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Louisiana commandment, Russian roulette and an Alzheimer's glimmer

 
Today's politics story

Louisiana orders schools to post Ten Commandments

What happened
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) signed a law Wednesday requiring all public school classrooms, from kindergarten to public universities, to display a prescribed text of the Ten Commandments in "large, easily readable font." Louisiana is the first state to mandate Ten Commandments displays in schools since the Supreme Court struck down a similar Kentucky law in 1980, ruling it violated the First Amendment's establishment clause.

Who said what
"If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original law given which was Moses," Landry said. "He got his commandments from God." At a June 15 Republican fund-raiser in Tennessee, Landry said he "can't wait to be sued" over the law.

A coalition of civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, said they will take him up and challenge the "unconstitutional religious coercion of students." Some religious groups also opposed the law, The Times-Picayune said. One petition signed by more than 100 Christian pastors called it a "hodgepodge of holy scripture" and said the government "has no business choosing an official version of the Ten Commandments."

What next?
Louisiana's legislation is "part of a broader campaign by conservative Christian groups" to "provoke lawsuits that could reach the Supreme Court, where they expect a friendlier reception than in years past," The New York Times said. Similar laws have stalled in Texas, Oklahoma and other GOP-led states.

 
 
Today's international story

Russia and North Korea sign mutual defense pact

What happened
Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed an agreement Wednesday pledging some sort of mutual assistance if either country faced foreign "aggression." The pledge appears to be the strongest since the collapse of the Soviet Union ended a 1961 pact that required Moscow to step in if North Korea were attacked.

Who said what
Kim said the agreement, signed during Putin's first visit to North Korea since 2000, was the "strongest treaty ever" between Moscow and Pyongyang. Putin said the "breakthrough" pact "does not exclude the development of military-technical cooperation" — a statement analysts said could mean he will reward Kim's flow of munitions for the Ukraine invasion by helping to improve North Korea's nuclear missiles and other advanced weapons.

The scope of the agreement was unclear. South Korean analyst Cheong Seong Chang told The Associated Press it appears the two hermit states have "completely restored their Cold War-era military alliance." Moscow and Pyongyang are declaring a "de facto alliance," Hudson Institute security analyst Patric Cronin told The Wall Street Journal, but "there is nothing fundamentally new about this relationship today that was not true before Putin's visit."

What next?
Putin arrived in Vietnam on Thursday to bolster ties with Moscow's longtime ally and demonstrate the "diplomatic support Russia still enjoys in the region," the BBC said. 

 
 
Today's MEDICINE Story

Gene variant may slow Alzheimer's

What happened
A single copy of a rare genetic variant tied to Alzheimer's disease appears to delay the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia by about five years, U.S. and Colombian researchers reported Wednesday. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers hope that a drug emulating this variant of the APOE3 gene, dubbed the Christchurch variant, could similarly defeat or delay Alzheimer's.

Who said what
Researchers reported in 2019 that a Colombian woman from an extended family genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer's in their 40s had fended off dementia until her 70s, seemingly because she carried two copies of the Christchurch variant. The new study found that 27 relatives with just one Christchurch gene developed symptoms around age 52, roughly five years later later than other family members with the early-onset genetic mutation.

One patient could be a fluke, but "finding 27 people" evidently shielded by the Christchurch variant "increases our confidence in the discovery — and shows the results are reproducible," study co-author Joseph Arboleda-Velasquez, at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, told The Washington Post. 

What next?
Researchers have found success testing an experimental drug that imitates Christchurch in mice and are seeking authorization for human trials.

 
 

It's not all bad

An antimalarial drug drawn from ancient Chinese medicine could effectively treat polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a groundbreaking study suggests. After 12 weeks of treatment, the herbal extract artemisinin was found to reduce testosterone production in ovaries and also led to more regular periods. The small trial by a Chinese team has been hailed as a breakthrough, potentially offering a new approach to treating a condition that affects about 1 in 10 women.

 
 
Under the radar

The humble avocado's wholesome image is being tarnished by arson, threats and killings tied to its production in Mexico's western Michoacán state. Mexico supplies about 80% of the avocados eaten in the U.S., and most come from Michoacán. The state also provides nearly a third of the global supply, so if you eat an avocado, there's a good chance it's from "one of the most violent and complex" places in Mexico, said Forbes. 

Avocados have been consumed for thousands of years in the region, said The New York Times, but producing them "on an industrial scale" for export only began in the 1990s, when the U.S. opened its market to Mexican avocados. Internal U.S. government reports have warned that juiced avocado exports would "likely increase deforestation" in Mexico. This has proved to be correct, as a "combination of interests," including "criminal gangs, landowners, corrupt local officials and community leaders," started clearing forests for avocado orchards, the Times added.

In recent years, avocado production has led to greater criminality. Five years ago, 19 people were found "hanging from an overpass, piled beneath a pedestrian bridge or dumped on the roadside" in "various states of undress and dismemberment," said The Guardian. Experts pointed to cartel clashes over the multibillion-dollar trade. This type of brutality has led one Michelin-starred chef to describe avocados as the "blood diamonds" of Mexico. 

And there's no end in sight for these problems because, amid all the violence, the avocado trade is expected to continue booming. A study last year predicted that the amount of land in Michoacán used for avocado crops could increase by more than 80% by 2050.

 
 
On this day

June 20, 1975

"Jaws" was released. The Steven Spielberg movie went on to become the highest-grossing film of its time. Today, that title is held by the 2009 blockbuster "Avatar," followed by "Avengers: Endgame." For perspective, last year's big summer hits "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" sit 14th and 54th in the rankings, respectively.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

Thursday's newspapers bid farewell to Willie Mays, the baseball legend who died late Tuesday at age 93. The "Say Hey Kid" started in the Negro League but spent most of his 23 seasons playing for the Giants, first in New York and then San Francisco — an affiliation the New York Daily News nods to with its "farewell to a giant." The New York Times calls Mays a "forceful, graceful, joyful gem on the diamond," while USA Today goes with "timeless legend." He was "known for 'The Catch,'" the Los Angeles Times says, "and by many as best of the best." 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Double take

If many of this year's eighth-grade graduates at Pollard Middle School in Needham, Massachusetts, looked alike, it might be because twins made up 10% of the class. There were 23 pairs of identical and fraternal twins in the grade, a "quite unusual" fact, Principal Tamatha Bibbo said. In a typical year, the school sees "anywhere from five to 10 sets at most. Given our numbers, we have approximately 450 to 500 children in each grade, so this was extraordinarily high."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Chas Newkey-Burden, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Geography Photos / Universal Images Group via Getty Images; Kristina Kormilitsyna / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; TEK Image / Science Photo Library via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images