News from around the nation.

Snap Poll; Voters say Harris won the debate, nearly 2-to-1; Nonprofit leaders push for voting-rights reforms on Capitol Hill; Preserving MI barns, upholding community solidarity; 'Operation Good' collaborates with single moms to fight crime.

Transcript

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

A snap poll revealed the state of the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in the immediate aftermath of the Tuesday night debate.

That from The Independent, they report according to the CNN flash poll conducted by SSRS, 63 percent of registered voters who tuned into the ABC News debate believed Harris won the debate.

Nearly double the 37 percent of voters who believed that Trump was the winner.

On Fox and Friends, Trump said this morning he won the debate by a lot and that Taylor Swift would pay the price for endorsing Harris at the marketplace.

A CNN fact check found former President Trump delivered more than 30 false claims during the Tuesday presidential debate.

Harris far more accurate.

CNN's preliminary count found just one false claim from the VP.

Nonprofit leaders from around the country gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

They're pushing for what they're calling sweeping democracy reforms.

Christine Wood with the Declaration for American Democracy sees the need as urgent.

She says voting barriers have only accelerated since the 2013 Shelby County versus Holder Supreme Court ruling.

Every year bills are introduced and passed in state legislators that we know have a disproportionate impact specifically on communities of color, especially when you look at things like closing of polling places, putting restrictions on early voting or vote by mail.

Georgia has been at the forefront of voting access issues with laws like Senate Bill 202, which restricts early voting and ballot drop boxes and criminalizes providing food and water for people waiting in line at polling places.

Shantia Hudson reporting.

Next up, a Michigan educator, an expert in historic preservation, specializes in an enduring symbol of the Midwest, the barn.

Even though a wooden structure painted red with white trim may be the classic image, barns come in a range of colors and styles.

But one thing they all have in common is the special place they hold in their local communities.

Steve Stier works with the Michigan Barn Preservation Network.

He says since barns were once essential for nearly everyone, participating in building them meant you could count on receiving the necessary community support when your turn came to need help.

The original American barns were timber framed and the framework was very heavy and you needed, you know, 20, 30 people to raise the different parts of the building.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Now to Mississippi, where a new initiative for single mothers and their sons is helping to combat crime and empower vulnerable community members in Jackson.

The nonprofit Operation Good, made up of people who used to be in prison, says it has helped to significantly lower crime rates in one neighborhood from 87 percent down to 14 percent.

The group's founder, Frederick Womack, explains their goal this way.

To change the minds of the high-risk participants and also get them in a better place in life.

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety aims to reduce violent crime by 5 percent using federal grants.

This is Public News Service.

West Virginia lawmakers will convene for a special session September the 30th with the state's child care crisis, proposed income tax credits and supplemental appropriations on the agenda.

The mountain state's spending on child care is much lower than neighboring states and has steadily declined over the past decade.

According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, it's estimated around 26,000 children and their parents currently lack affordable child care options.

In a video message this week, the governor reiterated his push for child care tax credits.

Absolutely try to get our tax break across the finish line with child care.

There's supplemental appropriations that need to be done and we need to get the money out the door.

Previous bills proposing a child care tax credit for households with incomes less than $65,000 a year have stalled in the legislature.

Nadia Ramlagon reporting.

And several neighborhoods in Central and Southwest Little Rock are considered food desert, meaning there aren't any grocery stores in the area.

Most of these neighborhoods are in low income communities and have an impact on Alice residents who are asset limited, income constrained and employed.

They're working but don't make enough money to cover all their needs.

Virgil Miller is on the Little Rock Board of Directors and says grocery stores in the area closed or relocated because they weren't profitable.

He says the city is considering mimicking a program used in Tennessee.

A mobile grocery store is almost like an 18-wheeler that has been adapted to have an aisle in the middle of it and on each side they have food.

The mobile grocery store in Memphis has fresh produce and other staples and travels around the neighborhoods, stopping at different locations throughout the day.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Kroger has applied for a grant to buy a new bus and plans to deliver food to two new micro-home villages currently under construction.

The developments will provide temporary housing to people experiencing chronic homelessness.

Meantime, pediatricians are ordering their COVID vaccines now for the winter season.

But waning interest from families means many doctors are struggling to predict how much to stock.

That's according to reporting from KFF Health News.

Some medical practices are only ordering about 5 percent of what they normally order for flu shots.

Orange County pediatrician Dr. Eric Ball says the COVID vaccine has been very effective in protecting kids and adults from severe disease.

And unfortunately we are still seeing some children who are getting quite ill.

We are still hospitalizing children with COVID, particularly the youngest children.

And I'm still seeing some children who are having symptoms of long COVID and there's a lot of evidence that vaccination is probably the best way to prevent any of that from happening.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

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

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