News from around the nation.

Potential clues in search for a motive in the armed attack at the White House Correspondents Dinner; KY law creates protections against educator sexual misconduct; Pension advocates push back on teacher work stoppage restriction; A streaming fee proposed to ensure MA community media endures.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Potential clues in the search for a motive in this weekend's armed attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, they come from messages the suspect shared with family and friends.

Two law enforcement officials who shared the writings with the New York Times asked not to be named because they'd not been authorized to do so.

The Times notes in the writings he displays outrage at the policies put in place by the White House and alluded to allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that he's no longer willing to allow a traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.

The suspect Cole Allen Thomas of Torrance, California, expected to make his first court appearance today.

Next up April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and across Kentucky, advocates are raising the alarm about educator misconduct in schools.

The details from Anadia Romligon.

The leader of a children's advocacy center in eastern Kentucky says technology has created new avenues for inappropriate contact between teachers and students.

Kimberly Lee is executive director at Judy's Place for Kids.

We see a lot of educators talking to children outside of school using social media platforms like Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, those kind of things.

House Bill 253, recently signed into law by Governor Andy Beshear, requires documentation of accusations of abusive conduct in public and private schools.

And pension advocates in Arizona are pushing back on a proposed ballot initiative that would restrict the actions of teachers unions, allow educators to be punished for organized work stoppages, and potentially strip them of their state pensions.

President of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, Linda Somo, says HCR 2040 would block educators from meeting in their own schools to discuss workplace issues, override existing agreements between school districts and employees, and ban payroll deduction for union dues.

It would take away the rights of any individual who participated in any way in a work stoppage or a strike and would take away their pension.

The ballot question would go before voters in November.

Any ballot measure in the state requires a number of signatures that's at least 15 percent of the voting population in the last gubernatorial election.

I'm Mark Moran.

And Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation to levy a small fee on streaming services like Netflix or Hulu to help fund community media and the local services it provides.

David Gauthier with the non-profit Mass Access says streaming providers use public infrastructure to reach their subscribers, yet fail to pay their fair share of the cost.

They're not paying taxes in Massachusetts.

They're not paying back to communities the way cable does, and we think that that's unfair.

As more people cancel their cable subscriptions, local franchise fees paid by cable providers to help fund public access television and radio have declined.

This is Public News Service.

San Marcos is one of many Texas municipalities canceling contracts with companies that provide automatic license plate readers.

The readers are computer-controlled cameras attached to streetlights, highway overpasses, and police cars that capture license plate numbers.

Proponents of the technology say they're a powerful law enforcement tool, but opponents say the cameras are too invasive.

San Marcos Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Elisa Garza says their residents were concerned about privacy and trust.

People were very concerned around the idea of having their movements tracked about their knowledge, especially like when they're not suspected of any wrongdoing.

There was also concerns about how data could be used beyond local policing, data being shared across agencies.

Garza says they opted out of their contract with Flock Safety last year.

The city of Austin will also stop using the cameras starting in June.

The founder and CEO of Flock Safety says the allegations against his company are false.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

And the pesticide maker Bayer will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court today that it should be immune from lawsuits if its products are found to cause cancer.

Driven by pressure from constituents and case studies across the state, the Iowa legislature recently defeated an immunity shield for Bayer, which would have meant the company can't be sued if there's evidence its products caused cancer among people who use it.

Food and Water Watch senior attorney Danny Repligal says Bayer has simply sidestepped state laws and taken its fight to the federal level.

If Bayer wins this lawsuit, then all the work that we've done on the Cancer Gag Act will be futile because those lawsuits will be preempted at the federal level, and the right to sue at the state level will be no longer available for cancer patients.

Bayer has argued that it is within EPA safety standards as set forth by product labeling rules.

I'm Mark Moran.

Finally, legal observers say a Department of Justice investigation targeting transgender women inmates in California of prisons continues a pattern of intimidation by the Trump administration.

The DOJ says it will determine if what it refers to as biological male inmates are given preferential housing in women's facilities in violation of women inmates' constitutional rights.

Attorney Sean Meerkamper with the Transgender Law Center says the overwhelming majority of trans women are still incarcerated in men's facilities where they face a heightened risk of violence.

When the state takes away someone's freedom.

When the state incarcerates somebody, it has an obligation, it has a constitutional duty to keep those people safe.

And that does not mean sacrificing one group's safety for another.

A 2020 state law gives transgender inmates the right to be housed according to their gender identity.

I'm Katherine Carley.

This is Mike Clifford.

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