News from around the nation.

This week’s chemical tank explosion is now deemed to be likely the deadliest in Washington state history; Ohio police show strong support for community crime prevention; PA Teachers union calls for screen limits, AI oversight in schools; New Mexico higher ed advocates want health insurance parity.

Transcript

The Public News Service Thursday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

It has been two days now since the deadly explosion at a Washington state manufacturing plant after a chemical tank implosion.

Washington's Governor Bob Ferguson said Wednesday state officials expect the deadly chemical blast at the paper mill that has killed or injured at least 19 people in Longview is now likely the deadliest in Washington state history.

Authorities say the industrial disaster also resulted in contamination of the Columbia River, but they say there is no danger to the Longview City water supply.

Meantime, federal budget cuts are causing many local communities crime prevention programs to scale back or shut down entirely.

Arnadya Ramlagan lets us know a new survey finds a majority of Ohio police officers support this work and want to keep it going.

A significant number of people currently in prison have some form of serious mental illness or substance use issues.

Community intervention can cut down on the odds that an officer will have to repeatedly resolve a situation in the community, explains Gary Moore, former director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The more people we lock up for the longer period of time, the safer we'll be, which is absolutely not what the evidence shows.

More than 80 percent of survey participants agreed that neighborhood programs reduce the burden on their departments.

And as many Pennsylvania parents worry that artificial intelligence and cell phone overuse are getting in the way of their child's education.

Public school advocates are proposing new limitations.

According to the Pew Research Center, four and 10 teens say they're online almost constantly.

Speaking at the National Press Club this week, American Federation of Teachers President Randy Weingarten unveiled a national proposal that suggests a series of screen bans and AI restrictions, it supports active hands-on learning in schools while curbing technology in classrooms.

And in this era of TikTok and YouTube, which drives rapid shifts of attention, there is a growing concern about students' ability to sustain focus and to persist through challenging learning tasks.

While the Pennsylvania Department of Education has outlined AI considerations for school districts, it hasn't issued formal guidance.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And complex calculations used to determine who is eligible for health insurance leave many university employees without coverage and New Mexico's higher education unions want to fix.

John Durch is a political organizer for the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico.

When we speak to higher ed folks, we regularly hear that they're considering leaving the higher education space to go to a K-12 teaching setting because of the stability of pay and benefits.

So higher ed is really this last piece of the puzzle.

State lawmakers have restructured health insurance for K-12 employees to pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums, pays 80 percent.

The change does not apply to many higher ed employees hired as part-time adjunct facility or temporary staff.

This is Public News Service.

An estimated 130,000 Coloradans expected to lose their health insurance under the Republican signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or H.R.

1.

According to a new Protect Our Care report, state officials are speaking out.

The law passed last summer cuts more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid and assistance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces like Connect for Health Colorado over the next decade.

Lieutenant Governor Diane Primavera says H.R. 1 is making health care even harder to access and afford.

She adds Medicaid is a key safety net program that many Coloradans need at some point in their lives.

So despite the rhetoric that we hear out of Washington, D.C., these cuts don't only impact the ACA expansion population, they also hit the traditional Medicaid programs for seniors, people with disabilities, pregnant women, and children.

H.R. 1 is expected to claw back $14 billion federal dollars for Medicaid in Colorado, a program that provides health coverage to one in five residents.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Next crop scientists are researching heat-resistant plants in response to an extreme drought gripping the majority of Nebraska.

Sorghum, which has been used in other countries and in the U.S. during past droughts, has many benefits, but farmers are concerned about lower crop yields.

The U.S. Trout Monitor's interactive map shows most of Nebraska in the red, the most dangerous conditions.

The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center's Andrea Evelyn says sorghum, which is genetically closely related to corn, can help alleviate the threat.

But it is very drought resilient.

It's also very heat resilient and doesn't need as much input, such as nitrogen-based fertilizers, things like that.

Sorghum yields are between 10 and 20 percent lower than corn with average precipitation.

But when fields receive 21 inches of moisture or less per year, Sorghum actually out-yields corn.

Farmers predict how much annual rain they'll get before deciding what to plant.

I'm Mark Moran.

Finally, this past weekend, visitors reported that Memorial Day crowds overwhelmed Yosemite National Park after the National Park Service got rid of its reservation system.

Staff are having a hard time keeping up with the crowds after the Trump administration slashed almost 25% of permanent jobs at the National Park Service since January of last year.

Mark Rose with the National Parks Conservation Association says the chaos is hurting the visitor experience and the environment.

One to two hour long lines to get into the parks and long lines to get on shuttle buses.

A lot of people parking on meadows, on roadsides, on tree roots causing significant resource damage.

Rose notes that morale is down among park staff and worries that the crush of vehicles will affect emergency response times.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.