PROFILE
FROM Caroline Fredrickson
Measures to Protect Women Could Expand FBI's DNA Database Most states collect DNA samples only from people convicted of crimes, and that's been true of the federal government as well. While the original targets were undocumented workers suspected of crimes, a year ago President Bush signed an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act that would vastly increase federal power. The Justice Department will soon issue rules for collecting DNA from "any person arrested under federal authority and from any non-US person who is detained." Civil-liberties watchdogs claim that the broad language could result in hikers stopped by park rangers or airline passengers subjected to screening to surrender their genetic codes. Why is the new law part of VAWA? How did it pass without debate, by voice vote, virtually unnoticed? Is it a good move for law enforcement or an overextension of federal powers?
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Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.