Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Turning Qatari 747 into Air Force One could cost $1 billion and take years, experts say; MT governor signs law tightening voter registration window; Tariffs hit OR plastic alternatives market; NY advocates says Black immigrants face extra levels of stress, discrimination.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for May the 14th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Converting a Qatari-owned 747 jet into a new Air Force One for President Trump would involve installing multiple top-secret systems and cost over a billion dollars and take years to complete, three aviation experts told NBC News.

They report that accepting the 13-year-old jet would likely cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over time.

The project might also not be completed by the end of Trump's term in 2029, at which time the plane is expected to be handed over to Trump's presidential library foundation.

One analyst said turning the Qatari airliner into Air Force One would cost billions of dollars and take years.

And next to Montana, where Governor Greg Gianforte has seen the last few bills of the 2025 session cross his desk.

As the ink dries, policy experts remind Montanans that some bills will face the courts before they take effect.

Gianforte signed Senate Bill 490, which changes the election day cutoff for same-day voter registration from 8 p.m. to noon.

It also eliminates early registration the Monday before election day, shifting the deadline to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Forward Montana's state legislative director, Zuri Moreno, says that this especially impacts Montanans who drive long distances to vote.

We've already heard from the courts that you're not supposed to mess around with same-day voter registration, and it just takes away that opportunity for working folks and young folks and rural people across the state.

Montana's Supreme Court ruled last year that banning same-day voter registration is unconstitutional.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to tear a challenge to that decision.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

In a win for renters, Gianforte also signed House Bill 311, which requires rental application fees to be returned to people who don't end up signing a lease.

Meantime, tariffs are disrupting supply chains from China, and that's making it harder for reusable alternatives to compete with single-use plastics.

Jeffrey Delkin is the president of Bamboo, an Oregon-based company that has been making plastic-free home goods for 20 years.

He says the Trump administration's 145 percent tariffs force the company to lay off their staff in China and make their U.S. staff part-time.

Though Chinese tariffs will now drop to 30 percent for 90 days, Delkin notes this is still a huge jump from the usual 3.5 percent.

He fears the tariff rollercoaster threatens the company's future as well as the market for plastic alternatives.

Unfortunately, this is a time where we need more small, right-minded, responsibly-operated businesses, and the current conditions are not helping.

Data shows even before the trade war, plastic products faced much lower tariffs than their alternatives.

I'm Isabel Charly.

This is Public News Service.

West Virginia is the only state in the country where the Trump administration has overturned the EPA's previous rejection of the state's plan to lift limits on the amount of sulfur dioxide in the air.

Sulfur dioxide is a harmful air pollutant that can cause serious lung and heart problems, particularly in people with asthma and older adults, explains Honey May, Sierra Club's West Virginia chapter director.

We're talking about asthma.

We're talking about emergency room visits, especially among the youngest and oldest.

As the administration rolls these protections back, that's what it's going to amount to is sick West Virginians.

The proposed rollbacks come at a time of unprecedented cuts to programs that help improve the health of Mountain State residents, including the closure of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health offices, responsible for mind safety and free black lung disease screenings.

Nadia Ramligan reporting.

And a North Dakota task force raising awareness about child sexual abuse is close to wrapping up its work.

Its leader says she hopes more communities use every tool to ensure kids are raised in a safe environment.

By state law, the task force is scheduled to dissolve June 30th.

Director Lindsey Burkhart says a key accomplishment was creating a pair of guides, one for families and another for schools and youth service groups that lay out the best prevention practices and resources to turn to.

She says they're still fighting misconceptions, such as children are most often abused by strangers.

Burkhart says it's why these conversations are important, including talks with kids.

What are protective strategies that we can teach our children to help empower them and help keep them safe?

Burkhart says evidence of misconceptions surfaced in a pilot project in Richland County where the task force surveyed residents. 25 percent of respondents said they didn't believe child sexual abuse happened within the county.

I'm Mike Moen.

Finally, studies show one in 10 black people in the US are immigrants, and advocates say they face significant challenges to blending into the American melting pot.

Nearly half of black immigrants in the US are from the Caribbean, while about four in 10 are from sub-Saharan Africa.

Shanika Holder-White with the National Black Workers Center says that because of historic patterns of discrimination against people of color, black migrants often face challenges not always encountered by other ethnicities.

She says they usually feel singled out because of their status.

There is a heightened fear.

We're seeing black immigrants withdrawing from spaces that they've typically gone to.

We're seeing more kids missing schools or people being afraid to go into hospitals because of the fear of being asked their status.

Holder-White points out that 40 percent of black immigrants from Africa have at least a bachelor's degree and 16 percent have a postgraduate education.

I'm Catherine Carley.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find your trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.