News from around the nation.

US postal workers help out with the nation's largest one-day food drive. A union coalition in California advocates for worker rights amidst climate challenges. Livestock waste is polluting 'Pure Michigan' state image. And Virginia farm workers receive updated heat protection guidelines.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, May 9th, 2024.

I'm Farah Sidiqui.

The world's largest vacuum to suck climate pollution out of the air began operating in Iceland on Wednesday.

It's expected to remove carbon and store it deep into the earth.

Also, members of the House Education Committee questioned school leaders from K-12 public schools over their handling of complaints of anti-Semitism.

And President Joe Biden tells CNN that he'll stop sending American weapons to Israel if there's a major invasion in Rafa.

This is a first in his acknowledgement that U.S. weapons have been used to kill civilians in Gaza.

It's nearly summer and time to go to bat for those struggling with hunger in New Mexico.

Our Roz Brown has more.

This Saturday, letter carriers with the U.S.

Postal Service will collect non-perishable food items on the doorsteps of customers as part of Stamp Out Hunger, the nation's largest one-day food drive.

Maria Montano is a member of Albuquerque's National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 504.

She participates each year because she says it's a chance to give back to the community.

At the end of April, I start talking about it to my customers, letting my customers know.

And every little bit counts.

One day alone at one station, we get close to about 500 pounds per carrier.

Some Virginia farm workers will have updated heat protection guidelines.

The Farm Labor Organizing Committee is enacting heat and safety protections for all its members.

Neither Virginia nor the federal government has comprehensive heat guidelines for workers.

It comes as summer temperatures are getting hotter because of climate change.

Mario Vargas, with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, says being mindful of heat stress is important.

It should be important every season because there's been some deaths in some fields, not only in North Carolina, but in some other states because of these supervisors or contractors, independent contractors, that they push the people to their limit.

The new protections say if temperatures are near 85 degrees, anyone experiencing heat stress or dehydration symptoms should leave the field and seek shade.

For temperatures close to 95 degrees or higher, workers should take a break every two and a half hours with water in the shade or as often as needed, regardless of whether a supervisor is present.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Dozens of union members rallied Wednesday in Sacramento, calling on lawmakers to pass a set of bills called the California Worker Climate Bill of Rights.

Suzanne Potter has more.

The bills are intended to integrate workers' rights into the clean energy transition.

The Climate Resilient Schools Act would create the first master plan to make sure our schools have clean, cool air, adequate shade, and energy-efficient buildings and buses.

Jeff Freitas is president of CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals.

The bill also looks at everything that is needed in terms of how it can help the state, how it can help the school environment, how it can help the students, creating not only a more welcome space, but a healthier space for our students and the workers there.

This is Public News Service.

Michigan boasts 11,000 inland lakes, more freshwater shoreline than any other state, and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams.

But a new report says some of these waters are being contaminated by livestock waste from concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, more from Crystal Blair.

The Environmental Law and Policy Center report says the 290 CAFOs in Michigan generate almost 63 million pounds of waste, report co-author Katie Garvey.

This is just a lot of waste, and it all has to go somewhere, unfortunately, because of the way that this industry operates and the state's failure to regulate it properly, that somewhere all too often is the waters of the state.

Garvey says if CAFOs were regulated like other industrial operations, they would have to either treat their waste before disposing of it, safely manage it, or produce less waste.

Some defenders of CAFOs say every firm is different and the industry should not be painted with a broad brush.

President Joe Biden was in Wisconsin on Wednesday touting plans for a new Microsoft data center.

The visit comes amid new polling data in battleground states about what's on the minds of rural voters, with organizers noting surprising results.

The poll, released by the Rural Democracy Initiative, included feedback from Wisconsin voters. 57 percent of respondents said they favored a more economic populist vision, with policies centered around lowering costs and raising incomes for the working class.

Breakthrough Campaigns researcher Patrick Toomey, who helped lead the poll, says that approach appears more popular than one often touted by GOP politicians.

Just cutting taxes and getting rid of regulations is not going to do the most to help me in this economy.

And while economic policies aligned with Democrats, like minimum wage hikes, are favorable in this poll, many rural voters indicated they think Republicans are doing more for working people.

Analysts say that shows Democrats have work to do to rebuild trust in rural areas.

I'm Mike Mowen.

A North Carolina group hopes to help people stay out of prison by connecting them to critical resources.

Recidivism Reduction Educational Programs Services is launching a new hotline to help formerly incarcerated people with reentry services.

Kerwin Pittman is the organization's founder and says he found it tough getting connected to the right people as a returning citizen nearly seven years ago.

And in 2024, he says the issue still exists.

We realized that across North Carolina, the connectivity wasn't happening at all.

And so you would have people returning citizens, family members, those who wanted to get help for these individuals trying to reach out for services and needed services, but just couldn't find them.

The hotline connects callers to real people who essentially create a bridge directly to services in the community.

Chiantia Hudson reporting.

This is Farah Siddiqui for Public News Service.

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