News from around the nation.

Director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer stabbed to death in their LA home, sources say; Groups plan response to Indiana lethal injection policy; Advocates press for action to reduce traffic fatalities in CA, across U.S; Program empowers WA youth to lead.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle Singer, were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday, according to a statement from their family.

Senior law enforcement sources told ABC News the victims were stabbed to death in their Brentwood area residence.

"It is with profound sorrow that we announce "the tragic passing of Michelle and Rob Reiner.

"We are heartbroken by this sudden loss "and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time," the Reiner family said.

Meantime, some anti-death penalty groups are planning a protest of Indiana's lethal injection policy tomorrow.

Religious organizations plan to present letters to the governor detailing alternatives.

The Indiana Abolition Coalition, the Indianapolis First Friends and the Interfaith Group, Shalom Zone, have reached out to Governor Braun for a meeting but have been unsuccessful.

For each death penalty case, lawyer fees, trial expenses and incarceration are expensive.

The appeal process can also take years to play out.

Indiana Abolition Coalition member Jody English says there are other ways that the money spent on executions can benefit society.

If the money that was spent on the death penalty and the pursuit of the death penalty was freed up perhaps we as a people would have more mental health services, more addiction services.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

And pedestrian traffic deaths are 20 percent higher than they were 10 years ago despite some improvements in the past few years.

The families of victims say efforts to address the problem are falling short.

According to reporting from KFF Health News, traffic deaths now exceed homicide deaths in cities like LA and San Francisco.

Chris Edwards lost his wife Tilly in June.

She was struck and killed while walking to her car on Sunset Boulevard in LA.

Allegedly the guy who killed my wife he has had a DUI since 2017 and his license has been suspended since and what he's taken away from me is a lifetime that I will never know I will never be the dad raising her kid and it just hurt seeing how little our system actually does for justice.

Edwards says the system cuts too many plea deals allowing repeat offenders back on the road.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This story with a original reporting by [unintelligible] Giles for KFF Health News.

Next, young people in Spokane are learning how to get involved in community organizing and they're getting results.

This session, the Young Activist Leadership Program, known as YALP, led 20 young people through the ins and outs of local elections.

Victoria Tashler graduated from the program and is now one of YALP's youth organizers.

The parks in their neighborhoods are gonna get renovations And so it's a very nice way to counteract that doomerism that a lot of young people are facing.

Together, the group made 4,000 phone calls helping gain a victory for local initiatives supporting parks and schools.

This is Public News Service.

Data show the gender wage gap in greater Boston has decreased, but a persistent racial wage gap continues to grow.

The Boston Women's Workforce Council finds women now earn 12 cents on the dollar less than men in base compensation.

That's down from a 21-cent difference in 2023.

Executive Director Kimberly Borman says a reduction in men's salaries and the hiring of more women for senior executive positions helped.

Women advancing at this rate and continuing to be advanced at this rate, it says good things about the state.

It says that leadership is trying to make an effort here and it's working.

Still the racial wage gap increased for the second year in a row.

Data show people of color earn 31 cents on the dollar less than their white counterparts up from 27 cents in 2023.

Borman notes these workers hold the bulk of low paying jobs while white employees tend to dominate in managerial and executive roles.

I'm Catherine Carley.

And while Maryland expanded foster care capacity in the state this year, child advocates note, many older kids continue to live in temporary placements despite being eligible for adoption.

As kids in foster care grow older, they face increasingly long odds of finding a permanent home.

And by age 10, the likelihood of a child being adopted falls by 50 percent.

Nationally, there are more than 100,000 adoption eligible kids in foster care.

Sarah McCackney with the Barker Adoption Foundation says every child deserves the kind of secure foundation found in a family.

Being able to step forward for that child so that they can see a new reality, they can see a new trajectory, to be able to see themselves as something that they might not have envisioned before.

All of those things are necessary as children really are the bedrock of society.

There are over 3,000 kids in the Maryland foster care system.

Brett Pivito reporting.

Project Weight No Longer has placed over 200 children with adoptive families in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

Finally, experts believe folks in Tennessee deserve quality nutritional advice to guide school meals and food programs, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services say the nation's official dietary advice will not be released until early 2026.

The Center for Biological Diversity says these guidelines impact public health and more than $40 billion in government spending.

Leah Kelly with the Center for Biological Diversity calls a delay a possible violation of federal law, which requires an update to dietary guidelines every five years.

She expects the final guidelines to promote diets rich in fruits and vegetables, falling in line with the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee scientific report.

And also in the most protein-rich plant sources.

So those are beans, peas, lentils, legumes.

Danielle Smith reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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