News from around the nation.

The Fed meets amid persistent inflation and rate hike uncertainty, a new study says the immigration crackdown is straining families in the US, and advocates warn proposed Head Start changes could weaken early education programs.

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Joe Ulori.

The Federal Reserve begins a two-day meeting with inflation still running above its target and borrowing costs already squeezing many households.

Policymakers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but investors will listen closely for signals about whether another rate hike could come later this year.

Immigrant families in California and across the U.S. are suffering on a number of fronts due to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, according to a new study.

Our Suzanne Potter reports.

Researchers from the Center for the Study of Social Policy and the Children's Partnership interviewed community health workers and other frontline providers in San Diego, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley.

Shadi Houshiar with the Center for the Study of Social Policy says the change to public charge rules leads parents to forego benefits like Medi-Cal and CalFresh, even for their U.S. citizen children.

It has impacted families' ability both to access care, but also their sense of vulnerability, even when they're eligible for that.

More than 3.8 million Californian children live in immigrant families, and 90% are U.S. citizens.

Proposed changes to Head Start could put early education at risk for Pennsylvania children, advocates warn.

The federal program helps low-income families prepare their kids for elementary school.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says its plan would reduce red tape, give states more control, and expand access overall.

Maggie Livalsberger with Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children says 776 sites serve more than 29,000 children statewide.

She warns the changes could weaken program standards.

It's across about 11 areas that the rule would really kind of shift more decisions to individual programs and state or local standards, but it would not come with any additional funding.

She adds the proposed rule from the Administration for Children and Families would essentially revise or remove nearly 90% of the current Head Start regulatory requirements.

Researchers in New York and nationwide are concerned about federal approval of new research methods.

Federal agencies are shifting from animal studies to new approach methodologies, or NAMS.

However, some scientists are worried agencies are moving too fast.

Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance says NAMs don't necessarily need to be validated before they're considered as alternatives to animal studies.

Kara Kingen with the Cure Coalition describes an ideal timeline for implementing them.

In the near term, I think if we could get some final guidance on NAMs with strong patient safety guardrails, that would be the most appropriate right now for where the science is.

She adds a 2023 National Academy's review shows NAMs aren't able to replace testing on non-human primates yet.

Groups like PETA, the White Coat Waste Project, and Humane World for Animals are driving this aggressive push and seeing results.

In January, the Environmental Protection Agency recommitted to ending testing on mammals by 2035 wherever possible.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Public News Service.

Forest managers are hoping to scale up efforts to rein in catastrophic wildfires by tapping expertise developed over hundreds of years by Colorado's original residents.

Our Eric Galatas has more.

Natural environments across the Mountain West evolved with fire and indigenous peoples managed forests through a sophisticated burning regimen to keep the landscapes they depended on healthy.

If voters approve Proposition 137 on this year's ballot, Jennifer Mueller with the non-profit Ember Alliance says managers will have the resources they need to reduce the size of wildfires.

When we stopped burning and started suppressing fire, we've gotten this buildup of way too much fuel.

We just have too many trees on the landscape.

Not only does that create unhealthy forest conditions, but that's also really unsafe for firefighters.

Proposition 137 would divert some $200 million in existing sales taxes collected when people purchase outdoor gear to help the state respond to drought, wildfires, and other impacts of a changing climate.

Some critics note that the funding would only be available during budget surplus years.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

National park advocates in Montana say the Trump administration is pulling money away from park projects in the West to pay for repairs in Washington, D.C.

Reports now show the federal government has spent more than $60 million in park entrance fees on projects, including the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Meanwhile, officials have canceled or delayed about 1,500 projects nationwide, including dozens in Glacier and Yellowstone.

Ben Super with Montana Conservation Voters says Montanans are frustrated.

It's just stunning for Montanans to watch projects like the reflecting pool and just to watch that entrance fee money disappear and be wasted.

The Center for Western Priority says many delayed glacier projects involve basic maintenance.

Montana Conservation Voters has asked the state's U.S. Senators to help restore the funding.

Bats have long suffered from a reputation as spooky, frightening creatures, but wildlife experts say they are critical to maintaining healthy ecosystems throughout New England.

Bats are known to eat their entire body weight in bugs each night, including harmful crop-eating caterpillars or the invasive emerald ash borer, a beetle destroying trees throughout the region.

David Mizajewski with the National Wildlife Federation says bats are keeping insect populations in check, which makes spending time outdoors more enjoyable.

Many bad species are also consuming things like mosquitoes.

So brown bats, for example, can eat 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour.

And that's good because mosquitoes are pests to people.

They're an annoyance and they can spread disease.

Several bat species are considered endangered and millions have died from a fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome.

Mizajewski encourages people to grow more native plants like goldenrod and to preserve trees with dead wood and shaggy bark to support bat habitats.

I'm Katherine Carley.

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

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