News from around the nation.

Nearly a third of the Hawk wildfire near Reno is now contained; thousands still without power two weeks after a storm in Northwest Indiana; a legislator calls for Big Tech ‘bros’ to be liable for scams; scientists find that building EVs is less polluting than driving gas-powered cars; and Tennessee anti-hunger groups ask Congress to delay cost shifts for SNAP.

Transcript

In the Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update, I'm Mike Clifford.

Containment, a most welcome word to folks in Nevada.

Crews have started to contain that fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Reno that destroyed more than 30 homes as it spread perilously close to dense neighborhoods.

The AP notes the containment had reached 27 percent, and there was no new growth of the Hawk Fire, which has held steady at about 23 square miles since it burned out of control on Sunday.

In Indiana, Governor Mike Braun has called for an investigation into NIPSCO's preparation and response to the August 11 storms that knocked out power for tens of thousands of people.

ABC 7 Chicago notes there are still thousands of people in the dark in northwest Indiana nearly two weeks after the storms.

Portage and Gary have the most outages.

Meantime, Wisconsin's Democratic nominee for governor wants to hold Big Tech accountable for consumer fraud on their platforms.

According to the Consumer Federation of America, Wisconsinites lose an estimated $1.2 billion each year to online scams, with Facebook and Instagram cited as the biggest culprits.

Democratic nominee David Crowley says he's seen firsthand the emotional and economic toll, especially on seniors.

These tech bros have to be held accountable.

They're looking to extract as much as possible from different communities all across this country.

But it's time that we actually take the bull by this horn and really focus on a level of accountability.

MEDIC intends they aggressively fight fraud and scams, but say they're not legally required to prevent third-party criminal acts.

I'm Judith Ruiz, Branch reporting.

And new research in the journal Science suggests that swapping your internal combustion engine for an electric battery is almost always the greener choice.

Some people may believe the emissions generated when making an electric vehicle are greater than the emissions from driving an old gas-powered car.

But Elliot Campbell, a professor of environmental science at UC Santa Cruz, says that's not true.

The emissions associated with driving a gas car are so massive, and the emissions from an electric vehicle, from manufacturing it and from using it, are so small that even a brand new gas car can't compete.

The study finds that the emissions saved by driving an EV quickly compensate for the planet-warming gases generated from building it.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This story based on original reporting by Tick Root at Christ.

Next, Tennessee will soon face major new costs to operate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Anna Grace Nastu with the Tennessee Justice Center says her group is urging the U.S. Senate to give states a two-year delay in shifting costs by adding a provision to the pending farm bill.

As child hunger increases, we cannot risk losing or decreasing the lifeline that SNAP provides to families for daily nutrition.

So if Congress doesn't act, then Tennessee's on the line to pay for 10% of the SNAP benefit, which equates to over $170 million.

H.R. 1 also called the One Big Beautiful Act passed by the Trump administration last year shifts more administrative costs to the states, plus additional costs based on their SNAP payment error rate.

This is Public News Service.

The combination of GLP-1s taken for weight loss and social media could be putting the lives of women at risk.

A study by Ultraviolet found multiple companies on TikTok selling unregulated fake products in what they call the GLP-1 gray market.

Gray markets operate outside of authorized distribution channels and may offer counterfeit products.

Texan Victoria Schmidt says she ordered two separate GLP-1 patches from the TikTok shop, and each time she received the wrong product.

Schmidt didn't use the patches and warns women to be careful.

When I first started this journey, every other ad was GLP-1 shots or the patches.

I was excited because I saw all these people that were like showing before and afters and how they lost all this weight and it was so great for them.

Ultraviolet's report shows Schmidt is not alone.

The group studied more than 200 TikTok accounts that promoted the sale of unregulated GLP-1 drugs and found that most of them target middle-aged women.

I'm Frida Ross reporting.

And a significant number of people living with diabetes could lose Medicaid coverage due to work requirements and cost-sharing changes, according to data from the American Diabetes Association.

Our Nadia Ramlagan has more.

Diabetic Mountain State residents could end up paying up to $1,000 more out of pocket each year for basic medications and care.

Lisa Murdoch, chief advocacy officer for the association, says that will cause people to drop coverage or reconsider their insurance plan.

Studies have shown that even modest cost sharing impairs a person's access.

We're not talking about one medication.

We're talking about multiple medications in complex needs.

She adds that Medicaid enrollment and insurance coverage status are the greatest predictors of a person's ability to manage their diabetes effectively.

Without it, Murdoch says the most vulnerable populations will end up in hospital emergency rooms.

Finally, the Trump administration is doubling down on efforts to open up more of the nation's public lands to extraction industries.

Plans to repeal the 2001 roadless rule come on the heels of the Department of Interior's new review of how wilderness areas are to be managed.

Kelsey Yarsab-Yates with the Sierra Club's Wyoming chapter says these moves put millions of acres of Wyoming's critical wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation areas at risk.

She says Wyomingites don't want to see their favorite places to fish, hike, and hunt clear-cut, drilled, or mined.

Here in Wyoming, we are uniquely exposed because none of the lands under review are permanently protected.

And that includes wild country right on the doorstep of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

I'm Eric Galatas

This is by Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.