Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi; Hegseth asks the Army's top uniformed officer to step down during Iran war; Report: GA among top 5 states for zero-emission truck adoption; Experts: AI could have big impact on MN's labor force; WI pastors: Christian nationalism betrays Jesus.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for April 3rd, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi Thursday.

The dismissal comes after reports that Trump was increasingly unhappy about her handling of Department of Justice files about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the DOJ's failure to successfully prosecute several of the president's political enemies.

And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked Army General Randy George to step down.

The Pentagon said Thursday without giving a reason for the departure as the U.S. wages a war in Iran.

The ouster reported earlier by CBS News is the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he took office last year.

Meantime, a new report from the clean transportation group CalSTART finds Georgia ranks fifth in zero-emission truck adoption when adjusted for market size.

More than 59,000 of these pollution-free trucks have been deployed nationwide.

Dakota Simler, co-founder and CEO of Exos Trucks, says battery electric trucks are ready for most commercial routes.

Over 70 percent of the commercial vehicles on the road today are generally doing under 200 miles.

They're returning to the same home base where they can have dedicated charging, and they're operating on predictable routes.

And with the technology that exists today and has existed for several years now, you actually can electrify the vast majority of our commercial vehicle fleet in North America.

The report finds those zero-emission trucks offer compelling advantages for fleets, including lower fuel and maintenance costs.

Studies cited in the report show fuel efficiency in battery electric trucks is at least double that of diesel equivalent, with maintenance savings of 40 to 50 cents per mile.

Georgia ranks behind California, Washington, Wisconsin, and New Jersey in normalized adoption.

Despite the growth, many in the trucking industry remain skeptical, citing high upfront costs and charging infrastructure that hasn't kept pace with vehicle technology.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And new data shows stagnant job growth in Minnesota.

Even if numbers improve in the long run, labor researchers are painting a picture where jobs will be most affected by artificial intelligence.

Aaron Rosenthal with the think tank Northstar Policy Action testified before the legislature this spring, saying Minnesota's abundance of professionals, like software developers, makes the state vulnerable.

He adds a lot of at-risk jobs tend to be non-union.

What this suggests is this mismatch, where the workers that are most impacted by AI are also the least likely to have a union that can help them in shaping the way that AI actually impacts their job.

The legislature is looking at bills meant to provide safeguards.

One measure would require employers to notify staff 90 days before a business incorporates automated systems.

I'm Mike Moen.

Nationally, the AFL-CIO president says standing up to tech billionaires making money off AI will be the next big fight for the labor movement.

This is Public News Service.

As we head into Easter weekend, pastors in Wisconsin are criticizing white Christian nationalism.

They say the ideology is contrary to the major tenets of the Christian faith, and they're calling on others to join their protest.

Senior pastor of Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ in Madison, Reverend Julia Berkey, is one of many who believe the country's leaders continue to incite extremist values.

She says it's important to recognize that Christian nationalists are invoking a version of God that is unrecognizable to mainstream Christianity.

Berkey describes using God's name to wage violence or strip people's rights as blasphemy and calls it a violation of the teachings of Jesus.

She says he taught his believers to love and be in solidarity with the most vulnerable and marginalized in society.

But that means that the least of these are protected and empowered and that every person is created in the image of God, not just the powerful, not just those who are white or straight or cisgender or citizens.

She draws parallels between the execution of Jesus by the Roman Empire to what she calls the American Empire today.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And a new Ohio State University hospital in Columbus is expected to help fill rural health care gaps in the region.

The new hospital's executive director, Dennis Delisle, says many local hospitals are limited in technologies and capabilities.

Noting the new OSU hospital specialists can step in when illness has progressed or surgical needs are more advanced.

It's an 820-bed facility.

We have about 230 ICUs within that bed complement.

We have 24 operating rooms.

We have an expansion of our neonatal ICU and our women and infant services as well.

With a population expected to exceed 3 million by 2050, an increase of more than 700,000 people, the facility is expected to meet growing health care needs.

This is Nadia Romlagan for Ohio News Connection.

Finally, safeguards protecting kids on social media are a top priority for parents.

There's a new push after the landmark verdict found Meta and Google liable for being addictive to minors.

At a news conference, bereaved parent Juliana Arnold says big tech companies knew their platforms were hurting kids but chose profit anyway.

She says her message to them is simple.

There's a right thing to do and a wrong thing to do and they're on the wrong side.

Stop blaming the parents.

It's on you.

And this is what this is showing today.

And for parents, we now know that they were manipulating our children for profits while we were watching and trying to keep our families safe.

They are the predators.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Both companies plan to appeal and they deny social media alone causes severe mental health issues.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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