Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Expert says it will take several election cycles to know what lies ahead for American politics; the federal government gets aggressive on student loans in default; President Trump says a Russia-Ukraine peace plan is almost done; 2025 saw a great deal of news but one group is highlighting stories that slipped through the cracks; Medicaid coverage could be lose as Missouri lawmakers gear up for another possible government shutdown and Ohio sees surge in immigration enforcement.

TRANSCRIPT

Public News Service Daily Newscast for Monday, December 29th, 2025.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

American politics are being reshaped, but one expert thinks it will take additional election cycles to know what the future holds.

More from Freda Ross.

Doug Sosnick with the global advisory firm, the Brunswick Group, says the year 2000 marked the beginning of a correlation between people's education levels and voting patterns.

In last year's presidential election, Democrats carried 14 of the 15 most college educated states, while Republicans captured 14 of the 15 least college educated states.

Many people in rural and blue collar occupations have faced stagnant wages, job insecurity, and the loss of manufacturing jobs.

Sosnick says those 2024 voters hope the GOP's populist agenda would help them.

Up until through the 70s, we had a thriving middle class of non-college educated people.

We've moved to this new era, and the people who've been left behind are disproportionately non-college educated people.

He says those with college degrees typically vote in more elections than people with a high school education, which could explain recent off-year Democratic wins in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York City, where the share of residents of college degrees tops 50 percent.

After the back and forth policy in Washington, collecting on default student loans, the government is targeting next month implement a more aggressive approach, wage garnishment.

Terry Dee reports.

Beginning next month, the U.S. Department of Education will send notices of administrative wage garnishment to owners of loans in default.

It will affect people who have these federally-based loans and have not made a payment for 270 days.

The Education Data Initiative reports Indiana has around 900,000 student borrowers with a total debt exceeding $30 billion.

Jack Wallace, the director of government and lender relations at private loan company Y-Refi, says borrowers should be proactive.

We need to not put our heads and pretend like this is going to go away.

So if you're getting an email from your servicer, which you should be, or getting an envelope by the U.S.

Post Office from your servicer, you need to open it up and find out what's going on.

The Treasury Offset Program is the automated system the federal government will use to collect delinquent debts.

Garnishments can apply to 2026 federal tax refunds, Social Security retirement and disability benefits or other government payments.

After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Donald Trump says progress has been made in a peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Zelensky says the U.S. security guarantees are 100 percent agreed to, but some issues remain.

Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded the Eastern Donetsk region be turned over to his country, though the U.S. peace plan calls for it to be a demilitarized and economic zone.

Other issues include the future of Europe's largest nuclear power plant currently under Russian occupation and an agreement on a free trade zone in Donbass.

Putin hasn't agreed to a ceasefire to allow referendums to take place, which Ukraine says is necessary to resolve territorial disputes.

This is Public News Service. 2025 was a big year in news, but some stories slipped through the cracks.

As Eric Tegethoff reports, Project Censored is highlighting 12 of the year's most underreported stories.

The organization selects topics that weren't thoroughly covered by the mainstream press.

Many of the stories on a list impact North Carolina directly, such as the severe underrepresentation of the working class and state legislatures.

Just 1.6 percent of state lawmakers are working According to research from Duke University and Leola University Chicago, that's conducted every two years.

Andy Lee Roth, editor-at-large for Project Censored, says this issue impacts what legislatures can achieve.

When you have a lack of working-class representation in state legislatures, that means that working-class perspectives are simply missing from the key public policy debates that take place in those chambers.

North Carolina is among ten states that didn't have any working-class state legislators.

Roth notes that the work of Project Censored also celebrates the importance of independent journalism, where many of the underreported stories originate from.

As Missouri lawmakers brace for another possible government shutdown in January, health care advocates warn proposed Medicaid changes could put coverage at risk for hundreds of thousands of people.

Crystal Blair has the details.

The state has more than 1.3 million residents enrolled in Medicaid, and critics say new paperwork and verification requirements, combined with ongoing administrative strain, could cause many to lose coverage even if they remain eligible.

Greg Woodhams with the League of Women Voters of Missouri addressed the problem at a recent webinar hosted by the League.

Many eligible participants won't be able to navigate red tape from new work requirements and more frequent verification of eligibility and will lose coverage.

Woodhams says fewer than a third of those who lost coverage were actually found ineligible.

He adds that Missouri is not alone, pointing out that other states have seen large coverage losses driven by paperwork barriers rather than eligibility.

Federal immigration authorities say a recent enforcement surge in Ohio has resulted in arrests of people with serious criminal records, while Columbus leaders emphasize local police are not involved and urge residents to understand their rights, Bar-Siddiqi reports.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it launched Operation Buckeye on December 16, increasing enforcement activity in Columbus and other parts of the state.

The agency describes the operation as a focused effort aimed at people it says pose public risks and lack legal authorization to remain in the country.

Madison Sheehan, ICE Deputy Director, says the operation moved quickly and prioritized individuals with violent or repeat criminal histories.

"We've had a lot of success very quickly.

Our officers have gone out and truly arrested the worst of the worst.

We have arrested gang members, murderers and rapists."

ICE says those arrested include people with felony convictions and long-standing removal orders.

Immigration advocates have raised concerns nationally that enforcement actions can still create fear within immigrant communities beyond those targeted.

This story was produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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