Six minutes of news from around the nation.

The special counsel wants to drop the January 6 charges against President-elect Trump. U.S. officials hint at a ceasefire in Lebanon, and Trump's pick for 'border czar' warns states that are promising to fight strict immigration policies.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, November the 26th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A U.S. judge Monday dismissed the federal criminal case accusing Donald Trump of attempting to overturn the 2020 election defeat.

That's from Yahoo News.

Their report that came after special counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor overseeing the case, moved to dismiss it.

And also his attempt to revive the separate cases accusing Trump of illegally retaining classified documents after leaving office in 2021.

Yahoo notes the prosecutor said a long-standing DOG policy, which maintains that sitting presidents should not be facing criminal prosecution, requires the case to be dismissed before Trump takes office in January.

And with Maryland expanding access to abortion care, a University of Maryland Baltimore program is training more health care professionals.

Maryland's 2022 Abortion Care Access Act expanded the type of medical care nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse midwives could offer, including abortion.

Reporting from KFF Health News found UMB trains licensed practitioners in administering medication abortion pills, conducting procedural abortions, and birth control methods such as hormonal implants and intrauterine devices.

Dr. Mary Jo Bondi with UMB says expanding access to reproductive health care outside the state's urban centers is vital.

We're able to provide this training to people who are practicing in family practice, in emergency medicine, in student health settings, which really provides broader access to care.

We're really excited that this is not being limited based on specialty.

She says these types of professionals have long provided abortions to rural patients in other states, proof that receiving this care from an advanced practice clinician is safe.

Maryland is widely considered a safe haven for patients who live in states with abortion bans.

The number of abortions in the state increased 29 percent from 2019 to 2023, driven largely by out-of-state residents.

This story was produced with original reporting from Sarah Varney for KFF Health News.

Brett Pivito reporting.

Meantime, health clinics in New England and elsewhere are coping with a sharp uptick in requests for long-acting contraceptives in the wake of the election.

Planned Parenthood centers in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont report more than double their weekly average appointment inquiries for intrauterine devices, or IUDs, and the birth control implant.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England CEO Nicole Clegg says the organization had exceeded its monthly average for vasectomy consultations by mid-November.

There's a lot of anxiety that people have around whether or not they're going to have access to their preferred birth control choice.

Clegg says patients are also calling with concerns about the availability of gender-affirming care.

She says the increase mirrors what the organization experienced after President-elect Donald Trump's first win in 2016 and the eventual overturning of Roe v.

Wade in 2022.

I'm Catherine Carley.

This is Public News Service.

Next to Connecticut, where a new report shows that teacher pension financing reinforces inequality.

The Equitable Institutes report finds pupil pension subsidies are paid at less than 50 percent the rate for students of color compared with white students.

They're also paid at lower rates for low-income students.

Anthony Randazzo with the Equitable Institute notes the state must rethink how those subsidies are paid to school districts.

He says districts will realize the actual costs of teacher salaries.

By saying that they need to contribute some money towards teacher pension benefits, it would mean that every school district needs to think about, "We're going to allocate a certain amount of money to salary to pay teachers a certain wage.

We're also going to have to pay a portion of that salary.

We're going to have to pay part of the employer contributions.

The employer contributions are always as a percentage of salary."

Since the state would be paying less in salary costs, Randazzo thinks those extra dollars can be redistributed to districts that need it more.

This can be done through the state's school funding formula or another mechanism.

The overall goal is that wealthier district residents would have to pay a bit more to keep their teacher salaries high, while needier districts would have money to pay teachers better.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

And after kids get concussions, a top concern for them and their parents is when they can go back to sports.

According to reporting from KFF Health News, kids should rest both physically and mentally in the first couple days after an injury before going back to school.

Dr. Julie Wilson with Children's Hospital Colorado says a relatively new step in concussion protocol can help shorten recovery time by several days.

But also start to exercise, typically aerobic activities, cardio, walking, stationary bike, swimming, things like that.

As soon as starting the first 48 to 72 hours after injury.

Kids returning to school may need extra support from teachers and breaks in their schedule to relieve symptoms such as headaches or fatigue.

More than two million children nationwide have been diagnosed at some point with a concussion or brain injury, according to the 2022 National Health Interview Survey.

This story was produced with original reporting from Kate Ruder for KFF Health News.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Finally, the USDA is funding agricultural projects across the U.S., including in states like Alabama.

But advocates say the lack of transparency raises doubts about where the money is going.

Jason Davidson with the nonprofit Friends of the Earth says this is largely due to the limited amount of information available.

The USDA has been very opaque in sort of describing not just the projects themselves, but even what sort of data they plan to collect.

He says major meat companies have received tens of millions of dollars through the USDA's Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities program.

However, details about how the funds are being used remain vague, with only limited information on applicants, funding amounts and project summaries available.

Shantia Hudson reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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