News from around the nation.

Pentagon set up briefing for Musk on potential war with China; With Department of Education gutted, what happens to student loans? MS urged to reform mental health system to reduce jail overcrowding; Potential NOAA cuts could put WI weather warnings on ice.

Transcript

The Public News Service Friday afternoon update, I'm Mike Clifford.

The Pentagon was scheduled today to brief Elon Musk on the US military plan for any war that might break out with China, two U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

Another official said the briefing would be China-focused without providing additional details.

That from the New York Times, they report hours after the news of the plan meeting was published by the Times.

Pentagon officials and President Trump denied the session would be about military plans involving China.

Quoting Trump, "In a late night post, China will not even be mentioned or discussed."

Providing Musk access to some of the nation's most closely guarded military secrets would be a dramatic expansion of his already extensive role as a Trump advisor.

Meantime, student loans are among the areas overseen by the U.S. Department of Education.

Now that President Donald Trump has fallen through and is a threat to gut the agency, questions are mounting about the fate of loan services.

On Thursday, President Trump signed an order he says begins the process of dismantling the department, even with questions about the limitations of executive power for this move.

A White House official says the skeleton agency will continue to run student loans and Pell Grants, but higher education advocates still worry about borrowers running into issues.

Mike Pierce of the Student Borrower Protection Center feels the system was already broken.

We expect that things will only get harder for working people with student debt and for families that are trying to pay for college.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next to Mississippi, a state grappling with a growing mental health crisis.

State and local leaders are being urged to prioritize diversion programs and crisis care systems to prevent the unnecessary incarceration of people with mental illness.

It's estimated 2 million people with serious mental illness are booked into jails across the US each year, says Shannon Scully with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.

In Mississippi, where mental health resources are often scarce and the incarceration rate among the highest in the nation.

It means more than 19,000 people in state custody.

The criminal justice system disproportionately impacts people with mental illness.

They are overrepresented in those spaces.

And that's mostly because historically our communities have underfunded and under-resourced behavioral health.

I'm Tramell Gomes.

And one of the many federal agencies facing cuts by the Trump DOJ team is NOAA, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

As states like Wisconsin brace for what's often a severe spring weather season, scientists say the cuts would likely threaten people's safety.

Bernadette Woods-Plakey is the chief meteorologist with Climate Central.

Because of NOAA data, we know when to evacuate ahead of storms, fires.

We know when not to evacuate, which is also really critical because that saves a lot of money and a lot of time.

NOAA employees have been told to expect layoffs of up to 20 percent or more than 1,000 jobs some have already begun.

This is Public News Service.

Governor Mark Gordon has just a few days left to make final decisions on bills passed during the Wyoming legislative session.

Both fair election advocates and Gordon himself have called some in the pile boilerplate.

The governor signed bills into law this month that prohibit range choice voting, a system not currently used in the state, and foreign funding for ballot measures.

Although one slated for the 2026 ballot will be the first in 30 years.

Marissa Carpio of the Equality State Policy Center notes that trend could be the result of new control by the Freedom Caucus in Wyoming's House of Representatives.

What seems like happened is boilerplate bills from national groups making their way into Wyoming with issues that we just do not have.

Maybe just to send a message to those national groups that Wyoming is a place where you can do that.

Gordon The Speak vetoed Senate File 196, which would have amended the Second Amendment Protection Act to include legal ramifications for police officers who participate in the enforcement of federal firearms laws.

In his three-page veto letter, Gordon wrote the state, quote, "Shouldn't need to pass boiler plates "created in far-flung states "that seek to fix problems we haven't seen in Wyoming."

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Next to Virginia, where legislation would prohibit any systematic removals of people from voter rolls at least 90 days before an election.

Last August, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring daily updates to voter rolls instead of monthly.

The Department of Motor Vehicles found more than 6,000 people marked as non-citizens were registered to vote in Virginia.

But voting rights advocates argue that people may accidentally check the box that says they aren't a citizen, or they've gained citizenship between DMV visits.

Sheila Hurley-Hennessy with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy says purges so close to elections impact people across the Commonwealth.

This affects rural areas, this affects new Americans, this affects a lot of people around Virginia and I want to see if our legislators protect those individuals.

So this has the legs to be a bipartisan issue.

Youngkin has defended his executive order as necessary to protect election security.

I'm Simone Perez.

Finally, a coalition of conservationists and tribal nations is pushing for support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative by state officials in Olympia.

The initiative is a project to remove the Lower Snake River dams while while maintaining current irrigation, transportation, energy, and recreation services.

The initiative focuses on restoring salmon runs and supporting the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

Professional kayaker Gabe Newton will draw attention to the plight of the orcas next week.

He says protecting them means protecting all living things.

Well, it's incredibly important.

Every time a thread in the web of life is broken, our own capacity to thrive is diminished.

And orcas and salmon are very integral threads.

Mark Richardson.

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

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