News from around the nation.

Hundreds missing, including tourists, after massive flood strikes Nepal and Tibet; Alabama's rural 'legal deserts' leave thousands without attorneys; AI helps close the Spanish legal information gap in Illinois; HIV stigma persists despite advancements in treatment and prevention; California considers penalties for high-cost hospitals.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

It's an early death toll that's expected to rise.

So far, at least 31 people dead and hundreds of tourists are missing after a huge flash flood swept through villages in Nepal.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board, 380 tourists among the missing, the majority of those foreign nationals.

CNN notes that Tibet has also been impacted with Chinese state media warning of major casualties.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged all-out search efforts.

Meantime, large swaths of rural Alabama lack a sufficient number of attorneys to help residents with everyday legal issues, using the American Bar Association's definition of a legal desert, an area with fewer than one lawyer for every 1,000 people.

Harvesters of Hope has identified roughly 40 of Alabama's 67 counties as underserved.

Tom Heflin is executive director of Harvesters of Hope.

He says the shortage has real consequences for residents, including being more costly.

If someone was getting a divorce and there's only one lawyer in the community, then one party gets that.

The other, to be represented, probably has to hire someone from somewhere farther away, which they will have to pay for that travel time.

About 78% of Alabama's attorneys are concentrated in just seven urban counties.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And organizations in Illinois are using artificial intelligence to help Latinos navigate the immigration system as demand for Spanish language legal resources grows.

Amid the Trump administration's ramped-up enforcement, immigration has become the most searched topic on Illinois Legal Aid Online's Spanish language website, which has served about 65,000 users so far this year.

Executive Director Terry Ross says to keep up with rapidly changing laws and policies, The organization is using AI to make information about immigration rights faster and easier to find.

She stresses how critical this is because many people facing civil legal issues, including immigration cases, don't have a right to an attorney.

The barriers faced by people who are self-represented is exponentially larger for people whom English isn't their first language.

And so it's really an access to justice issue.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And despite major strides in HIV treatment and prevention, a new report shows a large portion of the country lacks awareness of these medical advances.

T.C. Caldwell is with the Knights of Orchid Society, a nonprofit that provides care to black LGBTQ plus people across the South.

He emphasizes the need to make information more digestible for people.

Get accessible in a way that the people who are most affected by it can understand it.

We'll be able to move further along. instead of just throwing numbers and data at them.

The State of HIV Stigma report by the LGBTQ rights organization GLAAD, more than 40% don't believe in the science about prevention and treatment.

This is Public News Service.

A graphite manufacturer in Harrison County, West Virginia, is asking a federal court to toss out a lawsuit filed by local environmental groups.

The case involves a company's facility near the Ann Moore Run, a stream within the broader watershed of the upper Monogahela River.

We have more on the story from our Nadia Rommeligan.

Olivia Miller with the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, one of the groups involved in the case, says the lawsuit is asking the court to require Amstead Graphite Materials to comply with its permit, stop Clean Water Act violations, and pay penalties.

She adds that the company has hundreds of violations related to chemical dumping reported from 2023 through 2026 on the books.

When you see repeated exceedances over time, that raises real concerns about whether the treatment system is adequate and whether the company is doing what it is legally required to do.

Amstead Graphite Materials says it's entered into agreements with both the EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection to make upgrades to its manufacturing plant and reduce environmental impact.

And health care advocates are taking their message on the road this week as Medicaid changes overshadow political campaigns.

Events are planned in four states, including New York.

The group Protect Our Cares GOP Hot Seat Summer Campaign aims to pressure Republican lawmakers during the August recess over Medicaid cuts and changes to Affordable Care Act tax credits.

But New York Assemblymember Dana Levenberg echoes community leaders and advocates who warn of a health care crisis.

Over 500,000 New Yorkers are losing health care coverage or their premiums are doubling, tripling.

It's just intolerable.

We cannot accept that this is America.

This is happening on the backs of the people who need health care most.

Ahead of the midterms, the GOP is out with its own messaging defending the moves.

Congress passed President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, which included new work requirements for Medicaid.

I'm Mark Richardson.

Finally, the cost of health care in California keeps rising every year.

And today, the Board of the State Office of Health Care Affordability will look at proposals designed to bend the spending curve.

Over the past two years, the state established cost growth targets for hospitals as well as both provider and insurance groups.

Chris Noble with the nonprofit Health Access California says the agency is now considering fines for companies that repeatedly overspend.

To actually ensure that that target is enforceable, that will be a good thing. create a real material incentive for these different sections of the health care system to find ways to contain costs and make health care more affordable for all of us.

Noble notes that health care costs typically go up six percent each year, outpacing inflation, wage growth, and premium increases.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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