Texas
Texas study suggests nasal spray could reverse brain aging
Over time, the brain gradually loses some of its sharpness. But new research from Texas A&M University suggests that decline may be reversible with a nasal spray.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, researchers examined “neuroinflammaging,” a slow, chronic inflammation in the brain that builds with age and contributes to memory and cognitive decline. The researchers developed a nasal spray containing microscopic particles derived from neural stem cells. Mice at 18 months of age — roughly equivalent to 60-year-old humans — received the treatment. Compared with untreated mice, those given the spray showed reduced markers of brain inflammation and improvements in memory and cognitive function. The benefits appeared within weeks and persisted for months after just two doses.
“We are seeing the brain’s own repair systems switch on, healing inflammation and restoring itself,” Ashok Shetty, professor of cell biology and genetics at Texas A&M, said in a news release. “As we develop and scale this therapy, a simple, two-dose nasal spray could one day replace invasive, risky procedures or maybe even months of medication.”
With people living longer, age-related brain diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s are becoming more common. Studies estimate that about 42% of Americans over 55 will develop dementia, and as the population ages, the number of new cases each year is expected to double — from about 514,000 in 2020 to roughly 1 million by 2060.
In Texas, age-related brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s are considered a major public health issue, according to Texas Health and Human Services. The state ranks third in the nation for the number of people living with the disease and second for deaths related to Alzheimer’s. In 2020, about 460,000 Texans 65 and older were living with the disease.
The growing public health burden is one reason scientists are working to counter the inflammation that increases with age. Current treatments, however, have not been effective at stopping or reversing brain changes linked to neuroinflammaging, the Texas A&M researchers said.
Delivering treatments to the brain is difficult because it is protected by a barrier that blocks most drugs from entering — a challenge that often requires invasive procedures or limits how well therapies work. In the new study, though, Shetty and his colleagues used tiny biological packages called extracellular vesicles to carry genetic material known as microRNAs into the brain. These molecules act as regulators, helping control how genes are turned on or off inside cells.
After bypassing the brain’s protective barrier, the microRNAs help switch off signals that drive long-term inflammation in aging brains. They also boost the cells’ energy supply, which may improve mental clarity and support memory and thinking. That latter effect appeared to be reflected in behavioral tests, where treated mice could better recognize familiar objects, detect changes in their environment and adapt more quickly than untreated mice.
The findings are still early, the researchers caution. More research is needed to confirm safety, effectiveness, optimal dosing and how well the therapy would work in humans. Shetty and his colleagues are filing a patent for the nasal spray and hope to move toward developing a version that could eventually be tested in people.
“We aren’t just trying to understand the biological mechanisms,” Shetty said in the news release. “We are translating and developing our findings into real-world therapies that could make a difference.”
Saturday night, destructive storms pushed across North Texas producing tornadoes, giant hail, damaging winds, and devastating flooding. Sadly, this storm was deadly.
The supercell originated in Wichita County around 4 p.m., where the storm quickly broke the capping inversion, allowing the updraft to explode. The supercell slowly moved to the southeast throughout the evening into the overnight, lasting nearly 12 hours before dissipating around 3:30 a.m. in Kaufman County.
This storm caused mass destruction with several confirmed radar indicated tornadoes reported on its path. One of the hardest hit locations was Runaway Bay where a potential tornado struck the area around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night. Destruction to property was significant and neighborhoods were torn apart, leaving many displaced and without power.
The National Weather Service is currently surveying the damage done and will have a report in the upcoming days.
Hail also caused significant damage. The size ranged from pea to baseball size. Some of the largest hail reports include cities in Tarrant and Parker Counties. The hail stone pictured was taken by Craig Gibson, a director at CBS News Texas.
The winds were also a key factor. The maximum wind gust got to 89 mph in Springtown, this is the strength of a category 1 hurricane.
All modes of severe weather happened last night. This is a key reminder of how important it is to stay tuned to the forecast during First Alert Weather Days. Stay tuned!
Rap music has been used against criminal defendants since the genre took hold in the 1980s and its use has only increased in recent years. Some states are trying to limit the practice.
Tennessee set to execute woman for first time in over 200 years
If Christa Pike’s execution is carried out, she would be the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years and the 19th woman in modern U.S. history.
An upcoming execution in Texas has gained the attention of prominent rappers like Travis Scott and T.I. for the questions it raises about the place rap lyrics have in the courtroom and how justice is meted out to Black defendants.
James Broadnax, 37, is set to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday, April 30, for the 2008 double murder of Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler, two producers of Christian music killed during a robbery outside their studio in the Dallas suburb of Garland.
Broadnax’s case is gaining national attention for what his attorneys say was an unfair trial that saw prosecutors eliminate almost every potential Black juror and use Broadnax’s own rap lyrics against him. The result, defense attorneys argue in a recent U.S. Supreme Court filing, transformed Broadnax’s “artistic expression into a death warrant.”
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed in the Supreme Court last month, rapper Travis Scott argues that rap music has been increasingly used as evidence against defendants “in a manner that exploits and perpetuates stereotypes.”
“Because rap lyrics are art, they are not literal,” the brief said. “And introduction of rap lyrics as evidence against criminal defendants invites jurors to transfer their opinions about the genre onto the individual before them, risking punishment for expression unrelated to the crime at issue.”
Rapper Killer Mike echoed those thoughts in a similar brief filed in the case. Other powerful people in the entertainment industry who joined in that filing include rappers Young Thug and Fat Joe, record executive Kevin Liles, and actor/comedian Anthony Anderson.
