News from around the nation.

Oil prices hold near six-month highs as war strains global energy supplies, Texas abortion restrictions force doctors to weigh legal risks while providing care, and Black and Latino voters rank affordability and healthcare among their top election concerns.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Joe Ulori.

Oil prices remain near six-month highs as the war with Iran and Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure keep pressure on global energy supplies.

Brent crude traded near $115 a barrel today, raising concerns about higher fuel costs and inflation heading into winter.

Texas has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, and many doctors say they can no longer do their job without fear of losing their license or going to jail.

Our Frida Ross has the story.

The Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine says hospitals in states with extreme abortion bans should have protocols in place to assist medical professionals when they're making decisions about a patient's pregnancy.

SMFM's Dr. Justin Lappin says the final decision shouldn't fall on the shoulders of one doctor.

Build a multidisciplinary team, involve their leaders, so that way you can build a system to address what to do in those critical situations in your state or hospital, to know what the law is, to know where restrictions may be, to know where you may have to send people out.

He adds if a system isn't in place, it delays care for patients and puts the pregnant person and baby at further risk.

A new poll surveying more than 2,000 Black and Latino registered voters in Ohio and other battleground states finds voters want elected leaders to address the affordability issues plaguing American consumers today.

In Ohio, more than 40% of the Black and Latino voters surveyed said that access to health care was one of their top voting issues.

Bria Bennett with the Ohio Organizing Collaborative said health care concerns came second only to the cost of living.

It is very clear that people are worried about being able to get the care they need and how much it's going to cost them.

A new report from KFF adds that employer-sponsored health care coverage is getting more expensive.

With the November 3rd election quickly approaching, union workers urge Wisconsin voters to consider how political decisions continue to affect wages and workplace rights.

Advocates for working families argue that deciding who holds office is key to reversing policies they say favor corporations.

Pat Reyes, registered nurse and president of SEIU Wisconsin, points to Act 10, the 15-year-old state law that restricts collective bargaining rights for most public employees.

The law is still tied up in the courts, and she says moves like those remain a central issue.

Workers are demanding a serious change.

We need to end the anti-labor laws.

We need to end the poverty wages, and we need a political system that works for the working people.

The union put that message into action over the weekend.

Hundreds of workers rallied and took to the streets for door-to-door canvassing as part of a nationwide Unions for All effort.

In Milwaukee, health care school janitorial and security workers mobilized around the election while calling on corporations to stay out of politics and pay what they owe in taxes.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

This is Public News Service.

More Alabama households are using app-based payday loans to pay for their essential daily needs, But new research shows triple-digit interest rates and multiple fees are leaving borrowers deep in debt.

The Center for Responsible Lending found the annual percentage rate on the average direct-to-consumer app-based payday loan was 232 percent, and that nearly all loans included various fees disguised as tips.

Senior researcher Candice Wang says the loans are often advertised as no-fee or interest-free, but the legal details are often listed in the fine print.

Because of these deceptive marketing claims, these apps are operating outside of the law, even in states that do have strong recaps limiting how much a lender can charge.

Wang says the apps are targeting low-to-moderate-income borrowers living paycheck-to-paycheck, or those with the least amount of extra cash.

I'm Katherine Carley.

A bill headed to Olympia this coming legislative session would move Washington down the path toward Universal Healthcare, creating building blocks to guarantee every resident access to low-cost or free primary care.

If passed, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner would have a green light to design a plan pooling existing health care funds to pay providers monthly rather than through fee for service billing.

Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer is bringing the proposal.

She says investing in primary care saves people and the system money, while sparing patients unnecessary suffering from advanced illness.

We don't have a health care system.

We have a sickness system, and I want a system in place that is preventive so that we are catching problems early enough where they can be addressed.

Led by scientists at Iowa State University, researchers have launched an initiative to reduce cancer risk for firefighters, focusing on the gear they use, early detection of cancer, and prevention efforts.

Firefighters face 26 percent higher risk of developing cancer than the general public, according to the National Library of Medicine.

To reduce that risk, scientists like Ray Lee in the Iowa Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Exposure Reduction Program are focusing on making the personal protective equipment firefighters rely on safer.

Part of that is trying to reduce the amount of particulate matter that can penetrate their gear rather than absorbing it.

Meaning that these PPE will become a reservoir of these contaminants, which could gradually release into their home where they don't have their respirators to protect them.

Lee's research, which takes place in a specially designed lab, is part of a broader effort to better understand the environment firefighters face while they're on the scene and turn that science into practical solutions for reducing exposure, thereby reducing cancer risk.

I'm Mark Moran.

This is Joe Ulori for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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