Six minutes of news from around the nation.

'Woefully insufficient': Federal judge accuses Justice Department of evading 'obligations' to comply with deportation flights request; WA caregivers rally against Medicaid cuts; NM's state methane regulations expected to thwart federal rollbacks; Governor, critics call out 'boilerplate' bills from WY 2025 session.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, March 21st, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

U .S. District Judge James Bosberg, the federal judge who blocked the Trump administration from deporting non-citizens, Venezuelan immigrants that it alleges are members of a gang, without due process, accused the Justice Department of evading its obligations to comply with this order for more information on the deportation flights.

That from ABC News.

Bosberg said in an order Thursday that after a noon deadline, Justice Department attorneys filed a written declaration from an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field officer which repeated general information about the deportation flights.

This is woefully insufficient, Bosberg said in response.

He then ordered more information about the deportation flights, which the administration carried out under the Alien Enemies Act.

This week, workers who provide in-home and nursing home care rally against cuts to Medicaid.

Washington's Medicaid, known as Apple Health, covers nearly two million low-income people in the state, including the majority of nursing home residents.

SEIU 775 is the union that represents long-term care workers who assist seniors and people with disabilities in their homes and in nursing facilities.

Adam Glickman with the union says caregivers help with such essential tasks as cooking, bathing, medication management, and transportation.

He says cutting Medicaid would mean many wouldn't get the care they need.

That could mean they're left alone in their homes without care for many people.

It'll mean ending up in emergency rooms.

President Donald Trump and House Republicans are proposing $880 billion in cuts from the Energy and Commerce Committee, most of which would come from Medicaid.

Critics say the goal of that plan is to help pay for tax cuts that would largely benefit the wealthiest Americans.

I'm Isabel Sharlay.

And federal rules meant to control harmful methane emissions won't take effect since Congress and President Trump have intervened, but their action is unlikely to impact New Mexico because of stricter laws already in place.

The US Senate voted to overturn the Biden administration's proposed fee on oil and gas companies over methane emissions, and Trump signed a resolution in support.

Environmental Defense Fund attorney John Goldstein says New Mexico is somewhat insulated from broad federal rollbacks because of state laws passed since 2021.

And there's anecdotal evidence they're working.

Emissions have come down, waste has come down, and obviously the oil and gas industry is not suffering in the ill effects of these rules.

It is producing at record levels in New Mexico.

Methane emissions are a significant driver of global warming and can affect people by damaging airways, aggravating lung disease, and asthma.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated repealing the methane fee will cost American taxpayers more than $7 billion in lost revenue over the next decade.

I'm Roz Brown reporting.

This is public news service.

Governor Mark Gordon has just a few days left to make final decisions on bills passed during the Wyoming legislative session.

Both fair election advocates and Gordon himself have called some in the pile boilerplate.

The governor signed bills into law this month that prohibit range choice voting, a system not currently used in the state, and foreign funding for ballot measures.

Although one slated for the 2026 ballot will be the first in 30 years.

Marissa Carpio of the Equality State Policy Center notes that trend could be the result of new control by the Freedom Caucus in Wyoming's House of Representatives.

What seems like happened is boilerplate bills from national groups making their way into Wyoming with issues that we just do not have.

Maybe just to send a message to those national groups Wyoming is a place where you can do that.

Gordon this week vetoed Senate File 196, which would have amended the Second Amendment Protection Act to include legal ramifications for police officers who participate in the enforcement of federal firearms laws.

In his three page veto letter, Gordon wrote the state, quote, shouldn't need to pass boiler plates created in far flung states that seek to fix problems we haven't seen in Wyoming.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Next to Virginia, where legislation would prohibit any systematic removals of people from voter rolls, at least 90 days before an election.

Last August, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order requiring daily updates to voter rolls instead of monthly.

The Department of Motor Vehicles found more than 6 ,000 people marked as non-citizens were registered to vote in Virginia.

But voting rights advocates argue that people may accidentally check the box that says they aren't a citizen, or they've gained citizenship between DMV visits.

Sheila Hurley-Hennessey with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy says purges so close to elections impact people across the Commonwealth.

This affects rural areas, this affects new Americans, this affects a lot of people around Virginia and I want to see if our legislators protect those individuals.

So this has the legs to be a bipartisan issue.

Yumpkin has defended his executive order as necessary to protect election security.

I'm Simone Perez.

Finally, a coalition of conservationists and tribal nations is pushing for support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative by state officials in Olympia.

The initiative is a project to remove the lower Snake River dams while maintaining current irrigation, transportation, energy, and recreation services.

The initiative focuses on restoring salmon runs and supporting the endangered southern resident killer whales.

National kayaker Gabe Newton will draw attention to the plight of the orcas next week.

He says protecting them means protecting all living things.

Well it's incredibly important.

Every time a thread in the web of life is broken, our own capacity to thrive is diminished and orcas and salmon are very integral threads.

I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

Hear us on interesting radio stations, your favorite podcast platform, find our content and trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.