Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Wildfires prompt evacuation in the Carolinas as New Jersey crews battle their own blaze; Iowa town halls find 'empty chairs'; California groups bring generations together to work on society's biggest problems; and Pennsylvania works to counter Trump clean energy rollbacks.

Transcript

The Public News Service Newscast, March 24, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Wildfires forced a mandatory evacuation Sunday in a North Carolina county that is still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

At the same time, South Carolina's governor declared an emergency in response to a growing wildfire in that state.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety announced a mandatory evacuation starting Saturday night for parts of Polk County in western North Carolina.

Meantime, overflow crowds are showing up at town hall meetings in Iowa, which had been planned to allow people to ask questions of their lawmakers.

But the lawmakers are not showing up.

Constituents are attending town hall meetings at libraries across the state to ask about potential changes to Social Security, cuts to government agencies, and rollbacks of DEI programs.

But Iowa AFL President Charlie Wischman says representatives Marionette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn are among lawmakers who haven't shown up to listen.

And if they don't show up, we still have crowds that are standing room only or overflowing just to try and talk to an empty chair.

Wischman says advocacy groups are trying to find other ways to connect people with their representatives, including by writing postcards or emails or calling their Washington offices with questions about the Trump administration's effort to reduce spending and downsize the federal government.

I'm Mark Moran.

And in these divisive times, nonprofit groups are stepping up to boost civic engagement.

The Creating Citizens Initiative from Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California brings older adults and young people together to discuss important civic issues.

In January, the forum topic was people's thoughts about the 2024 election.

The next forum in September will address climate change.

Nazreen Ezzedine with Commonwealth Club World Affairs helps facilitate the events.

The political climate is uncertain.

And so meaningful dialogue is more crucial than ever.

Kind of bringing this idea of the idealism of youth and also the experiences of older generations.

She says the club plans to sponsor three intergenerational dialogue events next fall and spring.

The idea for the dialogues started with college students who said they didn't plan to vote because they were disappointed that the two major candidates, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, were 78 and 81 years old.

Commonwealth Club Vice President of Education Lauren Silver says at the same time, older adults were concerned about this feeling of disconnection among young people.

Without an intergenerational divide being addressed, we're still all talking in our generational echo chambers.

And we're not going to be able to cure or heal the political system or the divisiveness in our society.

A recent Youth Truth Survey reveals many students don't think schools prepare them to be civically engaged.

It found 68 percent agree that helping others is important.

This is Suzanne Potter reporting.

This is Public News Service.

Next up, the Trump administration's rollback of clean energy progress in climate science is also seeing a strong response from Pennsylvania.

We get the story from our Daniel Smith.

Governor Josh Shapiro has already sued the Trump administration, leading to the release of $2 billion in federal aid.

Now Shapiro is pushing ahead with a six-part proposal to expand clean energy projects.

Molly Parzen with Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania says despite Trump's efforts to stall progress on clean energy and fighting climate change, the Shapiro plan should boost Pennsylvania's economy.

Governor Shapiro has been really leading on this.

He's proposed an ambitious, what he's calling, lightning plan.

This plan has a bunch of component parts, many of which would boost clean energy production, cutting through permitting obstacles, enabling rural communities to share clean energy resources.

But critics of the lightning plan say it could sustain or even increase fossil fuel production in the state.

And a Michigan nonprofit is among the groups raising concerns about a potential conflict of interest between President Donald Trump and the controversial Line 5 Tunnel project.

President Trump's National Energy Emergency Order has fast-tracked over 600 projects, including Enbridge's Line 5 Tunnel, for quicker approval.

According to records from the Federal Election Commission, Trump's campaign last year received more than $1 million in donations from Tim Barnard, CEO of the project's contractor Barnard Construction.

Levi Teitel with Progress Michigan says this is problematic.

We're drawing attention to this potential conflict of interest and what it could mean for the integrity of the Great Lakes and also for our government.

Enbridge has responded in a statement saying, in part, it hired Barnard Construction Company, Inc. and Civil and Building North America, Inc. in 2023 during the Biden administration, Crystal Blair reporting.

Finally, high school seniors will soon be counting down the days until graduation.

In Minnesota, students from future graduating classes could get a special credential.

A legislative committee today takes up a bill that would create a civic SEAL program, as nearly a dozen other states have.

Minnesota has already bolstered its civic education requirements, but bill supporters say this goes further by adding the SEAL to diplomas of students who show real interest in civic engagement.

Wisena High School junior Aisha Vibankar says that's a hard thing to do in a hostile political environment.

We have a big fear of being wrong or people having different opinions from us.

And people my age tend to shy away from the conversations that are hard.

The bill has bipartisan support.

I'm Mike Moen.

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

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