News from around the nation.

New poll: Voters remain concerned about child-care costs; Harris leads or ties with Trump in most swing states, new Cook Poll finds; EPA grants $1 million to South Bronx groups for climate justice, resiliency; Demystifying campaign-finance impacts on New Mexico's female candidates.

Transcript

(upbeat music)

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, August the 15th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A new poll shows that voters remain concerned about the high cost of living and want the government to do more to lower their expenses.

More than nine in 10 Republicans and eight in 10 Democrats say food and grocery prices are a big problem.

And three quarters of parents say childcare and preschool costs are too high.

Matthew Hatfield with Save the Children Action Network says affordability issues are impacting all corners of Virginia, but especially rural areas.

You have families who might have to travel 20, 30 plus miles to be able to access the closest childcare center, in addition to having to pay upwards of 25 percent of their annual income on childcare, right?

It is a tough spot to be in as a family.

The poll was conducted by a bipartisan research team.

It also found that many key demographics, including swing, undecided and rural voters would be more likely to support candidates who want to increase funding for food stamps and childcare.

I'm Will Walkie.

Meantime, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked into a tight race in key swing states, according to new polling from the Cook Political Report.

It was published Wednesday.

That from the New York Times.

They report the surveys conducted between July 26th and August 2nd show Ms. Harris leading slightly or tied among likely voters in six of seven battleground states polled.

Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The Times notes that Trump was ahead by a slim margin in Nevada, a marked change from the same surveys back in May that showed Trump leading by a solid margin or tied across all seven swing states.

And the Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the South Bronx a $1 million grant to help environmentally burdened communities tackle environmental and climate justice issues.

The grant funds projects are designed to reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity.

Bronx River Alliance and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice will implement the grant.

Ted Hartha Sanchez with the alliance says they want to give residents the skills to prepare for climate change and associated impacts such as flooding, blackouts, and excessive heat.

So the idea that this is not decided top down also applies to the organizations.

We're trying to make sure this is not grass tops, as they say, but grassroots and really getting input from the most impacted communities throughout the Bronx.

A Bronx Climate Justice Task Force will be convened to ensure that disadvantaged communities will be able to fully participate in planning and implementing decisions about coastal adaptation, habitat restoration, and related local, state, and federal infrastructure projects.

Mark Richardson reporting.

Each project is designed to address historical gaps in equity and to mitigate critical environmental and climate injustices.

This is public news service.

Next up, when it comes to getting elected to statewide offices, women candidates face a disadvantage, according to a new study.

Historically, many women haven't been able to match men's personal financial resources and don't get the big bucks male candidates do from donors.

Kira Sandon Matsu with the Center for American Women in Politics says when fewer women are elected to office because they're outspent by male candidates, it can create an under-representation of women's issues.

In past work, we've found that men are much more likely than women to be providing the funds that are fueling state candidates, that's state legislative races, statewide offices such as governor.

New Mexico, ranked sixth in the nation for women's state legislative representation, is something of an outlier compared to many other states.

I'm Roz Brown.

And Oregon has more than 270,000 veterans, many of them may not know they're eligible for home modification grants through the U.S.

Department of Veterans Affairs.

We get more from our Eric Tegethoff.

An AARP survey found 60 percent of veterans aged 45 and older weren't aware of grants available through the VA.

AARP National Veterans and Military Families Manager, Juanita Jimenez Soto, says her organization analyzed five grants from the VA and developed a guide to help veterans navigate through them.

They allow you to buy, build, or modify a home to meet their long-term needs.

Now, these grants provide eligible veterans with a disability rating of one all the way to 100 percent, up to $117,000 to pay for renovations.

Jimenez Soto notes financial aid for home modifications are free for people who qualify.

The VA offers more than $150 million through these grant programs each year.

Finally, Mike Mullen lets us know that American Clean Power Week runs through this Friday.

And a planned project for the North Dakota region to open up more space on the electric grid is gaining steam, thanks to a new federal grant.

This month, the Department of Energy awarded up to $700 million to those helping oversee the North Plains Connector, a proposed transmission line covering parts of North Dakota and Montana.

Officials say these moves are needed to ensure grid reliability and affordable energy for consumers as the nation transitions away from fossil fuels.

Waylon Brown of the Clean Grid Alliance says the new line would accept all kinds of energy sources, including wind.

As industry demand for electricity continues to grow, it's going to be extremely important that we continue to modernize our grid as a whole.

Transmission projects do take several years to complete, permitting and other factors at play.

Brown says clean energy advocates also need to get more community buy-in for renewables as grid space expands.

I'm Mike Moen.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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