News from around the nation.

Trump administration seeks to end all federal contracts with Harvard; NPR and Colorado public radio stations sue Trump White House; Civil rights groups step up as DOJ reduces police oversight in MS; Expert: Ohio pension funds resistant to tariff-related market volatility; WV law changes standards for plugging abandoned oil wells.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Trump administration intends to ask all federal agencies to seek ways to end their contracts with Harvard University, a senior administration official told NBC News on Tuesday.

The report GSA will send a letter to federal agencies today asking them to identify any contracts with Harvard and whether they can be canceled or redirected elsewhere.

Meantime, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations filed suit this morning in federal court against the Trump White House over the president's executive order purportedly barring the use of congressionally appropriated funds for NPR and PBS.

That from National Public Radio.

They report, "It is not always obvious when the government has acted with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment, but this wolf comes as a wolf," states the legal brief for the public broadcasters.

But after President Trump's decision to dismiss lawsuits and drop federal accountability agreements with several police departments, Mississippi advocacy groups are joining the ACLU to expand accountability efforts through the Seven States Campaign.

Trump's decision includes pausing a pattern and practice probe in the Rankin County Goon Squad case.

In that case, six law enforcement officers were sentenced for torturing and sexually assaulting two black men during a January 2023 home raid.

Joshua Tom, legal director of the ACLU of Mississippi, says offenses like these make oversight necessary. - The Grimm Squad case, I think, is a very egregious example of law enforcement engaging in illegal misconduct when performing its duties. - Investigations found the squad operated for years with impunity.

I'm Trammell Gomes. - Next, market volatility linked to shifting federal tariff policies raising questions in Ohio about the long-term impacts on public pension funds and retirement security.

Kendall Killian, executive director of the National Public Pension Coalition, says the state's defined benefit pensions are structured to withstand short-term swings in the market.

It's still not a good thing if the pension funds lose these dollars, although funds themselves are set up to aim for the long term and to absorb these types of fluctuations.

The Ohio public employees retirement system manages over a hundred billion dollars in assets and maintains an investment strategy designed to reduce risk from short-term market changes.

Farah Siddiqi reporting.

And there are more than 20,000 abandoned oil and gas wells scattered across West Virginia, putting communities at risk for water contamination and increased exposure to environmental pollutants.

State lawmakers say a new law will make it easier to fill those wells.

West Virginia's Governor Patrick Morrisey explained the new law will allow operators to fill wells without removing the largest mine shaft.

This will provide operators with greater flexibility, especially when dealing with older wells in poor structural conditions.

The previous state code required removal of mining infrastructure before wells could be plugged with cement and other materials.

This is Public News Service.

Next to Massachusetts, where state officials say a program offering financial support to residents enrolled in job training programs is helping retain talented workers.

There are currently more than 125,000 job openings in health care, education and manufacturing, but the cost of transportation or child care often prevents people from filling those roles.

Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Lauren Jones says providing cash stipends to these workers can make all the difference.

Someone that may be in the middle of job training and their car breaks down and they now are wrestling with whether they will find a way to get to training or if they have to now make a decision to not continue with training.

Jones says stipends up to $5000 are available through the workforce skills fund.

More than 1200 people have already taken advantage of the program.

I'm Catherine Carly and rural communities in Indiana could lose out under a new federal bill and is speeding up clean energy development.

Lawmakers rewrote parts of the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA to shorten timelines and block lawsuits that often delay big builds.

Supporters say the changes will fast track everything from solar farms to broadband.

But Thomas Hockman, director of infrastructure policy at the Foundation for American Innovation, warns the new rules may push developers to focus on easier, cheaper sites.

There are quotes from folks like, you know, an outgoing EPA general counsel who say that 90 percent of the details in a NEPA review are purely there for litigation If you know that you are not at risk of litigation, that is almost certainly a radically faster timeline.

Hookman says that could leave rural areas behind.

The U.S. House narrowly passed the bill.

It now moves to the Senate.

I'm Joe Ulari, Public News Service.

Finally, the failure of Florida lawmakers to pass a budget before adjourning has left key environmental projects in limbo, including a Senate-approved proposal to restore the Oklahoma River.

For residents like Samuel Carr, who fished the river before the dam's 1971 construction, the more than $6 million project represents a chance to revive what he calls a "free-running wild river" from what he believes turned into a mud hole.

Since they put that dam in, 150 million gallons of fresh water doesn't come into the St. John's River per day as it did before 1971.

So the restoration would literally turn the faucet back on to get that cool, clear water St.

Johns River.

Carr notes the dam blocks 20 springs and forces periodic pollution releases into the St. Johns, which he says has suffered catastrophic algae blooms and lost critical eelgrass.

Lawmakers will reconvene sometime after June 2nd to resume budget talks.

The Senate has already approved the funding, but House approval remains uncertain amid broader disputes over tax cuts.

I'm Trammell Gomes.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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