Six minutes of news from around the nation.

TSA chief says airport lines are the "longest ever" as both sides in Senate reject plans to end the shutdown; Indiana schools head to Spring Break amid rising measles concerns; 'No Kings' protests to return, in New Mexico and nationwide; and passage of the SAVE Act would mean more miles on road for Nevada's rural voters.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily newscast March 26, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration told the House Committee that security checkpoints at the nation's airports were experiencing the highest wait times in history because of the Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

The administrator said Asian absences topped 40 percent at some airports since the shutdown began.

Meantime, the New York Times notes Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have each formally rejected the other's proposals to end the shutdown.

Meantime, Indiana health officials are warning families heading into spring break that travel could increase the risk of measles exposure.

Our Julie LaRue reports the concern comes as cases rise in other southern states.

Measles is highly contagious and can spread through the air, particularly in crowded places like airports, planes, and buses.

Julie director of nursing with the Hamilton County Health Department, says travel puts people closer to outbreaks.

We are fortunate here in Indiana that we do not have cases, but places like South Carolina, Florida, places that people like to travel have high cases of measles.

Federal health officials add the best protection is vaccination, but rates have slipped slightly nationwide, raising concern about a potential spread.

Doctors say anyone unsure of their vaccination status should check with a provider before they travel.

And folks in New Mexico who feel the United States has gone off track will take to the streets again Saturday for the third round of No Kings protests.

Demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his policies have grown larger since the first protests were held in June of 2025.

Las Cruces organizers reported turnout for their October event doubled attendance of the June event, and protest actions expanded to 30 locations across the state.

Longtime Santa Fe political activist and law professor Heidi Lee Feldman says numbers matter.

Every time we do an event, more and more people turn out, which means more and more people are paying attention.

The first step in fighting an oppressive government is for people to pay attention to what's going on.

I'm Roz Brown.

Kathleen Carson is with Seattle Indivisible, the grassroots group, co-organizing the events.

She says Saturday will be focused on inviting people to engage in community organizing on a very local level or block by block, inspired by local resistance to ICE activity in Minneapolis.

It really starts at the neighborhood level and making sure that you know the people next to you, because that's how we protect our vulnerable neighbors and also just build that resilience in our community.

New data from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights shows statewide ice arrests increased dramatically at the end of last year, with more than 400 in October and November.

This is Public News Service.

New York has been granted final approval to reduce the state health insurance coverage for low-income residents, known as the Essential Plan.

Governor Kathy Hochul has called for lowering the eligibility for people with incomes from 250 to 200 percent of the federal poverty line.

This means more than 1 million New Yorkers will keep their coverage, but 470,000 will be dropped unless the state intervenes before July.

Michael Knukin with the Fiscal Policy Institute says New York can and should provide an alternative for people losing this coverage.

Even without raising taxes in this fiscal year, the state is in a position with existing money we have on hand that we were going to use for a different purpose.

We can repurpose that money to completely protect this entire population.

He says funds were set aside in Governor Hochul's 2027 budget proposal, which includes two and a half billion dollars to help essential plan enrollees if the state had not gotten approval to shrink the plan.

A Community Service Society of New York report finds that would be just enough to guarantee this population would maintain health coverage.

The budget should be finalized by April 1st.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

And a coalition of Jewish and Palestinian human rights advocates has successfully pressured the Washington State Treasurer's Office to divest $53 million in investments in the equipment company Caterpillar.

The group, Pet Ties with Genocide, charges that for 60 years, the Israeli military has used caterpillar bulldozers to tear down homes in Gaza and other Palestinian territories.

Ray Levine, an organizer with Jewish Voices for Peace in Seattle, says state officials listened to them and took action.

They initiated their environmental social governance guidelines back in 2021 and digested from fossil fuel companies.

Their portfolio hasn't included weapons companies, but we pointed out that they did hold Caterpillar bonds.

Caterpillar released a statement saying it does not condone the illegal or immoral use of any Caterpillar equipment, but did not say whether it would stop selling to Israel.

I'm Mark Richardson.

Finally, if the Save America Act, now being debated in the Congress, becomes law, it will require many rural Nevada voters to drive great distances to register to vote in person or at the county seat.

A new analysis from the Center for American Progress shows, for example, that voters in parts of Nye County would have to drive more than four hours round trip on a weekday.

And voters in Clark, Elko, Humboldt, Lincoln and White Pine counties could have to drive between two and three and a half hours.

Greta Betikovics with the Center for American Progress says this bill isn't just about showing identification at the polls.

This bill has asked people to either have a passport, pay $165 to get one, or to have an original certified copy of their birth certificate.

This is really not voter ID, and it's critical that Americans understand that.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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