News from around the nation.

Severe weather brings two tornadoes to New York City and Long Island; an Air Force-chartered civilian just crashes in Alaska, killing all 8 on board; California officials protest plan to sell public lands for oil projects; Ukrainian refugee says looming healthcare cuts for Washington a 'catastrophe '; Michigan lung specialist challenges EPA truck emissions proposal.

Transcript

Public News Service Friday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

There are most certainly a rare occurrence for the Big Apple, but on Thursday evening, tornadoes struck New York City and Long Island as severe weather drenched parts of the Mid-Atlantic, flooded streets and subway stations, and disrupted traffic on some highways.

And the National Transportation Safety Board Alaska Region Chief says a charter plane crashed near a remote radar site in western Alaska, killing all eight people on board.

The plane was a civilian contracted flight.

Search and rescue crews later confirmed there were no survivors.

Meantime Monday is the last day for the public to comment on a plan by the Bureau of Land Management to sell 50 oil and gas parcels totaling 36,000 acres across Kern, Kings, Fresno, and San Luis Obispo counties.

People can also weigh in on a separate proposal that critics say would limit public participation, weaken environmental protections, and make it easier to expand oil and gas development.

Heidi Harmon is a former mayor of San Luis Obispo and a member of the Leadership Council at the nonprofit California Elected Officials to Protect America.

She says drilling and fracking would destroy these natural spaces forever.

The last thing we need as the climate crisis spirals out of control are more fossil fuels in our system.

Now we're looking at probably the highest heat year in history.

The climate crisis is here.

It's happening.

The Trump administration has focused on expanding the domestic oil and gas industry, arguing that it provides good jobs and reduces the need to import oil from abroad.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And immigrant rights groups of Washington are urging Governor Bob Ferguson to use emergency funds to preserve health care for foreign-born families, including legally protected refugees and asylees who are facing Medicaid cuts.

On October 1st, 15,000 immigrants in the state will lose coverage under the Trump administration's massive budget bill.

Ukrainian refugee Liliana Chernova works as a caregiver for her daughter and mother-in-law who has stage 4 cancer and calls the cuts a human catastrophe.

Here she is speaking through an interpreter.

I'm just asking you to protect us, not deprive us from medical insurance.

Let us live in human conditions, not to deprive our clients from medical insurance.

They are needing it very, very much.

Service Employees International Union Local 775 represents more than 60,000 long-term care workers, about a third of which are immigrants.

I'm Isobel Charle.

Next, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes to emissions requirements for model year 2027 heavy-duty trucks.

Dr. Milan Han, a University of Michigan pulmonologist and American Lung Association spokesperson, says everyone is vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, but the risks aren't shared equally.

People that are going to be more impacted are those who live, work, or attend school near highways, ports, freeways.

The agency estimates the plan could save buyers up to $6,000 per truck while preserving nearly 90% of projected nitrogen oxide reductions.

This is Public News Service.

Conservation groups in Utah say a Trump administration plan to cancel the decades-old roadless rule in national forests is so conceived and reckless. 2001 rule limits road building and most logging in undeveloped parts of national forests.

About half of Utah's roughly 8 million acres of forest service land are affected by the roadless rule.

Kim Pope, a conservation strategist with the Sierra Club, says the move not only endangers the ecology of Utah's forests, but would also allow potentially destructive development at important historical and archaeological sites.

A lot of these roadless areas have cultural significance and also have historic relevance, things like petroglyphs and places that are really important to the indigenous history of the area.

Supporters like Utah Governor Spencer Cox and federal officials argue that the rule prevents forest managers from thinning overgrown and diseased timber to lower fire risks.

By Mark Richardson.

And excessive social media use could be harmful for people in their late teens and early 20s.

A report from a team at the UT Health Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences found that higher social media use is associated with increased levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among young people.

Psychologist Jeff Temple says this is the first time this particular age group has been studied.

College students as well as those in the workforce, trade school, military, not working, and it's a contemporary sample.

So the newer type of things like TikTok, the sort of endless scroll that we see with smartphones and social media.

Study participants who used social media for more than six hours a day reported the most symptoms.

Temple adds the research couldn't determine if social media use contributed to the mental health problems or if people with mental health issues spent more time on social media.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Finally, as election officials across New Hampshire prepare for the September primaries, voters of all political backgrounds say they're increasingly concerned about election security.

A recent Gallup-Charles F. Kettering Foundation poll reveals two in three Americans worry political leaders will work to change election outcomes, while more than half of respondents worry their ballot will not be properly counted.

Lisa Kovac with the New Hampshire campaign for Voting Rights, says while the Trump administration has spent years testing the electoral system's limits, voters should feel confident.

The structures that make a free and fair election possible in the United States are still strong, and the people who run our elections are really committed to doing their job.

She says other countries have shown it's much more difficult to interfere in an election when there's a high voter turnout.

I'm Katherine Carley.

This is Mike Clifford, and thank you for wrapping up your week with Public News Service.

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