Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Michigan environmental groups, Tribes decry fast-tracking Line 5 tunnel; Pennsylvania egg brand agrees to drop 'free-roaming' label, and a passenger rail funding bill narrowly fails in Montana Senate vote.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, April the 18th, 2025.

I'm Joe Ulari.

An active shooter at Florida State University left two people dead and six injured Thursday.

Police arrested a 20 year old suspect, the son of a current Sheriff's deputy who reportedly used one of her weapons.

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil confirmed the connection.

Tallahassee Memorial is treating the injured.

A federal appeals court blocked the Trump administration's attempt to avoid depositions over Kilmar Albrego Garcia's mistaken deportation.

Judges criticized the government's actions, saying it tried to hide US residents in foreign prisons without due process.

Officials admitted they deported Garcia to El Salvador by mistake.

He remains jailed there.

His lawyers are suing to bring him back.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Congress is joining advocates for energy assistance across the country to warn that a dangerous situation is brewing for low income households.

Our Mike Moen with the story.

The Trump administration's layoffs of 10,000 health and human services workers includes the entire office that oversees the low income energy assistance program.

The longstanding program gives eligible households a break on their monthly bills to avoid utility shutoffs.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association works with states on this issue and the group's Mark Wolf says the layoffs have blocked the latest round of aid from getting to them.

Many states have told us that they've either run out of money or they're very close to it and that they need this additional fund to help families.

Minnesota's among the states to report an imminent zero balance of action isn't taken soon.

13 US senators have signed a letter asking the administration to get LIHEAP staff back in place and the money moving again.

Environmental groups across Michigan are pushing back after the US Army Corps of Engineers confirmed it will fast track Enbridge's Line 5 tunnel project without conducting a full environmental review.

Line 5 is a 645 mile pipeline that transports crude oil and natural gas liquids beneath the Straits of Mackinac.

Speeding up the project is in response to President Donald Trump's declaration of a national energy emergency.

Ashley Rosensky with the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities alleges fast tracking Line 5 without a thorough review violates at least two state laws and raises concerns about potential oil spills and threats to treaty rights.

We have also seen many of our partners in this work and allies, the six tribal nations here in Michigan pull out of continued negotiations with the Army Corps.

In my estimation, that is because this process has become a sham.

Enbridge responded in a statement saying in part, Line 5 is a critical energy infrastructure and it's safe.

But after nearly five years, the project still awaits a US Army Corps decision on its environmental impact.

Crystal Blair reporting.

This is Public News Service.

Communities in Southern and Eastern Montana were connected to passenger rail lines running from Chicago to Seattle until 1979.

An effort to fund the revival of those routes passed the House but failed the Montana Senate this week by a few votes.

Our Kathleen Shannon has the story.

The Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority has garnered support from county commissioners, city council members and Montanans across party lines since its creation in 2020, especially in communities that could again become rail towns.

Authority Vice Chair Jason Stewart calls rural rail a critical lifeline.

Folks need access to critical healthcare services and other services and the only way they can reach them is by car.

Passenger trains would just be such a blessing for all these communities up and down throughout Southern Montana and Southern North Dakota.

Opponents, largely with the freight industry, argued they shouldn't be expected to subsidize passenger rail.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Drone footage provided evidence in a case by animal advocacy group Animal Outlook and helped expose misleading free roaming egg claims by a poultry farm in Pennsylvania.

Our Daniel Smith with the story.

The video showed hens in poor living conditions contradicting the farm's marketing.

Animal Outlook's Ben Williamson says for years the industry has raised animals in confinement with high walls.

Undercover investigations get beyond them.

He says drone footage from public airspace now offers a new way to see what's happening inside.

I hope it serves as an example for other animal protection organizations around the world that they can use cutting edge photography to investigate other claims.

Alderfer has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit for over $287,000 and pledged to remove the free roaming claim from its products.

The company eggs are sold in stores in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

Beef production has risen steadily over the past 50 years, but so has its environmental impact.

In Washington, over 750,000 acres of state land are leased for grazing, which can threaten habitats for other species.

Deforestation from cattle grazing disrupts what are known as food webs, interconnected predator prey systems that maintain ecosystem balance.

Jennifer Molidor of the Center for Biological Diversity says while the most notable damage is to the Amazon rainforest, cattle ranching has also devastated old growth forests in the Northwest for decades. - More than one third of US land is used for pasture, making grazing the single largest user of land in the contiguous 48 states. - Molidor adds the conversion of forests, grassland and other ecosystems to livestock pasture and feed cropland is a leading driver of biodiversity loss.

I'm Isabel Sharlay.

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

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