Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump stands behind Hegseth after attack plans shared in second Signal chat; Pollution exemptions granted to AR coal plants; Coping with OR's climate change-fueled pollen season; Federal funding cuts could hit MT harder than other states.

Transcript

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The Public News Service Daily Newscast, April the 23rd, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department Tuesday, with plans to reduce staff in the U.S. by 15 percent, while closing and consolidating more than 100 bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration's "America First" mandate.

That from NBC News.

They report the reorganization plan announced by Rubio on social media and detailed in documents obtained by the Associated Press is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine U.S. foreign policy and scale back the size of federal government.

Next, hundreds of international college students in Texas are fighting to stay in the country after their visas were revoked and their legal status changed by the federal government.

The Trump administration says the moves are part of its efforts to remove international students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protest or who have criminal offenses.

But immigration attorney Kelly Cobb says many of the students targeted don't fit into either category.

She says students are being advised to file temporary restraining orders against ICE.

Normally, there would be some due process.

They would understand why this is happening.

And for many of the students, they don't know why this is happening.

This has been really unprecedented, unexpected, and really fast.

Texas has more than 80,000 international students who contribute about $2 billion to the state's economy.

Cobb adds international students don't receive financial aid or grants, and without their tuition and fees, universities would suffer.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

And a new report card on in-school mental health services finds that some states, including Alaska, are making significant progress toward meeting policy goals, but more work needs to be done.

Inseparable, a national mental-health advocacy organization, has issued guidelines to expand school mental-health services, including workforce development, teacher training, and well-being checks.

Kathy Giesel, a state legislator and physician's assistant who also serves as a school health officer, says emotional problems among Alaska students are at crisis levels.

Sadly, Alaska has the highest rate of teen suicides in the U.S. So, yes, it doesn't matter if you live in a city in Alaska or a rural community.

It's a huge problem.

Inseparable's reports says Alaska has improved in areas such as teacher training, coaching life skills, and Medicaid coverage for services.

However, the state falls short in student screenings, mental-health literacy, telemedicine access, and in-school mental-health staff.

Giesel, who serves in the Alaska State Senate, sponsored legislation last year to create more sustainable funding for in-school mental-health services.

She says the bill is designed to use state Medicaid funding to expand the program, but worries about proposed health-care cuts in the federal budget.

Brett Pivito reporting.

This is Public News Service.

Montana officials have denied a petition asking the state to designate the Big Hole River as impaired by pollution.

Two conservation groups collected data over five years and found levels of nutrients in the Big Hole River exceeded thresholds in some parts by two- or three-fold that could harm aquatic habitat, contaminate drinking water, and affect fishing and other tourism business.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, said petitioners used the wrong metrics.

Executive Director of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper Guy Alcinsur says it's an example of politics undermining good science.

So, at minimum, we feel that the state owes us a written explanation with some detail about exactly why it believes it can deny a petition that has clearly satisfied the scientific basis for developing a pollution cleanup plan.

The Montana DEQ argues that the petition's data doesn't abide by a state law passed in 2021.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency, however, officially disapproved of that law.

Alcinsur says he's requested that the EPA weigh in.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Next to Indiana, where lawmakers continue to debate THC rules while surrounding states move forward with marijuana legislation.

Senate Bill 478 targets packaging and branding rules for legal THC products sold to people 21 and older.

Lawmakers want to prevent these products from mimicking candy or snacks that might appeal to minors.

The bill would require testing and stricter packaging for Kraft hemp flour and other THC items.

Republican State Representative Jake Teshka of North Liberty sponsored the bill.

This market right now is the wild, wild west, and so I think what this bill attempts to do is to ensure that the safety of Hoosier youth and Hoosier consumers comes first.

Delta-8, Delta-9, and Delta-10 products, chemicals with THC levels under 0.3 percent, remain legal in Indiana and often appear in gas stations, smoke shops, and dispensaries.

I'm Joe Uleri, Public News Service.

The House passed two amendments to the bill this session.

One limits sales near schools.

Another changes the definition of e-liquids.

Finally, supporters of the arts are gathering today in Sacramento for Arts Advocacy Day in order to lobby lawmakers on a range of issues.

Educators are drawing attention to problems with the implementation of Proposition 28, which was supposed to help schools hire more art teachers.

Abe Flores with the nonprofit Create California says some districts are doing something of a bait-and-switch.

Some schools are using the new Prop 28 funding to replace their existing investments in arts education, and so their students are not seeing a net increase in their arts teachers or arts programming.

Los Angeles Unified is currently being sued over this issue by local parents and by the author of Prop 28.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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