Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear asks Senator Mitch McConnell about the current state of his health; Student-led lawsuit defeats Florida’s 'Stop WOKE' Act; Michigan lawmaker wants to make free school meals permanent; Ohio educators encourage diverse books for summer reading.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast for July the 9th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Senator Mitch McConnell is considered to be Kentucky's most powerful figure in the Congress.

Now, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is directly asking him about his health.

The AP notes in a letter released Wednesday from Beshear to the former Senate Republican leader, Beshear says, Kentuckians have grown increasingly concerned about the current state of your health and well-being and ability to hold office.

They note the 84-year-old McConnell, whose physical condition has visibly declined in recent years, was hospitalized on June the 14th.

He has not released a public statement, photo, or video since.

Meantime, a federal appeals court has dealt a decisive blow to Florida's efforts to restrict what professors can say about race and gender in the classroom.

The 11th Circuit ruled the State Stop Woke Act violated the First Amendment.

The 11th Circuit ruled that the State Stop Woke Act violated the First Amendment.

Adriana Navoa is a professor of Latin American history at the University of South Florida.

She says the lawsuit started with a student.

I'm very proud of this effort, mostly because we did it with students.

This challenge was an idea of a student of mine and a group, the First Amendment forum that they created at USF.

It was a learning experience for me, which is great when your students teach you something.

The court ruled that Florida's attempt to control what professors teach was an unconstitutional pall of orthodoxy.

The law banned instruction suggesting that a person is privileged or oppressed based on race, sex, or national origin.

Governor Ron DeSantis has defended such policies as necessary to prevent what he calls indoctrination.

The 11th Circuit rejected the state's argument that professors are government employees whose speech can be controlled, noting the First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And legislation is advancing in the Michigan State Senate.

It would provide universal free breakfast and lunch to all public school students.

Supporters say the program helps reduce food insecurity while saving families hundreds of dollars a year.

Senator Dana Polhienke, who sponsored the bill, says making the program permanent would give parents peace of mind It could save them between $800 and $1,000 in yearly expenses per child.

Parents like it, too, because it's one less thing to have to concern yourself with.

I think it's a big win for everybody, and it's why it's so wildly popular.

However, some lawmakers have expressed concerns about making free school meals permanent, arguing the money could instead be directed toward other education priorities, such as improving reading and math scores or increasing funding for classrooms.

Paul Hanke contends the program would cost less than 1% of Michigan's school-aid budget.

Crystal Blair reporting.

This is Public News Service.

After the Congress decided not to extend a program meant to help families pay for health insurance, the number of people enrolled in Affordable Care Act coverage dropped by 3 million.

That's according to new data from the Trump administration.

Even more challenges are expected when the biggest cuts to Medicaid under the Republican signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect in January.

Adam Fox with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative says unless new funds are generated, tens of thousands of Coloradans could lose access to health care.

We've already seen cuts to maternity wards in a few hospitals in rural areas.

I think we could see even more reduction in services or outright closures of facilities because of the cuts in H.R.1.

The Trump administration says the drop in enrollment is a result of efforts to end fraud.

But according to a KFF report, people stopped enrolling when the cost of insurance skyrocketed after enhanced premium tax credits expired.

I'm Eric Galatas.

The summertime provides an opportunity to ensure school-aged kids have access to diverse literature.

Arnada Ramligan reports, according to the American Libraries magazine, experts recommend at least 15 to 30 minutes of reading daily during the summer to prevent learning loss.

Staying consistent with summer reading can help keep students engaged and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall, notes Erica Clay with the Ohio Education Association.

The other thing that we know is when students continue to read over the summer, it reinforces what they learn throughout the year.

It continues to help build their vocabulary over the summer.

Analysis from the Pew Research Center shows fewer 9- and 13-year-olds are reading for fun.

In 2020, around 4 in 10 9-year-old students said they read for fun almost every day, down from 53% in 2012.

We had finally two Connecticut estates struggling to provide access to gender-affirming care for young people.

It has been almost a year since Connecticut Children's Medical Health Center and Yale New Haven Health ended their gender-affirming care programs for patients under 19.

This came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid attempted to withhold funding for hospitals providing this kind of care to minors.

Connecticut and 20 other states sued to overturn the rules, but Melissa Combs with the Out Accountability Project says the damage is done.

We know that 1,000 patients were displaced, and we know 33% of them found care elsewhere in the state.

Anecdotally, we know that remaining 67%, many of them are going out of state to Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine.

State lawmakers' questions about program closures have gone unanswered.

Combs says Connecticut can look to other states like New York, Massachusetts, and California, which have dedicated funding for a network of gender-affirming care centers available to young people.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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