News from around the nation.

The U.S. and Iran trade military strikes as President Trump says the ceasefire is over; Families worry even after SCOTUS ruling on birthright citizenship; Minnesota business owners assess the early going of new paid leave law; Tennessee criminalizes drink spiking amid push for more safeguards.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump did not mince words at the NATO summit in Turkey regarding the U.S.-Iran ceasefire.

Trump declared, I think it's over.

They're scum.

They're sick people.

They're led by sick people.

And they're vicious, violent people.

Trump adding, as far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them.

At the same time, Trump did not rule out future talks with Iran.

The AP notes Iran targeted American military sites in the Gulf Wednesday after the U.S. launched strikes on several places in Iran and reinstated sanctions on its oil sales, Washington said it was responding to Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court may have struck down President Donald Trump's order to end birthright citizenship, but for mixed-status families, concerns persist about future immigration cases.

The narrow victory for immigrant rights groups intersects with a separate ruling that the federal government can end temporary protective status for thousands of Syrians and Haitians living in the U.S. Em is a 16-year-old in the D.C. metro area whose mother is a TPS holder from El Salvador and works as a janitor.

She was granted anonymity to discuss her family's situation.

Em was born in the U.S. but wouldn't have been a citizen under the president's actions.

My mom migrated here for an American dream, to prosper.

While I'm just migrating technically just to be out of this administration's way.

It's not fair to me.

Any other American child here doesn't have to worry about.

I'm Zamone Perez.

And Minnesota is lifting the hood on a notable policy that launched this year.

A key agency and the small business community are outlining experiences and early numbers from the state's pay-leave program.

In its first six months, the Department of Employment and Economic Development says nearly 75,000 workers saw their benefit applications approved.

For companies that can't offer the PERC, the state-run initiative, funded by a payroll fee shared by the worker and employer, offers up to 12 weeks of partial wage replacement for a life-changing event.

Greg Conley with Northern Water Smokehouse in Duluth says it worked well when one of his staffers made use of it.

It didn't cost our company a bunch of money.

We didn't end up extending weeks of sick time to this person.

In an emailed statement, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce suggests the law has been a cost and administrative burden for participating businesses.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next, Tennessee has a new law that makes it a Class D felony to slip a pill into someone's drink.

Rachel Freeman with the Sexual Assault Center says the law sends a clear message that drink spiking is now illegal.

She adds that the original bill included a requirement that bars provide drink testing devices, but that provision was scrapped in the final version.

The sponsors hope to add back in as an amendment in the next legislative session, but more research needed to be done to figure out how that would get funded and what the right testing strips are, how many drugs need to be tested for.

The Tennessee Drink Spiking Prevention Act targets those who intentionally tamper with someone's drink, food, or medication to cause involuntary intoxication.

This is Public News Service.

It turns out apartment buildings may be the bipartisan climate solution no one is talking about.

According to a new report, the research from the Sightline Institute, a sustainability research and policy nonprofit, finds apartment buildings and housing capacity, which is politically popular right now.

They also tend to have lower carbon emissions because nearly 70 percent of newer buildings run on electricity, making them better for the planet than most single-family homes.

Alan Durning is Sightline's executive director.

Apartments use less energy.

They use less materials.

They are much more electrified than houses, and our electric grid is going green pretty fast, moving towards carbon zero.

Durning says it's a conservative idea to give property owners more freedom to build what they want on their property.

Matt Simon gets credit for the original reporting on this story.

Next Tech Regulars are scheduled to vote today on whether to repeal Arizona's energy efficiency standards.

They say companies have already reached efficiency standards on their own.

Regulations are no longer needed.

Critics say eliminating the standards will reduce investments in clean energy, technology, and increase costs for consumers.

The Arizona Corporation Commission has already eliminated a regulation that required regulated utility companies to cultivate at least 15% of their energy from renewable sources, such as solar power.

Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund Executive Director Diane Brown says now policymakers want to eliminate standards that have resulted in financial benefits for ratepayers.

Arizona's energy efficiency standard has resulted in lower bills for ratepayers and more than $1.7 billion in net economic benefits.

Arizona lawmakers have pushed a so-called all-of-the-above approach to energy sources in the state.

The legislature did not approve the bill.

I'm Mark Moran.

Finally, New Hampshire residents are looking to avoid single-use plastic and are increasingly turning to items labeled as compostable.

But environmental groups warn they may not be as green as people think.

Darby Hoover with the Natural Resources Defense Council says the compostable label doesn't guarantee something is free of toxic chemicals.

She says many compostable single-use plastics still contain the same chemical additives found in fossil fuel-based plastics, including substances that could be detrimental to your health.

That's what we add to those plastics to make them more durable, to make them more flexible.

Those particular additives are the same no matter what the feedstock for the plastic is.

And those are the additives we see that have the toxic concerns associated with them.

I'm Katherine Carley.

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

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