Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Lawmakers spoke privately to Trump's top general after boat strike revelations; TX cattle ranchers support investigation into foreign meat companies; PA uninsured children hit 153,000 as federal funding cuts loom; ND officials: High-speed internet goal within reach; IL student hopes detained father will be home for the holidays.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, December 2, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Pentagon's top general held a call with senior lawmakers over the weekend to discuss the legality of lethal military strikes around Latin America as Republican-led panels in both chambers filed aggressive oversight following revelations that the U.S. forces killed the survivors of a targeted boat strike.

The Post notes when two survivors were detected, The military commander overseeing the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley, directed another strike to comply with Texas' order that no one be left alive.

People with direct knowledge of the matter told the Post.

The Trump administration has said 11 people were killed as a result of the attack.

Meantime, Texas cattle ranchers are reacting to the announcement that the Trump administration will investigate foreign-owned meat companies to determine if they're engaged in what Trump calls collusion, price fixing and price manipulation.

Beef prices hit a record high this year.

Civil Eats reporter Lisa Held says farm and ranch groups welcome the investigation, but say the announcement contradicts what the administration has been doing since Trump took office.

The Biden administration had an initial executive order targeting consolidation in the food system, including in meat, and Trump withdrew that executive order.

The USDA also ended a program that was intended to help states fight monopolies in agriculture.

Held says the Trump administration has also rolled back many programs that connected farmers and ranchers to the community through food banks and allowed schools to purchase from local farmers.

The U.S. meat industry is dominated by four major companies, JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, and National Beef.

JBS and National Beef are based in Brazil.

This story was produced with original reporting from Lisa Held for Civil Eats.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

And a new report shows Pennsylvania is seeing the highest number of uninsured children in a decade.

The report examines the state of children's health and finds more than 150,000 kids without coverage in Pennsylvania.

The increase is troubling as it comes at the same time major federal policy shifts threatens to further limit families access to health care.

Becky Luttwick with Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children says they don't yet know why the number of uninsured kids has risen but the figures do show which groups of children are most likely to lack insurance.

Hispanic children have seen a pretty large increase in the number of uninsured as well as children who are living in families with lower resources are lower incomes.

There's a pretty widening gap that we're seeing in terms of children who have insurance based off of their family income.

The uninsured rate for Hispanic children hit 7.3 percent, the highest in five years.

Danielle Smith reporting.

This is Public News Service.

North Dakota now says it's on track to ensure all homes and businesses can connect to a high-speed internet service.

Even with some issues to sort out, the rural centric state feels poised to lead the nation in closing the gaps.

North Dakota's Information Technology Office says with federal approval of its latest plan to distribute broadband infrastructure grants it could achieve 100 percent connectivity by 2028.

That could potentially make North Dakota the first state to do so.

Broadband Program Director Brian Newby adds that regional projects typically aren't the bare minimum in terms of required internet speed, giving customers more flexibility to take advantage of technology like telehealth.

The telehealth could even emerge actually further from just a visit with a doctor to be able to show basically any kind of your health records or that sort of thing during the visit.

Telehealth is often cited in helping address the rural health care crisis.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next day Chicago family affected by federal immigration enforcement is hoping for a resolution that can reunite them this holiday season.

A student at DePaul University Kaitlyn who prefers her last name not be shared says her father has been in a detention facility in Michigan since immigration and customs enforcement agents detained him in September while he was on his way to work.

Although her family maintains daily communication with him and tries to visit on weekends, she says the lengthy process has weighed on her and her family.

Kaitlyn, who is a college senior, says she's fallen behind at school and she and her family have had to fill the gap left by her father's absence.

We had to navigate the process of how it's like without having a father at home.

It came with more responsibilities, paying bills and how to pay credit cards for my dad.

I mentally was not focused."

Kaitlyn's father is from Belize and she says he was in the process of obtaining his green card when he was detained.

His next court date is scheduled for this week and she says the family is hoping for some good news that will move them closer to seeing him come home soon.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

Finally, a University of Montana public health instructor credits persistence and self-advocacy for her health and possibly for her survival. 38-year-old Katie Wagner says she started feeling some disturbing symptoms when she was 29, starting her long journey to figure out what was wrong.

She says cardiologists dismissed her shortness of breath and chest pain even when they started getting worse.

The self-advocacy piece really comes in to play that I kept pushing for answers knowing something was wrong, right?

And knowing that it was more than anxiety, that that unfortunately I think women in particular tend to hear that a lot.

And I do have anxiety around not being able to breathe.

After years of ER visits and seeing specialists, she says she finally found a cardiologist who put her on the right path.

I'm Laura Hatch reporting.

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

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