A recent survey showed about a quarter of the people who take DNA tests find a surprising result. Count among them correspondent Steve Hartman, whose search for family roots brought him to some unexpected places.
To watch the program hit here
.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Monday, January 27, 2020
Look-Alike Athletes Test DNA to See if They’re Related
This is a piece on Inside Edition on YouTube. Interesting if you haven't seen it.
To watch it it here
At first glance, these two minor league pitchers look like they could be brothers. They both have red hair, glasses and a beard, but most amazingly, they share the same name. Inside Edition viewers wanted to know if the men, both named Brady Feigl, were long-lost twins separated at birth. So a DNA test was arranged, and the men were brought together to compare results. The test showed that the two weren’t related in any way, but they say they’ll remain friends.
To watch it it here
At first glance, these two minor league pitchers look like they could be brothers. They both have red hair, glasses and a beard, but most amazingly, they share the same name. Inside Edition viewers wanted to know if the men, both named Brady Feigl, were long-lost twins separated at birth. So a DNA test was arranged, and the men were brought together to compare results. The test showed that the two weren’t related in any way, but they say they’ll remain friends.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
'Disturbing:' DNA collection at border expected to be the new normal
"This post is for the reader for informational only. It is not to judge for political reasons."
A pilot project at the U.S. border that involves the collection of DNA from detainees will likely be a reality in the future, according to one expert.
Earlier this week, the U.S. government announced that for 90 days, it would collect DNA samples from people in immigration custody at two border crossings - Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge and Eagle Pass Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas. Toronto-based immigration lawyer Joel Sandaluk explains that the Detroit point of entry was chosen because it has historically low rates of detention.
“What they’re trying to do is ascertain the operational impact of DNA collection at border crossings,” he tells Yahoo Canada. “They should be able to gauge what kind of impact that DNA collection will have on border crossings with higher rates of detention.”
Sandaluk says the pilot project isn’t surprising as it’s something the U.S. government has been talking about and been committed to for some time. The DNA will be collected and then transferred to the FBI database, where it will retained indefinitely and used for other law enforcement purposes.
A detainee can be categorized as someone who is trying to enter the country without legal means, but it can also include anyone who’s taken into custody at the border.
“A number of American politicians have mentioned that there will likely be a disproportionate effect on who will be affected by this new policy,” Sandaluk says.
In recent weeks, there have been reports of Americans of Iranian descent being stopped at the border and questioned about their political opinions and feelings on the situation in Iran. As a result, a number of concerns are being raised: What is the purpose of this DNA collection and can it be used for non-immigration motives? And will certain people be affected by this?
“That disproportionate effect is causing a lot of concern,” says Sandaluk.
He goes on to point out that Americans and Canadians entering each other’s countries are applying for a benefit, which means it’s not their legal or constitutional right to enter the other country. And the border has a long history of collecting DNA.
“In many cases fingerprints are collected,” he says. “(The pilot project) isn’t the only biometric information that’s taken from people. What it is is a different kind of biometric information.”
There are legitimate reasons for DNA to be sampled at the border. Canada sometimes collects DNA from people on request, when the parentage of a child is questioned. In those circumstances a DNA test will be conducted to confirm if the child is related to the adults he or she is travelling with.
However, the U.S. has acknowledged that the DNA samples collected in the pilot project may not serve an immediate purpose.
“The DNA tests may be taken but not processed until well after the person is released from custody or removed from the United States,” says Sandaluk.
The only Canadians who will be affected by the DNA pilot project are those who are taken into custody at the border. While the DNA test won’t necessarily have an immediate effect on them, the samples will be retained in an American criminal justice database, potentially indefinitely.
Sandaluk says the main and most immediate effect this will have is a loss of privacy for travellers. Since border guards have a broad range of discretion, American citizens of specific backgrounds may be illegally detained, which could result in the extraction of DNA and its storage in a database. Sandaluk describes this as “disturbing.” However, travellers from all over should learn to get used to it
“This could be the future,” he says. “The main reason this hasn’t happened yet is because of administrative concerns and operational issues...but I expect that this is the direction the American government, the Canadian government and other governments will go. It doesn’t really represent a change in policy as it does an intensification of policy.”
To read more of the article hit here
A pilot project at the U.S. border that involves the collection of DNA from detainees will likely be a reality in the future, according to one expert.
Earlier this week, the U.S. government announced that for 90 days, it would collect DNA samples from people in immigration custody at two border crossings - Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge and Eagle Pass Port of Entry in Laredo, Texas. Toronto-based immigration lawyer Joel Sandaluk explains that the Detroit point of entry was chosen because it has historically low rates of detention.
