News from around the nation.

US launches strikes on Iran, targeting missile sites and boats; Ohio bill would extend the statute of limitations for sexual assault survivors; Georgia codifies 'one-stop' Family Justice Center model; Lure of data center derails needed housing project in rural Maine.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The U.S. launched new strikes on southern Iran, targeting Iranian missile sites and boats attempting to place mines.

In a statement Monday, U.S. Central Command said the strikes were in self-defense, designed to protect our troops.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had a right to retaliate.

Tuesday, it downed a U.S. drone and fired at a fighter jet and another drone that entered Iranian airspace.

CNN notes the strikes came hours after Iranian negotiators met with Qatari mediators in Doha for talks in coordination with the U.S. as the U.S. and Iran worked toward a memorandum of understanding.

Meantime, in rural southeast Georgia, victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse used to travel from agency to agency telling their story each time.

The Waycross Family Justice Center changed that by putting multiple services under one roof.

Heather Flowers is a navigator at the center and a survivor herself.

She says there's a misconception about who experiences violence, and she wants people to know it can happen to anyone.

People feel like it may be marginalized families, it may be the lower-income family, it may be different areas, but it's not.

Violence is not prejudice.

And so what we want people to know is that this center, there's no judgment at this center.

This center is for everyone.

The center opened in August 2024 and has already served 260 victims across six rural counties.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

Next to Ohio, where survivors of sexual assault would have five years to come forward and file a civil lawsuit against a predator under legislation currently being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee lawmakers.

Our Nadia Romligan has more.

Ohio's current law gives adult survivors only one to two years to seek civil justice, explains Emily Gamar with the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence.

There are really tangible costs.

Some people experience a sexual assault in college and have to drop out of college in order to seek recovery and support.

She adds that research shows survivors of sexual violence experience long-lasting trauma that can impact their ability to file a lawsuit soon after the event.

According to state data, 46% of reported sexual assaults in Ohio between 2016 and 2023 were rape.

And nearly half of sexual assault victims knew the suspect, but were not friends with them.

And the town of Wisconsin, Maine, was awarded nearly a quarter of a million dollars in federal funding for much-needed housing.

But when local officials tried to use some of that money to build a data center, county officials took it back.

Lincoln County resident Peter Arnold says with no homes or data facility built, trust in local government has declined.

They were so enamored by the idea of a $5 billion data center landing in Wisconsin that they kind of got blinded.

The housing funds were shifted to neighboring communities.

Public backlash to large data centers in Maine spurred legislation to pass a temporary moratorium on their construction this year.

This is Public News Service.

Neighbors in a Southern California town are demanding changes to a massive proposed rail yard project.

Residents, plus a coalition of labor and environmental groups, want to protect the air, water supply, and keep noise levels low.

NSF Railway is planning the Barstow International Gateway, a 4,500-acre rail yard that would bring international shipping containers by rail from the ports with items then sent off to other cities.

The company says it'll create thousands of jobs, improve supply chains, and cut 800,000 truck trips per year.

Sherry Bailey, who lives near the site, works with the Sylvan Avenue Community Group and the Green Locomotive Project.

Our main concern is our air quality, making sure that our wells do not get impacted and that we are able to have something that would separate us from the noise and sound vibration of this project.

The group wants the company, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, to construct a sound barrier wall.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And last year, the Trump administration froze foreign aid programs with no warning.

Congress later made those cuts permanent with a $7 billion rescission.

Archimel Goves reports that was a double-barrel blow to the flow of foreign humanitarian aid.

Megan Rogers is U.S. government policy and advocacy manager for Nonviolent Peace Force, an international civilian protection organization.

She says the damage went deeper than lost services.

It destroyed trust.

It's really important that we're trusted by the community, especially in these really tense conflict dynamics.

When we just abandon and we say, sorry, we can't do this programming anymore with no warning, it's very difficult to come back in and reinstate that programming because we've lost that confidence from the community.

Congress is now negotiating the fiscal year 2027 budget.

Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Bellart chairs the House Appropriations Committee, which rejected some Trump administration foreign aid cuts last year, though it still approved a 22% reduction overall.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

Finally, a Pennsylvania partnership is hitting a big milestone by planning its 10 millionth tree along the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A celebration today in Hummelstown marks eight years of work to clean up water and restore streamside habitat.

Julia Kroll with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says trees offer many advantages and are affordable and accessible.

She adds that any landowner or resident with available space can plant one, creating benefits for the environment, strengthening communities, and enhancing overall quality of life across Pennsylvania.

Trees are such a good filter, and they help to absorb and slow down polluted runoff from rainstorms.

Their roots help to stabilize stream banks.

In 2018, the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership set out to plant that many trees across Pennsylvania's portion of the watershed.

Danielle Smith reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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