Feds cut UC Davis dementia research due to DEI

For Dr. Charles DeCarli of UC Davis — one of the country’s top dementia researchers — the abrupt cancellation of federal funding for his multi-year study was demoralizing. 

“This particular grant was the pinnacle of my research,” he told CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.

As President Donald Trump’s administration looks to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government and other institutions, DeCarli became swept up in the dragnet after he received a letter in March from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH. The letter informed him that his nearly $36 million research project was being canceled because it perpetuated a “DEI” agenda.

About 5 million Americans have dementia, which affects a person’s ability to think, remember and perform daily tasks. Compared to white Americans, both Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia. Dementia also disproportionately affects women.

DeCarli’s cancelled project had a remaining $10 million and included 28 clinical and research sites and 1,700 participants with mild cognitive impairments.

• The termination letter: “Research programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry, do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.”

The University of California’s 10 campuses receive more than $2 billion in research funding from the NIH and carry out nearly a tenth of all academic research in the U.S. Besides DeCarli’s, the NIH terminated at least 30 other UC projects, totaling more than $173 million.

California has joined 15 other states to sue the NIH, and multiple lawsuits have been filed to halt the grant cancellations. While these cases play out in courts, however, DeCarli says his research — which has already been compromised due to the frozen funds — cannot continue without federal money.

• DeCarli: “Dementia affects many Americans and their loved ones. It is an epidemic. It is a huge public health problem. This study … is trying to improve the health of all Americans.”

Read more here.

In what the California Coastal Commission described as the most expensive penalty imposed against a company, state regulators on Thursday voted to fine an oil company $18 million for repeatedly violating stop-work orders on a pipeline that was at the center of a major 2015 oil spill, writes CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo.

Last year the Houston-based company Sable Offshore Corp. purchased the Santa Barbara County pipeline from Exxon Mobil in order to restart production at the Santa Ynez oil operation. Operations ceased a decade ago after a spill unleashed more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto coastal land and ocean waters.

During the five-hour public hearing, the commission alleged that Sable ignored multiple cease-and-desist orders and continued repairing the corroded pipeline.

• Meagan Harmon, commissioner: “Sable’s refusal to comply is a refusal to follow the law. Their refusal, in a very real sense, is a subversion of the will of the people of the state of California.”

But Sable argues that because the spill was caused by the pipeline’s previous owners, the commission is overreaching. It also says its actions were allowed under old permits issued by the county.

• Steve Rusch, Sable’s vice president of environmental and governmental affairs, in a statement: “Sable is dedicated to restarting project operations in a safe and efficient manner. No California business should be forced to go through a protracted and arbitrary permitting process when it already has valid permits for the work it performed.”

Read more here.

More than 900 U.S. Border Patrol agents in California are expected to be retrained following a controversial immigration raid the agency carried out in Kern County.

As CalMatters’ Wendy Fry and Sergio Olmos explain, the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the United Farm Workers, sued Border Patrol and other federal agencies alleging that the January raid unlawfully targeted “people of color who appeared to be farm workers” and violated constitutional protections against arrests without probable cause. 

A CalMatters investigation also found that Border Patrol agents had no prior knowledge of criminal or immigration history for 77 of the 78 people arrested during the sweep.

Following the lawsuit filing, recent court documents show that the Department of Homeland Security issued updated legal guidance on April 4 to Border Patrol agents. It bans agents from the El Centro sector, which conducted the raids, from making warrantless arrests unless they can show both probable cause that someone is in the U.S. in violation of immigration laws, and that they are likely to flee before a warrant can be obtained.

The federal government also said El Centro sector agents will be trained on the rules, including how to comply with the Constitution. But leaders with the ACLU and the farm workers union remain unconvinced agents will follow the law. 

• Elizabeth Strater, national vice president at the United Farm Workers: “It’s just a pinky swear. It’s a policy that could be withdrawn or changed at any time.”

Read more here.

State Farm wrapped up its three-day public hearing Thursday, in which it had to justify its request for temporary emergency rate increases to an administrative law judge. Find out how soon and how much customers’ rates would increase, if the judge approves, from CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay.