Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Political mentors warn attacks on women leaders reveal a broader pattern, volunteer observers deploy across South Dakota to protect Native voting rights, and a new poll finds Americans increasingly view the political system as rigged.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Monday, October 26, 2026.

I'm Joe Ulori.

Political mentors say the Trump administration's attacks on Minnesota Congressman Ilhan Omar reflect a broader pattern of targeting women in leadership, prompting renewed calls for systematic reforms ahead of the midterm elections.

Our Mike Moen reports.

Representative Omar became a naturalized citizen in 2000, but is now being investigated over her family's immigration paperwork.

She strongly denies any wrongdoing, while the president and federal officials suggest false names and dates were used.

Erin Velarde is with Vote Run Lead, which trained Omar as part of its mission to prepare women candidates.

Velarde says this isn't an isolated situation.

This is about this coordination and ensuring and trying to create an environment where women are not actually in the public sphere.

Velarde says this is why more women are needed in leadership roles, whether in politics, law enforcement, or the private sector, to deter actions viewed as harassing or threatening.

On a positive note, the group says a record number of women are running for state legislative seats across the U.S.

Volunteer observers are heading to South Dakota polling places to help protect Native voting rights.

For Directions, Native Vote is sending at least 75 lawyers and law students to more than 40 polling locations statewide.

The nonpartisan effort will cover all nine of the state's reservations and Rapid City, which has a large Lakota population.

Greg Limbrick is the nonprofit's legal director.

In a midterm, we're going to have our largest group ever really speaks to the recognition around the country and in South Dakota of how under threat democracy is, particularly for minorities and some of our nation's most vulnerable residents.

Limbrick says the legal observers will focus on South Dakota's new law requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

A new poll finds New Yorkers and the nation feel the political system is rigged.

Frameworks Institute survey reveals most Americans across age, income and gender feel the current way elected officials oversee government matters doesn't work for them.

While this feeling is highest among Democrats, 58 percent of Republicans feel the system is rigged against them as well.

Andrew Vollmert with the Frameworks Institute says this feeling is becoming part of everyday life.

Whether they're thinking about the economy or government, housing, health care, or education, people widely assume that our society is set up to benefit the powerful few at the expense of the rest of us.

The deep dissatisfaction with the existing system underlies the anti-incumbent sentiment that we're seeing.

Observers say that frustration is what's driving voters' desire for change.

The poll says 60% of Americans support major changes to the political system.

Other polls show more people trust Democrats than Republicans on the economy for the first time in more than a decade.

Despite Democrats' trust advantage on cost, data show most people's distrust of both political parties could impede work on their affordability agenda.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Public News Service.

More Alabama households are using app-based payday loans to pay for their essential daily needs, But new research shows triple-digit interest rates and multiple fees are leaving borrowers deep in debt.

The Center for Responsible Lending found the annual percentage rate on the average direct-to-consumer app-based payday loan was 232 percent, and that nearly all loans included various fees disguised as tips.

Senior researcher Candice Wang says the loans are often advertised as no-fee or interest-free, but the legal details are often listed in the fine print.

Because of these deceptive marketing claims, these apps are operating outside of the law, even in states that do have strong recaps limiting how much a lender can charge.

Wang says the apps are targeting low to moderate income borrowers living paycheck to paycheck or those with the least amount of extra cash.

I'm Katherine Carley.

A bill headed to Olympia this coming legislative session would move Washington down the path toward universal health care, creating building blocks to guarantee every resident access to low cost or free primary care.

If passed, the office of the insurance commissioner would have a green light to design a plan pooling existing health care funds to pay providers monthly rather than through fee for service billing.

Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer is bringing the proposal.

She says investing in primary care saves people and the system money, while sparing patients unnecessary suffering from advanced illness.

We don't have a health care system.

We have a sickness system.

And I want a system in place that is preventive so that we are catching problems early enough where they can be addressed.

Led by scientists at Iowa State University, researchers have launched an initiative to reduce cancer risk for firefighters, focusing on the gear they use, early detection of cancer, and prevention efforts.

Firefighters face 26% higher risk of developing cancer than the general public, according to the National Library of Medicine.

To reduce that risk, scientists like Ray Lee in the Iowa Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Exposure Reduction Program are focusing on making the personal protective equipment firefighters rely on safer.

Part of that is trying to reduce the amount of particulate matter that can penetrate their gear rather than absorbing it.

Meaning that these PPE will become a reservoir of these contaminants, which could gradually release into their home where they don't have their respirators to protect them.

Lee's research, which takes place in a specially designed lab, is part of a broader effort to better understand the environment firefighters face while they're on the scene, and turn that science into practical solutions for reducing exposure, thereby reducing cancer risk.

I'm Mark Moran.

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

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