News from around the nation.

House Republicans advance bill on Trump's legislative agenda.; Federal budget bill could stall growth and investment in Appalachia; Five OR consumer protection bills move closer to becoming law; Advocates: AL could improve public safety with broad 'clean slate' laws.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The House Budget Committee, late Sunday night, revived President Trump's stall bill to cut taxes and spending after a handful of fiscally conservative Republicans relented and allowed it to advance even as they continue to press for deeper reductions to health and environmental programs.

That from the New York Times.

They report the vote signaled a temporary resolution to a remarkable revolt from a group of hardliners on the panel, who on Friday joined Democrats in opposing the bill, tanking it over concerns it did not do enough to rein in the nation's ballooning debt.

Meantime, a new report highlights record-breaking investments in the Appalachian region, driven largely by federal climate and infrastructure funding over the past few years.

However, Congress is considering that budget reconciliation bill that could cut funding and put a damper on union jobs and private investment.

Funds included in the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs act could be lost, explains Dana Kuhnlein, program director at Reimagine Appalachia.

One of the reasons that's so harmful for our region is that a huge percentage of the Inflation Reduction Act was targeted with special provisions for communities that had seen a downturn from manufacturing and other industry loss to try and build those industries back up.

According to data from the Center for American Progress, Ohio saw a record $11 billion in investments and created more than 4,700 jobs since the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2021.

Nadia Ramligan reporting.

Next, Oregon where consumer rights advocates are celebrating five bills that passed the first chamber deadline in Salem moving closer to becoming law.

The bills are supported by the Consumer Alliance of Oregon, a coalition of 18 advocacy groups spanning housing, health care, and other sectors.

The bills mark the alliance's first legislative push to protect Oregonians from predatory business practices.

Daisy Bedoya-Sotelo of the Alliance highlighted one bill that would rein in hospital facility fees and require transparent patient billing.

Right now you go and seek care and then you get home and get the bill and it's surprising that it could be up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars in facility fees.

Another bill would bring the state's insurance sector under Oregon's unlawful trade practices Act.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

And in Alabama, only certain charges like dismissed cases and nonviolent misdemeanors are eligible for expungement and people must petition the court to get their records cleared.

Lizelle Pettis, policy director for criminal justice and civil liberties at the R Street Institute, says people are often criticized for not rebuilding their lives, despite the system making it nearly impossible.

If we're gonna say, yes, you've done your time and then, you know, come back to being society, but we're gonna hold this thing over your head, over everything you try to do to be a productive member of society.

It's really counterintuitive.

Advocates say that broader clean slate laws could help remove barriers to jobs, housing and economic growth.

This is public news service.

Researchers across the U.S. are closely following the spread of the avian flu, part of their efforts to stop the virus becoming the next pandemic.

Those efforts have been hampered in part by cuts to the U.S.

Department of Agriculture by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The USDA's milk testing program was tracking the spread of avian flu among cows, for instance, finding more than a thousand herds have been infected so far.

Computational modeling has become a powerful tool in tracking the evolution of this virus.

Daniel Janies, professor of bioinformatics and genomics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, leads the fight against bird flu by analyzing possible mutations.

"Now that we've got the software worked out in our custom workflow, we can do that very rapidly.

So if you give me a new virus tomorrow, I can probably give you an answer in a day or two."

In a paper published last month, Janney's and other researchers found current avian flu strains are evolving to avoid immune responses.

The researchers say this is a worrying sign that shows the virus has the potential to move from epidemic to pandemic.

I'm Eric Tegethoff reporting.

And as Colorado moves to bar SNAP participants from using benefits to buy soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, a new report spotlights how restrictions on benefits actually harm people.

Joel McClurg with Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger says restricting what people can or can't purchase with SNAP dollars deepens existing racial and economic inequality.

He says it also opens the door for policy makers to cut already low benefits.

Now, since you can only purchase a fraction of that, can't we have benefits at a much lower level, which is $6 a day on average right now.

It's not a lot.

So decreasing that would have very negative implications for people on the program.

Improving public health by eating better is central to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

I'm Eric Galatas.

Finally, every year racing fans look forward to Memorial Day weekend when 33 drivers compete on the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway track in the Indy 500.

While crashes and collisions with other racers are expected risks of the high speed sport, in the event of a crash a team of professionals at the IU Health Emergency Medical Clinic is ready.

Indy 500 IMS Medical Director Dr.

Julia Vizer says the public perception of their team is taken in good humor.

I think there's lots of jokes about emergency physicians out there, adrenaline junkies.

We need that that dopamine hits.

We do love adrenaline and it's kind of what drives us.

The clinic which was built in 1947 and renovated in 2023 is considered one of the best and busiest in the country.

It is staffed with surgeons specializing in neurology, trauma and orthopedics who treat life threatening injuries a driver may sustain during an accident.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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