News from around the nation.

Elon Musk says Trump's spending bill undermines the work DOGE has been doing; Report outlines hazards of NC Buc-ee's project, other gas stations; Latest school funding bill heads back to TX House; NASA begins closing Goddard Institute in NY.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Elon Musk criticized the Republican spending bill that recently made it through a House vote, saying it counters the work he's been doing to reduce wasteful government spending.

That from CNBC.

They report in an interview to be aired June 1 on CBS Sunday morning, the richest man in the world and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, advisory board said, "The big beautiful bill will not help the nation's finances."

Musk said in a clip of the program shared on social media platform X, I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it.

And it undermines the work that DOJ team has been doing.

Meantime, a new report highlights the hazards of gas stations to communities, health and wealth as the Bucky's chain moves to break ground in the small North Carolina town.

The Melbourne City Council has approved the construction of the large gas station, despite concerns about threats to soil health and air quality and its impact on Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

Del Ward is a community organizer and founder of A Voice for Orange County, which successfully blocked a Buc-ee's from being built in Eflin in 2021.

He says the company refers to itself as a corporate neighbor.

My neighbors don't threaten the quality of air that I breathe, the quality of water that I drink, the history of Indigenous lands.

My neighbors don't pay over 64,000 square feet of land to put a gas station.

The report shows that the 120 pump station would consume 23,000 gallons of water per day.

I'm Eric Tegethoff reporting.

And as school districts across Texas continue to work around budget shortfalls, members of Texas American Federation of Teachers hope the latest version of the school funding bill before lawmakers will help.

House Bill 2, which has been passed by the Senate, includes money for overhauling special education and funding full-day pre-K.

Nicole Hill with Texas AFT says the bill also includes much-needed pay increases.

In addition to dedicated teacher pay raises, there is now a support staff allotment that will guarantee that everybody who helps our kids every day, from our bus drivers to our custodians to our counselors will also get pay raises out of this deal.

I'm Frida Ross reporting.

And NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York is closing.

More than a hundred people working for NASA, Columbia University and its contractor employees were forced out Tuesday as part of the Trump administration's efforts to cut federal spending.

Matt Biggs with the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers says the work done at the Goddard Institute is important to scientific discovery and data gathering.

They maintain global temperature records dating back to the 1880s.

They maintain the surface temperature analysis.

They do climate monitoring.

This is the kind of work these scientists do.

The move comes after the building received six million dollars in renovations.

This is Public News Service.

Notre Dame is launching a major effort to shape the future of social media policy and it could impact every corner of Indiana.

This week the university is hosting lawmakers, tech leaders, and scholars to draft a national roadmap for regulating platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

They'll focus on how social media influences democracy, civic trust, and everyday life.

David Campbell leads Notre Dame's Democracy Initiative and says this meeting is just the beginning.

Our hope is the policy experts will hear from the scholars what the research says about the effects of social media and what we can hopefully the two groups together can settle on concrete recommendations that can be made.

Campbell says online activity can affect Indiana communities not just the nation.

The university plans to continue this work beyond the event with a non-partisan focus.

Joe Ulari, Public News Service.

And as Congress debates the federal budget Republicans are looking to make deep cuts in the Medicaid program which some experts warn could cripple Connecticut's rural health care system.

Birthing options are decreasing as many hospitals in rural areas have closed their labor and delivery units.

Joan Alker with the Georgetown Center for Children and Families says Medicaid covers one in four people outside of urban areas and cuts could remove up to 900,000 people from health care roles statewide.

Right now Congress is considering the largest cuts to Medicaid that certainly I've seen in my decades of working on Medicaid.

And the reality is that these could be extremely pernicious and dangerous for rural communities.

Elker adds maternity care is expensive and cuts to Medicaid could harm rural providers, putting the health of mothers and babies at risk.

GOP budget writers say the cuts are designed to remove waste, fraud, and abuse from the Medicaid program.

The budget measure awaits action in the Senate.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira.

Finally, the National Park Service faces two lawsuits for its latest bison and management plan for Yellowstone National Park, the first update released in about 25 years.

The new plan allows for a slightly larger bison population in the park, between 3,500 and 6,000 animals, as well as more space for them to roam and increased capacity for people to hunt them.

The state of Montana is suing, alleging a lack of cooperation in planning.

And the Conservation Group Alliance for the Wild Rockies is also suing because, as Executive Director Mike Garrity says, the plan's environmental impact statement doesn't follow the most current We want the Park Service to do a new EIS that is honest and then we could have an intelligent discussion and debate about wild bison.

The plan aims to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a bacterial disease that can lower birth rates in cattle, a priority for local ranchers.

But a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine shows all recent cases of the disease in cattle were transmitted by wild elk, not bison.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

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

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