Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump targets DEI and civil service protections, striking fear in some federal workers; WA bill would expand automatic voter registration; IA farmers on board with corn-based jet fuel; New wildfire near Los Angeles explodes to 8,000 acres, forces evacuations; ND back on familiar ground in debating ballot-question threshold.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, January the 23rd, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump is targeting federal employees who focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion and career policy staffers as he follows through on campaign promises to exert more control over the federal bureaucracy.

That was CNN.

They report the moves just days into his new administration go after programs he's long attacked and civil servants whom he feels block some of his key initiatives in his first term.

One executive order that sends shockwaves through the workforce Monday calls for creating a category for federal employees involved in policy known as Schedule F that would make them easier to fire.

And a bill in Olympia would further expand Washington State's automatic voter registration.

We get more from our Eric Tegethoff.

Automatic Senator Javier Valdez of Seattle introduced Senate Bill 5077 to allow the governor to widen automatic voter registration to more government agencies.

Proponents say nearly a million eligible voters in Washington are not registered.

Abigail Leong of the Washington Voting Justice Coalition testified on Tuesday in support of the measure.

She says the unregistered are typically new citizens, low income, or people with convictions who are less likely to get enhanced driver's licenses where they would be automatically registered.

By automatically registering people to vote when they become citizens, apply for health care, or return home from prison, we take the burden of registration off of potential voters.

Leong says the bill would also save the state time and money.

One opponent of the bill testified that the legislation would make the state's elections less secure.

SB 5077 is scheduled for an executive session in the Senate Committee on State Government, Tribal Affairs, and Elections tomorrow.

Next a company that works to create sustainable energy sources is investing in corn to make jet fuel, which it says burns far cleaner than the traditional petroleum-based version.

Alyssa Schaus farms corn near Griswold and sees producing jet fuel with her corn as an opportunity to create sustainable energy from her crops beyond ethanol and on a much bigger scale.

Jets used nearly 100 billion gallons of fuel last year.

It's an absolutely insane number.

You know, if there's a way that we can break into that market, make it a little more renewable, I think any of that is good for making a better impact for the environment.

Supporters want federal lawmakers to create incentives that encourage more sustainable airline fuel production in Iowa and across the country, perhaps creating incentives that mirror the support ethanol receives.

I'm Mark Moran.

Next from Reuters, a new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles Wednesday rapidly spread to more than 8,000 acres, fueled by strong winds and dry brush.

Forcing mandatory evacuation orders for more than 19,000 people.

The Hughes Fire, about 50 miles north of L.A., further attacks firefighters in the region.

This is Public News Service.

We head next to North Dakota, where lawmakers there aren't done trying to reshape approval requirements for future ballot questions that cover constitutional amendments.

Last fall, voters across the state projected the idea of increasing the signature requirement for getting initiated measures on the ballot.

Despite the failure, there's now a plan to bump the approval threshold for a ballot question to 60 percent.

Amy Jacobson of the group Prairie Action says a supermajority approach hurts grassroots level efforts.

We really actually see it as kind of being designed to silence the voters by raising the voter threshold.

The legislative sponsor and other supporters argue that compared with other states, North Dakota makes it too easy for constitutional amendments to cross the finish line.

They also cite the influence of out-of-state interest groups.

If the legislature greenlights the proposal, North Dakota voters would then decide whether the higher threshold should become the standard.

I'm Mike Moen.

And seven cases of H5N1 avian flu or bird flu have been reported in Michigan since December 16th.

The first case was discovered at a poultry facility in Ottawa County.

Avian flu circulates in wild birds and can infect poultry, causing illnesses classified as highly or low pathogenic.

Michigan's first cases in 2022 introduced a highly pathogenic strain.

Dr. Kimberly Dodd, an infectious disease expert at Michigan State University, explains why that initial outbreak was unique.

Generally, once it comes to wintertime, the number of cases drop off and sometimes that's all we see of the outbreak and its results.

In this case, the outbreak continued over the winter and spread across the entire country.

This recent outbreak has affected more than 340,000 birds.

Dodd says early findings show the virus also infecting wild mammals, especially young carnivores and scavengers.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Finally, a Utah grant program is aiming to incentivize farmers to optimize their water use.

But its agricultural water optimization program is an initiative that uses state and federal funds to lower the financial barriers for ag producers to modernize and update their irrigation equipment.

Agriculture manager Hannah Fries says it covers half the cost of purchasing new, more efficient equipment.

She explains that the Utah legislature and the federal government have allocated $276 million for the program and describes it as a step in the right direction, especially with agriculture being what she calls a non-negotiable.

It's essential to everything that we do in life.

And so as we continue to use the scarce water that we have for agricultural purposes, this program allows our producers to be the best stewards of that precious resource.

Our farmers are truly the first environmentalists.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

We are a member and listener supported.

Hear us on radio stations big and small, your favorite podcast platform, find our content and trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.