News from around the nation.

Education Dept. guts its staff, firing 1,300; Ukraine targets Moscow with large-scale drone Attack; Almost 60% of CA Black women surveyed 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.

Hear us on interesting radio stations, your favorite podcast platform and find our content andThe public news service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Department of Education announced today it was firing more than 1,300 workers, effectively gutting the agency that manages federal loans for colleges, tracks student achievement, and enforces civil rights laws in schools.

That from the New York Times.

The report the layoffs mean that the department, which started the year with just over 4,000 employees, will now have a workforce of about half that size, that after less than two months of President Trump in office.

The Times notes the cuts could portend an additional move by Trump to essentially dismantle the department as he said he wants to do, even though it cannot be closed without the approval of Congress.

And backers of legislation in Nevada say it would bring more balance to landlord-tenant relationships and ensure that rental homes are safe to live in.

Assembly member Venetia Considine says for far too long, some Nevada renters have put up with unacceptable living conditions, from black mold to infestations and other issues that can go months without repair.

She says Assembly Bill 223 is about strengthening tenant rights by giving them certain tools, like a process to file official complaints and the ability to exit leases at no cost if landlords drag their feet.

A verified complaint would give tenants the ability, if they've gone through the habitability issue, the two weeks time frame, still the lack of anything being fixed that is promised in a lease to be there that they are paying for, that they have a way to access the court without putting themselves in jeopardy of eviction.

Considine says there were thousands of statewide evictions in Nevada last year, but it's unknown how many were due to habitability issues because the current system doesn't track that information.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

Next up, Oregon conservation groups are headed to the state capitol for Wildlife Lobby Day.

Srishti Kamal of the Western Environmental Law Center highlights the 1 percent for Wildlife Bill, which would raise the state transient lodging tax by 1 percent up to 2.5 percent.

Plans would help the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife implement the state wildlife action plan to protect imperiled species and habitats.

Kamal says the plan currently has no funding from the state.

Even though we have a Democratic majority in our legislature this session, unfortunately wildlife falls at the bottom of everyone's priority list.

One bill would help landowners use non-lethal tools to share land with beavers.

I'm Isabel Sharla.

Meantime, an improvisational street dancer from small town Iowa is using his art form to interpret his world and express his identity, including defiance, rebellion, and even frustration with other artists.

Chewie Renteria started breakdancing when he was 14 in West Liberty, Iowa, now nearly 40 and a father and a husband, he draws on what he learned.

Growing up in West Liberty, I felt too Mexican for the white people and too white for the Mexican people.

It transcended all of that, right?

Because you dance and then you found other people who also dance and it didn't matter.

Renteria says his latest expression called fight dancing allows artists to have the equivalent of a heated exchange on the dance floor rather than taking the anger into the street.

This is public news service.

Next to Montana where the governor's proposed budget includes cuts to funding for senior long-term care.

Within the last three years, 11 of Montana's nursing homes closed in a single 12-month period.

That adds pressure to those providers left like Big Sky Senior Services and Billings, which provides payee services for over 100 people and offers in-home care for seniors on a sliding fee scale.

Executive Director Tyler Amundson says keeping seniors in their homes as long as possible is the goal, but there's usually a point where outside care becomes necessary.

And then they're in crisis because we don't have enough places to send them or the places that are available to send them aren't getting funded well.

And so the quality of care is going down.

Amundson adds that reimbursement rates are not keeping up with the rise of inflation.

Governor Greg Gianforte has proposed $50 million in cuts over the next biennium to senior and long-term care services via the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

That's nearly 6 percent.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Next to North Dakota where the Senate's turned to ramp up debate on property tax reform, a key issue of the session.

Several bills to establish property tax relief have already cleared the North Dakota House.

Yesterday, a Senate committee took up certain proposals.

All the measures have different language, but a consistent provision calls for an annual 3 percent cap on property tax hikes sought by local governments.

Peril Grossman with the North Dakota Soybean Growers Association told lawmakers he hopes the final package will include agricultural properties.

Some of these landowners might certainly have significant land and others just might be facing huge debt because of their machinery, livestock costs.

Advocates also acknowledge the need for balance so that small and large communities aren't hamstrung in maintaining key infrastructure.

Some rural municipal leaders worry about proposed caps limiting their ability to raise enough revenue, harming vital services.

I'm Mike Moen.

Finally, Indiana lawmakers paused action this week on a bill which aims to prevent crashes caused by dangerously overgrown rural intersections.

The bill originated after 17-year-old Riley Settergren died in a 2017 collision at a Hancock County intersection.

His father, Jay Settergren, testified Monday before lawmakers, urging stronger rules to prevent similar tragedies.

Just days before his senior year, Riley was taken from us by a piece of farm machinery that could not see at an intersection because it was obstructed by corn.

They had to move out further into the road.

The truck Riley was a passenger in was struck.

Riley was killed instantly.

The current proposal would mandate property owners or renters near rural intersections clear all vegetation or obstacles above three feet, ensuring drivers can see approaching traffic.

I'm Joe Ulari, Public News Service.

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

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Thank you.