Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump invokes the Defense Production Act to boost U.S oil production as fuel prices surge, Michigan union workers ramp up efforts to get voters to the polls, and a new federal rule makes clean-energy funding harder for Utah farmers to access.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Friday, October 23rd, 2026.

I'm Joe Ulori.

President Trump has invoked the Defense Production Act to boost U.S. oil production and refining.

As fuel prices surge, the action allows federal financial incentives for oil projects, pipelines, and fuel storage.

The move comes as the Iran war disrupts energy supplies less than two weeks before Election Day.

Union workers across Michigan are stepping up efforts to get voters to the polls.

The Service Employees International Union is holding a National Day of Action Saturday with rallies, door-to-door canvassing, and other events planned in more than a dozen cities nationwide.

The campaign called Corporations Out of Politics focuses on the influence of big business on government decisions.

SEIU member Eleanor Denise Campbell says the first effort is about reaching voters where they live.

Taking our voices to the street, educating them on who's a great candidate for unions.

Crystal Blair reporting.

A new federal rule could make it harder for Utah farmers to get help paying for clean energy projects.

Farmers must now finish the work and document a year of energy savings before applying for funding.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the change will streamline its Rural Energy for America program.

But Chad Hughes with the Environmental Law and Policy Center says smaller farms may not be able to carry the upfront costs.

Only those that can afford to carry those costs for over a year without knowing whether or not they're going to be reimbursed are going to be able to apply for reap.

So it's going to make the program just much less accessible.

The rule also limits wind projects on certified cropland.

It took effect October 16th.

Farmers and rural businesses can comment through November 2nd at regulations.gov.

An investigation by the non-profit Tech Transparency Project reveals that Meta ran 332 paid advertisements featuring AI-generated or real child sexual abuse material.

Our Mark Richardson reports.

The offending ads ran on Meta's Facebook and Instagram sites for more than 10 months.

The report documented the violations, which collectively reached more than 29,000 accounts globally, including in the U.S., Europe, and India.

Katie Paul, executive director of the Watchdog Agency, says Meta claims all ads go through review and approval before running, but the offending messages ran anyway.

Each of them generate billions of dollars in advertising revenue a year for Meta, so much so that the company whitelists them.

Many of the ads promoted AI-generated nudify or undressing apps that digitally stripped clothing from photographs of minors.

Paul says her group notified Meta in August, and the company said it would adjust its review process.

However, new ads with the same content appeared even after Meta's assurances.

This is Public News Service.

North Carolina ranks last in the country for workers, according to a new report from Oxfam.

The group scores states on wages, worker protections, and the right to organize.

North Carolina received fewer than five points out of 100, even as the state ranks second nationally for business.

Claremont Ripley with the North Carolina Justice Center says weak labor protections are part of what makes the state attractive to some employers.

Some people in power and with influence in North Carolina believe that it is important to limit protections for working people, to basically offer the bare minimum because that seems attractive to business.

Ripley says North Carolina could strengthen worker protections without sacrificing its business climate.

She points to Virginia, which has a higher minimum wage and paid family and medical leave, while ranking third nationally for business.

Critics argue those policies can increase costs for small businesses.

The U.S. Space Force is scrambling to find new ways to launch military satellites as SpaceX phases out its Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX plans to shift to its larger Starship system, but many military satellites were not designed for it.

Other rocket companies have faced delays, leaving the Pentagon with fewer launch options.

SpaceX handled about 85% of U.S. launches last year.

Rural fire departments across Indiana are increasingly concerned about finding enough people willing to volunteer.

For generations, many small communities have relied on neighbors to answer the page and leave home or work to respond to fires, crashes, and medical emergencies.

But fire officials say that pool of volunteers is getting harder to maintain.

Daleville Fire Chief Glenn Tomlinson says the demands do not stop when the emergency is over.

There's virtually no pay.

There's long nights.

You know, there's a lot of events where they'll come in here and be in here all night long and then go right to work the next morning.

That makes recruitment difficult, especially as departments compete with full-time jobs, family responsibilities, and other demands on people's time.

The future of Washington's gray wolf is promising, with population numbers surging following near eradication in the 1930s due to predator control programs.

The first modern resident pack was documented in Okanagan County in 2008.

By last year, the estimated population reached its highest level since record-keeping began.

This is National Wolf Awareness Week, which Katie Schneider with Defenders of Wildlife says is a time to educate the public about wolf ecology and their vital role as keystone predators.

A chance to get more curious about what's really going on.

Where have we come?

Where do we still need to go to really see wolves be recovered?

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state's gray wolf population has rebounded to a minimum of 270 across 49 packs and 23 breeding pairs.

I'm Roz Brown.

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

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