Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump says Iran war is "nearing completion." Artemis II launches on mission around the moon. Offshore wind sends power to MA grid despite federal setbacks. Report confirms more public education funding is needed to support PA students. Rural IL pushes back on data centers.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service, Daily Newscast for April 2, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Wednesday night and said that the Iran war is nearing completion as he projected another two to three weeks of involvement.

In his primetime address, he said, I'm pleased to say that these core strategic objectives are nearing completion.

Their Navy is gone.

Their Air Force is gone.

Their missiles are just about used up or beaten.

Taking together these actions will cripple Iran military, crush their ability to support terrorist proxies, and deny them the ability to build a nuclear bomb.

Sheena notes, he added, we've done all of it.

And the Artemis II mission, the first around the moon in more than 50 years, has taken off.

NASA confirms the crew are safe, secure, and in great spirits.

The spacecraft orbiting around Earth, where the astronauts on board, will spend about 24 hours carrying out checks.

Supporters of offshore wind in New England are celebrating the completion of two projects, despite legal challenges from the Trump administration.

Revolution Wind off the Rhode Island coast started sending power to the grid this month, while Vineyard Wind in waters near Massachusetts completed construction.

Kate Sending Daily with the Conservation Law Foundation says the projects will prevent millions of tons of carbon pollution each year and protect ratepayers from volatile energy prices.

These are projects that can deliver energy on a very reliable basis.

They really provide critical backup to the grid during those periods where demand is at its highest.

The Trump administration cited national security concerns when issuing a stop work order last year on all offshore wind projects, but federal judges ultimately allowed construction to resume.

I'm Katherine Carley.

The two projects will power more than 700,000 homes and businesses in the region.

And a new report says Pennsylvania hasn't changed much about how it funds public schools and longstanding inequities for students still exist.

Nationwide, 42 states are putting less towards education than they did two decades ago, a drop totaling nearly $600 billion between 2016 and 2023.

University of Miami researcher Bruce Baker says Pennsylvania is generating about 4 percent less revenue than it could, affecting the amount of money available for state programs.

While overall school spending remains relatively high, he says major funding gaps between districts still persists.

The affluent districts in Pennsylvania have more than double what they'd need to achieve average outcomes, and the poorest districts in the state have substantially less, more than 25 percent under what they'd need to achieve even national average outcomes.

Baker says districts like Philadelphia, Allentown and Reading are facing the largest funding gaps and argues those disparities should be addressed through a major overhaul of state aid.

Danielle Smith reporting.

This is Public News Service.

Next to rural Illinois, another area where tech companies are looking to build massive artificial intelligence data centers.

Communities there are split on whether they should welcome them.

A proposed $500 million data center by Cyrus One in Sangamon County that would utilize about 280 acres of farmland has sparked debate among residents, officials and lawmakers.

Supporters highlight economic benefits like construction jobs, permanent employment and local investment, while critics counter that there would be a limited number of local jobs and also raise concern about environmental impacts, rising electricity costs and water usage.

Local activist Lori McKiernan with the Coalition for Springfield's Utility Future is calling for more scrutiny.

I'm not against data centers, but I must say the more I learn about them, the more concerned I am.

And I want our county board to do their due diligence to address all of these concerns and make sure they're not impacting their constituents.

The Sangamon County Board voted to postpone a final vote on the proposed project after hours of public opposition.

The decision delays the approval of what would be the county's first major data center.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And social media regulation is entering a new phase after a pair of major tech companies were found liable for harms caused to youth.

Juries in two other states awarded civil penalties in the millions, one against Facebook parent company Meta over misleading claims about platform safety, and the other against YouTube for negligence by using addictive design features.

Minnesota mom Melissa Oaks is with the group Buzz Off Social, which encourages parents to delay social media use among their kids.

She feels that negative impacts are too dangerous for a child's developing brain.

It's taking parenting out of parents' hands, and it's not doing our kids any justice.

Aside from a proposal in Congress, a bipartisan bill is making its way through the Minnesota legislature that would enact tighter restrictions on platform accessibility for minors.

I'm Mike Moen.

Finally, mosquito populations are rising in the Northwest, as is the threat of diseases they carry.

A warming climate has lengthened mosquito season in the Northwest in some places by over a month.

Jeffrey Riffle at the University of Washington says the problem is not just that mosquito populations are increasing.

They are also becoming resistant to common insecticides.

These are chemicals like permethrin and others used to control local mosquito populations, or even ones that we spray on ourselves.

And so we really need to find ways to prevent mosquitoes.

Riffle says his international team has identified the receptor on mosquitoes antenna that detects borneal, a chemical used in natural insect repellents.

With this information, Riffle plans to identify new chemicals that could be even more repellent to the bugs.

I'm Isobel Charle.

This is by Clifford for Public News Service.

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