News from around the nation.

Tornadoes strike three states in the Midwest, with more rough weather for other states coming this weekend; More Ohio school districts are struggling with high food costs; A new report finds New York, California laws restricting PFAS work, but more regulations are needed; A Pennsylvania education summit connects HIV prevention and mental health.

Transcript

The Public News Service Friday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

More than a dozen tornadoes tore through towns across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin overnight.

Authorities say there were a dozen in all, damaging homes, trees, and power lines.

NBC notes air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate the tower at Chicago's Midway Airport due to a tornado warning.

Looking to the weekend, the National Weather Service is warning of an enhanced risk of severe weather across eastern Kansas, Missouri, and western Illinois on Saturday.

Meantime, rising food and labor costs are posing challenges for Ohio school cafeterias.

Arnati Aramlagon lets us know more districts across the state are struggling to keep the school nutrition operations intact, but Cincinnati's district is an outlier, using new tactics to make sure kids get regular meals.

Erin Heisum with the Food Research and Action Center says this past school year, Cincinnati had 62 out of 65 schools offering free breakfast and lunch to all students by utilizing federal programs.

So the community eligibility provision has been around for over a decade now nationwide.

And Cincinnati has been an early adopter, embracing the program where they're able to.

You know, unfortunately, not every school is able to implement the community eligibility provision.

In the Buckeye State, more than half a million children or one in five kids live in food insecure households, according to Feeding America.

And new research finds forever chemical restriction laws in New York and California are effective.

One year after implementing laws banning PFAS and apparel in New York and apparel on other textiles in California, data finds progress is being made.

The Natural Resources Defense Council report finds in footwear, clothes, and other outdoor gear, companies have reduced these chemicals by 97 to 99 percent.

But Anna Reed with NRDC says other products still contain high levels of PFAS.

Those included pet products, pet beds, and furniture blankets, like protectors for pets, most of the reusable diapers, and tablecloths.

Those were unfortunate.

I think it wasn't like a mixed bag.

It very much showed that those areas of the market aren't paying attention to those laws.

She adds, for some products, there wasn't a difference in PFAS levels between the two states.

Bags and shoes covered under California's PFAS law hit similar levels as those from New York, which doesn't cover them.

Reed says this suggests for many brands, it doesn't make sense to make two types of products to accommodate varied PFAS restriction laws.

This is Edwin J. Vieira for New York News Connection.

Next, the Philadelphia Health Center will explore the connection between HIV and mental health at its annual HIV Education Summit.

Winifred Bell with Philadelphia Fight Community Health Center says, the summit focuses on awareness, prevention, and building a coalition to end AIDS diagnoses.

Folks can learn about the basics of HIV, engaging in therapy, and also hepatitis C, which intersects with HIV.

More than half of Philadelphians living with age are 50 or older, making healthy aging a key topic.

This is Public News Service.

The University of New Hampshire has been selected to help lead a growing movement in responsibly harvested local seafood production.

American demand for seafood is surging, but most popular items like shrimp and salmon are imported, and more consumers are growing concerned with the health and origin of their food.

David Fredrickson, director of UNH's Center for Sustainable Seafood Systems, says new federal funding will help develop regional hubs for finfish aquaculture with a focus on native species.

I think the American people are going to be more inclined to accept their neighbors doing this type of thing than a big corporation doing this type of thing.

UNH will collaborate with universities in Hawaii, Florida, and elsewhere to help close America's more than $20 billion seafood trade deficit by boosting the domestic supply.

In the Northeast, he says, that means a greater focus on stealthy steelhead trout.

I'm Katherine Carley.

And the federal government has sent billions of dollars to Texas as part of its mass deportation efforts.

Now the U.S. House has passed the reconciliation package that funds ice enforcement and Border Patrol through 2029. and more federal money will be flooding into the region.

Texas has the most colonious or low-income unincorporated settlements of the four border states.

Sandra Fuentes with the Border Organization says residents in those communities are not benefiting from the influx of money.

They lack in funding for education, but millions are being spent federal money on the river, on the buoys, on the razor wire, on the boxcars, on National Guard being there.

Yet the community is lacking in so many other areas.

Colonials don't have paved roads, safe drinking water, or access to essential services.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Finally, the North Carolina Jemble Assembly is considering a bill that supporters argue would better regulate hyperscale data centers across the state.

However, reporters believe the measure would leave the facilities free to pollute and extract resources.

Senate Bill 730 puts some guardrails on noise pollution and electricity usage costs that could be passed on to consumers.

However, the bill also requires power plants to remain open until their energy outputs can be matched by nuclear power, leaving out solar and wind energy generation and hindering North Carolina's goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Sophie Loeb, with the Center for Progressive Reform, says the bill acts as if data centers are a sure thing, even though they're widely unpopular.

The bill kind of seeks to force communities to accept the inevitability narrative around data centers, which is that these data centers have to be here in your community, so you must accept the terms and conditions that are led by the utility, that are led by the tech companies.

I'm Zamone Perez.

This is Mike Clifford, and thank you for ending your week with Public News Service. member and listener supported.

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