News from around the nation.

Hurricane Milton makes landfall near Siesta Key; expected to remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida; Groups file an emergency lawsuit to reopen Florida voter registration amid hurricanes; North Dakota wildfires: Heavy damage to cropland; importance of early warnings; Report: 67 Pennsylvania counties boom for low unemployment, job growth, wage increase.

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, October the 10th, 2024.

I'm Mike Clifford.

First, Fox 13, Tampa Bay.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key Wednesday evening as a category 3 storm.

Milton was right near the threshold of a major hurricane when it reached the west central coast of Florida around 8.30 PM.

And by the time Milton made landfall, it had maximum sustained winds of 120 miles per hour.

It was last reported moving east and northeast at about 15 miles an hour.

And as Hurricane Milton makes landfall and Florida recovers from Hurricane Helene's devastation, voting rights groups have filed a legal challenge to reopen the state's voter registration period, which ended on Monday.

While not a party to the lawsuit, Larry Hannon with State Voices Florida expressed his support for the efforts to give Floridians more time to register amid the chaos caused by back-to-back natural disasters.

Technically, the deadline was Monday.

But I would be surprised if anyone or very many people thought, oh, I need to go out and register to vote when they were trying to pack up their car and trying to get to somewhere else, not knowing if when they came back, their house would be livable.

Voting rights groups, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, League of Women Voters of Florida, and the NAACP Florida State Conference filed suit claiming the state's refusal to extend the voter registration deadline disenfranchised many Floridians.

Before Hurricane Milton, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order allowing election changes in 10 counties impacted by Hurricane Helene, permitting adjustments to early voting sites and creating consolidated voting centers.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And from power outages to burnt farmland, North Dakota is coming to grips with the impact of several large wildfires that are linked to at least two deaths.

The fires intensified this past weekend around the western half of the state, with crews working in recent days to get them under control.

Governor Doug Burgum said when they get the final numbers, it's possible the fires will have consumed as many as 50,000 acres of farmland.

North Dakota State Climatologist Darrell Richeson says windy and dry conditions fueled the devastation, adding there's no doubt the agricultural community was hard hit.

Farmers lost cattle, farmers lost grazing land, farmers lost houses, farmers lost their fencing.

The North Dakota Farmers Union reminds ranchers who lost cattle, pasture, and equipment in the fires that the Federal Farm Service Agency has resources to help them recover.

Meanwhile, the governor has said this could be one of the worst groups of fires in state history when factoring in acreage.

I'm Mike Bowen.

Globally, scientists say climate change is one of several factors as to why wildfires are becoming more destructive and difficult to contain.

This is Public News Service.

We head next to Pennsylvania, where those on the hunt for employment opportunities find that the Keystone State is still offering a favorable landscape.

More from our Danielle Smith.

The state's jobless rate stayed at a record low, 3.4 percent in September, better than the national rate of 4.1 percent.

Claire Kovach with the Keystone Research Center says Pennsylvania is drawing significant attention as a swing state.

At Keystone Research Center, they've analyzed key economic indicators, unemployment, jobs, and wages, across all counties to address public interest.

The state's unemployment rate has been historically low for more than two years.

So in every one of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, the unemployment rate is lower now than it was right before the pandemic, when the economy was strongest under President Trump's first term.

It's lower everywhere, but there's also a clear geographic pattern.

Unemployment is a lot lower than before the pandemic in Western and rural Pennsylvania.

Kovach says the new Keystone Research resource page has an interactive map showing the drop in the unemployment rate by county.

She says the research also reveals two-thirds of counties have seen job growth since just before the pandemic, with faster growth in the Eastern half of the state, which also has faster population growth.

And New York state authorized utilities to develop thermal energy network pilot programs to further the state's decarbonization goals.

Thermal energy networks use non-emitting energy sources like geothermal boreholes or waste heat to heat and cool buildings. 11 pilot projects stem from commitments made in the 2022 Utility Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act.

Allison Considine with the Building Decarbonization Coalition says college campuses with these systems are seeing a striking number of benefits.

Using a thermal energy network, especially with geothermal, is about six times more efficient than using a traditional gas furnace or oil furnace.

She adds buildings must go electric if New York will reach its decarbonization.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Finally, from our Eric Galantas, experts say a diverse workforce is crucial for creativity and social justice and equality.

And equally good for a company's bottom line.

But reluctance to hire transgender workers remains high.

A study by UCLA showed the majority of non-binary adults in the workforce are younger than age 35 and make less than $50,000 a year.

Tony Newman with the group TransCanWork cites research that shows diversity in the workplace helps everyone thrive.

Different ethnic background, different gender, different race, diverse teams often outperform homogeneous ones as they can leverage a broader range of experience and skills.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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