias and reason to roll back Section 230.

Facebook and the election: Facebook is launching a sweeping get-out-the-vote effort as critics accuse the company of not doing enough to address potentially dangerous or misleading content on the platform.

MT scoop: More than 100 leading civil rights and civil liberties groups are demanding House leaders cut off federal funding for law enforcement surveillance technologies that are antithetical to the First and Fourth Amendment.

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ITS WEDNESDAY; WELCOME TO MORNING TECH! Im your host, Alexandra Levine. A friendly reminder that fellow tech reporter Cristiano Lima is interviewing Microsoft President Brad Smith on Thursday at 2 p.m. Sign up for that discussion here; watch live here. What are you most interested to hear about? Send us your questions at the info below.

Got a news tip? Write me at [emailprotected], or follow along @Ali_Lev and @alexandra.levine. An event for our calendar? Send details to [emailprotected]. Anything else? Full team info below. And don't forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

GOP VS. GOOGLE Googles decision to block right-wing website ZeroHedge from using the Google Ad platform (and its threat to do the same for The Federalist) has added fuel to GOP calls to roll back Section 230 protections for tech giants for alleged anti-conservative bias and at a time when theyre already feeling emboldened by President Donald Trumps recent social media executive order. Google said Tuesday that the comments sections on those sites contained derogatory, racially fueled content, and our policies do not allow ads to run against dangerous or derogatory content, which includes comments on sites.

Republicans react: The House Judiciary Committees top Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, raised alarm on Twitter about tech companies taking action against conservative sites during an election year. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), who alleged on Twitter that activist journalists at NBC (which had earlier reported the story) pressured Google into censoring The Federalists website, adding: When will Big News and Big Tech #StopTheBias?! And FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has thrown his weight behind the presidents executive order targeting Section 230, said Tuesday evening that Google makes one of the strongest arguments yet for Section 230 reform.

Whats next: Googles dominance over online ads is already raising eyebrows at the Justice Department, as Leah has reported. But Googles decision to penalize websites based on their comments sections could spark another big debate: That kind of content is protected by the First Amendment, while Googles right to take down that content is protected by the so-called good samaritan clause of Section 230, which states the company can make good faith attempts to crack down on objectionable material without opening itself up to liability. Watch for these concerns to potentially come up today during an Information Technology and Innovation Foundation webinar with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks on the agencys role in reforming Section 230.

AHEAD OF ELECTION, FACEBOOK PLEDGES MAJOR VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE Facebook aims to help 4 million people register to vote in the months leading up to November's presidential election, a major get-out-the-vote drive that comes as critics assert the social network has not done enough to stamp out misleading posts that undermine the democratic process, Steven reports.

Pre-empting the critics: In a USA Today op-ed Tuesday evening, Zuckerberg acknowledged that these new actions wont satisfy everyone. "Everyone wants to see politicians held accountable for what they say and I know many people want us to moderate and remove more of their content," he wrote in the editorial. "But accountability only works if we can see what those seeking our votes are saying, even if we viscerally dislike what they say."

Critics have accused Zuckerberg of abdicating responsibility on content moderation, particularly in its recent decision not to take down inflammatory and potentially dangerous posts from Trump. (Backlash against that decision prompted Zuckerberg to announce the social media giant would re-examine its policies against violent threats and voter suppression.)

FIRST IN MT: GROUPS URGE CONGRESS TO DROP SURVEILLANCE TECH FUNDS More than 100 civil rights and civil liberties groups today are calling on House leaders to cease federal funding for the surveillance technologies that are being used to militarize our communities and criminalize dissent. In a letter going out today to top lawmakers in the House and its Judiciary Committee, the groups say law enforcement use of cutting-edge tools to monitor protests against the killing of George Floyd has chilled activists' free expression rights.

What theyre pushing for: The groups which include the ACLU, Color of Change, Free Press and the Center for Democracy & Technology also call for dramatic changes to our surveillance infrastructure, which has also contributed to increased militarization and policing abuses. They urged legislators to stop agencies from using their intelligence assets for general policing, including surveillance of protests.

The background: The push comes as Democratic lawmakers have increasingly sounded the alarm on law enforcement surveillance, including the use of emerging technologies like facial recognition software and drones, at the recent wave of racial justice protests.

Where talks stand on the Hill: The bicameral Democratic police reform package included some narrow checks on such tools, including banning warrantless federal law enforcement use of facial recognition software on body-cam footage. But the incoming Senate GOP policing package includes no mentions of facial recognition software, biometric identification or surveillance more broadly, according to bill text obtained by POLITICOs Marianne LeVine signaling daylight on the issue between the two sides.

INDUSTRYS MIXED MESSAGING ON THE FIGHT AGAINST RACIAL INJUSTICE The Internet Association is out this morning with a statement stressing the industrys commitment to diversity and inclusion and sharing guidelines for lawmakers working to address racial injustice. The catch-22: Several of the trade groups member companies have been accused in recent weeks of projecting messages of racial solidarity and progressive values to the outside world that some employees say do not mirror the firms internal culture or business decisions.

