News from around the nation.

Trump says Putin has 'gone absolutely CRAZY', considering more sanctions on Russia; Plastic alternatives market impacted by Trump tariff policy; New report shows need to curb GA transportation pollution; NC Supreme Court could change permit process for factory farms.

Transcript

The public news service Monday afternoon update for Memorial Day 2025, I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin had gone absolutely crazy by unleashing the largest aerial attack of the war on Ukraine, and Trump said he was weighing new sanctions on Moscow, though he also scolded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, that from Reuters.

The report Trump posted, the remark on Truth Social, as sleeping Ukrainians woke to a third consecutive night of massive Russian aerial attacks.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had launched 355 drones and nine cruise missiles against Ukraine overnight, Russia's largest drone attack of the war.

Meantime, consumers longing for alternatives to plastic may find it harder to make the switch due to ever-changing tariff policies.

Jeffrey Delkin is the president of Bamboo, which has been making plastic-free home goods for the past 20 years.

He says the Trump administration's 145 percent tariffs forced the company to lay off their staff in China and make their U.S. staff part-time.

Though Chinese tariffs will now drop to 30 percent for 90 days, he says the tariff rollercoaster is threatening his company's future.

"Unfortunately, this is a time where we need more small, right-minded, responsibly-operated businesses and the current conditions are not helping."

Data show even before the trade war, plastic products faced lower tariffs than their alternatives, it harder for those alternatives to compete.

I'm Katherine Carley.

Next the American Lung Association is the latest group to sound an alarm about vehicle pollution in Georgia.

The American Lung Association's new state of the air report offers a sobering view.

It says nearly half of all Americans live with failing air quality.

Laura Kate Bender with the Association points to vehicle emissions as a major contributor to the air pollution problem.

We know that switching to zero emission transportation is critical for health And we know that because number one, transportation powered by gas or diesel drives climate change.

Climate change makes health worse and it makes air pollution worse.

But also the emissions that come from a tailpipe are directly harmful to people's health.

In Georgia, the report assessed air quality in 27 of the state's 159 counties.

Shantia Hudson reporting.

Next, the North Carolina Supreme Court deliberating on a case that would impact how industrial farms are regulated in the state. have heard arguments in a case brought by the North Carolina Farm Bureau which says the State Department of Environmental Quality went too far with its conditions for permits for concentrated animal feeding operations.

Rania Masri with North Carolina Environmental Justice Network says the case goes beyond these large farming operations.

The Supreme Court case is about whether the law that the General Assembly wrote will be implemented or whether it will be implemented as the Farm Bureau which represents the agricultural industry will want it to be interpreted.

The Farm Bureau wants those permits to go through a different regulatory body, which may relax requirements.

This is public news service.

Medical copays in Alabama prisons can outpace what people behind bars earn in a week.

Wanda Bertram with the prison policy initiative says their latest review finds these fees make it harder for people to access care.

And in many southern states, people behind bars aren't paid at all for their labor.

So which tend to range from for you or me actually do seeking care in many cases where they really do need In Alabama, the Department of Correction charges a $4 copay for medical visits requested by incarcerated people or those that result in treatment.

Additional fee can result from missed appointments, replacement items such as glasses, even injuries if the person is found responsible.

However, those with less than $20 in their prison account for 90 days are considered unable to pay and are not charged.

Chiantia Hudson reporting.

And from the Hill, President Trump Sunday took new shots at Harvard University saying he wants to know exactly who the foreign students in enrolls are after the Department of Homeland Security last week sought to block ability to enroll foreign students.

Finally, Maine is home to a substantial population of Canada links, but climate change and encroaching development are making it harder for this elusive forest predator to survive.

Research shows seasonal snow packs throughout New England have shrunk significantly over the past 40 years, declining between 10 and 20 percent each decade.

Eric Cluess with the nonprofit conservation group Defenders of Wildlife says that's bad news for both the links and its primary food source, the snowshoe hare.

They're cold adapted, they thrive and deep snow and they need that deep snow to be able to hunt and forage properly.

And as we're seeing decreasing snow packs with climate change, it really presents a pretty significant threat.

Cluess says the lynx's quiet behavior and ability to camouflage itself make it difficult to get solid data on the population.

Estimates put its numbers between 600 and just over 1,000 in Maine.

The Canada lynx was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2000, after years of logging fragmented much of their boreal forest habitat.

The Trump administration says these kinds of protections are slowing economic growth and contends that habitat destruction is not the same as intentionally hurting a species.

Cluess disagrees and says allowing more extractive industries into Maine's forests will make it harder for the lynx to reproduce.

Sometimes it's worthwhile to set aside some of our priorities as humans to look at what we can do to protect really some of the more interesting species we have out The public comment period on the most recent proposed rule change to the Endangered Species Act runs through May 19th.

For Maine News Service, I'm Catherine Carley.

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

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