Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Putin to offer financial incentives to Trump at Ukraine summit; 'Perfect storm' hits Florida community health centers; Rural OR non-profit to expand Medicaid enrollment with new funding; CT part of national protest of Wells Fargo policies; IN voices join national battle over gerrymandering.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Dail News cast August the 15th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

When Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump meet in Alaska, the Russian president will set out to woo his U.S. counterpart and dangle financial incentives for siding with Moscow over Ukraine.

That for The Guardian.

They report the hastily arranged summit, organized at Putin's request, will be his first invitation to meet a U.S. president on American soil since he visited George W. Bush back in 2007.

The Guardian notes the surprise announcement caught Kiev and European allies off guard, but for Putin it signals a preliminary diplomatic victory, a face-to-face with Trump requiring no concessions and a step toward his goal of deciding Ukraine's future at the table with Washington.

Meantime, a perfect storm of policy changes has pushed Florida's community health centers in a financial crisis.

Health clinics face simultaneous Medicaid cuts, pharmaceutical industry attacks on what's known as the 340B drug discount program and expiring Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Elodie Dorso, CEO of Tampa-based Evera Health, warns the combination could collapse the state's health care safety net.

Any one of these changes, Medicaid coverage losses, redetermination, flat funding, 340B potential subsidy cuts, any one of them would be a challenge, right?

But all at once, it's really a perfect storm threatening the financial stability of the healthcare safety nets known as community health centers.

Florida's community health centers serve 1.8 million patients, no matter their ability to pay, including 450 people on Medicaid.

Dorso says more than 30 percent of the Medicaid patients at Evera Health lost coverage during the post-pandemic unwinding.

The eligibility review that dropped 1.3 million Floridians from Medicaid rolls.

I'm Trammell Gomes.

And an Oregon nonprofit can now expand its efforts to enroll eligible children and families in Medicaid thanks to a Connecting Kids to Coverage grant.

The funding was awarded to 25 organizations across the country by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Liberty Avila with the Northwest Oregon Network known as NEON says they will use the funds to ensure babies are enrolled at birth and help families navigate Medicaid services in small communities.

We can really sit down, we can access the state systems, we can look at what's going on, we can call our partners and really smooth it out way in a way that's really hard to do if you don't know the ins and outs of this work.

She says many people find it difficult to sign up for and use Medicaid or marketplace benefits due to the program's complexity.

She says people often have special circumstances like fluctuating incomes, mixed insurance coverage within families and difficulty providing the required documentation.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

Experts say the process to enroll and keep Medicaid will likely only get more complicated with new work requirements.

This is Public News Service.

People in Connecticut nationwide protesting today against the banking giant, Wells Fargo.

Earlier this year, Wells Fargo became the only bank so far to end its 2015 net zero financed emission goals.

It also rescinded its 2030 emission targets for specific economic sectors.

Critics say Wells Fargo has been among the top institutions contributing to global fossil fuel financing.

Steve Simon with the group Third Act Connecticut describes the bank's decision to end its climate goals as an outrageous abdication of responsibility.

Banks are important to finance energy and other kinds of things that are critical.

And instead of using a significant influence to drive the energy transition and help address the climate crisis, it's hiding behind the excuse that it can only passively follow its clients' actions.

He says the protest theme is for Wells Fargo to be a better bank, so they're also suggesting it divest from companies partnering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its backing of a plan to privatize the U.S.

Postal Service and address allegations of racially biased lending practices.

The protest begins at 1 p.m. at the Wells Fargo location in Hartford's Statehouse Square.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

And Indiana Democrats join colleagues from Texas Wednesday in Chicago to fight mid-cycle redistricting proposals.

The process typically happens once every 10 years.

Indiana Democratic Representative Ed Delaney of Indianapolis warned changing maps in the middle of a decade risk destabilizing democracy.

And the Republican supermajority cannot shut up about how much they hate special sessions.

I don't wanna play this game, ritual gerrymandering.

If these idiots get their wishes, what happens if they lose one of those five congressional races?

Republicans currently hold seven of Indiana's nine congressional seats.

GOP leaders in several states argue adjusting maps now could help protect their slim U.S. House majority ahead of 2026.

Vice President J.D. Vance visited Indiana last week to pitch the idea to Governor Mike Braun, who has not committed to moving forward.

I'm Joe Ulari, Public News Service.

Finally, public school advocates say the charter school system is broken in California, citing low academic standards, excessive expenses, and poor management.

In California and many other states, laws give parents the option of sending their kids to a private charter school rather than public schools and using state funds to pay the tuition.

Carol Burris, Executive Director of the Network for Public Education, says charter school growth is out of control and it's hurting public education.

The growth in charter schools of late have been in what we call mega charters.

Very very large charter schools, many of them online charter schools.

They have been really prone to some pretty outlandish scandals.

Assembly Bill 84 focuses on enhancing accountability and financial oversight for schools, particularly in charter schools.

This is Mike Clifford, thank you for ending your week with Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.