Six minutes of news from around the nation.

James Comey and Letitia James press for dismissal of their cases, challenge prosecutor's appointment; Farm Bill extended but questions for smaller SD farms persist; NM's pollinators encounter politics at U.S.-Mexico border wall; New data show evictions remain widespread in Kentucky; NC Angel Tree program supports kids in need for Christmas.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast November the 14th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge Thursday to dismiss the cases against them, saying the prosecutor who secured the indictments was illegally installed in the role.

That from the Associated Press.

In a report, U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Curry said she expects to decide by Thanksgiving on the challenges to Lindsey Halligan's appointment as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The AP notes the decision could help determine the fate of the politically charged cases, which were both shepherded by the hastily installed Halligan, and together have amplified concerns the Justice Department is being used as a weapon to target President Trump's perceived adversaries.

Meantime, as the federal government reopens, South Dakota farmers are getting some clarity too with a farm bill extension.

But support organizations say smaller farms remain in a tough spot to boost land health and their profits.

Like it has in recent history, Congress re-upped the farm bill by one more year, even though this sprawling ag policy is meant to cover a five-year period.

Mike Lavender of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition says it means USDA programs are still mostly shaped around language and funding levels from nearly a decade ago.

He says conditions are different now.

We all know issues in rural communities, farm country.

We have to have those conversations in the context of a full farm bill.

And these year extensions do not give us the space to do that.

These groups also note it's not a clean extension with elimination of payment limits for cost sharing dollars when a farmer adopts practices to improve soil health.

Opponents say that clears the way for more larger corporate farms to get those funds, shutting out family farms.

In South Dakota, the percentage of successful applicants is still below 50 percent.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next, the Southwestern landscape attracts a huge variety of pollinators, but environmental groups say expansion of the US-Mexico border wall may further reduce their dwindling numbers.

The Trump administration's Department of Homeland Security has waived 27 laws to speed construction of what's being called Smart Wall, including more than 20 miles in New Mexico.

Scott Black leads the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

He says older sections of the border wall did not pose the same risk to pollinators or wildlife like jaguars and mountain lions because they could get around or through the fence.

When you build any infrastructure, there's basically a lot of habitat destruction.

It's this much wider footprint, hundreds of miles long with zero habitat.

The desert landscape in Southern New Mexico and other border states also is home to moss, flies, bats, hummingbirds, and animals like the desert tortoise.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is public news service.

Forty-five percent of renters in Kentucky are cost burdened and many live with the threat of eviction according to new data.

Research shows people facing eviction are more likely to face depression, anxiety, and use of prescription medication physical health and premature death.

Average monthly eviction cases between 2022 and 2024 peaked at nearly 3,600.

Hannah McCarty with Kentucky Youth Advocates, the group that compiled the data, says experiencing eviction leaves a lasting imprint on children.

Children and households facing eviction experience challenges to their educational attainment.

They're more likely to have to switch schools or school districts.

It's also associated with increased absences and lost instruction time.

The state is facing a severe housing shortage, which is partially driving up rents, and many households are paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

In 2024, Kentucky was short more than 206,000 homes, and this is projected to increase to nearly 290,000 by 2029.

This is Nadia Ramligan.

Next, an environmental group is warning Tennesseans about the EPA's approval of a new PFAS-based pesticide for use in farming, lawns and crops such as soybeans and lettuce.

More than 73 million Americans face unsafe levels of these toxic substance in their drinking water according to the Natural Resources Defense Council and Tennessee tests water for 29 of these toxins.

Nathan Donley with the Center for Biological Diversity says the Trump administration has no plan to address increasingly toxic pesticides.

He adds that there are no safeguards for PFAS-based pesticides being used on crops and produce, which he says are harming the environment.

"A lot of these are used on things like corn and soy.

We grow a hundred million acres of both those crops each year in the United States, so that gives you a sense of the scope that we're talking about here.

Hundreds of millions of acres of land potentially could be sprayed with these pesticides."

Danielle Smith reporting.

Finally a program is helping families in North Carolina who are struggling to experience the joy of Christmas.

The Salvation Army of Wake and Lee counties has partnered with Coastal Credit Union on the Angel Tree program.

The project allows people to adopt an angel and provide support to a local child in need.

Area Commander Major Lorena Crawford with the Salvation Army of Wake and Lee counties says the program had about 8,000 children register this year.

We try to provide a whole entire outfit for the children and three toys.

So we ask corporations to help us, churches, smaller businesses.

We put up an angel tree at Crabtree Mall and then we have online site where people can get angels from there.

Coastal Credit Union is hosting the program at all of its branches.

I'm Eric Tagethoff reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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