Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Michigan Supreme Court weighs Line 5 tunnel dispute, Oregon increases lodging tax to fund wildlife conservation programs, and Kentucky residents urge lawmakers to boost crypto scam protections.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Tuesday, March 17, 2026.

I'm Joe Ulory.

U.S. military forces are increasing their presence in the Middle East after attacks linked to Iran killed six American service members when a KC-135 strato tanker crashed during operations tied to the conflict.

The Pentagon says additional naval and air assets are moving into the region while investigators work to determine what caused the crash.

Officials say the buildup aims to protect U.S. forces and deter further escalations as tensions with Iran continue to rise.

A long-running fight over the Line 5 pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac is now before the Michigan Supreme Court.

Our Crystal Blair brings us the latest.

Justices heard arguments over whether state regulators properly approved a plan to house the pipeline in a protective tunnel beneath the lake bed.

Environmental groups argue the decision failed to properly apply the state's public trust doctrine, which requires protection of waters held for public use.

Rias Kanji, an attorney representing Flow Water Advocates, told the justices the record includes evidence the tunnel could harm critical fisheries in the straits.

The construction of this tunnel could wipe out whitefish and lake trout spawning grounds in the Straits of Mackinac forever.

Enbridge, which operates Line 5, counters the tunnel would improve safety by enclosing the pipeline and reducing the risk of an oil spill in the Great Lakes.

The Michigan Supreme Court has not indicated when it will issue a ruling.

Oil and gas companies are planning for large carbon capture and storage jobs in the Gulf of Mexico, just off the Texas coast.

A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis shows ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Repsol plan to use 2,400 square miles of subsea land to store carbon dioxide.

Report author Anika June says the plan is unprecedented and companies are ignoring potential risks.

Moving around captured CO2 through pipelines, sending it out to injection wells in offshore areas, and then injecting it thousands of feet underground.

They're many times larger than any of the existing carbon injection activities.

June says the companies are using the 45Q federal subsidy to fund the projects which incentivizes carbon capture and sequestration.

The CO2 would be stored off the coast in Houston, Corpus Christi, and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area.

The companies claim the projects will allow them to store up to 140 million metric tons of CO2 per year, but June says efforts of this size have not been tested or commercialized anywhere in the world, either on land or at sea.

This is Public News Service.

Indiana lawmakers are taking a closer look at how social media and smartphones affect young people.

New proposals debated at the statehouse focus on stronger parental involvement, improved age verification, and limits on some platform features seen as addictive for minors.

Youth advocates say the discussion comes as research shows many teens already worry about their own online habits.

Dr. Tammy Silverman with the Indiana Youth Institute says even young users recognize the problem. 45 percent of teens say they believe they're spending too much time on social media.

To have the young people themselves acknowledge that it's probably too much was new information.

Research also shows mixed effects.

Many teens say social media strengthens friendships and creativity.

But others report anxiety, cyberbullying, and sleep disruption, especially young girls.

Kentucky House lawmakers have green-lighted a bill that would strengthen consumer protections for cryptocurrency kiosks.

The bill now moves to the Senate for action.

According to AARP, as of 2024, there were more than 30,000 crypto kiosks nationwide.

Our Nadia Ramlagan with the story.

Fayette County resident Kathy Rice lost $19,000 to tech support scams involving crypto.

She says she never thought she would be the type of person to get scammed.

She believes state leaders need to do more to protect residents.

I thought I was educated enough that I would not be scammed.

Cryptocurrency kiosks look like traditional ATMs and allow users to buy or sell legitimate cryptocurrency.

But criminals are increasingly exploiting them to defraud consumers.

According to CoinATM Radar, some 470 crypto kiosks are in operation today across Kentucky, located in gas stations, supermarkets, vape shops, and liquor stores.

Oregon lawmakers have passed a bipartisan bill that increases the state's lodging tax to direct new revenue to statewide conservation efforts.

The 1.25 percent tax is expected to generate over $30 million per year for environmental and wildlife programs.

Alan Reynolds, program advisor at Defenders of Wildlife Northwest, says over time, advocates were able to overcome opposition from the lodging industry.

We had a coalition of over 100 businesses.

People who either visit or move to Oregon will patronize our business.

So the better our environment is, the more people will come.

A 2024 report found Oregon's outdoor recreation generates $16 billion in consumer spending and supports 192,000 jobs.

Reynolds says even with the increase, Oregon will still have the third lowest lodging tax in the U.S.

I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Joe Ulery for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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