News from around the nation.

Big winter storm to spread snow and ice across US; Educators for visually impaired aim to boost recruitment, awareness; OH abuse advocates spotlight survivor-led healing and prevention work; Soaring premiums force some Virginians to drop health coverage.

Transcript

The Public News Service Friday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A massive winter storm forecast to bring sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain to a large swath of the U.S. beginning today.

At least a dozen states have declared states of emergency with the National Weather Service forecasting 170 million people will be hit by winter weather warnings between today and Sunday.

That's from NBC News.

They report the storm will stretch 2,000 miles across the country from the Arizona-New Mexico border to upstate New York.

Meantime, special education professionals are hoping incentives and partnerships with universities will help fill a major staffing shortage of teachers for the visually impaired.

Northern Illinois University is one of those that works closely with the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Janesville.

NIU Assistant Professor Molly Pasley says she sees the center as an ideal clinical placement opportunity for students in their vision studies program.

She adds there's a critical lack of vision professionals nationwide, mostly due to lack of awareness.

And the shortage is so great that we're always going to have a need for teachers of the visually impaired, not because the population is exploding, it's just that we have a PR problem and that's no one knows we exist.

Pasley says the shortage extends beyond children's services to adult resources and age-related blindness.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And as sexual violence prevention advocates across Ohio begin a new year of outreach and education, the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence is highlighting survivor-centered strategies.

In a recent blog post, the organization shared what they call survivor-tested healing strategies.

They emphasize this approach also carries into the Alliance's statewide advocacy work, according to new staff members who spoke on the organization's podcast.

Meg McKinney, coordinator of community responses for the Alliance, says moving from local to statewide work revealed the scale of collaboration involved.

I knew that OASV was tapped into legislation as far as looking at the bills that are coming through and going down to the state house for advocacy day.

But I didn't realize how much we have relationships with those people and the people who are making laws.

Through its statewide work, the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence supports rape crisis centers, advocates and survivors through technical assistance and public policy engagement.

Farah Siddiqi reporting.

Next, more than 3,000 people in Virginia bought health insurance through the ACA marketplace in 2025.

Now many face rising premiums.

Bombay Graves is a Service Employees International Union member and home caretaker for two family members.

She had to drop her plan after premiums went from $550 to $1,300 a month.

It made us very uncomfortable because at the end of the day, if we can't find anything, The only option is to just go out of pocket and pray we don't get sick or anything.

President Trump threatened to veto a potential three-year extension of the ACA tax credits that passed the House and is under consideration in the Senate.

This is public news service.

Minnesota schools are getting new materials to enhance their teaching of Native American history.

An emerging book series aims to blend a more comprehensive approach with compassion and curiosity.

The Native Lives series, recently launched by the Minnesota Humanities Center, provides free biographies of Dakota and Ojibwe leaders and changemakers.

The series includes a profile of Carrie Cavender Schaumer, one of five remaining first language Dakota speakers.

She taught in the Yellow Medicine East School District, and Indian Education Director Roberta Birkicet says Schaumer used her gifts with care and purpose to revitalize the language while enabling younger natives to embrace their identity.

Many of the times she said, and it's reflected in the book, is know who you are.

And if you know the language, then you understand what it means to be Dakota.

Her district student population is nearly 20 percent Native American.

But Biercassette says the effort helps non-Native students, too.

She says it gives them a deeper understanding of the Upper Sioux community and pushes aside misconceptions.

I'm Mike Mowen.

And as artificial intelligence grows, there's concerns about the impact The technology will have our communities of color in Pennsylvania.

Experts say AI will disproportionately impact black workers through displacement and the environmental burden of data centers, which are more likely to be located in marginalized communities.

Keisha Bross, director of the NAACP Center for Opportunity, Race and Justice, says black workers are overrepresented in entry level jobs, as well as manufacturing and logistics work.

The best thing that these companies can do is really provide educational tools and resources because we don't want people displaced from the workforce.

We want people to be back in the workforce, but also earning a wage that's livable.

Pennsylvania has 93 data centers with more planned for the future.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Finally, expanded access to treatment, home services, and statewide community-based prevention helped reduce overdose and suicide deaths in over a two-year period.

Fatal overdose counts began to rise again in 2025.

January is Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month, meant to reduce the stigma of addiction and instead highlight pathways to recovery.

Annabel Martinez with New Mexico's Healthcare Authority says the state is embracing protective strategies for everyone, from individuals and families to whole communities.

We want every person to know that treatment works, support is available, and recovery is not only possible, But it is happening every day.

New Mexico's data shows there were 80 fewer overdoses in 2023 when compared to 2021, an 8 percent decline.

But sustaining that improvement may be difficult as federal data from 2025 showed New Mexico's fatal overdose counts began to rise.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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