News from around the nation.

Eminem backs Kamala Harris as the DOJ warns Musk's giveaway may break voting laws. NATO monitors a Turkish Aerospace attack that kills five. Wyoming faces childcare worker shortages, Indiana's abortion laws push women out of state, and warming waters shift Maine's lobster habitats.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, Thursday, October 24, 2024.

I'm Farah Sidiqi.

MNM endorses Kamala Harris for president, telling a Detroit rally audience he's not afraid of retribution from former President Donald Trump.

The Department of Justice warns that Elon Musk's million-dollar-a-day giveaway could be illegal if it encourages people to register to vote in exchange for payment.

And at least five people are killed and over 20 are injured in what Turkey's Interior Ministry is calling a terrorist attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries, a major defense company that works with fighter jets and drones, with subsidiaries worldwide, including here in the U.S.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte condemned the attack in a statement on Wednesday, saying they are monitoring developments closely.

With pandemic-era aid for early childhood educators expiring last month and Wyoming lawmakers this year failing to pass a bill that could have helped, some hope offering a higher degree could be an answer.

The 2024 Early Childhood Workforce Index shows the median wage for Wyoming early childhood educators in 2022 was $10.60 per hour.

Nikki Baldwin with the Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach Network says child care programs close regularly in the state.

We hear about them almost weekly and it can be really devastating for Wyoming families.

The U.S. currently invests just $4,000 per child per year.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

In Indiana, a Carmel mother of two is sharing a very personal story, hoping it impacts Hoosiers ahead of Election Day.

Joe Illery reports.

Abby Hall was forced to travel to Illinois for an abortion due to Indiana's restrictive laws after learning her fetus had a birth defect that would impair its quality of life.

She says the experience felt like undoing history as she grappled with legal barriers now facing women seeking health care in the state.

This is something that has been so heavily politicized and so heavily demonized.

There are all of these parameters in place to make women feel like they have to hide like fugitives and they have to do all of these things to fly under the radar.

Indiana has a near total abortion ban allowing exceptions only in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomalies or to save the life of the mother.

American lobsters along Maine's coast are relocating to new habitats as the Atlantic continues to warm.

Researchers with the University of Maine say the majority of lobsters have left their rocky shelters for open waters as their numbers and density declines.

PhD student Robert Jarrett says the findings reveal how climate change is altering the lobster population and the way fisheries will manage it.

They're always going to find a space to be able to thrive because of the oceanography, but there are definitely some challenges ahead of us.

He notes coastal water temperatures increased nearly three degrees Celsius over the past two decades, forcing lobsters to seek cooler areas to the north.

I'm Catherine Carley.

This is public news service.

The federal EPA has come under fire for not placing enough scrutiny on concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs.

A Wisconsin county is at the center of long building legal tensions.

Eastern Wisconsin farmer Nancy Utesh leads the advocacy group Kauani Cares, one of 13 organizations that sued the EPA over its lack of enforcement of factory farms.

The agency itself has admitted that fewer than 30 percent of CAFOs have Clean Water Act permits.

Still, the Ninth Circuit Court this month struck down the petition.

What we need is the really hard-core, meaningful solution building here.

Utesh says because the EPA has been slow to act, CAFOs have found ways to rapidly expand.

In their denial, the judges said even though the EPA acknowledges these issues, its promise to further study manure pollution guidelines and commission a stakeholder subcommittee was not an unreasonable response.

I'm Mike Moen.

Open enrollment season is here, a brief window for Delaware residents and people all around the country nationwide to revamp their health care plans.

Our Crystal Blair has more.

Health care experts emphasize the important tips to remember when evaluating your plan, such as making sure your doctor is in network to avoid big out-of-pocket costs.

And some Medicare Advantage plans include gym memberships.

However, Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro says be careful when opting for certain Medicare Advantage plans.

Medicare Advantage plan.

If you're thinking about signing up for one, make sure you reach out to your own health care provider to ensure that they'll accept this type of plan.

Medicare is October 15th to December 7th.

Employer plans typically run from September to December, and the health insurance marketplace is open from November 1st to January 15th in most states.

A new report reexamines how to measure Connecticut's poverty rates.

Our Edwin J. Vieira has the story.

Some findings show supplemental poverty measure-based rates rose more than 12 percent in 2022 from nearly 8.5 percent in 2021.

Child poverty rates grew during the same period, report author Patrick O'Brien with Connecticut Voices for Children says new data examines how certain benefits impact poverty rates.

In 2022, we saw that the public benefits that lifted the most people out of poverty were Social Security, food assistance programs, and housing subsidies.

And we saw that the largest contributors to poverty were medical expenses, federal payroll taxes, and work expenses.

A state-level child tax credit is one recommendation to improve the state's child poverty rates.

It can provide a cash benefit to the poorest families in the state and help offset expenses contributing to high poverty rates.

One concern is where the money to finance this credit will come from.

O'Brien says the state can decrease its tax gap, eliminate certain tax expenditures like the film industry tax credit, and increase taxes on higher-earning residents.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

This is Farah Siddiqui for Public News Service, member and listener supported, heard on interesting radio stations, your favorite podcast platform.

And you can find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.