News from around the nation.

As the death toll tops 1,450 in Venezuela, some live rescues have been reported; BioLab disaster fuels fight for chemical safety in Georgia; DACA holders in legal limbo as renewal applications are delayed; During Pride month, a blow to California schools’ ban on forced outing.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The first critical 72 hours have passed, but search and rescue efforts continue in Venezuela, with families reporting at least 68,900 people missing as of Saturday.

Even as a death toll topped 1,450, there have been live rescues.

NBC notes a nine-month-old baby and her mother were rescued from the rubble.

Several others have been rescued from the more than 770 buildings, totally or partially collapsed from the earthquakes.

Means of a massive chemical fire in 2024 forced thousands to flee their homes and sent a toxic plume over metro Atlanta.

Now a coalition of health advocates and elected officials warns that Congress may weaken the law designed to prevent such disasters.

State Senator Tanya Anderson, whose district includes the city of Conyers where the fire occurred, says rolling back protections would put communities at risk.

If those protections are weakened, then you will have corporations falling back or doing as least as possible or minimal to maintain a standard of safety.

And we saw this with the BioLab.

The Toxic Substance Control Act lets the EPA restrict hazardous chemicals.

Industry groups say current rules stifle innovation, while public health advocates argue the law needs more teeth.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And this month marks the 14th anniversary for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, but bureaucratic holdups have left DACA, recipients in Massachusetts and elsewhere unsure of their legal standing.

There are roughly half a million active DACA holders who've grown up in the U.S. Their allies say they've raised families here and filled critical jobs in health care and education.

Priya Pandey, with the Center for Law and Social Policy, says months-long delays and DACA renewals have left people without work permits and needed income.

Many DACA recipients have never had a lapse in their status before since they first applied to DACA, many of whom were children and teenagers at the time, and they're now living in fear.

They can't work and they're waiting for their renewals and silence.

Immigration officials say the delays are warranted to ensure the proper vetting of applicants.

I'm Katherine Carley.

And mental health professionals are reacting to a court ruling they say undermine protections for transgender students in California schools.

Recently, a federal judge put parts of the Safety Act on hold while litigation continues.

The 2024 law addresses the practice of forced outing.

M. Lyons is associate marriage and family therapist at a clinic in the Bay Area that treats youth with suicidal ideation.

She opposes forced outing because she's seen LGBTQ plus kids get thrown out of their house because of it.

I think after 12 years old, you should have the right to protect yourself.

There should be a rights in place to protect an individual from becoming homeless or ostracized from their own family unit as a result.

The Safety Act forbids students for requiring staff to notify parents about a change in a student's gender expression, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

This is Public News Service.

Our news partners at KFF Health News find more Americans are canceling their health insurance or opting for less coverage as health insurance tax subsidies and an insurance cost dramatically rise.

Rebecca Tobiasin and her husband Ross run an auto repair shop in Sugar Grove, North Carolina.

For years after the Affordable Care Act was passed, the Tobiasin's health insurance costs $130 a month by using the marketplace.

I was able to get my husband to start going to the doctors once a year, which was really good because he hadn't before that from like 18 to 30 something.

He hadn't gone to the doctors.

But this year, their monthly payment ballooned to more than $550 a month, as congressional Republicans allowed ACA tax credits to lapse late last year.

That prompted the Tobiasins and thousands of other North Carolinians to go uninsured or pay more for worse coverage.

Sign-ups on the marketplace in the Tar Heel state declined by 22 percent compared to the year before, more than any other state.

This story was produced with original reporting from Andrew Jones for KFF Health News.

I'm Zamone Perez.

And as Americans prepare to celebrate its 250th birthday, six military veterans are making their way across the country via bicycle.

They're expected to reach the halfway point of their journey in northeastern Nebraska on the 4th of July.

They're taking on this 3,700-mile bike ride as part of the Warrior Expeditions Program, which supports veterans after they leave the military.

Ryan Chow, president of Rails to Trails Conservancy, shares more about how the program works.

Warrior Physicians is a wonderful organization, and they connect veterans with epic outdoor adventures as a way to both kind of cope and reconcile with post-traumatic stress disorder and really kind of explore their own physical and mental health and wellness.

The veterans' bike ride kicked off in the nation's capital in May, and they're expected to arrive in Battle Creek on July 3rd.

Crystal Blair reporting.

Finally, a Montana oncologist and state house representative condemns the Supreme Court decision that would block cancer patients from suing Roundup's maker.

The court overturned a lawsuit by a Missouri man who claimed the company was liable for failing to warn him about the possible link between glyphosate, an active ingredient in the weed killer, and cancer.

Dr. Melody Cunningham has been treating pediatric cancer in hospice patients for more than 30 years.

She calls the court's ruling a public health travesty.

I really, truly believe that this is going to embolden other corporations to ignore safety signals, not just cancer signals, but other safety signals about patients and people's health.

In the Supreme Court's 7-2 ruling, the majority sided with Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, the herbicide's manufacturer.

I'm Laura Hatch reporting.

This is Mike Clifford.

Thank you for starting a week with Public News Service. member and listener supported.

Find your trust indicators at public news service.org.