Texas prosecutors are defending both Broadnax’s prosecution and the use of his rap lyrics to show jurors his “cold, flippant attitude toward the murders and the judicial process.”
“The State saved the jailhouse lyric, written while Broadnax was awaiting trial, for the punishment phase − to demonstrate to the jury Broadnax’s outrageous and extreme lack of empathy, regret, remorse, and accountability,” prosecutors say.
Here’s what you need to know about the case, Broadnax’s chances at a reprieve from execution, and how the victims’ family members feel about the issues being raised.
What was James Broadnax convicted of?
On June 19, 2008, a bicyclist came upon the bodies of 26-year-old Stephen Swan and 28-year-old Matthew Butler outside of their recording studio in Garland Texas just before 1 a.m., court records say.
Later that day, court records say that Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, went to a family member’s home in Swan’s car, and that Broadnax displayed Swan’s driver’s license and bragged that he “hit a lick,” or committed a robbery. The two cousins left in the car, and a family friend soon after called the police when she saw news reports about the double murder.
Police pulled Broadnax over later that night in Swan’s car 150 miles away in Texarcana and arrested him. After police returned Broadnax to Dallas, he confessed to the murders in multiple interviews with members of the news media, court records say.
During the interviews, Broadnax told reporters that he and Cummings had driven to Garland looking for someone to rob and that he alone killed Swan and Butler.
Prosecutors leaned heavily on the confessions during trial but the sentencing phase focused more on rap lyrics that Broadnax had written in his notebooks. The lyrics, which included “I hit the lick, but the reason I got caught cuz the (expletive) snitching,” showed that Broadnax was a dangerous person and was likely to commit more violence unless he was executed, prosecutors told jurors.
Court records say that jurors asked to see the rap lyrics twice during deliberations over Broadnax’s punishment and delivered their verdict the same day. They gave him the death penalty.
Meanwhile Broadnax’s cousin recently came forward to say that he was actually the triggerman that night. Cummings said the only reason Broadnax confessed was because he didn’t have a significant criminal record and the cousins thought that he’d be treated with more leniency. Cummings is serving life in prison without parole.
On trial: The use of rap lyrics
The heart of Broadnax’s arguments for a reprieve center on the rap lyrics used against him during the penalty phase.
His attorneys and the entertainers who wrote to the Supreme Court argue that such lyrics are protected free speech and have nothing to do with the crime committed. The way they were presented to a nearly all-white jury, they say, was prejudicial because rap music “often invokes negative racial stereotypes about Black men among jurors and judges.”
Dallas County prosecutors called Broadnax’s claims over the rap lyrics “meritless and not worthy of this court’s attention” in a recent filing.
“The rap lyrics in his journals are relevant and admissible to show not only his gang affiliation or interest, but also that themes of lawlessness, violence, and drugs − whether fictional or not − occupied his time and thoughts,” they wrote. “If Johnny Cash had ever been on trial for murder, particularly if the murder was alleged to have occurred in Reno, no doubt his ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ lyrics (‘I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die’) would have been admissible during the punishment phase of his trial.”
Rap music has been used against criminal defendants since the genre took hold in the 1980s and its use has only increased in recent years, experts say. Some states including California, Maryland and Louisiana have passed laws to limit its use.
Among recent trials where rap lyrics factored in: Rapper Young Thug’s 2023 trial on RICO charges (he pleaded guilty), rapper Drakeo the Ruler’s 2019 murder trial (he was acquitted), rapper Tay-K’s 2025 murder trial (he was sentenced to 80 years), and rapper Lil Durk’s upcoming trial on murder-for-hire charges (he has pleaded not guilty).
“These high-profile cases have brought attention to the risk that rap lyrics will be used as evidence of criminality or to enhance a criminal defendant’s sentence,” argues rapper Travis Scott’s filing with the Supreme Court. “Unsurprisingly, this risk chills rap artists’ speech.”
What do the victim family members say?
Lost in much of the coverage of Broadnax’s execution are the victims in the case: Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler. Their families both have expressed steadfast support of Broadnax’s execution.
“I can not believe that this evil, heartless killer is still alive,” Matthew’s mom, Theresa Butler, wrote in 2016 about her son, who was a 28-year-old married father of two when he was killed. “My son and Steve had no choice about whether to live or die that night … This killer should never have the choice to live after what he did to them.”
Last month, she called Broadnax’s most recent arguments a “hail Mary pass.” She previously called Swan and her son “two wonderful Christian, hard-working young men.”
“Matthew would have given them a ride home since the train and buses stopped running in Garland. He would have paid for an Uber for them to get home,” she said. “He would have done anything to stay alive and enjoy a wonderful life with his wife and two babies. And, his whole family. He loved us all so.”
Swan’s sister, Deborah Burkhardt, sought an execution date to be set for Broadnax last year and wrote in a court filing that “every piece of worthless litigation filed by the defense is another insult and another injury to us,” according to NPR for North Texas.
She added: “There is no end to what they will come up with, or try to put a new spin on.”
What ways could James Broadnax win a reprieve?
Broadnax’s attorneys have cast a wide net of possibilities to stop his April 30 execution.
They have multiple appeals sitting in the Supreme Court, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is considering the case, and Broadnax’s attorneys are also planning to bring his claims to the governor.
USA TODAY will be closely following the case and covering the execution should it move forward.
Amanda Lee Myers is a senior crime reporter who covers the death penalty, cold case investigations and breaking news for USA TODAY. Follow her on X at @amandaleeusat.
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