Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Dry-cleaning workers better protected under EPA chemical ban; Homeland Security shares new details of mysterious drone flights over New Jersey; New law seeks to change how state legislature vacancies are filled; MN joins the carbon capture pipeline wave with permit approval.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, December the 13th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The EPA this week banned a toxic chemical commonly used in dry cleaning and other consumer products.

Trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene have been used for decades and are known to affect the liver, brain, kidney and immune and nervous systems.

Research shows dry cleaning and laundry workers are at increased risk from dying of cancer.

Jennifer Orm Zavoleta is a scientist, formerly with the EPA Office of Research and Development.

She says businesses will be required to use alternatives and employees will be safer at work, adding that the changes also impact surrounding communities.

So if you happen to live near a dry cleaning facility, you know, there would be the potential for the ground to be contaminated and for these chemicals to get into the water supply.

California has been ahead of the curve.

In 2007, the state banned installations of new perchloroethylene dry cleaning machines, required existing ones be shut down by 2010, and required a complete ban of use of the chemical by 2023.

Nadia Ramlagon reporting.

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Next from ABC News, the Pentagon shut down a congressman's claim that an Iranian mothership is behind large drones spotted over New Jersey in recent weeks, while officials in the state are demanding a stronger federal response and transparency.

ABC reports since mid-November, large drones of uncertain origin have been repeatedly spotted in the sky at night over central and northern New Jersey, including near a military installation.

State and local officials convened a closed-door meeting with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security to address the matter, according to several officials in attendance.

Next up, lawmakers in Annapolis plan to introduce a bill that will require a special election if a lawmaker is appointed to a seat in the first half of their term.

Maryland's constitution requires the political party committee in the district the former lawmaker represented to pick a replacement to fill the seat.

That recommendation is then sent to the governor, who usually approves the person.

Delegate Linda Foley, the sponsor of the bill, says voters are sometimes represented by an appointed lawmaker for as long as four years.

You end up with a rather large percentage of the general assembly then being appointed and not elected and not facing the voters.

This has been an ongoing debate about whether this is a democratic way to replace people.

Nearly 25 percent of state legislators in Maryland, including Foley, started in the legislature by political appointment rather than an election.

I'm Simone Perez.

Next from CNN, presidents don't ordinarily pick the director of Voice of America, an international news broadcaster funded by the U.S. government, but President-elect Trump says he wants his ally Carrie Lake to take over VOA.

This is Public News Service.

A massive carbon capture project proposed for the Midwest has another permit under its belt after Minnesota regulators gave their approval Thursday.

The Public Utilities Commission signed off on a permit requested by Summit Carbon Solutions for a 28-mile route of underground pipelines in northwestern Minnesota.

They would be part of a multi-state maze of pipes capturing emissions from ethanol plants for underground storage in North Dakota.

Abigail Henchik, speaking for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Sierra Club, urged for a no vote, noting they're skeptical of the climate benefits being touted.

We have serious concerns that these broader emissions outweigh the amount of carbon that's captured and sequestered here.

Despite the approval, MCEA says it's glad the commission added provisions the organization feels will provide protections if the project becomes operational.

I'm Mike Moen.

And rising grocery prices and the end of the pandemic era benefits have left many Virginia families struggling to make ends meet.

A recent No Kid Hungry Virginia poll highlights the growing crisis. 78 percent of respondents say groceries have become more challenging to afford over the past year, and 77 percent of families are just one unexpected expense away from hunger.

Cassie Edner, a public benefits attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, says she's not surprised by the poll results.

The cost of food over the last how many years have been, you know, significantly increasing, along with the cost of other things, rent, mortgages, things like that.

And unfortunately, it makes sense that people are not able to afford their, you know, most basic necessities like food.

Virginia's low-income families saw significant relief during the pandemic from programs like the expanded federal child tax credit, which, according to the Food Research and Action Center, reduced hunger among children by nearly one-third.

However, with the expiration of those emergency measures, many families are once again vulnerable.

I'm Trimell Gomes.

Finally, our Brett Pivoto lets us know, with unionization on an upswing of late, experts anticipate policy changes will reverse worker gains.

On Wednesday, the Senate failed to confirm the reappointment of NLRB Chair Lauren McFerrin, setting up the Trump administration to appoint a new majority.

Rutgers University Labor Studies professor Dr.

Todd Vachon says recent pro-worker policies are threatened.

I'm going to anticipate almost all of these decisions in the past three years being reversed under the Trump board.

You could be surprised, but I anticipate them all to be reversed because that's been the historical trend.

And that's not just a Trump thing.

That's always kind of been a Democrat Republican thing.

There were 316 union elections in California in 2023, double the number held in 2020.

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

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