Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump and China call off the divorce; Court ruling allows transgender troop removal to proceed; NC University provides guaranteed opportunity to students in struggling region; Program elimination, job loss as DOGE cuts funds for NM's AmeriCorps.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily newscast for May the 13th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Donald Trump's deal to dramatically slash tariffs on China thrilled markets and offered a sliver of relief for businesses across the country.

It also revealed an important lesson.

Even Teflon Don can't outrun economic reality.

That is a take from CNN.

They report the deal brokered in Geneva in which both sides agreed to lower tariff rates by triple digit percentages came as anxiety mounted about a potential downturn in the U.S.

The manufacturing sector, watching order books dry up, has been shrinking its workforce, ports a warning of a plunge in shipments.

Economists have been calculating significant odds of a recession.

CNN reports against that backdrop, the U.S. and China agreed to pull back from the brink of a bruising tariff fight that amounted to an all-out trade embargo.

Next, the Pentagon will begin removing transgender people from the military.

After the Supreme Court ruled a ban could be enforced as lawsuits proceed.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender troops, claiming they lack the humility and selflessness to serve.

Navy veteran Lindsey Church with Minority Veterans of America says that puts transgender service members in New Hampshire in a difficult situation.

People are worried about what comes next, where they're going to live, what their health care situation is going to be, how they're going to be employed, how quickly they're going to be purged from the military.

And all of these things are also happening at the same time that they're still wearing the uniform.

Some estimates put the number of transgender service members at higher than 15,000, just under 1 percent of troops.

I'm Catherine Carley.

Opponents of the ban say nearly 75 percent of transgender troops have served for more than a decade.

Banning transgender people are twice as likely to have served in the military.

And a new conduit to college has been created for students at a high school in North Carolina.

William Peace University in Raleigh is offering guaranteed admissions to graduates of the Northeast Academy for Aerospace and Advanced Technologies, or NEAT.

The agreement is part of an effort to encourage more students in STEM to pursue higher education.

Head of NEAT Andrew Harris says the partnership with William Peace is especially important for a struggling region with some of the highest rates of poverty in the state.

In areas like ours in Northeast North Carolina, sometimes students just think that success is something that happens somewhere else.

And we're glad to be able to show them that there is a clear path from fifth grade through high school, through William Peace University and into high demand, high wage jobs.

Harris says students at NEAT complete college courses while still in high school and can save families as much as $30,000.

William Peace has waived application fees for NEAT students.

The college will also have merit-based scholarships ranging from $12,000 to $20,000 a year based on a student's GPA.

I'm Eric Tegethoff reporting.

This is Public News Service.

The disbanding of the 30-year-old AmeriCorps National Service Program by DOJ will have significant impacts in states like New Mexico.

Last year, AmeriCorps recruited more than 4,500 participants in the state to help meet local needs and strengthen communities.

Program grants are administered by the Serve New Mexico Commission, working under the Department of Workforce Solutions.

Executive Director Kristen Schuss says funding was eliminated for a planning grant and six of 10 operational programs, leaving only four still functioning.

These programs were offering services to the communities, everything from tutoring to after school programming, mentorship, trail restoration.

So it's a significant cut.

It's almost about two-thirds of our programs.

I'm Roz Brown.

Initially known as Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, AmeriCorps was created by President Johnson in 1965 and renamed by President Bill Clinton.

And the U.S. and China combined eat a little less than half of all the beef produced globally.

But consumption there is trending in opposite directions.

Americans eat about 90 pounds of beef annually per capita, down from 117 pounds in 1974.

Across the globe, China's consumption is rising significantly, from less than a half pound in 1972 to 17 pounds per capita in 2022.

Coupled with China's rising population, that trend could mean a big increase in global demand.

Beef production is the leading cause of deforestation globally, and Brent Kim with Johns Hopkins University's Center for a Livable Future says that raises a difficult question.

Estimates suggest that we need to increase agricultural yields by 60 to 70 percent to feed the growing population.

How can we feed more people with the land that we've got without cutting down more trees?

Kim says slowing beef production is an effective and fast way to curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Finally, there is a new tool that aims to equip folks in Oregon with the knowledge they need to take control of their personal data and protect their privacy.

Oregon Consumer Justice created the guide after the Oregon Consumer Privacy Act took effect last summer, empowering residents to control how businesses collect and use their personal data.

The guide explains how to request records of collected and sold personal information.

Malena Lechon-Galdos is with the Portland non-profit SUMA that helped work on the guide.

She says most people do not understand how much of their data, from internet search histories to social security numbers, is being collected, bought and sold.

The internet is a tool that everyone at this point needs to utilize, even if it's getting basic resources.

And so how can we do it in a way that is safe?

The guide includes step-by-step instructions on how to opt out of targeted advertising and stop the sale of personal data.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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