News from around the nation.

Hurricane Erin threatens dangerous surf for much of the East Coast as a new tropical system brews in its wake; Starmer chairs call on Ukraine support as Switzerland offers to host Putin-Zelensky summit; KY residents and officials oppose new power plants for data centers; NY advocates want Gov. Hochul to sign medical aid in dying law; Online academy helps North Carolinians fight for better air quality.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Hurricane Erin is churning up life-threatening rip currents and dangerous surf along much of the East Coast and will soon send destructive waves and storm surge to North Carolina's outer banks.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic hurricane season is hitting its stride, threatening to spin off another named storm in Erin's wake.

That's from CNN.

They report Erin, now a sprawling high-end category 2 hurricane, is not forecast to make landfall but will impact much of the east coast with dangerous coastal conditions as it tracks north, nearly paralleling the coast.

And from the BBC, Switzerland says it's ready to host a meeting between Zelensky and Vladimir Putin after Trump raised the idea in a call with the Russian president.

Meantime, the UK Prime Minister Kirstein Sturmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are chairing a coalition of the willing, meeting to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine if a peace deal is reached.

Next to Kentucky, where local elected officials do not agree with a proposal to build two new gas plants to meet demand for future data centers in the commonwealth.

But opponents of the plan, including Louisville Councilwoman Betsy Rue, say low-income residents will most likely foot the bill for new projects.

Rue adds her community already struggles to pay utility bills, and many are facing increased financial pressure from the rising cost of living.

When these power plants are being put in, the cost of the new construction and everything is foisted upon the rate payers.

The surging power demand from data centers is driving up electricity costs across the country.

This is Nadia Ramlagan for Kentucky News Connection.

This story produced with original reporting by Liam Niemeyer for Kentucky Lantern.

New York advocates want Governor Kathy Hochul to approve the state's medical aid in dying bill. terminally ill people with six months to live to use this option, but it includes many safeguards, such as needing two physicians to approve such requests.

The state legislature passed the bill after a decade of debate and failing to make it out of committee.

Corinne Carey with the non-profit Compassion and Choices says helping lawmakers overcome misconceptions about medical aid and dying helped get the bill to this point.

Hearing the stories from our advocates who talked about losing a loved one or themselves facing the end of their lives were very difficult for lawmakers and it took sometimes a dozen or more conversations with them to get them to really engage with what this bill does and what it doesn't do.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Next Environmental Nonprofit Clean Air NC starts its Clean Air Academy today.

It provides online courses to help members of the community explore threats to air quality and how to push back.

Raffaella Vaca is the Education Manager.

Air Quality 101 focuses on providing foundational knowledge about the sources and types of air pollution as well as health impacts and strategies to improve your health.

Many courses will be available in the future on topics including health impacts of air quality, environmental justice, and community science and air monitoring.

This is Public News Service.

A new report shows segments of Pennsylvania's economy have bounced back from the pandemic, leading to today's historically low unemployment rate and a tight labor market.

The state has seen strong overall growth over the last 12 months when jobs grew 1.4 percent versus 1.1 percent nationally.

Lauren Haujaback of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association says despite the strong overall job market, some local industries still see challenges.

We see things like education, health and business services are driving growth and increasing, but we're still seeing construction manufacturing and government at a below pre-pandemic level.

The report shows construction jobs fell to 61 percent of their pre-pandemic levels.

That's the second largest decline among Pennsylvania industries.

Manufacturing has fallen to 86 percent of its pre-pandemic level, marking the fourth largest drop.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And a new report synthesizing over 70 studies on the Northwest Historic 2021 heat wave found that similar extreme heat events are likely to happen more often.

The deadly heat wave claimed 123 lives in Oregon, according to the Center for Health Statistics.

Karen Bumbaco, Washington's deputy state climatologist, co-authored the report.

She says by 2050, the Northwest will have between a 10 and 33 percent chance of a similar heat event happening any given summer.

So that's quite an increase, especially if you look at that higher end where one in three summers you could expect to have a heat wave of a similar magnitude to 2021.

That 2021 heat dome resulted in the deaths of about 500 people across the Northwest.

One hundred and fifty six all time daily maximum temperature records were tied or broken, including the warmest temperatures ever recorded in Washington, Oregon and Canada.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

Finally, officials warn federal cuts to clean energy and public lands protections will increase extreme weather risk throughout Arizona.

Crews continue to battle the Dragon Bravo fire in Grand Canyon National Park as the state experiences a mega drought.

Cuts to firefighter health programs and reduced spending for wildlife response and prevention increase the odds more people will be exposed to hazards, says Democratic Arizona Representative Aaron Marquez.

Yet this administration cuts back the very crews who could have prepared us while investing and inviting more fossil fuel extraction that will make the crisis worse.

The Dragon Bravo fire is the largest wildfire in U.S. history, burning more than 140,000 acres, including more than 70 structures.

It also triggered a toxic chlorine gas leak caused by a burning water treatment facility.

For Arizona News Connection, I'm Nadia Ramlagon.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.