Blog Content
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California’s Reparations Task Force Will Debate Eligibility
Apr 13
California’s Reparation Task Force will is examining the historic harms of slavery and anti-Black racism in California. Last summer, the task force released a preliminary report (PDF) detailing California’s history of enslavement and its many decades of discriminatory policies - in housing, education, health care, criminal justice and othe...
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23andMe Knows You’re Special
Apr 11
23andMe knows that you are special. But you might be even more special than any of us suspected, and we want to learn a little more about that. 23andMe’s unique research model allows our scientists to leverage data from millions of customers who consent to participate in our research. This gives data at unprecedented scale to reveal more ...
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FamilySearch’s Top 30 Country Record Collection Expansions in 2022
Apr 6
Hundreds of millions of new searchable genealogy records from 30+ countries. Just in case you missed it, FamilySearch finished 2022 with an amazing number of new, free, fully-searchable genealogy records online. Over 420 million indexed records were added to 30 free online country collections, and millions more were added to over 100 more new ...
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Ancestry Shares Corporate Responsibility Progress
Apr 4
Ancestry, the global leader in family history published its second annual Impact Report, detailing the company’s corporate responsibility approach and announcing progress against goals in three core areas: ethical business practices; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and community impact. Demonstrating a commitment to a better future, ...
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A Property Flipper Bought A Black Cemetery
Mar 28
The city of Tampa had a plan for taking ownership of the abandoned Memorial Park Cemetery, which they had been maintaining since the owner died in 2018, Tampa Bay Times reported. They placed a lien on the 104-year-old Black cemetery for what they were owned for maintenance, knowing it would be foreclosed upon and then available for them to ...
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California’s Reparations Task Force Could Implement A Freedman’s Bureau
Mar 23
California’s Reparations Task Force has concluded its two-day public meeting geared toward compensating Black Americans affected by the legacy of slavery. But the nine-member body is a long way from the finish line, The Sacramento Bee reported. The panel has until July 1, 2023, to submit a final report to the California Legislature. In th...
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Ancestry Launches Storymaker Studio
Mar 21
Ancestry, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, announced the launch of Storymaker Studio, a new feature in the Ancestry app that easily allows users to create bite-sized stories from their family history and share them within the Ancestry community and on their personal social media channels. Now, with Storymaker Studio, ...
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Parkinson’s Disease And The Microbiome
Mar 16
The human body plays host to trillions of microbes - such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi - collectively called the microbiome. Over the past few decades, it has become abundantly clear to the scientific community that the microbiome plays an essential role in our development, physical health, and mental well-being. This latter connection, ...
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MyHeritage Launches 3rd DNA Quest Initiative
Mar 14
It gives us great pleasure to announce the launch of a third installment of DNA Quest, our worldwide pro bono initiative to reunite adoptees with their birth families through genetic testing. As part of this installment, we are donating 5,000 free DNA kits to adoptees and people seeking family members placed for adoption. Learn more and app...
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Ancestry Celebrates 40 Years of Family History Discovery
Mar 9
At RootsTech 2023, the world’s largest genealogy conference, Ancestry celebrated 40 years of empowering research and personal discovery through family history. Over the past four decades, Ancestry has advanced family history though product innovations, record collections and genomic discoveries. Largest Content Collection in History Si...
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23andMe Adds 43 More Genetic Groups
Mar 8
23andMe has added finer detail for customers to improve our Ancestry reports and features. This update is part of our continuing effort to improve Ancestry reports and features. It will also allow customers with ancestry from those regions to see connections back to 43 genetic groups - 29 in Spain (including the Canary and Balearic ar...
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Find New Cousins With Relatives At RootsTech App
Feb 28
FamilySearch announced a free online experience that helps you connect with relatives worldwide. It is called “Relatives at RootsTech”. Every wondered if you have cousins you didn’t know about? Now, thanks to Relatives at RootsTech 2023 discovery experience by FamilySearch, you can find and connect with your living relatives worldwid...
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Wreaths Across America Retires Wreaths In February
Feb 24
The Des Moines Register posted an article titled: “Wreaths Across America to retire wreaths Friday at Iowa Veterans Cemetery”. It was written by Patrick Palmersheim - Wreaths Across America Location Coordinator. National Wreaths Across America Day took place at 3,702 participating locations across the country, including the Iowa Veteran...
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Do Police Have Access To Your DNA?
Feb 22
Palm Beach Daily News (via MSN) posted an article titled: “Do police have access to your DNA? What to know about investigative genetic genealogy” The article starts with: You joined a genealogy site to connect with relatives but then had them arrested for murder instead. Such is reality for a growing number of people thanks to the rest ...
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ASHG Apologized For Past Harms Of Human Genetics Research
Feb 18
The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) apologized (on January 23, 2023) for the participation of some of its early leaders in the American eugenics movement, as well as the Society’ failure to consistently acknowledge and oppose harms and injustices tied to the field, including use of human genetics to feed racism, eugenics, and other...
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