Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Senate blocks measure to restrict Venezuela strikes after Trump flips two Republicans; PA coal mine reclamation funds at risk as bill seeks to repurpose $500M; U.S. political climate makes jobs tougher to find for trans folks; Proposed federal cuts could mean fewer nurses for MO patients. 

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast for January the 15th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The U.S. Senate voted 51 to 50 on Wednesday to effectively block a resolution that would have prevented President Trump from using military force in Venezuela without congressional approval.

That after Trump flipped two Republican votes in recent days.

That from NBC News.

They report Senators Josh Hawley and Todd Young voted last week to advance the resolution required Trump to seek prior approval, but after Trump attacked and pressured them, they flipped their positions and voted with most Senate Republicans to remove privilege under the resolution, all but sinking it in the chamber.

NBC notes the vote broke 50/50 and Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to scuttle the War Powers resolution.

Meantime, a bill awaiting a Senate vote would strip $500 million from abandoned mine reclamation projects across the country.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 provided over $11 billion to states for abandoned mine reclamation over a 15-year period.

Pennsylvania received a cut of around $245 million last year.

Andy McAllister is with the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation.

He says decades of environmental restoration are at risk and lawmakers should consider the critical economic benefits the funding brings.

Let alone providing these communities in the coal regions with jobs, jobs in areas that have seen a decline in jobs related to coal mining.

So it's a good way to have those communities be put to work and earn money for their community.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And a majority of American adults express support for policies that protect transgender people from discrimination but many in the trans community still struggle to find a job.

The Pew Research Center says the political climate has changed many people's views on transgender issues.

Although 56 percent of adults still support policies aimed at protecting them from discrimination in jobs, housing and public spaces.

Tony Newman leads California's Trans Can Work and assists some 100 trans individuals every month in finding employment.

We're not looking We're not looking for anything else, but what every other American needs is economic and financial security in 2026.

Newman says Trans Can Work seeks out companies willing to hire qualified transgender folks and then encourages them to post an open position on the nonprofit's job board.

She notes they do not try to change a company's culture to be more accepting, but rather act as an intermediary service to help trans people find a job, achieve economic security, and maintain a healthy life.

Transgender workers report unemployment at twice the rate of the population as a whole, and many who are currently working say they're underemployed.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is Public News Service.

As the Congress works toward a January 30th budget deadline, federal cuts have been proposed that would put nearly $7 million in nursing, education, and research funding at risk.

U.S. House Appropriations Committee has moved to eliminate the National Institute of Nursing Research as well as most Title VIII nursing workforce development programs.

Lori Popejoy, Dean of the University of Missouri Sinclair School of Nursing, warns that eliminating the National Institute would undercut the science that guides patient care.

That is the only Institute dedicated to nursing research or understanding effective ways to deliver good quality care to patients.

So cutting the National Institutes of Nursing Research is devastating.

Supporters of the cuts argue the changes are needed to rein in federal costs and shift responsibility for workforce training and education funding away from Washington D.C. and towards states, individual universities and health systems.

Crystal Blair reporting

And questions of wrongdoing within Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsets administration continue to plague his current term.

Former chief of staff Thomas Cook is accused of using ties to his former boss to obtain a job at a well-known Indianapolis law firm.

He allegedly helped high profile developer clients to secure city projects, some of whom were donors to hog sets 2023 reelection campaign.

However, one expert says Hoosiers appear unfazed when confronted with this scandal.

Brandon rotting house, political science professor and author of the book scandal.

Why politicians survive controversy in a partisan era says social media and the 24-hour news cycle could be the reason the zone is completely flooded with information.

People are overwhelmed and so they retreat to their own tribal attitudes.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

Finally, animal welfare and farm advocacy groups say a bill moving through Congress would limit Ohio's ability to regulate how farm animals are raised.

Even if voters lawmakers choose to act in the future.

The proposed Save Our Bacon Act would override voter-approved laws in more than a dozen states that restrict extreme confinement practices such as metal gestation crates for pigs, veal crates for calves, and battery cages for egg-laying hens.

Alicia Prygoski, strategic legislative affairs manager with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, says the bill mirrors earlier failed efforts to weaken state animal welfare laws.

It really undermines the will of the voters who have said it is important to us to protect animals from this kind of treatment.

It's important to us to ensure food safety and public health by prohibiting these practices.

Supporters of the bill, including the National Pork Producers Council, argue differing state standards restrict interstate commerce.

Vara Siddiqui reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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