News from around the nation.

VW workers make history as first Southern automaker to unionize; Mike Johnson's speakership, after passing Ukraine aid, gets a reprieve from MTG; a new study finds New Mexico's laws help reduce suicide among LGBTQ youth; and Idaho abortion law before SCOTUS this week.

TRANSCRIPT

The public news service still newscast April the 22nd 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

It happened late Friday when a majority of Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga voted to join the United Auto Workers Union.

The vote is historic as they are the first workers in the south outside the big three automakers to be successful. 73 percent of over 3600 workers voted for the U.A.W. to represent them.

Isaac Meadows works in the assembly shop at the plant and says the V.W. workers now have a voice.

We actually now have a vested interest in this company is a partnership.

We get to negotiate our pay, our benefits, our working schedule and then ultimately demand the respect that we deserve in the workplace.

The vote to unionize came despite opposition from six southern governors, including Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.

President Joe Biden congratulated the Volkswagen workers for their groundbreaking decision for public news service.

I'm Danielle Smith.

Advocates of the Center for Labor and Just Economy at Harvard Law School say the Chattanooga vote will radiate strength to other campaigns.

They say they expect that includes Mercedes Benz workers in Alabama and house lawmakers left Washington for a one week recess on Saturday after passing a foreign aid package on a bipartisan basis.

The packages put Speaker Mike Johnson under heavy fire from conservatives for passing the aid with the help of Democrats.

A few of those conservatives led by Marjorie Taylor Green are pushing to remove Johnson from the speakership.

Green has filed a procedural tool known as a motion to vacate to house Johnson, but she also declined to call up a vote before lawmakers left town.

And a new study suggests that laws in New Mexico and 22 other states to protect school age LGBTQ youth are having a positive impact.

According to research by the Trevor Project, suicide attempts in states with specific protections for LGBTQ youth were 18 percent lower and physical violence reported by those youth was 3 percent lower.

Catalina Hadfield on Equality New Mexico's board of directors believes the state's progressive protections are due to a community centered culture where folks are really willing to help each other out and look out for one another.

And I think that is part of what helped students in a lot of New Mexico schools feel more included.

In recent decades, New Mexico has seen prominent advances in gay and lesbian rights, where same sex sexual activity has been legal since 1975.

I'm Roz Brown.

The findings are based on responses from more than 27,000 students who are aged 13 to 24 in 44 states.

This is public news service.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week on Idaho's near total abortion ban.

More from our Eric Tegehtoff.

Idaho versus United States is on the docket for Wednesday.

At issue is whether the ban violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which prohibits hospitals from denying patients medical care because of financial or insurance issues.

The Idaho law has restricted access to reproductive care.

Rory Cole is a fourth year medical student at the University of Washington, who is from Idaho and plans to practice in the state.

A lot of these patients that we've been seeing don't really have a choice anymore.

In that sense of, it's not about if they want to be pregnant or not.

It's about saving their life for their health, and we can't help them in Idaho.

Other states will be watching Idaho Supreme Court case, and it could have an outsized impact on rural states that ban abortion, leaving patients with few options for care.

And towns across New York are reaping many benefits since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, along with funds for larger clean energy projects.

Along with funds for larger clean energy projects, the state was awarded $158 million for the IRA's home energy rebates program.

Smaller towns and villages use these grants to implement their climate action plans.

Brighton Town Council member Robin Wilt says an IRA grant they applied for will help upgrade the town's HVAC system.

We will be implementing geothermal and then use a solar array to make the system close and that they are not quite, I think we'll get 75 percent of our energy back with the solar panels.

The bureaucratic process to access the funding was challenging, but some groups are working with the Department of Energy to improve it.

Wilt says feedback on the clean energy projects has been positive.

Future projects using IRA funding include increasing walkability and sustainable redevelopment.

Critics have said the IRA includes multiple provisions to increase fossil fuel production.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Finally, from Eric Galatas, the Wind River Water and Buffalo Alliance is looking for a graphic artist.

They're in a hunt for a logo.

Before Europeans arrived, some 60 million buffalo roamed North America after the animal was slaughtered in part to extinguish tribes that lived alongside buffalo for centuries.

Just 23 remained by 1900.

Wes Martell with the Greater Yellowstone Coalition says the new logo should convey a message of hope and power as the Alliance works to restore buffalo and other key elements of indigenous culture.

So now we're seeing a revival.

We're seeing a new energy.

We're seeing our young people now becoming educated in the modern technological ways and scientific ways that we need to protect what we have.

And that's all we're trying to do.

Protect the way of life.

This is Mike Clifford.

Thank you for starting your week with public news service.

Member endless is supported.

Heard on interesting radio stations, your favorite podcast platform.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org