News from around the nation.

Minnesota Latino organizers mobilize election outreach teams; FBI investigates hack that Trump campaign attributes to Iran; Progressive Nevada leaders examine Project 2025 labor, environmental impacts; Expert: Arizona Native voters face challenges, lack trust in elected officials.

Transcript

(upbeat music)

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, August 13th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

First to Minnesota, where voters will be participating today in the August 13 primary.

At the same time, community organizers are starting to engage with Latino voters, making sure they're energized and ready to take part in the November election.

The organization COPAL just relaunched its Minnesota Latino Vote Program, one of the largest election outreach efforts among Spanish speaking populations within the state.

Organizing director Ryan Perez says they hope to make roughly 100,000 connections through their phone banks, along with 10,000 door knocks.

He predicts the Latino vote will play a big role in deciding races in certain districts, especially the bottom half of the state.

Southern Minnesota in the last 20 years has been basically the major growth of the Latino community in Minnesota.

Places like Austin, Worthington, these are places where Latino voters can and do make a difference in outcomes.

Organizers are still trying to overcome registration gaps among eligible Latino voters, but they do see opportunity in getting younger generations to cast their ballots.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next from the New York Times, the FBI said Monday it was investigating whether the Trump campaign had been hacked, days after the former president said that Iran had launched a cyber attack.

The bureau did not specifically name Iran or former president Trump, but referred to news reports about campaign cyber intrusion.

The Times reports the FBI has repeatedly warned about foreign countries meddling in the US election, including using artificial intelligence to spread misinformation.

It has singled out Iran, China, and Russia in particular.

Russia has a long history of trying to sow chaos in America's elections, targeting the Democratic National Committee in 2016.

And Project 2025 is the controversial right-wing plan for the next GOP presidency, and progressive Nevada leaders are dissecting what the playbook could entail if put into practice.

They say the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the American Labor Movement are both at risk.

Camelot Todd is with the Nevada Conservation League and says the blueprint would also aim to get rid of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, both of which have ushered in massive climate investments.

She calls the potential divestment destabilizing.

We're talking about billions of dollars in funding for Nevada specifically.

So we already broke historic records of 120 degrees in July.

We're still having triple digit heat waves.

We have the water crisis at Lake Mead.

We have the air quality that happens from wildfires.

Project 2025 would also privatize the National Weather Service, which Todd calls one of the strangest aspects of the playbook.

The National Weather Service is responsible for issuing free weather related alerts and predictions.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

This is Public News Service.

Native voting rights advocates contend two Arizona laws have made it more difficult for native voters to be civically engaged despite already existing structural barriers.

Patty Ferguson Bonney with the Indian League Clinic at the Arizona State University says two House bills will unfairly impact native voters.

HB 2492 mandates voters present evidence of a physical mailing address, which she says presents problems for many native people who simply don't have one.

The laws are being challenged in court, but Ferguson Bonney says education and outreach are also key.

So trying to translate to tribal people in their own terms, in their own communities, why it's important to participate in voting can already be a challenge when you're dealing with a legal infrastructure that has tried to deny your existence.

Just last month, the US House of Representatives released a report examining barriers and providing policy solutions, including the Native American Voting Rights Act, which would establish consistent standards for voting throughout Indian country.

And Indiana THC retailers are being cautioned they may be violating state law by selling cannabis products containing more than 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC, a compound known for its intoxicating effects.

While Indiana doesn't have specific laws regulating Delta-9, the Attorney General's office in 2023 classified Delta-8 and Delta-10 as Schedule I drugs, leading to concerns about similar products.

Vigo County Prosecutor Terry Modisette has sent letters to local businesses advising them of the Attorney General's ruling and allowing time for noncompliant products to be removed from shelves.

I personally felt the fair way to deal with this was to send a letter to all the businesses and advise them of the Attorney General's ruling.

This story was produced with original reporting from Adam Pinsker from Wish TV.

I'm Joe Illaray, Public News Service.

And Aurora residents and environmental groups say they'll continue to oppose fracking near the Aurora Reservoir.

After regulators approved a plan for more than 150 new well sites at Lowry Ranch last week, Lauren Swain with the Colorado Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility says while the exact scope of the risks to the reservoir remain a technical question, operators have not demonstrated how their operations will do no harm.

But you do not want to have the use of large amounts of fracking fluid and the handling of large amounts of liquid waste near a resource for 400,000 people's drinking water.

The ranch sits next to a Superfund site containing decades of landfill waste, including 138 million gallons of hazardous toxins.

I'm Eric Galatas.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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