“What they’re trying to do is ascertain the operational impact of DNA collection at border crossings,” he tells Yahoo Canada. “They should be able to gauge what kind of impact that DNA collection will have on border crossings with higher rates of detention.”
Sandaluk says the pilot project isn’t surprising as it’s something the U.S. government has been talking about and been committed to for some time. The DNA will be collected and then transferred to the FBI database, where it will retained indefinitely and used for other law enforcement purposes.
A detainee can be categorized as someone who is trying to enter the country without legal means, but it can also include anyone who’s taken into custody at the border.
“A number of American politicians have mentioned that there will likely be a disproportionate effect on who will be affected by this new policy,” Sandaluk says.
In recent weeks, there have been reports of Americans of Iranian descent being stopped at the border and questioned about their political opinions and feelings on the situation in Iran. As a result, a number of concerns are being raised: What is the purpose of this DNA collection and can it be used for non-immigration motives? And will certain people be affected by this?
“That disproportionate effect is causing a lot of concern,” says Sandaluk.
He goes on to point out that Americans and Canadians entering each other’s countries are applying for a benefit, which means it’s not their legal or constitutional right to enter the other country. And the border has a long history of collecting DNA.
“In many cases fingerprints are collected,” he says. “(The pilot project) isn’t the only biometric information that’s taken from people. What it is is a different kind of biometric information.”
There are legitimate reasons for DNA to be sampled at the border. Canada sometimes collects DNA from people on request, when the parentage of a child is questioned. In those circumstances a DNA test will be conducted to confirm if the child is related to the adults he or she is travelling with.
However, the U.S. has acknowledged that the DNA samples collected in the pilot project may not serve an immediate purpose.
“The DNA tests may be taken but not processed until well after the person is released from custody or removed from the United States,” says Sandaluk.
The only Canadians who will be affected by the DNA pilot project are those who are taken into custody at the border. While the DNA test won’t necessarily have an immediate effect on them, the samples will be retained in an American criminal justice database, potentially indefinitely.
Sandaluk says the main and most immediate effect this will have is a loss of privacy for travellers. Since border guards have a broad range of discretion, American citizens of specific backgrounds may be illegally detained, which could result in the extraction of DNA and its storage in a database. Sandaluk describes this as “disturbing.” However, travellers from all over should learn to get used to it
“This could be the future,” he says. “The main reason this hasn’t happened yet is because of administrative concerns and operational issues...but I expect that this is the direction the American government, the Canadian government and other governments will go. It doesn’t really represent a change in policy as it does an intensification of policy.”
To read more of the article hit here
Sunday, January 19, 2020
DNA as a crime-fighting tool: When does it cross the line of personal privacy rights?
SALT LAKE CITY — We leave an invisible trail of it behind us everywhere we go and of late, millions of us have voluntary harvested and submitted it to find out more about who we are and where we come from.
While once only a theoretical mystery, It’s been well over a decade since the international Human Genome Project announced reaching the end of its “inward voyage of discovery,” successfully completing a project that provided the world the “ability, for the first time, to read nature’s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being.”
Since then, genomic innovations have advanced at a dramatic rate, including the development of technology that has enabled a new realm of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services that are cheap, fast and ubiquitous. Spit into a tube, send it out the door and in mere weeks you can find out the ethnic and geographic origins of your ancestors and, more personally, some pretty minute details about what physical and psychological anomalies may be coming your way.
A collateral outcome of this new volume of genetic testing are massive new databases holding troves of genetic data, veritable gateways to the most personal information about tens of millions of individuals.
Where is the line?
Now civil rights advocates are joining Utah lawmakers in the effort to establish some basic protections on this data as law enforcement and other government agencies are increasingly accessing this information as a genetic blueprint for building the perfect criminal case.
Connor Boyack, president of Utah-based libertarian public advocacy group Libertas Institute, said while the technology is a boon to amateur genealogists, the way it is being leveraged by government agencies raises concerns.
“In the past couple of years, law enforcement around the country have identified a new opportunity to use DNA to find and catch bad guys,” Boyack said. “At first blush, many might think this is an exciting new tool to catch criminals, however, when you look at it more closely, it’s actually a very profound violation of privacy.”
To read more of this article hit here
While once only a theoretical mystery, It’s been well over a decade since the international Human Genome Project announced reaching the end of its “inward voyage of discovery,” successfully completing a project that provided the world the “ability, for the first time, to read nature’s complete genetic blueprint for building a human being.”
