Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Senator Lindsey Graham, dead at age 71, while Senator Mitch McConnnel releases a proof of life photo. Alaska food banks straining under shipping costs; Texas teachers' union cautious about newly formed commission; A decade later, West Virginia is still healing from floods.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service, Daily Newscast, July the 13th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

There were two seismic events for the GOP Senate majority this weekend, and both were unexpected.

The first was 71-year-old GOP Senator Lindsey Graham's death.

The AP knows Graham, one of Trump's closest allies in Congress, died after a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary medical examiner finding shared by his office.

And after weeks of speculation, former Senator Mitch McConnell finally broke his silence and released what appears to be a proof-of-life photo with his wife at his side at George Washington University Hospital.

Meantime, higher fuel prices and logistical challenges are making it harder and more expensive to ship food to Alaska's remote food banks amid a sharp increase in demand.

Two years ago, the Juneau-based Southeast Alaska Food Bank was providing necessities to about 75 households and 350 people a week.

Executive Director Daniel Park says based on current numbers, the demand has grown substantially.

Currently, we're averaging more like 150 households a week and more like 500 individuals a week.

So since 2024, we've effectively doubled our direct distribution.

Struggling to get food to the state's most remote villages and towns comes atop news that Alaska had the highest number of SNAP benefit paperwork errors in the nation.

The state will also impose Medicaid work requirements next year.

Food bank demand is up in the lower 48 states, too, due to higher fuel prices and a loss of SNAP benefits for low-income people.

But Parks points out that Alaska's remote geography compounds the problem, which is made still more complicated by the fact that states now import most of their food.

And every state exports most of its production.

The difference being they have roads and we don't.

I'm Mark Moran.

And members of the Texas American Federation of Teachers say they aren't confident recommendations from a newly formed commission will improve public education.

Governor Greg Abbott says the Texas Classroom Commission will provide education policy recommendations for next year's legislative session.

But Kelsey Kling with Texas AFT says teachers have been surveyed in the past and lawmakers haven't implemented their suggestions.

There is certainly room for new information to come out and new recommendations to be made, but the fact that we're getting this new commission basically less than six months before a new legislative session feels a little bit like lip service.

The number of teachers in Texas who have left the profession spiked in 2022 and has remained above 12 percent.

The commission will be led by former teacher Courtney Boswell-McDonald of Kerrville.

She's currently the chair of the State Board of Educators Certification.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

This is Public News service.

Rural communities in West Virginia have stepped up local flood relief and long-term support, largely from lessons learned after the state's devastating floods of 2016 that left 23 people dead.

Ardadi Aramlingon reports that summer repeated rounds of rainfall moved over Clay, Greenbrier, Kanawha, and Nicholas counties.

Some areas experienced 8 to 10 feet of rain in less than 12 hours, what experts called an extremely rare thousand-year flood event.

In the aftermath, Dave Lumsden helped found West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, a multi-county long-term disaster recovery committee.

That's a FEMA model that's recommended for communities to go ahead and address not just the immediate response and rescue, but how is it that you go about doing long-term recovery?

The 2016 floods caused more than $1 billion in damage and left thousands of people displaced or unhoused.

Next up, young adults who have been dropped out of high school could have fewer opportunities to earn a diploma and prepare for a career if proposed federal funding cuts to the Youth Build program are carried out.

Funded through the U.S. Department of Labor, the program serves people ages 16 to 24 through education, job training, and leadership development.

Jarrell Morton leads JobPoint's Youth Build program in Columbia.

He says the consequences of cuts to these types of programs could be very frightening.

You have individuals that were disengaged from the traditional education model, and we see that the pipeline to prison sort of feeds off of those that have been disconnected to traditional education.

Research shows youth bill participants are 47 percent more likely to earn a GED and 24 percent more likely to enroll in college than similar young adults receiving other services.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Finally, New Mexico's endangered species face a greater risk of extinction after the Trump administration finalized a rule removing habitat protections from legislation passed more than 50 years ago.

By narrowing the definition of harm, conservationists say places wildlife call home will now be open to logging, drilling, mining, real estate development, and more.

Lakin Jordahl with the Center for Biological Diversity says the landmark Endangered Species Act has been pivotal in safeguarding more than 1,300 U.S. species.

In ignoring this precedent, the Trump administration is opening the door for all kinds of industries to destroy the natural world and drive wildlife to extinction in the process.

For decades, federal agencies defined harm to include significant habitat modification or degradation that kills or injures animals by impairing their ability to eat, shelter, or breed.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is Mike Clifford.

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