Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Special Education and Civil Rights is being moved out of the Department of Education; A voter information requirement could hinder Arizona mail-in ballots; Washington is named a top state for nursing education; A new report finds Pennsylvania's fossil fuel decline leaves a widening fiscal gap.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast, June the 17th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Trump administration efforts to reduce the role or even eliminate the Department of Education advanced on Tuesday.

The Washington Post notes the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which oversees the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, will move to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Office for Civil Rights will move much of its work to the Justice Department.

They were two of the Education Department's latest major efforts to outsource major functions, and the announcement signifies the progress the administration has made toward its goal of closing the agency.

Meantime, Arizona voting rights advocates are resisting President Donald Trump's executive order that directs the U.S. Postal Service not to deliver mail-in ballots to residents if a state refuses to send its voter rolls to Washington. 84% of Arizonans cast their ballot by mail in the 2024 presidential election.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called any attempt to hinder the ability to vote by mail unconstitutional and a move by the Trump administration to manipulate elections.

It's the administration's attempt to pick their own voters.

They don't want their voters to be disabled veterans or older folks.

They don't want their voters to be from rural Arizona.

This is a time-tested method by which Arizonans vote.

We like it this way.

The mail-in balloting executive order comes amid President Trump's efforts to make sweeping adjustments to the way elections are handled.

He has also supported efforts to require new voter registration citizenship verification.

The president has said he's trying to safeguard the integrity of the election system.

I'm Mark Moran.

Fonte says the state is considering legal options to stop the executive order from taking effect in Arizona.

And as states across the country struggle to address a shortage of health care providers, Washington has emerged as one of the best states for nursing students.

New data places the Evergreen State at eighth on the list based on its tuition costs and student retention rates.

Matt Jaeger is with NURSA, the health care staffing platform behind the study.

He says the data shows over 83 percent of Washington nursing students complete their programs.

While Washington seems to be a little bit more expensive on average, it still has higher retention rates overall, which may indicate that students are a little bit more supported in terms of financial aid.

Despite the high ranking, Washington is still slated to have one of the highest nursing shortages in the nation by 2035, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

State leaders are well aware of the issue.

The 2023 state legislative session invested over $10 million in public university and community college nursing programs.

I'm Isobel Charle.

Across the country, research found average in-state tuition is over $13,000 per year, while the average student retention rate is around 75%.

This is Public News Service.

A new report warns that Pennsylvania's budget is headed for a crisis and the fossil fuel industry won't be able to bail it out.

Researchers say the sector's long-term decline and years of generous tax concessions have deepened the state's fiscal pressures.

Trey Cowan with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says Pennsylvania faces a demographic crunch involving an aging, slow-growing population that's driving spending up.

He explains that the fees that Pennsylvania producers pay on natural gas extraction are a tiny fraction of the state's budget.

It's a three-cent tax on natural gas versus if you do the stoichiometry, it's 78 cents on the same heat content.

So 78 cents tax credit versus a 3 cent tax.

So it's 26 times larger tax credit than what they're taking in.

Backers of the fossil fuel industry, including the Trump administration, argue that continued expansion of fossil fuels ensures energy independence, grid reliability and economic growth.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And discussions are often limited or nonexistent among Indiana women about their reproductive journey from menstruation to menopause.

Congress is considering a bill supported by over 30 female lawmakers that would change the approach to these phases of life.

The Reproductive Health Care Leave Act would mandate 12 days of paid leave per year for any physical or mental health effects linked to menstruation, abortion, menopause, perimenopause, and miscarriage.

As bodies change from adolescence to adulthood, it is a good idea to have conversations about puberty with both sexes, says Dr. Magdalena Lewanduska from Indiana Hematology.

There is still a very significant amount of, I would say, gender bias, and people have a lot of difficulty.

There's a lot of stigma surrounding menstruation, but not just menstruation itself.

I think there's also a lot of misunderstanding of what is considered to be normal.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

Finally, although the pesty New World screwworm has not been detected in Arkansas, the State Department of Agriculture is on high alert.

Several cases have been confirmed in nearby Texas and animals from the area are not allowed into the natural state.

The restrictions are in accordance with federal guidelines.

Jennifer Kojel at Texas Tech University is part of a team that has been monitoring the parasite's migration across Mexico.

We've done our best to try to prepare people to start thinking about what would happen when it's in the U.S. And now we're continuing to amplify our messages about vigilance.

The blowfly can affect all warm-blooded species, including goats, deer, pigs, and pets.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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