News from around the nation.

President Biden tests positive for COVID; Report: South Dakota ethanol plants release hazardous air pollutants; California's giant sequoia groves in peril after megafires.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, July the 18th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Despite a growing movement to reduce the world's greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, some scientists say the net zero pledges do not go far enough to counter the risk of climate change.

More in this proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Report and Commonwealth News Service collaboration.

They argue the net zero goal lacks specified targets for emissions and relies too much on technology to capture CO2 rather than force fossil fuel companies to reduce pollution.

Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, Dr.

Holly Buck, says most technologies run at small scale are expensive to operate and lack the capacity to reach net zero targets.

Carbon removal capacity is going to be limited by various things like land or energy inputs.

We can't count on building such a big carbon removal infrastructure to negate those remaining emissions.

Buck says net zero goals lack clarity but are still just one part of the climate solution.

She says greater efforts should be made towards a clean energy transition as well as climate adaptation, such as building more cooling centers and preparing coastal cities for sea level rise.

I'm Catherine Carley reporting.

Meantime, President Biden tested positive for COVID on Wednesday, according to the White House, forcing him to cancel his event in Las Vegas and likely sidelining him for the days following the conclusion of the Trump-nominating convention in Milwaukee.

The White House press secretary said in a statement that earlier today, he tested positive for COVID.

She added he is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms.

And biofuels are painted as a greener energy alternative to fossil fuels.

But a new study shows the industry produces plenty of their own air pollutants.

American biofuel plants reported emitting nearly 13 million pounds of hazardous air pollution in 2022, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project, trailing only slightly behind the 14.5 million pounds that oil refineries released.

Tom Pelton with a nonprofit says that South Dakota's 16 biofuel plants, which mostly make ethanol from corn, produce about 1.7 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year and 350,000 pounds of air pollution, including known carcinogens.

Biofuel production is concentrated in the Midwest, and Pelton says people living nearby could suffer health impacts.

It's hard to detect and hard to track, but a person living downwind from one of these plants might have, you know, a few percentage points more chance of getting cancer over their lifetime.

The report recommends that the EPA increase monitoring and control of air pollutants, improve the accuracy of emissions reporting, and end current exemptions for ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

The report suggests ending government subsidies for biofuels.

This is Public News Service.

And two new studies find that without sustained intervention, California may permanently lose big sections of old-growth Great Sequoia groves.

The majestic trees only grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Since 2015, 20 percent of them have died, most in three megafires in 2020 and 2021.

David Soderberg, with the U.S.

Geological Survey, co-author of one of the studies, says the blazes incinerated many of the older seed-bearing trees.

You're getting much larger patches of fires burning at what's called high severity.

So you have this kind of bad combination for the sequoias where many more of the mature trees are dying, and there's many fewer of the seedlings regenerating.

The studies show that there are substantially fewer seedlings than in the past.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And advocates for academic freedom are battling in court against Florida's claim that a professor's speech is a government speech.

Arguments in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, last month raised alarms when prominent attorney Charles J.

Cooper, representing Florida, said the state can "insist that professors not espouse and endorse viewpoints contrary to the state's."

Adriana Navoa is a professor of Latin American history at the University of South Florida, who is challenging the Stop Woke Act and warns people should be very concerned.

It's indoctrination, which is ironic because that's what they say that we are doing right now.

So basically, any governor is not only about this one, any governor in the future can decide what will be the viewpoints that will be promoted in the classroom.

The Stop Woke Act struck down but under appeal, banned school instruction and workplace training, suggesting privilege or oppression based on race, sex, or national origin.

I'm Tramell Gomes.

Finally, our Joe Ulori lets us know a new initiative in Indiana is helping eliminate dangerous habitats in the homes of pregnant or parenting students.

The Stronger Tomorrows program teaches young parents how to avoid suffocation and strangulation dangers created in baby cribs and by bed sharing.

Alma Figueroa is a case manager for Stronger Tomorrows and says her mission is clear, help students feel prepared and stay on track to graduate.

The Stronger Tomorrows program also ensures they know their rights under Title IX and connects them to a vital community support.

If their babies are not okay or if their whole life, something is not going well at home, then we know that that's going to really affect their success in school.

And so making sure that their babies are well, their parenting is essential for them to be successful.

Figueroa says Stronger Tomorrows is making a difference because of partners such as the Shepard Community Center.

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

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