News from around the nation.

Border Patrol commander Bovino, some agents to leave Minnesota; Progressive groups press CA lawmakers to soften health care cuts; Ohio regulators reject utility-backed changes to rooftop solar credits; KY advocates continue to push for felony voting rights restoration.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Greg Bovino's departure from Minnesota is imminent, according to reports of ABC News and the Associated Press.

Some Border Patrol agents currently stationed there are expected to leave as well, that from ABC 5.

Over the past weeks, Bovino has become the face of Operation Metro Surge, placing himself at the podium and in the thick of volatile demonstrations.

ABC 5 Minneapolis notes this past weekend Bovino inflamed a community that was already on edge by saying without evidence that Alex Pretti, the 37 year old intensive care nurse who was shot and killed by Border Patrol on Saturday, intended to do maximum damage to agents in the course of immigration enforcement operations.

Numerous cell phone videos appear to contradict that.

Meantime, as California lawmakers negotiate the next state budget, groups that fight poverty in the state are asking them to reject the health care cuts proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

The governor's proposal comes after Republicans in Congress slashed Medicaid enrollment last summer primarily by imposing extra work requirements and eligibility checks.

Linda Way with the Western Center on Law and Poverty says Governor Newsom's proposal extends those policies to people on the state-funded part of Medi-Cal.

The governor's budget proposal amplifies these federal cuts by being more expansive.

It's cruel, it's unnecessary, it's more severe than federal cuts demand.

Governor Newsom says the federal cuts have forced him to retreat from prior policies that extended Medi-Cal to many undocumented immigrants.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

Next to Ohio where regulators have rejected proposed changes to the state's net metering rules preserving how rooftop solar customers are credited for excess energy sent back to the grid.

The decision came as part of a required five-year review by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

During that process, the state's largest utility sought to scale back the policy.

AEP Ohio filed objections just days before the public comment period closed, and Mariah Williams with Solar United Neighbors says the timing surprised advocates.

Nobody did anything until November 26th, which was two days before the case would close, And that's whenever AEP came in and made comments stating that they wanted all kinds of changes.

Commission records show roughly 275 public comments were submitted, all urging regulators to make no changes.

Farrah Siddiqi reporting.

And Kentucky has barred more than 158,000 of its residents from voting.

Most have previous felony convictions.

And despite a 2019 executive order by Governor Andy Beshear restoring the voting rights of some with past felonies, Deborah Granner is with Kentuckyans for the Commonwealth and the League of Women Voters of Kentucky.

This is kind of about second chances and trying to feel whole and be a good citizen again.

Voting is one of our rights.

To disenfranchise people is just a hurtful thing.

The Commonwealth still denies the right to vote to more prior felons than nearly any other state.

This is Public News Service.

With broad bipartisan support, the Michigan House has overwhelmingly to be approved a bill that would ban cell phone use during classroom instruction.

The proposal includes exceptions, but lawmakers say they would be infrequent.

The bill would also allow school districts to adopt stricter policies if they choose.

State Senator Dana Polhenke of Livonia sponsored the Senate version of the legislation and helped craft the emergency provisions.

There is a very important carve out for emergency situations that I made sure was in there.

There are also exceptions for things like medical devices, district issued laptops, some lessons.

The measure introduced in the House by Republican Representative Mark Tisdell of Rochester Hills passed by a wide margin after the Senate approved the package on a 34-1 vote.

If signed into law, it would prohibit smartphone use during instructional time for all K-12 public school students starting in the 2026 and 27 school year.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Next, an Iowa family advocacy group has launched a new statewide initiative called Work Well Iowa to connect supportive workplace policies with family well-being.

Iowa ACES 360 aims to foster practical, solution-focused conversations on how workplace policies can help Iowans thrive and strengthen communities.

Andrea Deklo, systems innovation director with Iowa ACES 360, emphasizes that supportive workplace policies are essential for community strength, not just optional extras.

Those include things like paid leave, flexible and predictable scheduling, health and wellness benefits, child care, and all the different ways that those things might be realized in the workplace.

Seventy-six percent of Iowa's children live in homes where their primary caregivers work.

Mark Richardson reporting.

Finally, the nation's largest lobbying arm of the oil and gas industry is calling on the Congress to shield companies from a growing number of lawsuits and state laws passed to make the industry pay for the impacts of pollution.

The American Petroleum Institute's 2026 policy priorities include ending the expansion of climate superfund policies recently passed in Vermont and New York.

Claire Dorner with the Sierra Club says these new laws simply say, if you make a mess, you need to clean it up.

It isn't fair that big oil and gas companies are continuing to rake in record profits while we pay the price for pollution and lies, literally paying the price, and we need to make them pay for their damages.

The American Petroleum Institute calls the new laws abusive and is urging Congress to intervene to maintain US energy leadership around the world.

I'm Eric Galatas.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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