Six minutes of news from around the nation.

IL union president: Government shutdown hurts federal workers, energy advocate offers advice to MD consumers as power bills soar and three WV jails holding ICE detainees are over capacity, new data shows.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for October 20th, 2025.

I'm Joe Ulory.

The federal shutdown is nearing four weeks with no end in sight.

Both parties face political pressure, but health care has become the focus.

The New York Times reports Democrats refuse to pass a spending deal unless Republicans extend Affordable Care Act tax credits.

That stance has split the GOP.

Some Republicans want to repeal Obamacare, while others warn doing so could backfire politically.

President Trump hasn't outlined a clear path.

For now, both parties are standing firm as the shutdown deepens and voters grow frustrated.

An Illinois-based union president is speaking out about how that shutdown is impacting federal employees outside of Washington and says lawmakers must learn from the historic 2019 shutdown that dragged on for 35 days.

Brent Barron is the president of the National Council of Field Labor Locals under the American Federation of Government Employees, a union which represents 7,500 employees at the Department of Labor. says since October 1st, about 75 percent of Labor Department employees have been furloughed.

About 3000 employees are still required to work without pay, and Barron explains they can't file for unemployment because they are technically still employed.

Your everyday expenses of going to work continue putting gas in your car, preparing lunch, putting your kids in daycare, all the other things that go with living.

They keep going on.

But guess what doesn't go on a paycheck.

Barron, who's been a federal employee since 1989 says during the 2019 government shutdown, people couldn't afford to keep coming into work despite management requiring it.

He says that could happen again.

The union is providing resources for members on its website and Barron is encouraging all furloughed employees who can file for unemployment to do so immediately.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

Three West Virginia jails holding detainees arrested by ICE are over capacity.

Data from the state's corrections division shows the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville, the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, and the Eastern Regional Jail in Martinsburg were all holding more people than permitted.

Lawmakers, including Democratic West Virginia Delegate Hollis Lewis of Charleston, say the state should be pursuing alternatives to detention to ease the strain on jails.

A lot of individuals are sitting in those facilities because they are suffering mental health issues and we don't have proper wraparound services.

In the last decade, West Virginia's jails were the deadliest in the country, compounded by overcrowding problems and staffing shortages.

This is Public News Service.

As ratepayers across Maryland face steeper electrical bills, consumer advocates are offering advice on how to lower your energy costs.

More from Zamone Perez.

A new guide from the Maryland Energy Advocates Coalition outlined six steps to combat rapidly increasing prices.

The first step is to get to know your utility bill.

From there, the guide recommends that homeowners take advantage of a free energy checkup and HVAC tune-up offered through Maryland's Empower Energy Efficiency Program.

Laurel Peltier, the chair of the coalition, wrote the guide.

She says consumers have started feeling the crunch with their energy bills.

Energy was cheap for a long time, and so we didn't really care.

You know, it's like you kind of got your utility bill and it was like, you know, this is affordable.

And for low income families, they were struggling before, now they're underwater.

Energy costs have jumped across the country almost twice as fast as the overall cost of living.

Detroit High School that offers special instruction on flying or fixing airplanes and drones has reversed high absenteeism rates linked to transportation barriers.

When searching for solutions, Principal Michelle Davis remembered how she felt as a child when her mother purchased a Huffy bike and she wanted her students to have the same excitement.

A phone call to the school's advisory council and a partnership with the Mitch Albom Foundation, Davis explains, set the plan in motion to surprise almost 100 kids with their own bikes.

It was like Christmas.

They were screaming and yelling, clapping.

Some of the kids had never had bikes before.

Chronic absenteeism rates have dropped by 14 percent, Davis adds, and a culture shift has taken place programs start.

Students feel empowered because they have transportation at their fingertips and some mobility issues are removed when parents work schedules and students extracurricular activity times are not compatible.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

A developer is slated to build a massive AI data center in New Mexico after only a few weeks notice to local residents and opponents say it's created distrust about the process.

Developers behind the $165 billion project Jupiter have pledged to create 2,500 construction jobs and 750 full-time positions.

That may be good news for the economy, but critics worry the project could strain the region's water and power resources and cause significant pollution.

Joe Cardeo is with the advocacy group, Progress Now New Mexico. companies are not coming into local communities because they want to do good.

They're coming to make money and three weeks is certainly not enough time for the community to have a real transparent conversation about the costs and benefits.

Cardeo says a lack of transparency has led many to conclude it was a done deal before the public hearing was ever held.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is Joe Ulory for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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