Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Animal welfare advocates work to save CA's Prop 12 under Trump; Health care advocate says future of Medicaid critical for rural Alaskans; Trump pardons roughly 1,500 criminal defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack; MA company ends production of genetically modified Atlantic salmon.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, January the 21st, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump used his second inaugural address to hold up his indomitability and escape from a would-be assassin's bullet as a metaphor for a strong, proud nation that will not be conquered.

That from CNN.

Quoting Trump, "I was saved by God to make America great again."

He said that Monday in a follow-up to his American Carnage first inauguration in 2017.

This one delivered in the Capitol Rotunda after frigid weather moved the ceremony inside.

And as Republicans take charge of the executive branch of both houses of Congress, some are wondering if California's landmark animal welfare law, Proposition 12, will be in the crosshairs.

Prop 12 established minimum space requirements for breeding pigs, egg-laying hens, and veal calves.

But Allison Ludkey with the Animal Legal Defense Fund says the proposition may survive because Republicans are divided on whether to attach a repeal to the next farm bill in the form of the EATS Act.

There's a level of uncertainty, I think, that we're all feeling because there's this strange nexus where many ultra-conservative folks in the MAGA movement oppose the EATS Act.

Prop 12 forbids California retailers from selling eggs, pork, and veal that was produced using extreme confinement in other places.

Many producers who have already upgraded their operations to comply with Prop 12 don't want to see the law go away.

Some conservative lawmakers oppose a repeal because it would force American pork producers to compete with cheaper meat raised in China, which has few animal welfare laws.

This story was produced with original reporting by Seth Milstein for Sentient.

This is Suzanne Potter reporting.

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Meantime, a new report finds that a significant cut proposed for Medicaid funding would disproportionately affect rural and small-town residents in Alaska and many other states.

Currently, almost 250,000 Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid.

Jen Griffiths with the Alaska Children's Trust says many people in rural Alaska, particularly children and pregnant mothers, rely heavily on Medicaid coverage. 39 percent of our Alaskans in rural communities are covered by Medicaid.

Medicaid is vitally important for Alaska's health care systems, but definitely our rural communities have much more at stake when we look at the potential of Medicaid cuts.

It also finds that Medicaid provides coverage for a majority of Alaska Natives or other people of color.

It also finds that 38 percent of all births in the state are covered by Medicaid.

I'm Mark Richardson.

And for the Associated Press, the Department of Government Efficiencies' first order of business was itself.

It's now down to one leader.

Vivek Ramaswamy, no longer part of the commission that President Trump championed.

And that leaves billionaire Elon Musk to run the cost-cutting operations alone.

Ramaswamy has single plans to run for the governor of Ohio next year.

This is Public News Service.

President Donald Trump said Monday he was issuing roughly 1,500 pardons and commuting the sentences of six of his supporters in connection with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

When thousands stormed the building amid his false claims that the 2020 electoral election was rigged against him.

That from MSNBC.

The report, an attorney from Rico Cario, the Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy, told NBC News Monday his client was being processed for release from FCI Pollock, a media security prison in Louisiana.

Cario is serving 22 years in federal prison.

And over one million Coloradans are living with a diagnosed mental health condition.

But insurance companies are denying coverage for care their policies promise to pay for.

Jake Williams with Healthier Colorado says insurers reject many claims as not medically necessary, even when a doctor has prescribed the treatment. 75 percent of Coloradans with commercial insurance who have a diagnosed mental health condition have not received the care that they need over this past year.

And there are real consequences to this.

In 2008, Congress passed a law requiring insurers to offer the same access to mental health care as to physical care.

But a loophole in the law allows insurers to determine what care is necessary or appropriate.

An investigation by ProPublica found that United Health Group was using algorithms to deny claims, a practice later deemed illegal in three states.

United defended its claims program, arguing that it ensures patients get safe, effective and affordable treatment.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Finally, conservation groups are celebrating the end of a Massachusetts-based biotech company's pursuit of bringing genetically altered salmon to market.

Aqua Bounty was the first company to get regulatory approval from the FDA to sell a genetically modified animal for human consumption in 2015.

But it faced continuous legal challenges and consumer pushback.

Dana Pearls with Friends of the Earth says people just don't want to eat it.

Grocery stores are refusing to sell it.

Big restaurants are refusing to sell it.

So it's a market response.

Pearls says the altered salmon put wild salmon, along with the fishing and indigenous communities that rely on it, at risk.

In a statement, Aqua Bounty says it failed to raise enough capital to maintain its operations.

Aqua Bounty's Aqua Advantage brand salmon contained added genes from both Chinook salmon and the eel-like ocean pout to make it grow faster.

But polls show most Americans believe genetically engineering animals for protein production isn't an appropriate use of biotechnology.

I'm Katherine Carley reporting.

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This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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