Six minutes of news from around the nation.

House Republicans nix bipartisan budget agreement at President-elect Donald Trump is urging. Republicans breakdown priorities of Trump's first 100-day agenda and, the House Ethics Committee votes to release its report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, December 19, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Republicans rejected House Speaker Mike Johnson's bipartisan plan to avert a government shutdown as President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk joined a broad swath of the House GOP on Wednesday to condemn a compromise bill full of Democratic policy priorities.

That from The Washington Post.

Their report, the rebuke which built steadily through the day and culminated with a long written statement from Trump in the late afternoon, has forced Johnson back to the drawing board on a plan to prevent a Christmas-time shutdown and maintain the support of his chaotic conference to be re-elected as Speaker early next year.

Meantime, members of the environmental non-profit Green Latinos are involved in a push to get more Latinos across Texas involved in the fight against methane gas.

Texas is one of the largest producers of the hazardous chemical.

The organization's Rogelio Mejuero says a large part of the campaign is educating the community.

They tell me all the problems they're experiencing.

And the moment I connect with them, the fact that there's a fracking site less than a mile away, they start seeing how, yeah, ever since we moved to this area, we started having breathing problems.

The one that hurts me the most is really the birth defects.

Learning that Latino women are some of the most impacted with birth defects is heartening.

He says meetings will be held across the state over the next six months, culminating with a final day of action in Austin before the state legislature.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Next up, business leaders, clean transportation advocates and other experts say new technologies are helping to accelerate the transition to clean trucks and sustainable freight.

For states like Pennsylvania, members of the Clean Truck Pennsylvania Coalition are calling on federal and state leaders to back programs that support the deployment of clean power trucks across the Commonwealth.

Jordan Stutt is with CalSTART, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing clean transportation solutions.

He says the goal is to get gas and diesel powered trucks off the road.

We are going to take one of the busiest freight corridors in the country, I-95, and turn it into one of the first zero emission freight corridors in the U.S.

That investment and the jobs that it will bring underscore that this transition to clean trucks is all about opportunity.

The coalition is urging Pennsylvania Governor Josh Sapiro and state and local leaders to adopt the Advanced Clean Trucks Act.

Advocates say the act would reduce emissions 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.

Brooke Petrie, with MOMS Clean Air Force of Pennsylvania, says zero emission trucks are the key to cleaning up the air Pennsylvania families breathe.

When residents of South Philadelphia step outside in the morning, the air often has a distinct toxic smell.

Here in Philadelphia, children of color are hospitalized for asthma complications at five times the rate of their white peers.

For Public News Service, I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Public News Service.

The issue of child labor in hazardous industries like agriculture continues to draw attention in states like Florida.

Experts say systemic gaps in enforcement and outdated labor laws are exposing vulnerable children to dangerous conditions.

Reid Mackey, with the Child Labor Coalition, emphasizes the urgency of addressing exemptions that allow children to work in risky agricultural jobs.

It doesn't make sense to us.

You know, if a job is hazardous, if it's dangerous, the kid should wait till they're 18, till they're an adult.

Then why would you make this exemption in agriculture?

And we know that agriculture has very high injury and fatality rates for, you know, compared to other sectors.

Florida's agricultural industry, one of the largest in the nation, faced criticism from farm worker advocates following the passage of House Bill 49.

The legislation signed into law by the governor loosened child labor restrictions, permitting 16 and 17 year olds to work more than eight hours a day and more than 30 hours a week during the school year.

This story is based on original reporting by Don Ottride at Sentient.

I'm Tramell Gomes.

Meantime, construction will begin early next year on new affordable housing dedicated to low-income Oregon farmers.

This project is the latest by the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation, a nonprofit that is partnering with Energy Trust of Oregon to make their housing more energy efficient.

This year, the FHDC hosted workshops teaching more than 200 families how to save energy at home.

President Ramon Martinez with the corporation says the payoffs are significant.

Along with receiving more than $20,000 in incentives to help reduce energy use across their properties, he says residents' bills are down.

During the cold months, some people are afraid to turn on the heater, right?

But it's been great because I've heard successful stories about residents seeing $200, $300 bills, lowering it down to the $100 range.

Research shows that most farmworkers in Oregon do not have access to affordable housing.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

Finally, holiday family gatherings are times for laughter and reminiscing.

But Terry, do you reports the scenario can panic and confuse an Alzheimer's patient?

The disease causes brain cell deterioration and the ability to rapidly process information diminishes daily.

The Alzheimer's Association Greater Indiana Chapter reports nearly 11 percent of Hoosiers 65 and older have the disease.

Licensed social worker and gerontologist Macy P. Smith researches the behavior of the older population.

And if you're going to have a small intimate gathering, I also recommend doing name tags.

Go ahead and put the person's name and the relationship to the person on the shirt so that way they won't have to guess and wonder and try to figure out who this person is.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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