Six minutes of news from around the nation.

'Great day for America': Trump lauds Chris Wray resigning as FBI director; IL workers to see pay, benefit information in job postings; In challenging health coverage times, MN union victory seen as a hopeful sign; Support available for AR kids aging out of foster care.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, December the 12th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told employees at an internal town hall Wednesday that he is resigning, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

That from ABC News.

The report, Wray said he's stepping down at the end of the current Biden administration.

In his remarks, Wray said, "After weeks of careful thought, I've decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January."

Wray said this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.

And some companies will have new rules to follow amid changes to the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003.

House Bill 3129 ensures that employers with four or more employees give equal pay for the same or substantially similar work in the same county regardless of gender or race.

Governor J.B. Pritzker's recent signing of an amendment to this law mandates an employer with 15 or more workers to include pay benefits and open information in a job posting.

Illinois Department of Labor Equal Pay Manager Amy Sneerson sees the amendment as another tool as job hopefuls seek and consider employment options.

This is pay transparency, which is what this idea is called, is being adopted in states and municipalities around the country.

The effort to boost pay transparency are because pay inequity, despite the existence of very great laws federally and in the states, have not managed to extinguish pay inequities.

The amendment also requires that if the applicable employer uses a third party to announce, post, or publish a job posting, the employer must also inform the third party of the pay rate who must include the pay scale in the job posting.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

Meantime, the tragedy surrounding UnitedHealthcare has brought renewed focus on cost barriers within the health care system.

In Minnesota, a group of unions says a non-confrontational but organized front paid off in recent talks to limit cost hikes for members.

This fall, state workers in northwestern Minnesota who receive care through Essentia were notified the provider would increase out-of-pocket expenses January 1st.

In a tiered system, they would move from level 2 to level 3.

Amanda Stegmeyer, an information technologist at Minnesota State University Moorhead, says she was caught off guard, noting the change could have boosted co-pays by roughly $30 per visit.

Being a single mom in one income household, there's only so much money that goes around.

Stegmeyer, a member of Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, urged colleagues to contact Essentia about the situation.

Regional members of other unions like AFSCME did too, and the coalition convinced the provider to keep the cost hike temporary.

I'm Mike Moen.

This is Public News Service.

Next up, nonprofits that work with foster care kids want them to know services are available to help them navigate life once they're out of the system.

The latest statistics from the Arkansas Department of Human Services show more than 3,400 children are in foster care.

Some young people are never adopted or reunited with family members and age out of the system. 25-year-old Jordan Otero, with the nonprofit Foster Success, entered foster care when he was 17 and says three things contributed to his successful transition into adulthood.

Relationships in support of adults, financial resources that meet the various needs of young people, and third way to accomplish this is to ensure that all young people in foster care have an access of a network to peers in support of adults.

He says many young adults struggle once they leave the foster care system because they don't know about available programs or support systems.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Conservation groups have sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to stop a logging project in Montana's Garnett Mountains.

Wildlife advocates say the project threatens a migration corridor for grizzly bears and other animals.

The Clark Fork Face Project, about 30 minutes east of Missoula, would allow logging on nearly 17,000 acres of land overseen by the BLM.

Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Mike Garrity, says the effort would sever vital connectivity corridors for wildlife navigating between the northern continental divide, greater Yellowstone, and bitterroot ecosystems.

The Garnett Mountains are an important wildlife corridor for carnivores such as grizzly bears, lynx, and wolverines.

Despite the lawsuit, the BLM started logging in the Garnett earlier this week.

Garrity says the Alliance will ask the court for an injunction to stop clear-cutting until the case is decided.

The BLM says the project will improve forest health and reduce hazardous wildfire fuels across a majority of the area.

I'm Mark Moran.

Finally, to Maryland, where environmental advocates are celebrating legislation which expands the definitions of wildlife in the state.

The law also requires the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to review once every five years whether any new species need to be added to the state list.

Logan Christian with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators says the expanding definition of wildlife includes invertebrates, important in our food system, and other critical functions in our ecosystem.

Pollinators are really important for biodiversity.

They're responsible for one out of every three bites of food that we take.

Having the ability to think about all species, where a species is at, and should they be listed, it's just really important to have wildlife be defined broadly for that purpose.

He points out that a species could also be removed from the list if conservation efforts succeed in increasing wildlife populations.

I'm Simone Perez.

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

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