Since then, genomic innovations have advanced at a dramatic rate, including the development of technology that has enabled a new realm of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services that are cheap, fast and ubiquitous. Spit into a tube, send it out the door and in mere weeks you can find out the ethnic and geographic origins of your ancestors and, more personally, some pretty minute details about what physical and psychological anomalies may be coming your way.
A collateral outcome of this new volume of genetic testing are massive new databases holding troves of genetic data, veritable gateways to the most personal information about tens of millions of individuals.
Where is the line?
Now civil rights advocates are joining Utah lawmakers in the effort to establish some basic protections on this data as law enforcement and other government agencies are increasingly accessing this information as a genetic blueprint for building the perfect criminal case.
Connor Boyack, president of Utah-based libertarian public advocacy group Libertas Institute, said while the technology is a boon to amateur genealogists, the way it is being leveraged by government agencies raises concerns.
“In the past couple of years, law enforcement around the country have identified a new opportunity to use DNA to find and catch bad guys,” Boyack said. “At first blush, many might think this is an exciting new tool to catch criminals, however, when you look at it more closely, it’s actually a very profound violation of privacy.”
To read more of this article hit here
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
DNA supplied by public to trace their ancestry should be available to police, according to majority of Britons
DNA that the public supply to private firms to trace their ancestry should be available to police investigating crimes, says a majority of Britons. Some 55 per cent of people believe that the police should be able to access the DNA records of people held in private databases, according to a YouGov poll of 1,621 adults.
About one in 20 (five per cent) of Britons, equivalent to around 2.5 million people, told researchers they had used a DNA test kit, with a further eight per cent, saying they planned to do so in the future.
Three quarters of those who used the kit did so to learn about their ancestry and family history. A further eight per cent did so to find out about potential diseases they could suffer.
A further 11 per cent underwent DNA paternity tests.
DNA testing companies have refused to reveal the genetic information of customers although there have been rare cases where police have used open-source databases to narrow a list of suspects.
Police can only retain indefinitely the DNA of people convicted of a range of 400 offences from murder to burglary and can hold for a limited period the DNA of people charged or arrested but not convicted before it has to be deleted.
Almost 5.4 million individuals’ DNA profiles are currently on the national police database which would mean more than 60 million people are not.
Despite privacy controversies over the police’s increasing use of new technologies such as facial recognition cameras, the public appear relaxed about the idea of third parties having access to people’s DNA where it could help solve a crime.
To read more of this article in The Telegraph hit here
About one in 20 (five per cent) of Britons, equivalent to around 2.5 million people, told researchers they had used a DNA test kit, with a further eight per cent, saying they planned to do so in the future.
Three quarters of those who used the kit did so to learn about their ancestry and family history. A further eight per cent did so to find out about potential diseases they could suffer.
A further 11 per cent underwent DNA paternity tests.
DNA testing companies have refused to reveal the genetic information of customers although there have been rare cases where police have used open-source databases to narrow a list of suspects.
Police can only retain indefinitely the DNA of people convicted of a range of 400 offences from murder to burglary and can hold for a limited period the DNA of people charged or arrested but not convicted before it has to be deleted.
Almost 5.4 million individuals’ DNA profiles are currently on the national police database which would mean more than 60 million people are not.
Despite privacy controversies over the police’s increasing use of new technologies such as facial recognition cameras, the public appear relaxed about the idea of third parties having access to people’s DNA where it could help solve a crime.
To read more of this article in The Telegraph hit here
Friday, January 10, 2020
DNA tests and family matters
It's been a long and winding road to this family reunion. Amidst the food and fun, brother and sister Richard and Sara Reibman are meeting a relative named Tom Johnson for the very first time.
And this is no distant relative; Johnson and the Reibmans have discovered they are siblings. "It was just shocking, awesome," Johnson told correspondent Rita Braver.
It all began when the Reibmans' cousin, Susan Goff, did a DNA test and found that someone named Thomas Edgar Johnson, Jr. seemed to be her first cousin. "I initially thought that's a mistake, because I know all my first cousins," she said.
Goff, who is partially of Eastern European Jewish decent, reached out to Johnson, who was raised a fundamentalist Christian, and already puzzling over his DNA results. "It said that I was a descendant of Eastern European Jews, and French! That's not at all in my family that I knew," he said.
