Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Divided Supreme Court allows Trump administration to begin enforcing ban on transgender service members; AZ hospitals could be required to ask patients about legal status; Taxing the wealthy to pay for Trump priorities wouldn't slow economic growth; and overdraft fees are here to stay, costing Texans thousands of dollars a year.

Transcript

The Public News Service daily newscast for May the 7th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Supreme Court said Tuesday the Trump administration can begin immediately enforcing a ban on transgender service members in the military.

That from CNN.

They report the decision is a major victory for Trump in his effort to get the high court to unlock various parts of his second term agenda that have been held up by lower courts reviewing scores of legal challenges to his policies.

CNN notes as is often the case in emergency rulings the court did not explain its reasoning.

The three liberal justices publicly dissented from the decision but also did not explain their position.

Meantime state lawmakers in Arizona are considering a piece of legislation that could mandate that hospitals ask patients whether they are in the country legally.

While the proposal includes a provision that would let patients know their answer won't impact the type of care they receive or lead to any immigration enforcement.

Proponents such as Republican Representative John Gillette say it's a needed measure to collect information on the impact undocumented immigration is having on the state's health care system including the state's Medicaid program commonly referred to as access.

Right now in Yuma County there's 1,676 people receiving some type of benefits on access from the same address but we don't know who they are and we don't know where they live we just know they have the same address but we haven't been provided that access this bill aims to do that.

Gillette explains the bill is intended to track Medicaid spending with the purpose of uncovering if taxpayer dollars are being used to treat those who are not in the U.S. legally.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

And reports that the Trump administration has considered taxing wealthy Americans to pay for mass deportations and other priorities come on the heels of a new study showing how the move could generate significant revenues without slowing economic growth.

American University's Mary Hansen says raising tax rates for people who earn over $609,000 a year to 44 percent would add three percent to the nation's tax coffers enough to stave off cuts to popular programs serving low-income Coloradans.

In current budget proportions that's about enough to pay for some of the biggest most important programs like food stamps, SNAP, children's health insurance programs and also temporary assistance for needy families.

While 44 percent may seem high compared to today's top rate of 37 percent it's a lot less than the 92 percent paid by people who earned over $400,000 a year under Republican President Dwight D.

Eisenhower.

Republicans have long argued that tax cuts create economic benefits for all and leaders in Congress including House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they would oppose any tax hikes.

Eric Galatas reporting.

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The Congress has overturned legislation that would have limited bank overdraft fees before the measure could go into effect.

The Consumer Protection Financial Bureau says Texans have filed almost 3,000 complaints about overdraft fees.

The CFPB rule would have capped fees at five dollars or limited them to cover costs and losses.

Ann Boudreau with the non-profit Texas Appleseed says the 34 to 40 dollar fee can negatively affect someone who might already be struggling financially.

And to have these mounting charges for often relatively small amounts of money that people are overdrafting it can be a real burden particularly on families who are struggling or people living paycheck to paycheck.

She says low-cost people are hurt most by bank fees.

The overdraft rule was set to go into effect on October 1st.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

And air pollution in Washington is getting worse according to a new report citing transportation emissions as the primary culprit.

Yakima and Seattle ranked the eighth and ninth worst cities in the country.

Transportation emissions account for nearly a quarter of total air pollution and about 40 percent of Washington's greenhouse gas emissions.

Laura Kate Bender with the American Lung Association says more Americans live in polluted areas now than any other time within the last 10 years.

After decades of progress to clean up the air from policies under the Clean Air Act we're now starting to see an uptick in pollution levels once again and it shows that we really need to double down on protections that are limiting emissions from vehicles not roll them back.

Congressional Republicans just voted to rescind the federal waivers that allow California to set emission standards for vehicles that are stricter than national ones.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

Finally protections for indigenous rock art in Wyoming are in limbo after state lawmakers and the Trump administration took potentially conflicting actions related to them.

Senate file 91 which handily passed the state legislature increased the penalties for any kind of petroglyph or pictograph site destruction to a $750 fine in up to six months in prison.

This as the interior department fast-tracked energy projects through a decades-old legal review of such sites.

Tribal historic preservation officer for the northern Arapaho tribe Crystal C. Bearing says she used to have 30 days to comment on a project but now has seven.

In terms of tribes our sacred sites and our places of significance that's our history on the ground it's not in books it's on the land so it's really important for tribes to have that voice in there.

According to a state of the art 2024 report of the nearly 1,100 indigenous rock art sites across Wyoming about one quarter have been vandalized or defaced.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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