News from around the nation.

Ukraine targets Moscow with large-scale drone rttack; Almost 60% of CA Black women report discrimination at work; MO advocate urges healing over punishment for traumatized juveniles; TN nonprofits plan ahead for end of Summer EBT food program.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Russian officials say Ukraine attacked Moscow before dawn today with its largest long-range drone bombardment of the war, as both sides stepped up attacks ahead of talks intended to find a way to end three years of fighting.

That from the New York Times.

They report the pre-dawn strikes, just hours before high-level delegations from Kiev and the U.S. were scheduled to meet in Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible path forward to ending the war, appeared in the New York Times.

The attack was intended to serve as a reminder that despite suffering attacks and enduring huge losses, Ukraine can still hit back at Russia.

Next to California, where new research finds black working women still face rampant discrimination in the Golden State.

The California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute commissioned a survey of 452 black women.

Almost 60 percent reported experiencing workplace racism or gender discrimination in the past year.

Dr. Shikari Byerly is managing partner at Eviteris Research, which conducted the study.

Nearly half feel marginalized, excluded from or passed over for work opportunities.

Only 16 percent strongly agree that opportunities for leadership and/or advancement in their workplace are available to them. 59 percent of respondents reported feeling somewhat satisfied in their job, but 38 percent say they are unsatisfied, with company leadership and work culture to blame.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

Next, a Missouri children's advocate is urging the justice system to focus on healing for young people, noting that trauma and broken relationships often drive their actions.

Research shows Missouri has seen fluctuating juvenile delinquency rates, with urban areas such as St. Louis and Springfield facing rising youth crime.

The St. Louis Police Department indicates a 57 percent increase in juvenile shooting incidents so far this year compared with 2024.

Alex LeCure of Advocating for Children in Crisis and Transition has fostered numerous at-risk teens.

He emphasizes that hurt people hurt people.

The response to that can't be, "Here's the rules, and if you don't follow those, then there's going to be consequences.

It needs to be done through the context of a relationship."

There's a lack of connection and positive connection in their life.

LeCure acknowledged that youths must face consequences for their actions, but he also says that rules without relationships lead to rebellion.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has opted out of the federal summer EBT program, and non-profit groups in the state say they'll work to fill the gap for families in need.

Summer EBT provides $40 a month per child for food assistance when kids are out of school.

Ella Clay with the group Healing Minds and Souls says losing the $75 million in federal aid is disappointing.

We have food, we have produce, vegetables, fruits, personal hygiene products, products for your household, and various products even for children.

And so those are the ways that we're here to serve our community.

Nearly 700,000 kids benefited from summer EBT last year in Tennessee.

This is public news service.

The avian flu is now being detected in humans, and concerns about inadequate testing and tracking methods, along with its pandemic potential, are mounting.

But federal oversight remains in limbo.

At least one person has died from influenza A or H5N1, and almost 70 others have been infected.

Public health officials say those at highest risk are farm workers, but that could change since the virus has already mutated, spreading from poultry to cattle.

Dr. Megan Davis at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says the potential for asymptomatic cases of this flu subtype can make tracking it a challenge.

You suspect there are more, but of the ones that are confirmed, we have only three where we don't have a known animal exposure.

Davis adds if the virus mutates to be transmissible among humans, that would be a big concern.

In Illinois, only cases in wild birds and poultry have been reported so far.

Health officials are urging frontline workers to wear proper protective gear to avoid infection.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

This story produced with original reporting by Nina Elkady for Sentinent Health and Wellness.

And Ohio is seeing a growing number of solar energy projects, including the first utility scale installation in Dayton that will help power a key water treatment facility.

Cities across the state are also working together to expand clean energy access.

The five megawatt solar array in Dayton will be built on a brownfield site that is also a repurposing project for land that had been burnt and has limited use because of contamination.

Robert McCracken is energy manager for the neighboring city of Cincinnati.

He says it's amazing to be able to produce energy to help with energy resiliency anywhere in Ohio.

There is a lot of great work happening in the sustainability energy field throughout the state of Ohio, and that's happening in large cities and small towns.

Farah Siddiqui reporting.

Finally, researchers at Colorado State University have found the state's nearly 23 million acres of forests are currently releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than they capture.

As report author Tony Vorster explains, forests act as both sinks and sources for carbon.

Trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, and that process is reversed when trees die and decompose.

When you look at the contributors to that release of carbon, a lot of it, 64 percent of it is due to insect and disease, 20 percent of it is due to fire, and about 15 percent of it is areas that have been cut.

Burning fossil fuels is the single largest contributor of carbon emissions, the primary driver of climate change.

I'm Eric Galatas.

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

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