Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Fort Stewart shooting marks the latest US military base attack in recent years; SNAP cuts to hit veterans, other vulnerable Coloradans hardest; OH manufacturer joins group seeking global treaty on plastics; Immigrants with no criminal record being deported. Report: Reading proficiency up across a majority of TN counties.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, August the 7th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

An Army Sergeant shot and wounded five fellow officers Wednesday at the Fort Stewart Military Base in Georgia.

The latest in a growing number of violent and sometimes deadly incidents at U.S. military bases over the years.

That from USA Today.

The suspect identified as Sergeant Cornelius Radford, a 28-year-old automated logistics non-commissioned officer who was subdued by other soldiers and taken into custody.

USA Today notes the August 6th shooting is the second in recent years to occur in the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Armor Brigade Combat Team's workplace, and they say another five happened nationwide in recent years.

Meantime, more than 22 million American families, including nearly 300,000 in Colorado, are projected to lose food assistance through SNAP, formerly food stamps, under President Trump's signature tax and spending plan.

A new analysis says the law is also expected to strip children of free school meals and summer EBT benefits by revoking automatic eligibility that comes with SNAP.

Brace Gibson with the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger says the new law will disproportionately impact the state's most vulnerable communities.

So this is true for immigrant populations, even those who are lawfully pregnant, children and former foster youth, veterans, unhoused populations, and older adults, all of whom are at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP benefits.

There are 370,000 veterans in Colorado and many who depend on SNAP are expected to lose benefits under the law's expanded work requirements.

Republicans have long argued that work requirements help end dependency on government programs, but decades of research shows that requirements do not improve employment outcomes.

Republicans defend the law, which extends tax cuts passed under the first Trump administration, and say it will help reform the nation's social safety net and reduce what they describe as unsustainable federal spending.

I'm Eric Galatas.

And more than 100 countries meeting this week to negotiate an international treaty on limiting plastics.

As Mark Richardson tells us, one Ohio company is already doing its part.

According to the Plastic Pollution Coalition, more than 400 tons of plastic are produced annually with a significant portion escaping into the environment.

One manufacturer, Naturepedic, has signed on to Champions of Change, a global group of businesses pledging to reduce their reliance on plastics.

Barry Chick is the technical director for Naturepathic, an Ohio company that makes plastic-free bedding.

We have eliminated plastic as much as possible, and we have eliminated other toxic chemicals also as much as possible.

Instead of polyurethane foam, we would use organic cotton fill, organic wool, organic latex.

Backers of the treaty are seeking to cut single-use plastic products and ban many of the harmful chemicals used to make them.

This is Public News Service.

Research shows U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE, isn’t just targeting immigrants with criminal records during mass arrests and that deportations negatively impact the economy in places like Arkansas.

The Immigration Research Initiative's report finds that when arrests rose from January to May this year, many of those detained lacked a criminal record.

Although President Donald Trump campaigned on deporting immigrants who commit heinous crimes, report co-author Chloe East says that's not who's being arrested.

The majority who are currently impacted have no criminal conviction And instead, the only potential violation they have is a civil violation of not complying with immigration law.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, is a research-focused nonprofit.

It supports these findings with data showing more than 70 percent of people detained had no criminal record.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Next to Tennessee, where the new county profiles Child Well-Being Report shows progress in education.

Released by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, the report evaluates how children are doing across the state in areas like economic well-being, education, health and family and community support.

It uses 57 key indicators organized into domains.

Kelly Graves with the Commission says all three education indicators, TCAP reading, TCAP math and high school graduation rates shows improvement.

In TCAP reading and math we saw improvement in nearly every county and the largest improvement was in Perry County with a 6.6 percentage point increase from the previous year.

Reading proficiency rose to 38.9 percent with wide gaps between counties 66.9 percent in Williamson and just 18.3 percent in Lake.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Finally, more than 5,000 kids in Virginia are in the child welfare system.

A report for the Virginia Poverty Law Center says many children are separated from their families because they lack resources.

It shows poverty adjacent neglect accounts for many of the reasons a child is separated from their family.

Michaela Havison with the center says that can take many forms, like a single mother leaving her sick child at home while she goes to work.

So what this is indicating is that in these situations, families don't have the ability to completely provide for child and instead they really need resources and support.

About 85 percent of families investigated by Child Protective Services have a household income of less than double the federal poverty line.

That would be under $65,000 for a family of four.

The report found Virginia ranks 49th for children aging out of the foster care system and only successfully reunites families 27 percent of the time.

I'm Zamone Perez.

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

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