News from around the nation.

The US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship and rules in favor of state bans on transgender athletes; Voting rights groups hail SCOTUS decision on a ballot grace period; A report looks at why young people of color can be locked out of wealth building; Tennessee Senator wants safeguards for prescription-free ivermectin.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

This morning, the Supreme Court rejected President Trump's executive order declaring that children born to parents who are in the U.S. illegally or temporarily are not American citizens.

The AP notes the decision in favor of birthright citizenship is in line with longstanding judicial interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

Also, the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld two state laws barring participation of transgender female athletes from girls' and women's sports teams.

The ruling is handed down on the final day of the Supreme Court term.

California Experts in Voting Rights is celebrating Monday's Supreme Court decision that upholds a state's right to set a grace period for ballots to be counted if they arrive after Election Day as long as they were postmarked on time.

The challengers to Mississippi's grace period argued that accepting ballots after Election Day threatens election integrity.

Bernadette Reyes is with the University of California, Los Angeles Voting Rights Project, part of the California Democracy Partnership.

She says the decision means California can stick with the current practice of counting ballots that arrive within seven days.

What they're saying is you cast your vote when you fill out your ballot.

And as long as they're postmarked, by Election Day, that means that they fulfilled their duty under the Constitution.

Supporters of the decision point out that the U.S. Constitution delegates election administration to the states.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

About 30 states currently offer some sort of grace period for ballots to arrive.

Meantime, a new national report finds that young Black and Latino Floridians want to own homes, start businesses, and build wealth for their families at rates that match or exceed their white peers.

However, they face significant barriers to achieving those goals.

Candice Wang, a senior researcher at the Center for Responsible Lending, says the problem isn't a lack of ambition.

We found 77% of Black Gen Z and 70% of Latino Gen Z say that they want to build an inheritance to pass on to their loved ones, even though they're much less likely than their white and Asian peers to expect to receive an inheritance themselves.

The report found 44% of Gen Z aspiring homeowners feel they'll never own a home.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And Tennessee made history as the first state to pass a law that allows ivermectin to be dispensed without a prescription.

Now a Republican GOP state lawmaker wants changes.

Senator Richard Brinks of Knoxville is a surgeon and the only Republican who voted against the bill.

He'd like to revise the policy to restrict the over-the-counter dosage to levels that aren't toxic to humans.

There have been multiple studies done that have shown no effectiveness of ivermectin against COVID.

There's only been one very good study about ivermectin in cancer, and there appears to be no effectiveness against cancer by ivermectin.

Credit for original reporting goes to Brett Kelman and Richana Pradhan for KFF Health News.

This is Public News Service.

Missouri farm groups are reacting to the Senate Agriculture Committee's newly released farm bill draft.

While the proposal includes changes from the House version, some ag organizations argue it still falls short.

Joe Maxwell, president of Firm Action Fund, says his organization sees the proposal as more of the same, pointing to repeated federal bailout packages for farmers that he says haven't solved the industry's underlying problems.

This system is failing.

Agriculture system is failing. 63 farmers a day are going out of business and families can't afford the food at the grocery stores.

And this bill does nothing to change the structure of that.

But Maxwell says the Senate draft also gets some things right, including moving the process forward and preserving some state level agricultural protections.

Lawmakers are expected to consider amendments after the July 4th recess.

Crystal Blair reporting.

And Maryland lawmakers passed a number of bills aimed at supporting primary caregivers this session.

Advocates argue the laws will increase support for people taking on this role, particularly those who are unpaid.

House Bill 1434 orders the Maryland Department of Health to create and maintain a centralized webpage to provide resources for caregivers with children with disabilities, aging adults, and individuals with behavioral health needs.

According to AARP Maryland, nearly 1.2 million Marylanders are family caregivers.

Sarah Westrick, who works with the group, says the new laws make it easier for caregivers to find the best resources for them.

Sometimes there's such a plethora of information in so many places, it can be hard to navigate.

And so the aim with this bill is really to streamline and have a starting place for family caregivers to go.

Estimates by AARP put the total value of that labor at $12.5 billion.

I'm Zamone Perez.

Finally, wind energy is a powerhouse in Minnesota, generating a massive proportion of the state's electricity.

As of 2023, wind powered about 25 percent of the state's total electricity generation.

A significant percentage of that power comes from wind generation on Minnesota farms, which use available land to place wind turbines.

Farmers like Bill Gillen, a six-year participant in the Freeborn Wind Project in southeastern Minnesota and northern Iowa, says wind power is a welcome addition to many Minnesota farms.

It allows us farmers to continue to farm the land, as well as generate the revenue off of the wind project itself.

So that's what makes it very compatible.

According to the Clean Grid Alliance, Minnesota ranked seventh among the 50 states with more than 3,800 megawatts of wind energy.

Gillen didn't say how much income he makes from leasing part of his acreage, but he says it helped him buy two new tractors, a combine and a corn planter.

I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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