News from around the nation.

Paxton Defeats Sen John Cornyn by a wide margin in Texas; Rising prices leave Wisconsin retirees facing housing insecurity; Thrive Kentucky roadshow helps workers navigate safety net changes; EPA weakens PFAS rules day before awarding Georgia $25M.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update. I’m Mike Clifford.

John Cornyn of Texas became the second Republican senator to be ousted in a runoff in just the last two weeks.

In the Tuesday runoff, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton defeated Cornyn.

The New York Times notes the scope of his defeat was staggering.

Cornyn wants the number two Republican in the Senate, trailing and nearly all of Texas' 254 counties.

Meantime, working families and retirees in Wisconsin say they don't have the ability to absorb financial hits from rising health care, grocery and gas prices.

Joined by State Senator Jeff Smith, Eau Claire community members recently came together at a roundtable hosted by Opportunity Wisconsin to discuss the personal impacts of the affordability crisis.

Retired veteran John Sterling says gas prices in his area have increased by nearly $2 per gallon and costs for groceries are also substantially higher.

Sterling explains 47 percent of his fixed income goes toward paying for housing.

He says every extra dollar he has to spend cuts deep into his budget.

I'm in a nutrition situation right now.

Eventually, this is going to catch up to me and I'm going to be homeless.

And the VA won't do squat for me until I'm actually homeless.

Sterling says the Veterans Rental Assistance Program was helping him cover housing costs, but he's unable to reach them now.

I'm Judith Ruiz-Branch reporting.

And experts will unpack the many changes to federal safety net programs at a series of upcoming Kentucky Thrive Roadshow events aimed at community professionals.

Arnadia Romligan has the story.

From work requirement updates for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid to federal budget cost shifting, experts will break down how recent federal decisions will impact Commonwealth residents.

Federal housing program policies and eligibility requirements have also undergone significant changes over the past few years, explains Adrian Bush with the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Kentucky.

Really trying to examine what are the overall effects of changes to safety net programs, but then what are the specifics that people may be running into or that we can kind of share with folks as a heads up.

Upcoming Roadshow events will happen on June 9th in Louisville, July 14th in Corbin, and August 18th in Bowling Green.

Fall dates can be found on kyvoicesforhealth.org.

Next, the Environmental Protection Agency weakened federal drinking water protections for PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.

That happened on May 18th.

Just 24 hours later, the agency announced that Georgia will receive over $25 million in grants meant to address those same toxic compounds.

Maria Doa is Senior Director of Chemical Policy of the Environmental Defense Fund.

They're extremely bad.

They cause so many different harm to the body at extremely low levels.

And the other thing is many of these PFAS build up in your body and stay there for a long time.

PFAS contamination has been documented throughout the state for nearly two decades.

This is Public News Service.

Massachusetts has long been a top state for rooftop solar power, and researchers say growing food beneath those solar panels will bring added benefits as urban populations grow.

Rooftop agrivoltaics is an advancing practice that aims to boost local food supplies and better insulate buildings, reducing their overall energy costs.

Jennifer Boussolo, associate professor of horticulture at Colorado State University, says these added green spaces even lower city temperatures, which can run 10 degrees hotter than in rural areas.

If we can target those roofs that can handle the weight and are an eyesore otherwise, to me that's the place to start.

She says solar panels protect rooftop gardens from excessive sun and wind, while moisture from the plants helps cool the panels, increasing their efficiency.

Early research shows warm season crops do especially well, with reports of cucumbers growing as big as baseball bats.

This story is based on original reporting by Matt Simon with Grist.

I'm Katherine Carley.

And the future of oyster harvesting in Louisiana may be through farms where mollusks are grown in cages as wild populations decline across the bayou.

Jason Petrie harvests oysters and is a member of the United Homa Nation.

He watched his grandfather do this work for many years.

But wild oyster populations have faced difficult times in recent decades.

After the BP oil spill in 2010, many oysters who require saltwater drowned, and Petrie's grandfather couldn't harvest them.

When the two returned, the waterways, which Petrie's grandfather knew in depth, looked entirely different as the state also grappled with coastal erosion.

I noticed him scratch his head, and he's looking out the window, and then he walks to the other side of the boat, he looks out that window, and then the look of confusion because, you know, landmarks he had known were completely gone.

Petrie eventually worked as a nurse for a time in California, and he overheard colleagues discussing oyster farming.

This story was produced with original reporting from Boyce Uphol, with the Food and Environment Reporting Network.

I'm Zamone Perez.

Finally, groups fighting for clean waterways are revolted by the EPA's decision to roll back six by narrow rules on PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals.

The feds want to reissue narrower rules in Michigan and elsewhere on four substances, arguing the rulemaking process was legally flawed.

They would also give companies and water agencies two extra years to comply with rules on two other chemicals.

Maria Doa with the Environmental Defense Fund calls that move outrageous.

The federal government should be protecting us rather than supporting the economic interests who are profiting by this.

And the federal government should not be putting profits ahead of our health.

I'm Mark Richardson.

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

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