News from around the nation.

Trump Threatens to fire 'a lot' of federal workers as shutdown looms; Domestic violence survivor groups slam Trump immigration policies; SD expert: Don't let current events push you away from democracy; Prison rights groups monitor increasing IN female incarceration rates; Advocates concerned about youth crime rhetoric in NYS.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Plunged into a government shutdown, the US is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep the government programs and services running by Wednesday's deadline.

That for the Associated Press.

They report roughly 750,000 federal workers expected to be furloughed, some potentially fired by Trump's GOP administration.

Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as Trump vows to do things that are irreversible.

The AP notes his deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead while education, environmental, and other services sputter.

And for small towns to big metro areas, today's political climate might make it seem local resilience is hard to come by, but in Minnesota's largest city, a community hub says its connections are a shining example.

The longstanding nonprofit YWCA says its core mission is to eliminate racism and empower women and girls.

For the past 25 years, its Minneapolis arm has operated its Midtown site, which features a large sports and fitness complex, but also gathering spaces, youth programs, and a childcare center.

YWCA's Shelley Carthen-Watson says if it feels like the world around you is falling apart, there are people and support organizations to lean on.

What we can't do is isolate ourselves from one another.

And it doesn't have to be an entire city.

It can be your neighborhood. but we do have to be there for one another.

I'm Mike Moen.

And elevated temperature landfills or ETLFs are unusual sites where waste temperatures rise far above normal levels.

Ohio was home to some of the earliest cases in the 2000s, making it a key place to understand what causes them and how they're managed.

Craig H. Benson is a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and chief of engineering emeritus at the University of Virginia.

He says Ohio's early ETLFs were initially a puzzle.

But we figured this out over time by studying them and understanding what the problems were.

And it actually turns out to be fairly straightforward but also fairly complex at the same time.

Research funded by EREF has helped operators identify, define and manage ETLFs safely.

Farah Sadiqui reporting.

And a new report finds Shell's petrochemical complex in western Pennsylvania has fallen far short of expectations.

The plant once projected to bring in $1.5 billion a year, but cost more than doubled from the original $6 billion estimate.

Tom Leahy is with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

This plant that was going to bring all of those benefits to both Beaver County and Allegheny County is just 3 percent of the overall profits for Shell in its chemical industry, despite putting out 70 percent of its polyethylene.

He says the 14 billion dollar plant has yet to return even 1 billion dollars in profit to the region.

This is public news service.

The ACLU of Indiana's blueprint for smart justice report indicates between 2009 and 2019 the number of women in Indiana prisons grew by nine percent.

That's compared to the population of men in prison which dropped by 4 percent.

Prison Policy Initiative Communications Strategist Wanda Bertram says that nationwide, although men are still incarcerated at higher rates, their numbers have been on the decline.

She says it is a different situation for women right now.

The criminalization of essentially addiction of mental illness and poverty has driven women's incarceration in a way that is distinct from what has happened for men.

Other data from the ACLU of Indiana show 78 percent of women incarcerated in 2016 were in prison for crimes not involving people including 41 percent for controlled substance offenses and 23 percent for property offenses.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

And advocates are worried about how New York is discussing youth crime.

State data indicates some counties are experiencing a decline in juvenile crime but others are seeing a gradual increase.

The New York City Mayor's management report finds youth arrests for major felonies have only grown since 2020.

Some public officials blame the increase in felony arrests on the 2017 Raise the Age Law, which made it so 16 and 17 year olds could no longer be prosecuted as adults.

Julia Davis with the Children's Defense Fund of New York defends the law, saying it also provides funds to keep kids out of trouble.

That money is available for counties across the state to build the types of programs and services that are really about moving away from adult prosecution and moving towards rehabilitation services programs so we don't have kids going through the revolving door of the criminal legal system.

Davis believes youth crime rhetoric today is similar to the 1990s.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Next, the American Indian College Fund has released Native Pathways, a college-going guidebook to help Native students of all ages and backgrounds achieve a college degree or professional certificate.

Senior Kelly Mitchell says the guidebook offers tips for navigating school choice, applications, finances, and maintaining connections to culture and community.

It also outlines how students can tap support networks to help them through their academic journey.

They need to find that family support, they need to find their peer support, and then they need to find the academic and mentor support at those locations.

The guidebook includes encouragement and expertise from current native scholars, student success professionals working at tribal colleges, parents, tribal elders, and artists.

It's available for free online at collegefund.org.

Printed copies will also be distributed to higher pathway partner programs at high schools across Indian country.

I'm Eric Galatis.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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