News from around the nation.

Police say an arson suspect harbored hatred towards Pennsylvania's Governor; voting-rights groups warn of barriers for voters under a federal bill; older adults relieved as SSA halts proposed service changes; and America's historic crops at risk as DOGE cuts funding for seed bunkers.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mary Sherman.

Local officials say a suspect in an arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor's residence used Molotov cocktails and planned to beat Governor Josh Shapiro.

The suspect, Cody Balmer, is in custody and police say admitted to harboring hatred towards Shapiro.

The governor and his family were forced to evacuate the residence, which was significantly damaged by the fire.

No injuries were reported.

As the U.S. Senate prepares to consider the SAVE Act, voting rights advocates are raising concerns about how the bill could impact voter access.

Shantia Hudson reports from Alabama.

The measure that recently passed in the U.S. House would require proof of citizenship, such as a passport or certified birth certificate to register to vote in federal elections.

Lauren Groh-Wargo with Fair Fight Action says the change could affect millions of eligible Americans who don't have immediate access to those documents.

There's other documents that you can provide, like your original birth certificate, for example, but if your birth certificate has changed because your name is no longer what you were born under, if you are a married woman, for example, and took your husband's name, that's not going to cut it.

Supporters of the SAVE Act say it's designed to strengthen election integrity by ensuring only U.S. citizens can vote, although current federal law already requires voters to attest to their citizenship under penalty of perjury.

Opponents also note voters may have to travel long distances, take time off work, or pay fees to prove their citizenship, despite already being eligible under current law.

The Federal Trade Commission and Meta will square off today in an antitrust trial over the tech giant's past acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.

The U.S. government alleges Mark Zuckerberg's company illegally built a social networking monopoly through years of anti-competitive conduct.

The concerns of some older adults are eased, at least for now, as the Social Security Administration has halted some proposed changes.

The agency planned to end phone services today for retirees or survivors applying for benefits or beneficiaries making direct deposit changes.

Instead, people would have been required to visit one of the state's 15 field offices, which are subject to temporary closures.

Nora Duncan with AARP Connecticut says seniors have been panicking.

They're concerned about something that may hold up a check, or let's say they had a fraud committed at their bank.

They had to change accounts, and now they might not be able to get that handled with Social Security soon enough for the next check to come in and help pay their bill.

Reports show these planned service disruptions would have forced up to 85,000 people to go to a Social Security office.

This comes as the SSA plans to cut 7,000 jobs in the coming months.

The agency began posting urgent announcements on the social media platform X since its communications staff has been laid off.

Duncan says people can still write to their elected officials to urge service improvements.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

This is Public News Service.

Criminal justice experts say Mississippi's parole and probation systems designed as alternatives to incarceration are instead functioning as pipelines back to prison.

Tramiel Gomes has the story.

The state's high revocation rates mirror national trends where minor technical violations such as missed appointments or unpaid fees land thousands under supervision back behind bars each year.

UC Berkeley law professor Jonathan Simon is a national expert on parole and probation.

He describes these systems as inherently flawed, offering incarcerated people the illusion of a second chance and being able to move on with their lives.

There's many, many booby traps that can send a person spiraling first to jail and then usually back to prison if it's for a longer period of time.

That makes the sentence that started all that in some ways a never-ending sentence, which is very questionable from a justice point of view.

While some advocates say parole is vital for Mississippi families and communities, Simon's assessment aligns with Mississippi's own struggles with probation and parole.

Working without fanfare, federal scientists at 22 U.S. sites maintain the nation's agricultural plant species collected since 1898.

But the Trump administration's DOGE agency has fired them.

The move creates uncertainty for hundreds of crop species.

The U.S. National Plant Gerplasm System safeguards the genetic diversity of agriculturally important plants.

Professor Iago Hale at the University of New Hampshire says the potential loss of these seed bunkers should alarm every American.

If you subsist totally on chicken nuggets and KFC, that's fine.

Understand that that comes back to plants grown in the field.

The breading on your fried chicken, the French fries that you're eating, these are all products of crops.

And this is how it works.

A court order has temporarily reinstated some of the 300 NPGS scientists, but it's unclear when their work will resume, putting 600,000 genetic lines of some 200 crop species in jeopardy.

Now to North Carolina, where lawmakers are being asked to renew funding that helps landowners protect waterfronts from erosion and storms.

Since 2015, the state has supported a cost share program to incentivize landowners on coastal waterways and adjacent rivers to build what are known as living shorelines.

Typical hardened infrastructure, such as seawalls, reflect wave impacts, which erodes the sea floor, with storms intensifying that effect.

Living shorelines are natural barriers that are more resilient and cost less to install and maintain.

Mary Margaret McKinney with Native Shorelines says the state's effort also supports jobs.

There's an entire industry that is building up around living shorelines.

There are jobs everywhere from coastal engineering and environmental consultants and technology and manufacturing all the way to manual labor for the installation.

Senate Bill 496 would appropriate $5 million to continue funding the cost share program.

Brett Pivoteau reporting.

I'm Mary Sherman for Public News Service.

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