Soon, Goff figured out that Johnson had been born in Dearborn, Michigan. She knew that Sara and Richard's brother, Herbert, who died ten years ago, had been born there, too, as it turned out, in the same hospital within hours of Tom. The day was December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. And Johnson suddenly realized that, in what had to be nationwide chaos, he and Herbert Reibman may have been switched at birth.
"I also was in kind of shock at that time, too, realizing that maybe I had overturned a rock that was pretty surprising to me," said Johnson, "that in fact, I did have a different mother and father than I grew up with."
Sara Reibman took a DNA test, too, and confirmed that Tom is her brother.
How shocked was she? "I thought, that explains a lot, because Herbie, the brother who was switched, was just so different than we were," she said. "And we always kinda laughed about it. It was kind of a joke, you know – where'd he come from?"
Richard Reibman calls the discovery bittersweet. He says they loved their brother Herbert who died without learning the real story. He also feels there's reason to be happy: "It certainly will enrich my life going forward. I think for Tom it's much more difficult. Because he didn't grow up with his biological parents, although he grew up in a loving family. but it's different for him."
Johnson said, "I have an aunt who is only three years older than me, and I talked to her, and she said, 'You'll always be our family …'" he started choking up. "But I'm really looking forward to knowing more about my real family. It's really a joy for me."
Though many of the commercials for DNA kits make it sound like taking the test might yield some fun surprises about your heritage, in fact a recent survey shows that more than a quarter of those who use mail-in DNA tests end up learning about close relatives that they didn't know about.
And it's not always happy news.
Catherine St. Clair said, "It was May of 2017 when the floor fell out from under me."
That was the day she learned "devastating news": that she didn't share DNA with the only father she'd ever known. "What I found out was that my mother worked for a few months at this store that my biological father owned, and I was conceived at that time. I was raised as my dad's child along with my siblings, and nobody knew."
With both the parents who raised her, and her birth father, dead, St. Clair had no one to ask what happened. Feeling isolated, she started an online support group called NPE Friends Fellowship for others in similar situations.
NPE stands for Not Parent Expected. And before she knew it, St. Clair said, "we had 6,000 members."
They even have meet-ups, where members talk about issues like the shock of finding out that their biological father was not who they thought. Paulette Bethel said, "Now I realize I was feeling betrayal. My mother had this secret."
Braver asked another member, Bradley Hall, "Were you able to talk to your mother about this?"
"She's unapproachable about the subject," he replied.
Getting emotional, Tamera Brooks said the hardest part was that the dad who raised her had no idea she wasn't his: "I didn't want to tell him. At this point he was sick and I didn't wanna upset him, you know?"
At DNA testing companies, like 23&me, so many calls come in from people who make shocking discoveries about their families, that, as they demonstrated for Braver, employees get special training in how to handle delicate situations: "Just let them some time to process that on the phone, 'cause sometimes people call in just wanting to vent or to have someone listen," said Madeline Lynch.
The company just launched a new webpage aimed at helping people cope with "unexpected relationships".
And there are a lot of happy endings. Take the story of young boxer Vidal Rivera, and James Inge Sr. and Jr.
Last year James Jr. took a DNA test to learn more about his heritage, and was surprised when someone he'd never heard of seemed to be a close match. So, he called Ancestry.com, the testing company he'd used:
"I talked to their customer service person. And he's funny, 'cause he's like, 'Oh, congratulations. This is your brother!' So, I'm like, 'OK.'"
Braver asked, "Did you call him first, or did you call your dad first?"
"I talked to my dad, he was feeling kinda like, 'What?' Kind like misty area of mindset."
Braver asked James Sr., "Did you have a glimmer?"
"Couldn't remember nothing," he replied. "And I felt really bad 'cause I didn't remember – 27 years ago? That was the '80s, that was good times! Don't remember that! Couldn't remember, like, seriously couldn't remember."
But it was just what his newly-found son had been dreaming of. He'd taken a DNA test for one reason only: "Like a lucky shot in the dark and see what I've always been looking for, see if, you know, I happened to find my dad on there."
Braver said, "Had you ever asked your mom who your dad was?"
"A million times," he said..
"And she didn't wanna talk about it?"
"Yeah, at times she didn't wanna talk about it. I got different answers. Things of that nature. So, I just knew I couldn't keep knocking on that door."
But now these three men say they have formed a bond which will never break, and it all started with a simple DNA test.
Braver asked, "What would you say to people who are worried about doing this? What would your response be?"
