Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Supreme Court turns down challenge to ban on semiautomatic rifles; Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' sets sights on clean energy in Colorado; Corporate practices jack up Mississippi's egg prices.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for June 3, 2025.

I'm Farah Sidiqui.

The Supreme Court declined to take up a pair of gun rights cases Monday, leaving in place Maryland's ban on semi-automatic military-style rifles and Rhode Island's restrictions on large-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

That from The Washington Post.

They report the court's action drew dissents from three conservatives, showing that the Supreme Court is still divided on how to handle Second Amendment cases after the justices expanded gun rights in a 2022 landmark decision.

Justice Clarence Thomas said the high court should have reviewed the lower court ruling in the Maryland case and not put off the question of whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America.

The answer, he wrote, is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR-15 owners.

The two other dissenters were Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M.

Gorsuch.

And as the U.S. Senate considers President Donald Trump's big, beautiful bill recently passed by the House, clean energy advocates are sounding the alarm.

Eric Galatas reports.

Garrett Royer with the Sierra Club's Colorado chapter says the budget reconciliation package would endanger Colorado's clean air and water, fast-track reckless oil and gas development, and raise costs on working families, all to give more tax cuts and handouts to billionaires and corporate polluters.

This is a highly destructive bill that's going to threaten thousands of Colorado's jobs by gutting investments in clean energy, especially in rural and vulnerable parts of the state.

One of Trump's central campaign promises was to repeal climate action written into President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, the bill currently before the Senate would gut IRA clean energy tax credits and investments, expedite drilling and eliminate public health protections from tailpipe methane and other pollution.

The administration says these moves are necessary for the U.S. to energy dominance.

While egg prices have come down from exorbitant highs earlier in the year, Mississippi families are still paying more at the grocery store.

While the avian flu has been widely blamed for egg shortages and price hikes, food policy experts say corporate consolidation and profit strategies may be playing a larger role.

They're calling for more oversight and reforms to restore fairness in the food supply chain.

Andrew DeCoriolis, executive director of the non-profit Farm Forward, says companies like Amazon are making from both the producer and the retailer.

"Amazon's directly benefiting from that 22 percent increase in share value.

They are also likely benefiting from the increased margins that Whole Foods is getting to sell those products."

Mississippi's own CalMain Foods, the nation's largest egg producer, reported record profits despite minimal impact from avian flu.

The company says it's cooperating with a U.S.

Department of Justice antitrust investigation into possible price fixing, which raises concerns about how egg prices are set and who can This story was produced with original reporting from Gray-Moran for Sentient.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

This is Public News Service.

June is Pride Month and transgender advocates are speaking out, seeking equal recognition in society and in the workplace.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that President Donald Trump can enforce a ban on transgender people in the military while litigation proceeds.

Martha Gomez, with the non-profit Trans Can Work, says the attacks on transgender people ultimately hurt society as a whole.

Of course, transgender are at the forefront of a lot of those attacks, but the truth is that these DEI cuts, they hurt all of us as a nation to not have opinions outside of just one.

The armed forces are also changing the names of transgender members of the military back to their names at birth.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

Transgender, gender diverse and intersex individuals continue to face high rates of economic insecurity, job discrimination, and barriers to stable employment.

An Indiana rise in autism diagnosis is sparking new conversations as health experts urge early screening and clear guidance for families.

More on this Wish TV public news service collaboration by Joe Uluri. - Recent data shows that one in 31 American children now has autism spectrum disorder.

That's triple the rate from the early 2000s.

Dr. Janelle Gordon with Community Health Network says the increase stems partly from better screening and broader diagnostic criteria.

But more research is still needed, especially into environmental factors.

Case control studies have shown that there is no association.

Then individuals were worried about the preservatives that are in vaccines, not MMR, but other vaccines that also has been disproven.

Despite the findings, Gordon says misinformation remains a barrier for parents seeking answers.

This story was produced with original reporting from Dr Janelle Gordon Families without a regular doctor can contact their local health department.

Gordon says early action can make a big difference.

Finally, the U.S. Department of Transportation has frozen millions in grant dollars awarded by the Biden administration, leaving those counting on them in limbo.

Powell County, Montana, was set to receive more than $6.3 million for its Parks to Passes project, a collaboration with neighboring groups and governments to close gaps in a pedestrian and biking corridor spanning roughly 230 miles between Butte and the Idaho border.

That's part of the larger Great American Rail Trail route, which Kevin Mills with the Rails to Trails Conservancy says will stretch 3,700 miles between D.C. and Washington state.

It's really stalling an important connection in that nationwide trail.

And then that puts at risk Montana's potential to tap into what we've calculated to be $16 million in new economic development.

The grant was part of President Joe Biden's Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the Biden administration delayed construction with, quote, "leftist social requirements," including the consideration of a project's climate change and social justice impacts.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

This is Farah Siddiqui in for Mike Clifford.

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