Six minutes of news from around the nation.

DOJ fires officials involved in Trump prosecutions by special counsel Jack Smith; U.S. Supreme Court declines MT voting rights case; IN lawmakers back $45K minimum teacher pay; Work requirements could be coming for AR Medicaid recipients. 

Transcript

The Public News Service Doe Newscast, January 28, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Justice Department said Monday it had fired several career lawyers involved in prosecuting Donald Trump, escalating the president's campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies.

That from NBC News.

They report the employees worked on special counsel Jack Smith's investigation that led to the now-dismissed indictments against Trump over his handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election laws.

Firing prosecutors because of cases they were assigned to work on is just unacceptable.

That's what former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance told NBC News.

And the nation's highest court has declined to hear a case about Montana voting laws that would have disproportionately affected Native people.

Last year, Montana's Supreme Court decided that two laws passed in 2021 to ban same-day voter registration and paid absentee ballot collection were unconstitutional.

Alex Wraight with the ACLU of Montana says people who face too many costs to voting often don't.

For those who already face barriers, like long distances to elections offices or no residential mail delivery, these laws could have tipped the scales.

Wraight argues that was the intention.

Just what we saw with these laws was a very deliberate attempt to make it so difficult for people to vote that they would stay home.

Montana Secretary of State Kristi Jacobson brought the case to the U.S.

Supreme Court, which last week opted not to hear it.

Wraight says the high court doesn't have jurisdiction to pick up a case on state voting laws.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

We head next to Indiana, where lawmakers have advanced a bill to raise the minimum teacher salary in the state to $45,000.

A Senate committee has approved the measure.

Current law sets educators' minimum salary at $40,000.

The increase would align with Governor Mike Braun's proposed budget and raise pay for about 6,000 teachers.

Democratic Senator Fatty Cadora of Indianapolis pushed to raise the minimum salary to $65,000, but his amendment failed in a party-line vote.

I cannot reconcile the difference between funding vouchers at 742 percent of the federal poverty line.

And we have teachers and public schools who are making a little bit more than $40,000.

The measure now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee for review.

If approved, it will go to the full Senate for a vote.

The bill also includes paid parental leave for teachers.

Full-time teachers would receive 20 days of leave, while part-time staff would get 10 days.

And it requires school districts to increase the share of state funding spent on teacher pay from 62 to 65 percent.

This story was produced with original reporting from Garrett Berquist for WISH-TV.

I'm Joe Ulori, Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.

This is Public News Service.

Next up, changes could be coming for folks in Arkansas who are on Medicaid.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is proposing to add work requirements for some Medicaid recipients.

Similar rules were imposed in the state in 2018, but later struck down by the Biden administration.

Neil Seeley with Arkansas Community Organizations says more than 18,000 people lost coverage seven years ago, although they were working or had been granted exemptions.

We reached out to people to speak with them about their experience.

There was a reporting requirement, and if after three months you had not reported, then you would be taken off.

He says some recipients weren't aware they didn't have coverage until they tried to go to the doctor.

Sanders is hopeful the requirements will remain in place under the new Trump administration.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

And the National Press Forward Coalition is helping fund local news, including an online outlet in rural Colorado.

With rural newsrooms struggling nationwide, Press Forward, a coalition of national funders, is investing more than half a billion dollars in local newsrooms they see as vital for fighting misinformation, government accountability, and civic engagement.

The Alamosa Citizen is one of nine newsrooms in Colorado to receive funding.

Founder Chris Lopez says he wanted to create an alternative to the one newspaper serving the San Luis Valley.

We felt that there was an opportunity in the market for something more regular, more robust, and told a different type of story.

According to the State of Local News Report for 2024, three-quarters of news deserts are located in the nation's rural communities.

Press Forward was launched with major support from the Knight and MacArthur foundations, but it's also working to get more regional funders to support fact-based local news.

This story was produced with original reporting from Ilana Newman for the Daily Yonder.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Finally, the Chiefs are back in this year's Super Bowl, but first, the chefs are back at Albuquerque's annual Super Bowl.

Roadrunner Food Bank will open its warehouse this Saturday to host dozens of local restaurants and bakeries competing for top honors in the best soup and dessert categories.

Roadrunner's Diana Sanchez says the eateries helped the food relief organization raise funds and awareness about the state's hunger issues.

We raised money by selling tickets to this event.

There's live music.

People get to taste all of these offerings.

We have People's Choice Award, and we also have Critics' Choice Award.

I'm Roz Brown.

Feeding America estimates one in five kids and one in seven adults are at risk of hunger in New Mexico.

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

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