News from around the nation.

Populist Democrat Graham Platner drops out, leaving Maine Democrats less than three weeks to agree on a replacement candidate; A new analysis finds GOP policies have cost families at least $2,000 since 2025; Arizona unhoused death rate spikes amid summer heat; New York food banks work with healthcare groups to bolster food accessibility.

Transcript

The Public News Service Thursday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The end of the campaign was delivered in an eight-minute video on social media.

Populist Democrat Graham Plattner posted, We believe for the movement to continue, it can't be me, and for that reason we are suspending campaign operations.

The Washington Post notes Democratic Party leaders now have until July 27 to decide on a new standard-bearer in one of the marquee races of midterm elections. as Maine's GOP Senator Susan Collins tries to hold on for a sixth term, representing a state that Democrat Kamala Harris won by seven percentage points in 2024.

Meantime, the average American family's costs have risen by at least $2,000 since the GOP passed its budget bill last summer.

That's according to a new report.

Researchers from the nonprofit Climate Power and the Center for American Progress Action Fund find that people are paying a lot more for gas, utilities, groceries, and health care.

Jesse Lee with Climate Power says Congress's decision to let COVID-era health care subsidies expire is an ongoing drain on people's wallets.

You might have seen your ACA marketplaces.

Health care premiums double over the last year, and that's just a crushing blow of hundreds of dollars a month.

Via the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump and his GOP allies put the savings toward other administration priorities, including tax cuts and immigration enforcement.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

Next, University of Arizona research shows that unhoused people are 500 times more likely to die from heat-related illness than the general population.

The data show that heat-related deaths in Arizona have increased tenfold in just two decades.

Maricopa County, Arizona's most populated region, has invested nearly $4 million in Phoenix and surrounding communities to bolster respite centers, cooling stations, and overnight sites that allow people to escape the grueling heat.

But the Arizona Sierra Club's president, Sandy Barr, says Phoenix needs more cooling centers that are open overnight.

Because one of the things that happens as we get this extreme heat is it just doesn't cool down at night.

And for people who are on the street, their bodies don't have a chance to recover.

The Sierra Club has released a tip sheet on how to stay cool in the summer.

I'm Mark Moran.

And a new report from Feeding America finds New York food banks are keeping people healthy by making sure they have food on the table.

The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York partners with 10 health care groups and spans 23 counties covering the lower Hudson Valley to the Canadian border.

Samantha Monks with the Regional Food Bank says the idea of food as medicine is important to physical health.

You're experiencing food insecurity, some housing barriers or some transportation barriers.

A lot of that comes down to your overall health.

The report tracks a three-year program undertaken by 21 partners detailing how nutrition-related health supports can improve overall health.

This is Public News Service.

After the Congress decided not to extend a program meant to help families pay for health insurance, the number of people enrolled in Affordable Care Act coverage dropped by 3 million.

That's according to new data from the Trump administration.

Even more challenges are expected when the biggest cuts to Medicaid under the Republican signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect in January.

Adam Fox with the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative says unless new funds are generated, tens of thousands of Coloradans could lose access to health care.

We've already seen cuts to maternity wards in a few hospitals in rural areas.

I think we could see even more reduction in services or outright closures of facilities because of the cuts in H.R.1.

The Trump administration says the drop in enrollment is a result of efforts to end fraud.

But according to a KFF report, people stopped enrolling when the cost of insurance skyrocketed after enhanced premium tax credits expired.

I'm Eric Galatas.

The summertime provides an opportunity to ensure school-aged kids have access to diverse literature.

Bernadette Romeligan reports, according to the American Libraries Magazine, experts recommend at least 15 to 30 minutes of reading daily during the summer to prevent learning loss.

Staying consistent with summer reading can help keep students engaged and ready to learn when they return to school in the fall, notes Erica Clay with the Ohio Education Association.

The other thing that we know is when students continue to read over the summer, it reinforces what they learn throughout the year.

It continues to help build their vocabulary over the summer.

Analysis from the Pew Research Center shows fewer 9- and 13-year-olds are reading for fun.

In 2020, around 4 in 10 9-year-old students said they read for fun almost every day, down from 53% in 2012.

We had finally to Connecticut, a state struggling to provide access to gender-affirming care for young people.

It has been almost a year since Connecticut Children's Medical Health Center and Yale New Haven Health ended their gender-affirming care programs for patients under 19.

This came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid attempted to withhold funding for hospitals providing this kind of care to minors.

Connecticut and 20 other states sued to overturn the rules, but Melissa Combs with the Out Accountability Project says the damage is done.

We know that 1,000 patients were displaced, and we know 33% of them found care elsewhere in the state.

Anecdotally, we know that remaining 67%, many of them are going out of state to Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine.

State lawmakers' questions about program closures have gone unanswered.

Combs says Connecticut can look to other states like New York, Massachusetts, and California, which have dedicated funding for a network of gender-affirming care centers available to young people.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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