Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump transition team ethics pledge appears to exclude president-elect; AZ grandmother, a climate activist for decades, isn't slowing down; Georgia Match program hailed as college enrollment rises; and PA environmental, free speech advocates worry over 'anti-terror' law.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Thanksgiving 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President-elect Donald Trump's team submitted an ethics plan guiding the conduct of his members throughout the transition period that does not appear to include provisions for one key member of the team, the president himself.

That from CNN.

There does not appear to be a provision addressing the requirements for the president-elect to address conflicts of interest.

That from Valerie Smith Boyd, director of Center for Presidential Transition at the non-profit, non-partisan Partnership for Public Service.

Next to Arizona, where a grandmother says she's motivated to fight for environmental justice to ensure a better future for her kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

We get more in this Inside Climate News, Solutions Journalism Network, Arizona News Service collaboration. 79-year-old Hazel Chandler says she's been a climate activist since the late 1960s.

She remembers picking up an article at the time which detailed how burning fossil fuels would jeopardize the planet in the decades to come.

Since then, she's helped to advance climate action and knowledge and is the current Arizona field coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force.

Chandler says although she'd like to take life a bit easier these days, she thinks she simply can't.

Now when I look at those little babies, my great-grandchildren, and think about what the predictions are will be happening by the time they're out of high school, I just can't stop.

In her current role, Chandler helps rally volunteers to take action on climate issues and recruits people to testify and meet with lawmakers.

Research shows while the environmental movement has been dominated by men, women make up over 60 percent of climate activists today.

The average age of climate activists is 52, with 24 percent being 69 or older.

I'm Alex Gonzalez reporting.

And Georgia higher education officials are crediting a program assisting high school students with a wave of new enrollment in the state's colleges and universities.

Recruiting officials say Georgia Match helped the 26 schools in the university system of Georgia reach a total enrollment of almost 365,000 students, up 5.9 percent over 2023.

Sonny Perdue, chancellor of the University System of Georgia, says Georgia Match helps students and their families understand the long-term value of a college education.

We try to promote the facts of the value, and because people can understand value.

And that's really what we're trying to do, quality versus cost.

And if you have a great quality product at an affordability rate, then people are more likely to choose that.

Georgia Match reaches out to high school students with information on opportunities at Georgia universities and assists them with admissions, Perdue says enrollments have been down since before the pandemic in 2019, and state officials are looking to boost the numbers.

I'm Mark Richardson.

This is Public News Service.

A bill introduced in the Congress is now facing backlash from non-profit organizations that warn it could stifle free speech.

The Stop Terror Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act would postpone tax deadlines for citizens who are unlawfully detained abroad or held hostage.

But it would also give the federal government the power to remove the tax-exempt status of any non-profit group it deems to be supporting terrorist organizations.

Critics of the bill claim it would give President-elect Donald Trump the power to make those decisions about churches, universities, news outlets, and more.

In Pennsylvania, Lisa DiPaoli with the Center for Coalfield Justice says it could be used to stifle the environmental work they do.

The main issue for us is that it could take away our non-profit designation, and it could take away our First Amendment rights.

If stripped of our rights, it'll just make the fight to protect our communities that much harder.

Proponents say it would require the federal government to provide evidence that a non-profit has supported a listed terrorist organization.

More than 130 religious, civil rights, and other advocacy groups have joined the ACLU in asking lawmakers to vote against the bill.

I'm Simone Perez.

And billions of animals are killed for food every day, and one low-end estimate says that number likely reaches more than $1 trillion every year around the globe.

We get more in this sentiment, West Virginia News Service collaboration.

Associate professor of law at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Delciana Winders says she's studied how slaughter line speeds, defined as how many animals per minute are allowed to be killed, have changed, noting there's an increasing amount of pressure to kill more animals faster.

For example, in the United States, the regulations say that a single slaughter line can't kill more than 1,106 pigs per hour, which is already a staggering number.

But there have been efforts to speed that up.

A 2023 study published in Sustainable Production and Consumption found that 24 percent of livestock animals die prematurely at some point in the supply chain.

They either die on the farm or in transit, or once processed are thrown away by grocers, restaurants, and consumers.

Nadia Ramlagon reporting.

We head finally to Mississippi, where five women have been incarcerated longer than anyone else in the state.

Together, they've served over 100 years, with their releases collectively denied a total of 47 times.

One of the women is Loretta Pierre at the Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood.

She wants other folks in Mississippi to know she will continue to fight for her freedom.

I think I deserve a second chance, just like everybody else. 72 other women have made parole since I've been incarcerated under the same charge with the same amount of time, and I think I deserve a chance just like they do.

This story produced as an Appeal, Mississippi News Service collaboration.

Happy Thanksgiving.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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