News from around the nation.

New Washington law streamlines online voter registration; Trump and Harris agree to debate on ABC September 10; Worker-owned cooperative movement finds footing in Minnesota; One Utah county looks to buy lawns to save water, residents' money.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily newscast August the 9th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A new law will make it easier for folks in Washington to register to vote online if they don't have a driver's license.

More on the story from Eric Tegethoff.

The law comes from a bill passed in 2023 that went into effect on July 15th, just in time for this year's primary election earlier this week.

Under the new law, people can register to vote with the last four digits of their social security number and an uploaded photo of their signature.

Abigail Leong with the Washington Voting Justice Coalition says this gives greater access to voting for people who don't have licenses.

People least likely to have a Washington driver's license are young voters, black and Latino voters, people with low incomes, recent citizens, maybe people even just who recently moved and haven't switched their driver's license over.

Leong says online voter registration is becoming increasingly popular, and so this change helps the state prepare for that.

The online registration deadline to vote in a general election is October the 28th.

If Washingtonians miss that date, they can still register in person any time before 8 p.m. on Election Day, November the 5th.

And Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are set to debate on ABC on September 10, after the former president said Thursday he had agreed to the face-off, along with two others, next month.

That from CNN.

In a statement, ABC News said that both Vice President Harris and former President Trump have both confirmed they will attend the ABC debate.

Speaking at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said he was looking forward to debating the vice president.

He added he agreed to upcoming dates with Fox News, ABC and NBC.

CNN notes Harris, who had previously agreed to the ABC debate, confirmed her participation later Thursday and says she would be happy to discuss further debates.

And as small business owners decide to retire or move on, some are helping to fuel the trend of worker-owned cooperatives in Minnesota and elsewhere.

These operations are described as businesses owned equally and self-managed by participating employees.

A 2021 report found a 30 percent increase in worker-owned cooperatives in the U.S., with nearly a dozen in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

When staffers at the May Day Cafe in South Minneapolis heard of it being put up for sale, barista Mira Klein said they were energized to launch an effort to buy themselves and keep this community fixture open.

It felt really important that the cafe stay in community hands and continue existing as a place that people can gather, that they can eat together, access affordable food.

Klein says she's interested in how this impacts worker empowerment by having more of a say in decision making.

The same report tracking this movement also touched on some of the challenges these cooperatives run into, and providing health insurance topped the list.

I'm Mike Moen.

This is Public News Service.

Most people know that lawns are water guzzlers, but one Utah county has taken an innovative step to help people swap out their lawns for less water-dependent plants.

Doug Bennett with the Washington County Water Conservancy District says lawns use up to four times more water than other vegetation.

That's a problem for the hottest and driest county in the Beehive State, especially when significant population growth is also expected in coming decades.

Bennett says while grass has its place for certain recreational activities, many residential lawns are only used as eye candy.

So we're estimating that as much as 40 percent of the lawn areas in our region are purely ornamental.

The only people that walk on them are landscapers pushing a lawn mower.

Bennett says their turf buyback program is 100 percent voluntary.

Interested residents can register for the incentive program.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

This story produced with original reporting from Morgan Jorgen for reasons to be cheerful.

And the small community of Yellow Springs, Ohio is leading an innovative effort to harness renewable energy while directly supporting low-income residents.

The village has shifted its focus from broader community solar projects to implementing microgrid solar systems on low-income apartment buildings.

This approach not only aims to reduce energy costs for tenants, but also sets an example for other small communities on how to use federal funding to generate local benefits.

Lisa Abel, interim director of the Yellow Springs Development Corporation, says that the community is prioritizing those who often receive the least benefit from new technologies.

We decided to put our funds toward the rooftop microgrids on lower-income apartment buildings as a way to provide solar and the benefits of solar to the lower-income folks almost as a first.

The project is supported by a grant from the Department of Energy.

Farah Siddiqui reporting.

And as we've been reporting, this is National Farmers Market Week, but almost every week fresh foods and vegetables and local products attract customers to more than 8,000 farmers markets nationwide.

Pennsylvania has 287 farmers markets that cultivate community and offers access to locally grown food.

Jenny Lester-Moffitt of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says these markets play a vital role in the local food and farm economy.

She highlights a USDA grant awarded to strengthen the food supply chain.

One of our grant recipients is an organization called Food Trust.

And what they're doing is they are creating small pop-up farmers markets in areas around Philadelphia that don't have access to healthy fresh produce.

They're increasing access to fresh, healthy, locally grown produce.

For Public News Service, I'm Danielle Smith.

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

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