News from around the nation.

CA groups worried about Chinese-owned pork production company; a new ND law provides clarity as the state pushes for more livestock output; a federal judge begins contempt proceedings against the Trump Administration for using the Alien Enemies Act; and manure runoff impacts all states, including NC.

Transcript

Public News Service, Thursday, April 17th, 2025, afternoon update.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Groups that support American farmers are raising the alarm about Chinese-owned Smithfield Farms, which controls a large part of pork production in the United States and is seeking to overturn a California law on animal cruelty.

Smithfield has been lobbying for the EATS Act in the farm bill.

That would invalidate Proposition 12, which banned the sale in California of pork raised using gestational crates.

Marty Irby is head of Competitive Markets Action, a political action committee devoted to defeating the EATS Act.

It is a confinement that's extreme.

Those animals are in duress.

We believe farmers should be able to raise a pig in an open pasture or at the very least have enough room for the pig to stand up and turn around.

The EATS Act would wipe out more than 1,000 state agricultural laws.

Supporters say a national policy approach would be less costly and more efficient.

That was Suzanne Potter with original reporting by Seth Milstein from Sentient.

Starting next year, North Dakota will have a new law in place that covers local zoning restrictions for animal feedlots.

The bill's passage follows a spirited debate about the presence of industrial agriculture in small towns.

Mike Mowen has more.

Governor Kelly Armstrong signed a bill drafted in response to discussions led by a task force.

Among other things, it was looking to adjust the distance counties and townships are allowed to set between communities and proposed farms with animal herds, such as a dairy operation.

Brett Larson helps run a family farm near the Minnesota border.

He opposed the bill as it advanced.

In the push to add bigger operations, he worries about his neighbors.

I kind of hate to be told that, "Oh yeah, by the way, the next three or four days you're going to have to be inside because the stink is going to get too bad for you."

The legislature largely held off on controversial changes concerning distance thresholds.

Instead, the law allows for the use of an odor footprint tool being developed to determine a setback perimeter.

Supporters say it gives local officials flexibility in deciding what's best for their town in terms of air quality.

But skeptics fear it will be inadequate, leading to weaker restrictions.

Imagine being locked in a cell for 23 hours a day under constant artificial light with no human contact for months or even years.

This is the reality for thousands of incarcerated people across the U.S. and new research confirms the damage extends far beyond psychological trauma.

Nadia Ramogan reports.

Neuroscientist Micaela Romero of the University of Washington is studying these effects using an unexpected subject, bumblebees.

Her work reveals how solitary confinement biologically alters the brain.

She says the findings are alarming.

Twice as many bees died in isolated housing as opposed to group housings.

I had two treatments.

One set of bees were completely alone in their cells and the other ones were in groups of four under all of the same conditions.

The ones in isolated housing died twice as much as the group housing.

Data remains unclear on how many people are under solitary confinement in the Mountain State.

In recent years, laws have been passed that limit or restrict its use.

This is Public News Service.

Federal Judge James Boasberg is beginning contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for defying his order to remove migrants through the Alien Enemies Act.

This 18th century wartime law has only been used three times before, but Trump says the nation is at war, calling the influx of migrants an invasion.

This comes as the administration and the El Salvadoran government are refusing to return people like Quilmar Abrego Garcia and Merwell Gutierrez back to the U.S. after falsely detaining and deporting them.

The treatment of manure runoff in drinking water sources is a health threat across the country, including in North Carolina, according to a new report.

Eric Tegethoff has more.

A disinfectant byproduct from treating water is trihalomethane, which can be toxic at high levels.

The Environmental Working Group's report on the chemical ranked North Carolina seventh for most water systems testing at or above the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency's maximum standard.

And Schechinger with Environmental Working Group says manure applied to hog and poultry farm fields in North Carolina runs off to bodies of water used for drinking water, which utilities clean.

Then the chlorine or other disinfectants react with the organic matter that's in the manure that washed off farm fields.

And so then this can trigger the production of these disinfection byproduct chemicals.

Four percent of North Carolina's water systems, serving more than 4.2 million people, tested at or above the trihalomethane limit between 2019 and 2023, according to the report.

The Environmental Working Group found more than 122 million people across the U.S. are affected by this issue.

Today marks the last day of Black Maternal Health Week, a nationally and internationally recognized observance that serves to build community collaboration around addressing the maternal health statistics for black women.

Judith Ruiz Branch reports.

Black women in the U.S. are more than three times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related cause than white women and are more than two times more likely to experience complications that negatively impact their health.

The majority of them are preventable.

The week-long campaign that serves to highlight these disparities was founded in 2018 by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance.

Executive Director Angela Aina says while there have been great strides since the launch, more attention needs to be paid to the root causes of maternal morbidity and mortality.

It really does point to how pervasive and how systemic and structural gendered racism and obstetric violence is very, very much steeped in our systems.

The rate of adverse outcomes for black women in Wisconsin have increased significantly in the past decade, with black women across the state more than one and a half times more likely to experience them and more than two times more likely to experience a pregnancy-related death.

The Trump administration is halting construction on a New York offshore wind farm.

The Empire Wind Farm is designed to power more than 500,000 homes across the state and was part of developing its green economy.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum paused the project, citing it needs further review of information, suggesting the Biden administration rushed the project's approval without sufficient analysis.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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