News from around the nation.

The Defense Department identified two of the soldiers killed this weekend; Andy Burnham is now Prime Minister of the UK; The US is losing teachers and nurses, as DACA renewals lag; Michigan Line 5 opponents vow to fight recent tunnel permit; In Wisconsin, Medicaid now offers postpartum coverage for a year.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update on Mike Clifford.

The U.S. Defense Department has now identified the two soldiers killed over the weekend in an Iranian attack on Jordan as 25-year-old First Lieutenant Tyler James Fian of Iwa Beach, Hawaii, and 19-year-old Private Isabella Gonzalez of Carrollton, Texas.

And Annie Burnham became the U.K.'s seventh prime minister in a decade today.

King Charles formally asked Burnham to form a government at Buckingham Palace, which Burnham confirmed he has accepted.

Meantime, immigrant rights organizations are suing the Department of Homeland Security agencies due to a mounting backlog of renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA.

Since 2012, DACA holders have been allowed to live and work freely in the U.S. given they renew their status every two years.

But increasing delays have caused people to lose their work permits and their jobs.

Rebecca Shee with the American Business Immigration Coalition, which advocates for system reform, says a process that previously took weeks is now dragging on for months.

Give people a heads up, give their employer, their community a heads up, so that people can apply well in advance.

DHS officials say longer wait times are warranted to ensure the proper vetting of applicants in accordance with a 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

But legal aid groups fear the slowdown is part of a larger mass deportation plan.

I'm Katherine Carley.

And opponents of the Enbridge-proposed Line 5 tunnel underneath the Straits of Mackinac say Michigan's decision to reissue a key permit won't end their fight against the oil-related infrastructure.

Environmental groups have long warned an accident could cause an oil spill in the Straits, threatening the Great Lakes.

However, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy says the project meets state regulatory requirements.

In reissuing the permit last week, it concluded the project's public and private benefits outweighed other considerations.

Whitney Gravel is president of the Bay Mills Indian Community.

Bay Mills Indian Community will continue pursuing every legal avenue available to protect our treaty rights, defend the Great Lakes, and fulfill our sacred responsibility to protect the water for future generations.

Meanwhile, Invers says it's reviewing the new permit conditions and continues to operate Line 5 safely under federal standards.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Next, Wisconsin has begun extending postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one full year.

State epidemiologist Dr. Jasmine Zapata says the move is an important step toward supporting mothers and families during the critical first year after childbirth and reducing preventable deaths.

Even if it's just one, even if all of this last seven years it took and it's going to save one life, guess what?

That one life is so important.

But we're hoping for even more than that.

Credit for original reporting on this story goes to Jonah Belekis with the Wisconsin Independent.

This is Public News Service.

Pennsylvania is still adding jobs, but the pace remains modest and uneven across communities.

The state's jobless rate dipped to 4.1 percent in June, slightly better than the national average.

Keystone Research Center's Maisong Martaza says the momentum stems from the COVID-19 recovery when Pennsylvania logged nearly 27 months of unemployment at or below 4 percent.

Since early 2025, the rate has bounced around, but he emphasizes the stark increase in joblessness for Black and Hispanic workers, with those numbers climbing sharply from historic lows.

Black unemployment experienced a similar low in July of 2023, which was at 3.8 percent.

And in the last recorded report, June 2026, as expressed as a 12-month average, it was at 6.9 percent.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Next, North Carolina food banks are set to receive more funding from the new state budget that took more than a year for policymakers to adopt.

The budget, recently signed by the governor, includes $9 million in purchasing funds for the state's food banks.

That's a 50% increase compared to the state's previous spending plan.

Amy Barros is with the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.

She says food banks had to heavily rely on private support as federal aid dropped dramatically and state funds froze during the budget impasse.

Barros explains a holding pattern like that has larger economy-wide impacts.

We're putting the farmers that we were purchasing food actually in need of services, like the food bank in some cases, because of these changes.

It's really about the health of our overall community and our economy.

According to the Global Food Banking Network, food banks deliver a strong return on investment for communities.

Every dollar given to food banks generates between $4 to $7 in long-term social benefits.

I'm Zamone Perez.

Across the country, food security is at one of its highest points in two decades.

More than 1.6 million people across North Carolina are food insecure.

Finally, a surge in tick bites in West Virginia has some county health departments offering an antibiotic that can prevent Lyme disease if taken within the 72-hour window of being bitten.

We get more from our Nantia Ramlagon.

The number of Lyme disease cases in the Mountain State jumped from around 1,000 in 2020 to almost 4,000 in 2025, alarming health officials.

One of them is Dr. Stephen Eschenauer with the Kanawha Charleston Health Department, who says for $25, residents can receive a consultation and a dose of doxycycline in Kanawha or Fayette County.

Preferably if they can bring the tick in or get the tick removed as quickly as possible, we can see if they are a candidate to receive the two tablets of doxycycline for post-exposure prophylaxis.

He adds that any tick bites that lead to fever, aches and pains, fatigue, or rashes should be addressed by a health care provider.

This is Mike Clifford.

Thank you for starting a week with Public News Service.

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