News from around the nation.

A pilot and copilot killed after a jet collides with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport; New Hampshire lawmakers aim to dismantle the state’s Renewable Energy Fund; experts say New York City’s proposed $30 minimum wage isn’t sustainable; and Virginia close to establishing prescription drug price limits for thousands.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

An Air Canada regional jet struck a fire truck on a runway while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the late Sunday night collision, which crushed the nose of the aircraft.

Officials say around 40 passengers and crew members were taken to area hospitals, some with serious injuries.

The AP notes air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints, but they do face major staffing issues.

Meantime, New Hampshire lawmakers are considering a bill to dismantle the state's longstanding renewable energy fund.

Our Catherine Cauley has the story.

Utilities pay into the fund when they can't provide a mandated percentage of clean energy to the state's grid.

That money is then invested in certain residential or municipal projects to improve efficiency and cut down on pollution.

Nick Krakow, a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, says reducing investments in renewable energy projects will lead to higher energy prices.

At a time when we're seeing fossil fuel prices rise because of the conflict in Iran, the last thing we want to do right now is to make our energy resources in the state less diverse.

Some Republican lawmakers say renewable energy projects no longer need state subsidies and that the funds should be rebated to ratepayers.

Krakow notes that emptying the fund would mean less than 50 cents a month back to each household.

Next, the New York City Council is considering a bill that would raise the minimum wage significantly.

It calls for an incremental increase to raise the minimum wage from $17 to $30 an hour by the year 2030.

The bill has strong public support as the city's residents face widespread unaffordability.

But Rebecca Paxton with the Employment Policies Institute warns it may have more drawbacks than benefits.

There's overwhelming evidence drastic minimum wage hikes cause job losses, and that can also include schedule reductions, less overtime opportunities for people who want to pick up shifts, so folks can actually see working less and not being able to earn as much as they were before.

Reports show New York City restaurants lost 10,000 jobs during the summer of 2025 compared to previous years.

Some analysts attribute this trend to high wages and rising costs.

Councilmember Sandy Nurse, the bill's sponsor, argues the city's minimum wage is a poverty wage, leaving more than a million workers living on $500 a week.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

And after years of advocacy and multiple vetoes, Virginia may soon succeed in establishing a prescription drug advisory panel in the Commonwealth.

The bill would extend Medicare negotiated prices for 25 drugs to all Virginians.

Jared Kelfi is with AARP Virginia.

We want to actually meaningfully impact costs as quickly as possible.

And we determined that the best way to do that was to use these prices that the federal government had already negotiated and determined.

And so we just pull those prices down and make sure that everyone who's enrolled in a state regulated health plan or is uninsured would have access.

The Affordable Medicine Act passed the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate with major bipartisan support.

This is Public News Service.

Families planning for college might be worried about tuition sticker shock following decades of higher education cost hikes, but analysts believe affordability is more realistic these days than people might think.

A North Dakota leader agrees.

A new report published by the Brookings Institution says households with college-age students focus too much on the total tuition cost and not the net price, which is lowered by many forms of financial aid.

And over the past 10 years, the analysis shows those net prices have declined.

Lisa Johnson with the North Dakota University System says despite the state's best efforts to promote financial assistance, affordability doubts are still out there.

You know, you still encounter families that were unaware of a scholarship that their son or daughter might be eligible for.

She points to the ND Career Builder Scholarship as an example.

She says until they got an injection of marketing money from the legislature, the program languished and many students didn't take advantage of it.

But she says it finally took off after they were able to promote the aid to larger audiences.

I'm Mike Moen.

Next, Colorado lawmakers are considering whether or not the state's Public Utilities Commission should stay open for business.

The PUC is set to terminate or sunset on September 1st, unless the General Assembly votes to reauthorize the agency that regulates energy and water utilities, gas pipelines, telecommunications, motor transport, and railroads.

Jamie Valdez with Green Latinos says in addition to home energy costs, decisions made by the PUC impact air quality in places like Pueblo, home to some of the state's largest industrial polluters.

Pueblo already has increased rates of asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular disease when compared to state averages.

And so we really need to protect our clean air because without those protections, it won't stay clean for long.

Legislation introduced this month would reauthorize the PUC until 2037.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Finally, Treasure Valley Community College near the Idaho-Oregon border is upgrading its nursing training center to help address the rural health care crisis.

The Evelyn S. Dame Nursing and Allied Health Profession Center on campus is a 30,000 square foot building set for completion in late May.

Mara Pointer, Executive Director of Nursing and Allied Health at the college, says the new center fully launches in the fall and will be state-of-the-art.

We've been teaching nursing in our current space since the 1960s, so everything is going to be a full upgrade from simulation center to Zoom-ready classrooms.

Pointer says that new simulation center will give students a wide range of patient care experiences, preparing them for nursing jobs after graduation.

Idaho ranks 43rd in the nation for its number of nurses, at 7.3 nurses for every 100,000 residents.

I'm Laura Hatch reporting.

This is Mike Clifford and thank you for starting a week with Public News Service.

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