News from around the nation.

18 Dead in Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine; Wisconsin moms rally for universal childcare and paid leave ahead of election; North Carolina anti-data center movement broadens to reject AI technology; And an Alaska cruise ship sails maiden voyage using alternative fuel.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A new week and another wave of Russian ballistic missile attacks on Ukraine.

The AP notes all the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets, underscoring Kiev's need for more Patriot interceptor missiles.

A point Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will likely reiterate at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.

Twelve people were killed in the capital, Kiev, which was Russia's main target.

Another six people were killed in the wider Kiev region.

President Trump plans to meet Wislinski on Wednesday while attending the NATO summit.

Meantime, ahead of the August primaries, the grassroots coalition of mothers is calling on candidates running for Wisconsin governor to take a stronger stance on policies that prioritize working families.

Mother Ford is advocating for universal child care, paid family leave and increased maternal health support.

Katie Dix co-leads the Wisconsin chapter.

She says lawmakers should be treating issues like child care as essential public infrastructure rather than solely a personal responsibility.

She believes supporting young children and families is critical for long-term economic growth and stronger communities.

And part of that is universal child care and paid leave.

These pieces of legislation have been out there.

They've been written.

They just don't get voted on across the board.

The group is working on creating a website where voters can see where candidates stand on these issues.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

Next is more North Carolina communities push back against data center construction.

Residents are mobilizing against the artificial intelligence technology they power.

More than two dozen communities have already placed restrictions on large-scale data centers due to their high energy and water consumption.

Rania Masri with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network says while data centers extract from our environment, AI extracts our knowledge and threatens our jobs.

We want to be producing technology that serves community.

We should not be subsidizing technology that serves the billionaire class.

Proponents argue data center construction creates jobs and expands local tax bases, while the state's supply of renewable energy can help offset pollution from the facilities.

I'm Katherine Carley.

We head next to Alaska, where a cruise ship recently set sail, powered by liquid natural gas, the first cruise vessel in the state to do so.

The maiden voyage of the Star Princess this spring, powered entirely by liquefied natural gas, or LNG, which the industry says is as clean as it gets.

Harley Penner is president of C-SPAN Energy, which fuels giant clean-burning ships, says using LNG and large vessels reduces potent and toxic emissions, like nitrogen and sulfur oxides.

Those are the carcinogens that live in our port, and most important to the people in those port communities, the NOx, the SOx, and the black carbon are greatly reduced.

Currently, the Alaska cruise ship industry leaves a sizable carbon footprint with its emissions.

This is Public News Service.

Cash register politics is alive and well in the U.S., according to a new Public Citizens report.

After spending $852 million on political campaigns and lobbying, 88 corporations took in about $105 billion in pre-tax income last year and paid no federal income taxes.

Researcher Eileen O'Grady says combined, these companies saw a 3,000% return on their investment by avoiding nearly $22 billion in taxes they would have had to pay if not for laws passed during the first and second Trump administrations.

And she says those savings allowed companies to spend even more to influence lawmakers.

So what we're seeing here is a self-reinforcing loop where corporate cash buys policy and policy pays cash back.

Colorado firms Antero Resources, Liberty Energy, and Liberty Media were among the corporations featured in the report, which taps data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Proponents of tax cuts have long argued that companies can use those savings to grow their business and boost federal tax revenues by raising wages and creating jobs.

I'm Eric Galatas.

And research from the University of Iowa shows that a 20% increase in the number of large wildfires in the U.S. last year is damaging air quality in Iowa and other Midwestern states.

The data suggests fires have reversed progress the region had made in reducing emissions from other sources.

Nearly 79,000 wildfires scorched more than 5 million acres in 2025, up sharply from the previous year.

University of Iowa biochemical engineering professor Jun Wong says emissions from vehicles and power plants had been reduced, improving air quality in the region.

He says now, because of the increase in wildfires, that trend is going in the opposite direction.

Because of the increase of fire emissions in the upwind regions, California, northwestern U.S., Canada, fire quality in the Midwest regions is worsened.

An online map shows a large area of higher ozone levels and dirty air concentrated in the Midwest and Plains states.

I'm Mark Moen.

Finally, July is typically the hottest month of the year in Kentucky, but a new report reveals how climate change is making it even hotter.

Heat index values topped 110 degrees in parts of the state last week as a dangerous heat wave gripped much of the eastern U.S. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

He says greenhouse gases trapped in the atmosphere are causing historically unprecedented levels of extreme heat on multiple continents.

I wish, as a climate scientist, I wish it were a fluke or I wish that it wasn't part of a sustained long-term trend in that direction.

But alas, it is.

I'm Katherine Carley.

This is Mike Clifford, and thank you for starting a week with Public News Service.

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