Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Justice Dept. interviews Epstein associate Maxwell; VA 'right-to-work' law divides candidates as governor's race heats up; Youth plaintiffs join suit over new MT voting laws; MA health care workers cite pending crisis as funding cuts proceed. 

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast, July the 25th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Justice Department officials interviewed Jelaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, who is serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking in Tallahassee, Florida.

That for The New York Times.

The report speaking to the news media outside the federal courthouse Thursday, a lawyer for Maxwell declined to comment on the substance of the meeting.

But he said the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, who had brokered the meeting, took a full day and asked a lot of questions.

The defense lawyer added, Ms. Maxwell answered every single question.

She never stopped.

She never invoked a privilege.

And as the race for the Virginia governor heats up, the role of the Commonwealth's right to work law shows one big divide between the two candidates.

Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears has pledged to keep Virginia's right to work law in place.

It prohibits mandatory union membership in the workplace.

Former Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, on the other hand, has called for reforms, but not an outright repeal of the law, which allows each worker to decide whether to pay union dues and yet still retain the benefits of a union contract.

J. Miles Coleman, with the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, says Earl Sears is running to continue the policies of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.

She's his lieutenant governor.

She's kind of running to kind of continue the successes that they've had or at least that they think they've had for Virginia.

Kind of preserving that right to work law fits into that.

Proponents of these laws say they give workers the freedom to choose union membership, while opponents contend they're mostly meant to weaken labor unions.

One Virginia Commonwealth University poll found 49 percent of Virginians approve of Yunkin's record as governor.

In that same VCU poll, Spanberger leads Earl Sears by 8 points, 49 to 37.

Pullman says the move by Spanberger to call for reform rather than repeal placed to both pro-labor and pro-business audiences.

I'm Zimone Perez.

Next to Montana, where young plaintiffs are intervening in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of two voting laws passed this legislative session.

The groups Forward Montana and Montana Public Interest Research Group are joining others in the lawsuit against Montana Secretary of State Christy Jacobson.

The suit challenges two 2025 laws that cut election day voter registration hours and limit the use of student identification for voting.

Molly Danahy is the attorney representing the youth plaintiffs.

"Young voters, especially new voters, are more likely to use or rely on election day registration because they may be becoming eligible or deciding to vote later in the process than people who are more practiced or regular voters."

Montana's Supreme Court last year blocked a 2021 law that banned same-day voter registration.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Lawmakers who advocated for the restrictions argued they would reduce the burden on election officials.

Advocates say the Montana Supreme Court found better ways to do so, including using better equipment, more election workers.

This is public news service.

Healthcare workers in Massachusetts will join the National Day of Action tomorrow, calling for an end to federal policies they say harm Children and families.

Hundreds of thousands of residents are expected to lose their Medicaid and SNAP benefits following cuts to social safety net programs in the recently passed federal spending bill.

Marlicia Aho with 11 99 S I.E.U. United Healthcare Workers East says the state is bracing for nursing home closures, job losses and fewer available services.

We need to invest in healthcare, not cut.

And so we are really incredibly worried about what this means to care in Massachusetts for everyone.

Backers of the federal budget say spending cuts were needed to ensure an extension of the 2017 tax cuts.

Aho health care already put the state in a fragile position.

Rallies are planned tomorrow in Boston, Worcester, Pittsfield, and several other locations.

I'm Catherine Carley.

State officials say total cuts to Massachusetts federal health care funding could top more than $3 billion annually, and will have significant ripple effects.

Roughly 58,000 Wyomingites and 63 million Americans provide ongoing care to adults or kids with medical conditions or disabilities.

A new report says that is a 45 percent increase since the year 2015.

The new AARP report shows the average caregiver spends 27 hours per week on caregiving tasks.

AARP's CEO, Myesha Minter-Jordan, notes that caregiving can impact a person's finances as well as their physical and mental health.

We need systems that see caregivers, value them, and support them because they are not just helping families, they are holding up our entire healthcare system.

Mentor Jordan says AARP is advocating for a national paid family medical leave policy, workplace protections for caregivers, federal tax credits, and access to respite care, training, and support services.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

In Minnesota, smaller school districts are preparing for another year of doing more with less.

Joe Gould teaches social studies in Cass Lake, and this week he's in Washington, D.C. for conferences led by the American Federation of Teachers.

He's also sharing his views about budget constraints with the state's congressional delegation.

His district only has about a thousand students and gets most of its funding from the state and local property taxes.

But federal funding helps cover needs like special education, and Gold says that has been inadequate.

For a long time now, the federal government has not been living up to its promise for fully funding special education in our schools.

As needs grow, smaller districts have a hard time maintaining special ed staff because larger districts offer higher pay.

I'm Mike Moen.

This is Mike Clifford.

Thank you for wrapping up your week with Public News Service.

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