Vidal replied, "You just have to get your feet wet and do it. And you can't be afraid of it, and embrace whatever you get, because, you know, it's gonna happen. It's just gonna happen in its own way."
To watch it hit here
And this is no distant relative; Johnson and the Reibmans have discovered they are siblings. "It was just shocking, awesome," Johnson told correspondent Rita Braver.
It all began when the Reibmans' cousin, Susan Goff, did a DNA test and found that someone named Thomas Edgar Johnson, Jr. seemed to be her first cousin. "I initially thought that's a mistake, because I know all my first cousins," she said.
Goff, who is partially of Eastern European Jewish decent, reached out to Johnson, who was raised a fundamentalist Christian, and already puzzling over his DNA results. "It said that I was a descendant of Eastern European Jews, and French! That's not at all in my family that I knew," he said.
Soon, Goff figured out that Johnson had been born in Dearborn, Michigan. She knew that Sara and Richard's brother, Herbert, who died ten years ago, had been born there, too, as it turned out, in the same hospital within hours of Tom. The day was December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. And Johnson suddenly realized that, in what had to be nationwide chaos, he and Herbert Reibman may have been switched at birth.
"I also was in kind of shock at that time, too, realizing that maybe I had overturned a rock that was pretty surprising to me," said Johnson, "that in fact, I did have a different mother and father than I grew up with."
Sara Reibman took a DNA test, too, and confirmed that Tom is her brother.
How shocked was she? "I thought, that explains a lot, because Herbie, the brother who was switched, was just so different than we were," she said. "And we always kinda laughed about it. It was kind of a joke, you know – where'd he come from?"
Richard Reibman calls the discovery bittersweet. He says they loved their brother Herbert who died without learning the real story. He also feels there's reason to be happy: "It certainly will enrich my life going forward. I think for Tom it's much more difficult. Because he didn't grow up with his biological parents, although he grew up in a loving family. but it's different for him."
Johnson said, "I have an aunt who is only three years older than me, and I talked to her, and she said, 'You'll always be our family …'" he started choking up. "But I'm really looking forward to knowing more about my real family. It's really a joy for me."
Though many of the commercials for DNA kits make it sound like taking the test might yield some fun surprises about your heritage, in fact a recent survey shows that more than a quarter of those who use mail-in DNA tests end up learning about close relatives that they didn't know about.
And it's not always happy news.
Catherine St. Clair said, "It was May of 2017 when the floor fell out from under me."
That was the day she learned "devastating news": that she didn't share DNA with the only father she'd ever known. "What I found out was that my mother worked for a few months at this store that my biological father owned, and I was conceived at that time. I was raised as my dad's child along with my siblings, and nobody knew."
With both the parents who raised her, and her birth father, dead, St. Clair had no one to ask what happened. Feeling isolated, she started an online support group called NPE Friends Fellowship for others in similar situations.
NPE stands for Not Parent Expected. And before she knew it, St. Clair said, "we had 6,000 members."
They even have meet-ups, where members talk about issues like the shock of finding out that their biological father was not who they thought. Paulette Bethel said, "Now I realize I was feeling betrayal. My mother had this secret."
Braver asked another member, Bradley Hall, "Were you able to talk to your mother about this?"
"She's unapproachable about the subject," he replied.
Getting emotional, Tamera Brooks said the hardest part was that the dad who raised her had no idea she wasn't his: "I didn't want to tell him. At this point he was sick and I didn't wanna upset him, you know?"
At DNA testing companies, like 23&me, so many calls come in from people who make shocking discoveries about their families, that, as they demonstrated for Braver, employees get special training in how to handle delicate situations: "Just let them some time to process that on the phone, 'cause sometimes people call in just wanting to vent or to have someone listen," said Madeline Lynch.
The company just launched a new webpage aimed at helping people cope with "unexpected relationships".
And there are a lot of happy endings. Take the story of young boxer Vidal Rivera, and James Inge Sr. and Jr.
Last year James Jr. took a DNA test to learn more about his heritage, and was surprised when someone he'd never heard of seemed to be a close match. So, he called Ancestry.com, the testing company he'd used:
"I talked to their customer service person. And he's funny, 'cause he's like, 'Oh, congratulations. This is your brother!' So, I'm like, 'OK.'"
Braver asked, "Did you call him first, or did you call your dad first?"
"I talked to my dad, he was feeling kinda like, 'What?' Kind like misty area of mindset."
Braver asked James Sr., "Did you have a glimmer?"
