News from around the nation.

An airline pilot is suspected of trying to crash a Tel Aviv-bound plane in a possible terrorist attack, and US forces withdraw from Iraq after two decades, and national labor leaders rally for workers as Iowa unions struggle, and a mishap at Michigan’s Palisades gives opponents new ammunition.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Mayhem in the skies over Jordan's airspace, the co-pilot of a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, is believed to have stabbed the captain in a possible attempted terror attack.

It happened Wednesday, forcing the plane to divert to Saudi Arabia, where it landed safely.

Reuters notes the aircraft's data appeared to show that it had suddenly and rapidly descended by nearly 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds.

That before a first emergency signal was sent, And U.S. forces formally withdrew from Iraq on Wednesday, ending a two-decade military presence at the New York Times note stoked years of devastating bloodshed and leaves behind a battered nation struggling to unshackle itself from its two most powerful and now warring allies.

After the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for 24 years, American forces are now making their second withdrawal from the country.

Meantime, national labor leaders are pushing a message of money, power, and respect in the workplace.

As the midterm elections approach, union membership in Iowa is dwindling, and workers are looking for ways to reinvigorate the labor movement in the state.

The service employees, international unions, working to bring its message of empowerment to both candidates and the voters who elect them.

SEIU International President April Verrett says the goal is for everyone to have enough resources to make ends meet.

Which is simply enough money so that people don't have to struggle, but that they can actually survive.

Own a home.

Send your kids to college without crushing debt.

Be able to enjoy your life.

Fewer than 7% of Iowa workers are union members, around 100,000 people, which is below the national average of nearly 10%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

I'm Mark Moran.

Next to Michigan were opponents of restarting the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, say a fuel loading mishap reinforces their longstanding safety concerns.

Holtec, which owns Palisades, disclosed last week that a fuel assembly tilted inside the reactor vessel during loading that began August 30th.

Fuel loading is now paused.

Kevin Camps, executive director of Don't Waste Michigan, said the problem could delay the planned restart.

Holtec has indicated that they're preparing a license amendment request simply to get NRC's permission to retrieve this wedged fuel that appears to be wedged and not easily retrievable.

Holtec says it's investigating why the assembly tilted and developing equipment to return it to the spent fuel pool.

The company also says its review found the event did not meet federal safety reporting requirements.

It's not announced when fuel loading will resume.

Holtec had projected a restart earlier this year, but that target passed.

Palisades stopped operating in 2022.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Holtec says the plant must complete required testing and modifications before advancing toward a restart.

The company initially bought Palisades to decommission it.

This is Public News Service.

California has lost more than 90 percent of its historical wetlands on the coast and in the delta.

A new report lays out the biggest obstacles to progress.

The report called Wetlands for Climate, Regional Solutions for statewide action cites unstable funding, overly complex permitting requirements, and fragmented efforts as the culprits.

Piper Wallingford is with the Nature Conservancy California.

She says healthy wetlands bring a multitude of benefits.

They provide really important benefits like protecting communities from flooding and storms.

They help sequester carbon so they can help us meet our greenhouse gas mitigation goals.

And they also support clean water and biodiversity.

The issue is particularly relevant with this year's coming which is expected to bring higher sea levels and greater impact from storms.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

The report also recommends the state develop a shared set of metrics to better track, monitor, and align wetland restoration statewide.

Next, Florida beaches are seeing something remarkable this year, a record number of loggerhead sea turtle nests.

Loggerheads have been nesting here since the time of the dinosaurs.

And like the rest of the Sunshine State, it seems like their population is booming once again.

Elizabeth Fleming is senior Florida representative at Defenders of Wildlife.

She says what happens on Florida's beaches matters far beyond the state.

If you don't know this, Florida is the number one nesting site for loggerheads in the entire world.

It's not only that we're important, we are globally significant.

The record season follows more than 50 years of protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Fleming says sea turtles are slow to mature.

Some don't reach sexual maturity until 25 to 35.

So it takes decades to see results.

Florida has 90% of all U.S. sea turtles, and its sea turtle license plate is the second most popular specialty plate funding conservation and research.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

Finally, a question to ponder.

Who gets to tell your story?

That's at the heart of Ban Books Week, which begins October the 4th.

This year, the focus is on books about trans people and Black history, including Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, banned recently by a Georgia school district.

Dean Steed is Director of Communications at the Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative.

We just released a new zine called How We Talk About Us, which looks at the harmful narratives about black trans people.

And it gives people the practical tools to challenge a lot of the misinformation that has been pushed around trans lives by politicians and within news.

Snapco says the project is a resource created for and by black trans people.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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