Kidnapped Americans found dead in Mexico, legal psilocybin in Oregon: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Kidnapped Americans found dead in Mexico

Two kidnapped Americans were found dead in Mexico. Plus, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger blasts Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says the central bank will likely raise its key interest rate higher than anticipated, Register-Guard Causes Reporter Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick looks at legal psilocybin in Oregon, and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Reporter Madeline Heim explains why the upper Mississippi River backwaters need help.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday, the 8th of March 2023. Today the latest after Americans were kidnapped near the border in Mexico, plus what legal psilocybin in Oregon looks like, and the upper Mississippi River backwaters are in trouble.

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Two kidnapped Americans have been found dead in Mexico. Mexican authorities said they were part of a group traveling for cosmetic surgery and were killed on Friday after getting caught in a drug cartel shootout just south of the border, near Brownsville, Texas. Two surviving Americans in the group returned stateside yesterday. Attorney General Irving Barrios said no ransom was demanded and that all signs point to the group being the victims of mistaken identity. Another person not linked to the group was killed by a stray bullet, according to Mexican authorities. The Justice Department has pledged to relentlessly pursue those who carried out the attack.

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told Congress yesterday that the Central Bank will likely raise its key interest rate higher than anticipated and could resume larger hikes after slowing down in recent months. Powell added that although inflation has been moderating in recent months, the process of getting inflation back down to 2% is a long way to go. Powell faced sharp criticism from committee Democrats who said higher rates don't address the main causes of inflation and will mean millions of job losses along with the likely recession. Last year, job growth, consumer spending, and inflation all slowed, giving evidence that the Fed's historically aggressive interest rate hikes were working to ease consumer price increases.

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US Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger blasted Fox News host Tucker Carlson yesterday for showing calmer moments from the January 6th Capitol attack instead of some of the chaos and violence that unfolded. Carlson got exclusive access to some 41,000 hours of surveillance video, recorded the day of the riot from Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Carlson on Monday on his show portrayed the event as mostly peaceful. He also called officials liars, including President Joe Biden, for calling the attack a deadly insurrection. In fact, the riot was the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years. About 140 police officers were injured during the incident. One died the next day, and at least four others died by suicide in the weeks that followed.

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Voters in Oregon decided in 2020 to make the state the first in the country to legalize the use of psilocybin. And while that's exciting for many, Oregon also feels a responsibility to get it right. For more, I spoke with Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick a causes reporter with the registered guard in Oregon, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Tatiana, thanks for hopping on the podcast.

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

For those who may not know, what is psilocybin?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

It's known as magic mushrooms. It is a chemical though as well, it causes hallucinogenic experiences.

Taylor Wilson:

So then, how exactly does this psilocybin legalization work in the state of Oregon?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

It's way more complicated than I think most people realize. It doesn't look anything like cannabis legalization looked like, where you could go to a dispensary, much like you go to a liquor store. This looks totally different. It's a lot more like health service. It took two years after voters approved of this to get a legal framework going. So, that's where we're at now. We still don't have it. That's something that national outlets get wrong a lot. You'll see jokes on late night TV about, "Oh, now you can go to Oregon..." And doors are not open yet. There's four components that need to happen first. Someone needs to make the psilocybin, that's the manufacturers. Someone needs to test the psilocybin, that's the labs. Then, there needs to be centers where it's provided and there needs to be people who are qualified to lead these trips. Those four things all need to come together and they haven't yet. The soonest date would be late summer, but first, all four of those need to be state approved and good to go.

Taylor Wilson:

And so, how do people become qualified to facilitate using psilocybin?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

With the start of this year, the state began taking applications for licensure in those four areas as I described. So, the first and the easiest thing to get going is the facilitator, because in order to become a facilitator, you have to go through a curriculum and the curriculum has to be approved by the state. So far, the state's approved 21 curriculums. They kind of set the bar for what students have to learn about. And so, these are modules or units about ethics and history and safety, and that's the bar. And then these different programs might take it further depending on what their interest is. So, people in the state who are interested in becoming these guides, these healers, these facilitators, they can shop around to see what's going to be a good fit for them.