Former workers from one member company that had declared solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Pinterest, went public this week with stories about racism and gaslighting they said they endured under leadership there. Members Amazon and Microsoft were called out for expressing solidarity while also providing surveillance tools to law enforcement. (Theyve since bent to public pressure to take temporary timeouts from facial recognition.) Airbnb, also a member, on Monday announced Project Lighthouse, a joint effort with racial justice group Color of Change to identify bias (around first names or profile photos, for example) and measure discrimination when booking or hosting on the platform.

IA believes that Black Lives Matter, the trade association said today in what it described as a value statement. It stressed the sectors commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive online community and workforce and outlined steps the industry is taking to get there. Those include IAs second annual survey examining existing diversity and inclusion efforts at member companies and a soon-to-launch job referral site, meant to be a centralized hub for diverse job applicants to apply to open positions at those firms. IA also called on Congress to reform accountability measures and transparency in policing; demilitarize law enforcement; and invest in alternatives to incarceration.

LIGADO FIGHT REDUX Tuesdays reconfirmation hearing for GOP FCC Commissioner Mike ORielly turned into another tussle over the agencys April order approving satellite company Ligado Networks 5G plans, which critics like the Pentagon say will disrupt GPS. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) played ORielly off of two other nominees, for positions at the departments of Transportation and Commerce, who expressed alarm about Ligado.

Quote du jour: Im not sure my fellow colleague at the table is right to say NTIA has been uniformly opposed to the situation. My conversations with multiple people suggest that NTIA has had a different viewpoint over the time period, and it wasnt until the dismissal of an administrator that the position was as it is now. Translation: ORielly is saying the Trump administration was less hostile to Ligado prior to the resignation of former Administrator David Redl in May 2019.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, meanwhile, defended the Ligado decision in a letter to several Senate Commerce members.

MEANWHILE: WICKER PLANS BROADBAND LEGISLATION? During that hearing, the Commerce chairman revealed hes now focused on how to speed up the disbursement of rural broadband subsidies from the FCCs October Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction of $16 billion. Although he previously had expressed interest in speeding up when that auction begins, Wicker says hes turned his attention to how to fast-track getting the broadband subsidy money out the door to telecom providers after the first phase of that auction happens.

I may have a proposal, Wicker told ORielly. Once phase 1 auction occurs, I think we can help you with some extra funds and some incentive from the administration, on a bipartisan basis, to move this ahead.

A message from Facebook:

How Facebook is preparing for the US 2020 election

Tripled safety and security teams to 35,000 people Implemented 5-step political ad verification Providing greater political ad transparency Launching new Voting Information Center

Learn about these efforts and more.

Cheryl Bruner, previously a longtime in-house lobbyist for IBM, is joining Red Hats Washington office as public policy director. Shes expected to focus on information technology and telecommunications issues as well as lobbying Congress.

Will tech CEOs testify?: The CEOs of Amazon, Facebook and Google have said they would testify before the Houses antitrust panel if all CEOs of those companies, and Apple, collectively agree to, POLITICO reports but Apple remains a holdout.

EU antitrust spotlight: Apple now has a target on its back, POLITICO reports, On Tuesday, the iPhone maker found itself on the wrong side of the law when the European Commission opened two antitrust investigations one into whether the company treated rivals like the music-streaming service Spotify unfairly in its popular app store; the other into how other competitors were treated in its mobile payments service.

Meanwhile: Apple faced harsh criticism on Tuesday from regulators and the companies behind some of the most popular apps in its App Store, including Tinder and Fortnite, a sign of the growing discontent with Apples grip on the mobile economy, WaPo reports.

Opinion: How Iran Became the New Battle Line Between Conservatives and Twitter, via POLITICO Magazine.

If I had $5 billion: Reed Hastings, the billionaire founder of Netflix, is quietly building a mysterious 2,100-acre luxury retreat ranch in Colorado for American public school teachers, Vox Recode reports.

Zynn, de-platformed: TikTok rival Zynn, which in recent weeks had been the top free iPhone app on Apples U.S. App Store, has been removed from both the iOS and Android app stores, Business Insider reports.

ICYMI: T-Mobile is laying off hundreds of Sprint employees, TechCrunch reports.

Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([emailprotected], @bkingdc), Heidi Vogt ([emailprotected], @HeidiVogt), Nancy Scola ([emailprotected], @nancyscola), Steven Overly ([emailprotected], @stevenoverly), John Hendel ([emailprotected], @JohnHendel), Cristiano Lima ([emailprotected], @viaCristiano), Alexandra S. Levine ([emailprotected], @Ali_Lev), and Leah Nylen ([emailprotected], @leah_nylen).

TTYL.

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Google stokes GOP allegations of tech bias - Politico