News from around the nation.

Minnesota fraud: US House committee to hold hearings, Walz invited to testify; Ohio lawmakers step into child welfare work through ridealong program; Free central KY rideshare aids older adults who need transportation; Expert: Nixing federal tax policy could ease OR budget woes.

Transcript

The Public News Service Friday afternoon update, I'm Mike Clifford.

Committee Chair James Comer announced Wednesday the committee will hold a hearing titled "Oversight of Fraud and Misuse of Federal Funds in Minnesota" next week on January 7.

That's from Fox 9 News.

The report of the hearing will include Minnesota state officials who have sounded the alarm on an investigative fraud in Minnesota's social services program, according to a news release.

Walter Walsh, Minnesota's Attorney General, has also been invited to testify at a second committee meeting on February the 10th.

Meantime, Ohio child welfare leaders are working to bridge the gap between policy decisions at the Statehouse and the realities faced by frontline caseworkers.

A statewide ride-along program is giving lawmakers a first-hand look at how children's services agencies operate across the state.

The Public Children's Services Association of Ohio runs an annual initiative called the In Their Shoes Children's Services Ride-Along Campaign.

The program invites state lawmakers to visit their local children's services agency and accompany a caseworker during a workday.

Lisette Arnold with the association says many legislators enter office without direct experience in child welfare systems.

A lot of legislators don't have personal experience with children's services.

They have a lot of questions about our processes and we're such a big system.

It can be really confusing.

Arnold says ride-alongs help counter public misconceptions about children's services and the families involved.

Farah Siddiqui reporting.

And we could all use a good news story at the start of a new year.

We head to Central Kentucky where older adults unable to drive or lacking reliable transportation can use free wide share services called the Independent Transportation Network of the Bluegrass or ITNB.

Gail Reese started the nonprofit.

Reese says the need for drivers increases each year.

We had to expand to that during COVID because of a lack of volunteers.

So now we're really trying to rebuild our volunteer base because the need is growing every day.

Unlike other ride share services, ITNB is a membership organization that matches people driving their own cars with members.

This is Nadia Ramligon for Kentucky News Connection.

And Oregon faces a nearly $375 million budget shortfall going into the new year.

And rather than cutting social services, some experts are calling for a change to the tax code to generate millions for the state.

Daniel Hauser of the Oregon Center for Public Policy points to the Qualified Small Business Stock Exclusion or QSBS, a federal tax rate, estimated to cost the country $80 billion over the next decade.

Lawmakers are gonna have to figure out what to do.

Do we disconnect from things like QSBS and other regressive, poorly designed tax policies, or are we gonna cut services that help people access unemployment insurance or that help people pay for childcare or that directly employ workers all across our state.

He believes the tax break largely benefits venture capitalists rather than small businesses.

This is public news service.

In a move that affects coal-fired power plants in Missouri and nationwide, the EPA announced late on Christmas Eve it will delay tougher wastewater treatment standards.

The move has drawn criticism from environmental watchdogs.

The EPA estimates the stricter rules will cut wastewater pollution by more than 600 million pounds a year, reductions that are now being delayed.

Tom Smarr is an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice.

He says coal-fired power plants have long been among the largest sources of toxic pollution in waterways, including arsenic, mercury, and lead.

These are standards that EPA is supposed to require power plants to use state-of-the-art technology to clean up this pollution or eliminate it altogether.

The EPA says the delay is intended to address concerns about electric grid reliability, rising electricity demand and affordability for consumers.

Environmental groups say they are reviewing the rule and plan to pursue legal challenges.

Crystal Blair reporting.

And 2026 is here.

The year brings a big jump in health insurance premiums for almost 90 percent of the 1.9 million people on covered California plans.

The state has allocated $190 million help people afford their premiums, but that will only shield the lowest income families.

And Sunderland, with the California Healthcare Foundation, says many middle-income families on Covered California will see premiums rise by hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month.

Think of an individual making more than, say, $63,000 a year, or a family of four earning more than $130,000.

They're returning to the days where they got no federal subsidies.

Those are the folks who might see their premium double or sometimes even more than double.

Covered California estimates that hundreds of thousands of residents will not be able to afford the increases and will drop coverage altogether.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

Finally, the year 2000 marked the beginning of a correlation between people's education levels and voting patterns.

That's from Doug Sosnick with the global advisory firm, the Brunswick Group.

In last year's presidential election, Democrats carried 14 of the 15 most college-educated states, while the GOP captured 14 of the 15 least college-educated states.

Since then, Sostek says many rural and blue-collar voters have faced stagnant wages, job insecurity, and loss of manufacturing jobs.

Up until through the 70s, we had a thriving middle class of non-college-educated people.

We've moved to this new era and the people who've been left behind are disproportionately non-college educated people.

Sostek says those voters hope the GOP's populist agenda would help them.

He adds those who have college degrees typically vote in more elections than people with a high school education.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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