News from around the nation.

Southeastern U.S. states struggle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene; Public health officials lack data in treating Native American communities; and postal workers to hold day of action over concerns about working conditions.

Transcript

This is the Public News Service Daily Newscast for Monday, September 30, 2024.

I'm Mike Bowen.

As this past weekend wound down, the southeast region of the U.S. grappled with rising death tolls, a lack of vital supplies in isolated, flood-stricken areas, and the widespread loss of homes and property.

The Associated Press reports that grim picture was becoming more clear in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm.

Supplies were being airlifted to the region around Asheville.

Deaths were also reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper predicted the death toll would rise there as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure, and widespread flooding.

Scientists are noting the link between climate change and the growing intensity of weather-related disasters such as Hurricane Helene.

And a new report has published the names of wealthy donors fueling disinformation on climate change.

Eric Galatas has more.

As Coloradans deal with record-breaking heat, wildfires, and prolonged drought linked to a changing climate, a new report shows how American taxpayers are subsidizing disinformation about climate change.

Co-author Chuck Collins is with the Climate Accountability Research Project.

He says people with ties to the fossil fuel industry are bankrolling groups trying to block action on climate change through tax-deductible donations.

There's 137 organizations actively involved in promoting climate disinformation, challenging the science, sowing doubt.

Their goal is to run out the clock and keep extracting their profits.

Between 2020 and 2022, people gave these organizations nearly $6 billion in tax-deductible donations, which are entirely legal under the U.S. tax code.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that financial contributions deserve the same First Amendment protections as speech, at least in political campaigns.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Public health officials continue to struggle to treat Native American communities because they lack access to critical data.

Despite federal legislation and recommendations to make information available, workers at the Tribal Epidemiology Centers have told government investigators there are still blind spots.

Sarah Shrewbrooks manages data for tribal communities in North and South Dakota, and Nebraska and Iowa.

She says the alarming infection and death rates in Native communities during the pandemic put a spotlight on the issue.

When it became urgent, life or death for a lot of our tribal members was very clear, very suddenly, that not only is this problematic, it's unacceptable.

The 2010 reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act granted Tribal Epidemiology Centers data regularly distributed to state and local health officials.

Nonetheless, tribal health officials say repeated denial of data requests impeded their response to COVID-19.

This is public news service.

The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday's arrival of a SpaceX capsule.

SpaceX launched the rescue mission over the weekend with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year.

NASA switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule.

It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks that cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilot's return.

In other news, U.S. mail carriers will rally across the country tomorrow to bring attention to their working conditions.

As Eric Tegethoff reports, an Idaho postal worker helped start the event.

Sherry Butler with the United States Postal Service is a member of her local postal workers union based in Spokane.

She lives and works in Coeur d'Alene.

She spoke out about understaffing at a USPS Board of Governors meeting last year.

Then the board limited public comments at its hearings to once a year.

Then she started a letter writing campaign, which has since turned into two rallies.

It just kind of grew as more people became interested.

The small idea of a letter writing campaign turned into a larger movement called We Won't Be Silenced.

With this movement, we are ending the silence and sharing why our stories need to be told.

Members of the American Postal Workers Union National Convention in July then passed her resolution for a rally.

Rallies are scheduled across Idaho, including in Boise, Caldwell and Idaho Falls.

Workers will call for more public comment opportunities at Board of Governors meetings, better staffing and services, and more cooperation from management at the bargaining table.

Turning to the 2024 election, the Coalition of Justice and Equality Across Movements is sponsoring the HBCU Liberation Tour at historically black colleges across the South to engage students in the political system.

The goal is to register black college students to vote and have their voices heard.

Destiny Pearson is a program coordinator for the group.

She says too many young people are disengaged from the political process.

That's so concerning because about 50 percent of Gen Z are people of color.

So we really want to make sure that we're engaging these young black students to understand the importance of this election and to be more engaged in the political system.

The tour stops at Fisk College in Nashville tomorrow.

It has already visited Howard University and Clark Atlanta University and plans future stops at Jackson State, North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M.

An NBC News poll shows that as of September 4th, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris was leading Republican Donald Trump by a 50 to 32 percent margin among 18 to 29-year-olds in seven battleground states.

And finally, already the longest-lived of the 45 men to serve as U.S.

President, Jimmy Carter is about to reach the century mark.

The 39th president, who remains under home hospice care, will turn 100 tomorrow.

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