News from around the nation.

A proposed tobacco tax faces backlash in Iowa; hundreds of abandoned wells pose long-term risks in Appalachia; a lawsuit alleges Wisconsin’s school funding system is unconstitutional; and buffalo roam again in Texas

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday, March 11, 2026, Afternoon Update.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

A key health committee in the Iowa legislature defeated a measure to increase the state's tobacco and e-cigarette taxes.

Iowa hasn't changed the rate in 19 years, and proponents of the increase say it's aimed at curbing the state's cancer rate, which has the second highest number of new cases nationwide.

Mark Moran reports.

Senate Study Bill 3415 would raise the tax on a pack of cigarettes by 65 cents. from the current average of $1. 36 to just over $2.

It would also impose a 15 percent excise tax on e-cigarettes and consumable hemp products.

But the measure failed in the Health and Human Services Committee by a single vote.

Iowa Advocacy Director for the American Lung Association, Christina Hamilton Says the bill is important as smoking remains the number one risk factor for lung cancer.

Eighty to ninety percent of lung cancer cases are due to cigarette smoking, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Iowa and nationwide.

Tennesseans are encouraged to wear or display Coalition Blue and share their support on social media for Disability Advocacy Day, which takes place today.

More from Danielle Smith.

It marks the sixth year the state has gone blue to honor the disability community.

Carrie Carlson with the Tennessee Disability Coalition says the day highlights the power of advocacy and the significance of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was passed in 1990.

And that is to honor the importance and the advocacy effort for the 1. 8 million or one in four, which is higher than the national average, Tennesseans living with a disability She notes that about 500 people attended Disability Day on the Hill last month, helping launch Disability Advocacy Day and sending a clear message to lawmakers that the disability community is engaged and determined to have its voice heard.

West Virginia has hundreds of abandoned oil and gas wells that aren't properly plugged, but as Nadia Ramlagan reports, the state is doing fewer inspections and issuing fewer notices of violations to operators, according to a new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute.

West Virginia has an estimated 50,000 abandoned oil and gas wells, many of them leaking toxins and lowering property values, says Ted Bettner, a senior researcher for the Ohio River Valley Institute.

The state has been able to take advantage of federal funds and increase state funds to deal with it, but it would take decades to deal with this problem at its current pace.

Federal grant funding could decommission around 1,300 orphan dwells through 2031 and support hundreds of jobs.

This is public news service.

A coalition of Wisconsin students, parents, and teachers has filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin legislature, arguing the state's public school funding system is inadequate and unconstitutional.

Judith Ruiz Branch has that story.

The lawsuit argues state funding hasn't kept pace with rising education costs, forcing districts to rely heavily on local property taxes and ask voters too often to help cover basic expense.

It says the state's worsening funding imbalance affects student performance, with fourth grade reading and math proficiency dropping significantly since 2000.

Joshua Miller is a parent in the Eau Clair school district.

He and his daughter are plaintiffs in the suit.

He says Wisconsin schools have had to scrape by year after year to survive.

The dire need for adequate funding has been made clear to the lawmakers, but they have refused to hear our pleas.

Wisconsin's current school finance system is broken.

Rather than seeking monetary damages, the lawsuit asks an Eau County Court to declare that lawmakers have failed to meet their constitution Healthcare workers at Samaritan Lebanon voted to unionize with SCIU Local forty nine, bringing all five Samaritan locations under one union, Isabel Charlet reports.

About 180 Oregon workers, including nutrition services, housekeeping, and certified nursing assistants, voted overwhelmingly to join the fifth-handed 15,000 member union.

CNA Adils Nunez has been organizing with his coworkers for years.

He says they have a good relationship with management and hopes this decision benefits both sides.

The union is something so cool because you can make decisions together with administration.

We work together for a purpose, we work together for the same goal.

Nunya says workers are motivated to negotiate for better pay and health care He adds Samaritan has four other locations across the state, all of which now receive slightly higher wages and benefits as a result of unionizing.

Bison is again roaming land in South Texas and Freda Ross reports it's due to the work of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project.

The nonprofit is the first native woman-led organization in the Lone Star State.

It's part of a larger network dedicated to building indigenous people. power.

CEO Lucille Contreras says they're working to reconnect all the tribes of Texas through a regenerative herd of American bison.

At one time the buffalo was everything to our people, the Lee Panapache and so many others of the Plains tribe.

The buffalo was our home, our shelter.

Our food, our clothing, our medicine.

She says they hope to heal generational trauma and revive suppress histories through their work.

The group has 34 bison on 77 acres of land in Gonzales County.

It hosts an annual event where it butchers and harvests buffalo meat to donate to local food programs.

This story was produced with original reporting by Kim Cobersmith with the Daily Yonder.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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