Taylor Wilson:

And so, where is the psilocybin itself coming from?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

That's going to be coming from manufacturers in the state. A few groups have asked to get licensure from the state. Once they get approved, they'll be able to start growing their psilocybin. And then, of course, the labs will have to further test that psilocybin. So, this is all going to be happening in state and all from a very careful eye of the state, but it's not happening yet. They have all of these rules, they have to meet with the Oregon Health Authority. There's some experience in the state with cannabis farms and just how much space that took up. And so, this is going to be indoor only and it takes up way less water. It takes up way less space, electricity. You're not going to see fields of mushrooms necessarily.

Taylor Wilson:

Tatiana, you mentioned cannabis, and obviously there are some parallels and some differences to how this is being rolled out. We've seen as different states have made cannabis legal, a lot of players come into those states and try to make money off of that industry. Could the same thing happen with psilocybin in Oregon?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

Yeah, absolutely. I think that's on a lot of people's mind. There is some parts of this framework meant to prevent that. So, when it comes to manufacturers and service centers who are going to host these experiences, Oregon law makes it so that people who own these facilities have to be at least 50% Oregon residents until 2025.

Taylor Wilson:

And how important is it for Oregon to get this right as the rest of the country and maybe even the rest of the world looks on?

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

Being the first is scary. So, I ran into excitement, but I also ran into a lot of trepidation, a lot of people realizing that this is a big deal and there's a lot of eagerness to get it right. There's kind of a little bit of tension in the world of psilocybin between what is the proper use. There's folks who take it very, very seriously as a medicine with an ancient lineage, and then there's other folks who see a lot of benefit from using it recreationally.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Tatiana, great info. Thanks so much for your perspective on this. Really appreciate it.

Tatiana Parafiniuk-Talesnick:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

The Upper Mississippi River backwaters are in trouble, and like so many environmental crises climate change is to blame. Madeline Heim is an environment reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network. She said nature needs human help. Madeline, welcome. Thanks for coming on 5 Things.

Madeline Heim:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Right off the top, can you just tell me a little about what the Upper Mississippi River backwaters are?

Madeline Heim:

Yeah. If you imagine the Mississippi River, you're probably thinking of the main channel, the river that transports tons of goods up and down it every day. The backwaters are an area kind of just off the main channel of the river where it's really nice for animals and wildlife and fish to hang out. So, if you're thinking of an analogy, you can kind of think of it as the main channel of the river is a highway, and these backwaters are quieter neighborhoods just off the highway, in this case where wildlife is a little bit more protected and sheltered from the fast flow of the main river.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, I love that highway visual. Why are these areas in trouble and what role is climate change playing?

Madeline Heim:

Yeah. There's a couple reasons why they are in trouble. And in fact, in 2020, a report from our State Department of Natural Resources said that they're the site of some of the most serious climate change induced degradation. So, up here in the Upper Midwest, we've seen much more precipitation over the last several decades, especially between 2010 and 2020. There was an almost unprecedented amount of water that flowed through the river during that time. And when there's more water in the river, those backwaters are flushing faster. And flushing, if you can kind of go back to the highway analogy, would be that if these cars are exiting that main highway going into the backwaters or those neighborhoods and then leaving those backwaters, so the water in the backwaters is turning over faster, and that makes it harder for fish and other wildlife to be able to hang out there and stay as safe as they used to be. That's one of the things affecting it.

Something else that's impacting the backwaters is the fact that the river is highly engineered. Obviously water is changing all the time, and so an uncontrolled river can adjust itself and change to adapt to that. But the Upper Mississippi River is controlled by a series of locks and dams, and those were put in in the 1930s to help control the water levels in the river to make shipping on the river easier. And so, because it's constrained in a man-made way, the river itself can't create new backwaters, can't create safer backwaters and adjust itself due to the higher water flowing through it.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. As you say, Madeline, the river cannot fix itself. What are the solutions here?

Madeline Heim:

I think a big solution that has been in the works for years and years and is expected to continue is that the US Army Corps of Engineers conducts these habitat rehabilitation projects and they're partnered with local departments of natural resources. Wisconsin is helping out with that and other agencies and other groups to be able to restore some of this habitat. For example, there's a backwater site near Alma, which is on the northwest side of Wisconsin. They are looking at a habitat restoration project there in a couple years that might extend a peninsula. So, there's lots of projects like that that are going on, and I think that we'll see that for some time to come.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Madeline Heim writes about environmental issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Thanks Madeline, really appreciate the info.

Madeline Heim:

Thanks so much.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you get your audio. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Capitol Police Chief blasts Tucker Carlson, psilocybin on Ore: 5 Things podcast