"Couldn't remember nothing," he replied. "And I felt really bad 'cause I didn't remember – 27 years ago? That was the '80s, that was good times! Don't remember that! Couldn't remember, like, seriously couldn't remember."
But it was just what his newly-found son had been dreaming of. He'd taken a DNA test for one reason only: "Like a lucky shot in the dark and see what I've always been looking for, see if, you know, I happened to find my dad on there."
Braver said, "Had you ever asked your mom who your dad was?"
"A million times," he said..
"And she didn't wanna talk about it?"
"Yeah, at times she didn't wanna talk about it. I got different answers. Things of that nature. So, I just knew I couldn't keep knocking on that door."
But now these three men say they have formed a bond which will never break, and it all started with a simple DNA test.
Braver asked, "What would you say to people who are worried about doing this? What would your response be?"
Vidal replied, "You just have to get your feet wet and do it. And you can't be afraid of it, and embrace whatever you get, because, you know, it's gonna happen. It's just gonna happen in its own way."
To watch it hit here
Monday, January 6, 2020
DNA supplied by public to trace their ancestry should be available to police, according to majority of Britons
DNA that the public supply to private firms to trace their ancestry should be available to police investigating crimes, says a majority of Britons.
Some 55 per cent of people believe that the police should be able to access the DNA records of people held in private databases, according to a YouGov poll of 1,621 adults.
About one in 20 (five per cent) of Britons, equivalent to around 2.5 million people, told researchers they had used a DNA test kit, with a further eight per cent, saying they planned to do so in the future.
Three quarters of those who used the kit did so to learn about their ancestry and family history. A further eight per cent did so to find out about potential diseases they could suffer.
A further 11 per cent underwent DNA paternity tests.
About one in 20 (five per cent) of Britons, equivalent to around 2.5 million people, told researchers they had used a DNA test kit, with a further eight per cent, saying they planned to do so in the future.
Three quarters of those who used the kit did so to learn about their ancestry and family history. A further eight per cent did so to find out about potential diseases they could suffer.
A further 11 per cent underwent DNA paternity tests.
DNA testing companies have refused to reveal the genetic information of customers although there have been rare cases where police have used open-source databases to narrow a list of suspects.
Police can only retain indefinitely the DNA of people convicted of a range of 400 offences from murder to burglary and can hold for a limited period the DNA of people charged or arrested but not convicted before it has to be deleted.
Almost 5.4 million individuals’ DNA profiles are currently on the national police database which would mean more than 60 million people are not.
Despite privacy controversies over the police’s increasing use of new technologies such as facial recognition cameras, the public appear relaxed about the idea of third parties having access to people’s DNA where it could help solve a crime.
While 55 per cent believe it should be open to police, 54 per cent backed the counter terror services having access and 52 per cent backed health services.
However, more than eight in ten (82 per cent) opposed private companies being granted access, with only three per cent in favour.
Police can only retain indefinitely the DNA of people convicted of a range of 400 offences from murder to burglary and can hold for a limited period the DNA of people charged or arrested but not convicted before it has to be deleted.
Almost 5.4 million individuals’ DNA profiles are currently on the national police database which would mean more than 60 million people are not.
Despite privacy controversies over the police’s increasing use of new technologies such as facial recognition cameras, the public appear relaxed about the idea of third parties having access to people’s DNA where it could help solve a crime.
While 55 per cent believe it should be open to police, 54 per cent backed the counter terror services having access and 52 per cent backed health services.
However, more than eight in ten (82 per cent) opposed private companies being granted access, with only three per cent in favour.
To read more of this article hit here
Hispanic Tuesday and Thursday Announcement
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Battle of Rio San Gabriel Reenactment Saturday January 11th, 2020
Saturday, January 11 • 11 am to 4 pm
Montebello Historical Society: "Battle of Rio San Gabriel - Annual Reenactment" The Battle of Rio San Gabriel was part of the California campaign of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The conflict took place on January 8, 1847, on the sites of present-day Montebello and Pico Rivera. U.S. scouts had discovered the Mexican militia's position at a key ford along the San Gabriel River. Commodore Robert F. Stockton and Army General Stephen W. Kearny planned a crossing for the next day, but this proved to be especially difficult when the Mexican general, Jose Maria Flores, contested the crossing from his position on the heights across the river as U.S. forces entered the waterway. You are invited to see the battle reenacted at Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe Museum, 946 North Adobe Ave., Montebello, 90640. MHS's event will feature uniformed American and Californio reenactors, living-history period music, vintage dancers, and audience-participation fandango dancing. • Cost: Free
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