News from around the nation.

Virginia mass shooting kills 3 people and wounds 3 others; suspects in custody; IRS agrees to share immigrants' data with ICE; You won't be able to apply by phone for SSA starting next week; New law clears path for Ohio drivers with unpaid fines; Black farmers mostly unaffected by USDA funding freeze.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

All suspects in custody early this morning after a shooting that killed three people and wounded three others in Virginia.

That from CBS News.

They report on Tuesday evening, 911 calls came in about a shooting in a townhouse complex just outside Fredericksburg.

Officials say the shooting may have been by more than one person.

And from Axios, the Internal Revenue Service has agreed to share the personal information of undocumented taxpayers with immigration authorities.

The new court filing shows DHS can legally request return information related to individuals under criminal investigation and the IRS must provide it.

And in less than a week, many folks in Wisconsin won't be able to apply for social security benefits over the phone, which could lead to potential disruptions and challenges for millions as the nationwide change takes effect.

Starting April 14th, seniors applying for retirement benefits or making direct deposit changes must do so online or in person at an SSA office as part of a new identity verification process.

The change comes in haste from the White House amid massive federal budget cuts that have already trimmed staff and resources at the agency.

Jim Flaherty with AARP Wisconsin says calls to AARP's National Call Center have more than doubled in the last two months.

They're concerned and they're confused.

And it is up to our president and our Congress to work in a bipartisan manner.

This is not a partisan issue.

They need to work together to make sure that this program remains strong and solvent for current and future generations.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And starting today, a new Ohio law will lift certain driver's license suspensions tied to unpaid court fines and fees.

The law targets debt-related suspensions, some of which have lingered for years, affecting drivers' ability to work and support their families.

Rachel Dissel, contributing editor for the Marshall Project says this is a big step for many Ohioans who were penalized not for dangerous driving, but because they couldn't afford to pay.

This doesn't really make sense.

We have a lot of people whose livelihoods are being affected.

They can't work.

They can't drive their kids around because they have these suspensions and they just keep piling up.

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Local Courts have until May 9th to identify and lift eligible suspensions.

Vara Siddiqui reporting.

This story was produced with original reporting from Rachel Dissel for the Marshall Project in association with media and the public interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.

Next, USDA cuts have affected farming communities nationwide, but a national group says black farmers are largely unaffected.

Black Farmers and Agriculturalist Association President Thomas Burrell says due to longstanding discrimination, many members never received assistance to begin with.

Constant, unfortunately, of discrimination that prevents our members from being able to participate.

Key phrase, in food production.

The association represents more than 20,000 farmers across the nation.

This is public news service.

We head next to Carolina where state workers are speaking out against proposed changes to the state health plan.

UE Local 150, the North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, is urging the state not to increase premiums or make other changes to the plan, which covers nearly 750,000 current and former state employees.

Charles Owens is a healthcare technician and vice president of UE Local 150 at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

He says his coworkers are already feeling the effects of changes to their plans.

They changed the plan up and so forth, but didn't bother to get input from the people that it affects.

And that was just outrageous.

The state health plan board of trustees says it has to address a $1.4 billion budget shortfall through 2027.

Workers, including Owens, spoke out against cuts at a board of trustees meeting in March and have started a petition to oppose changes.

A vote on the future of healthcare plan elements like deductibles and copay is set for May, and a vote on potential premium increases is scheduled for August.

I'm Eric Tegethoff reporting.

And instead of enjoying retirement, some Pennsylvanians are concerned about the future of social security as the agency sees job reductions and office closures as part of the Trump administration's cutbacks.

Our Danielle Smith has more.

The social security program supports around 69 million Americans, mostly retirees, including 3 million in Pennsylvania.

Reporter Ann Augustuson with the Pennsylvania Independent attended the recent People's Town Hall in Bethlehem, where she says many retirees were among the 500 attendees voicing worries about potential cuts to their benefits.

For people who are now living on a fixed income, they spoke about how critical those social security checks are to them, you know, and how scary it is to consider the possibility of a global recession that, you know, is in part caused by the president's trade wars.

In February, House Republicans passed a budget plan to extend Trump's tax cuts and mass deportation policies.

Finally, Indiana lawmakers have approved a measure to study ways to use advanced transmission technologies to squeeze more energy from the state's aging electrical grid.

The technology is a suite of hardware and software that can boost the capacity of current transmission lines and perhaps postpone the need for new infrastructure.

Backers of the plan say because it's deployed on existing towers, it can reduce cost, modernize without new construction, and increase the system's energy capacity.

GOP State Senator Eric Cook, co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill, says the state faces an ever-increasing demand for energy.

We're hearing projections of a single data center using one or maybe even two gigawatts.

A gigawatt is about the consumption of the residential use in the city of Indianapolis.

I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Mark Clifford for Public News Service.

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