Six minutes of news from around the nation.

White House has seen no evidence of foreign direction in New Orleans attack; MI's $1B EV push falls short on jobs, as experts urge patience; Report: Only half of phone companies use required anti-robocall technology; Livestock undercover: How good people do bad things to animals.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, January the 3rd, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The suspect in the New Year's Day attack in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, describing the deadly event as an act of terrorism.

Fourteen people were killed and dozens injured Wednesday when the man plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in a pickup truck.

That from CNN.

The report President Joe Biden citing the FBI said the attacker planted explosives in ice coolers in the French Quarter just hours before the attack.

CNN notes the man who was killed in the firefight with police after the attack identified as an Army veteran from Texas and had an ISIS flag in his vehicle.

Next to Michigan, a state that has poured a billion dollars into electric vehicle battery projects with another billion pledged, but delays have stalled hiring for most of the 11,000 promised jobs.

Economic experts say delays are common in large-scale projects, and it's too early to call this effort a bust.

Economist Brad Hirschbein of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research cites slower EV demand and opposition from residents who don't want large factories in their neighborhoods.

He says limited job postings are another key factor.

Where there have been some job postings are typically for engineers and for doing design and managers, and there's still a lot of uncertainty coming ahead with the new presidential administration where some of the incentives that have been slated to be given out may not be given out yet.

A 2024 poll reveals while 55 percent of Michigan voters believe it's important for the state to compete in electric vehicle manufacturing, only about one in four would consider purchasing an EV as their next vehicle.

The report says as the number of intrusive phone calls declined, robo-texts have more than tripled, and experts say they are far more dangerous.

While a person can avoid answering a call, most people see the beginning words of a text, which often include scary or urgent messaging, prompting them to click a risky link.

I'm Mark Richardson.

At the end of last year, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a plan to make all of Michigan's state vehicles zero emissions by 2040.

Meantime, more than three years after a federal law was passed requiring to install anti-robocall technology, fewer than half of those companies are in compliance.

The latest report on scam calls and tax finds that while robocalls are down roughly 17 percent, Americans still endure billions of these distractions every month.

Teresa Murray with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group says not only are robocalls annoying, they add unnecessary stress to everyday life.

If you add up however many times that happens per day and how many times it happens per week, I guarantee you it's a measurable amount of time that you and I will never get back.

Murray says signing up for a Do Not Call registry won't prevent all unwanted calls, but will offer some protection.

She encourages people to contact their phone companies to demand they do more and ensure that required robocall technology is installed across their carrier's entire system.

I'm Katherine Carley.

This is Public News Service.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned he would consider suing media outlets over their coverage of the Cybertruck explosion that took place outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

That from Politico.

They report a conservative activist, Robbie Starbucks, posted on X that Musk should consider suing outlets.

The article headline, like other reports on the incident, refer to it as a "cybertruck explosion."

And livestock auctions take place across North America, and how the animals are treated by those handling them is raising eyebrows.

An undercover investigator with Strategies for Ethical and Environmental Development, Pete Paxton, recently gathered footage from more than a dozen auctions.

Those who viewed it say it shows terrified, confused, and exhausted animals being handled harshly or outright abused.

It also shows workers with seemingly no regard for their suffering.

Workers face pressure under fast-paced environments, but watchdogs say upbringing and culture also play a role in their ability to not display empathy.

Paxton agrees that morally questionable tactics become second nature.

For many of them, it's like, this animal just needs to move.

Everyone's always done that.

Research has shown the slaughterhouse environment has notable psychological impacts on workers.

For example, these individuals are four times more likely to be clinically depressed.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next, the Department of Energy is taking a close look at the economic and environmental impact of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, exports, which some experts argue are driving up household energy costs and worsening climate challenges.

The report comes as LNG export projects rapidly expand, with U.S. demand at record levels and expected to grow as new facilities open.

In Virginia, household natural gas bills have increased 50 percent since 2016, far outpacing inflation, says Jeremy Simons of Simons Public Affairs.

He attributes the increase to growing LNG exports, which limit domestic supply and drive energy costs.

A single plant, the controversial CP2 facility that's being proposed for Louisiana, would export twice as much gas every day than Virginia consumes.

That means that even though it's happening on the other side of the country, it drives up energy prices across the country.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund has gathered more than 5,000 signatures urging the Biden administration to pause LNG export licenses until a full review is completed.

Supporters of these exports argue that expanding infrastructure bolsters U.S. energy independence and strengthens global energy markets.

Simons encourages the public to use the 60-day comment period to ensure that affected communities are heard.

This is Tramiel Gomes.

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