News from around the nation.

Flight delays begin as air traffic staffing shortages worsen; WA voter ID initiative draws fire; Florida Climate Week launches in Jacksonville, focusing on resilience; A high-tech approach to keeping Arizona forests healthy. 

Transcript

The Public News Service Tuesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Flights into airports serving New York, Denver, and the Los Angeles area were delayed on Monday night because of shortages of air traffic controllers.

Hours after the transportation secretary warned that flying could be disrupted by the government shutdown.

That from the New York Times.

They report the delays began in the late afternoon at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey where incoming flights were delayed nearly an hour on average.

Later in the evening, A Hollywood Burbank airport near Los Angeles reported average incoming delays of about two and a half hours.

The Times notes the air traffic control tower that serves Burbank had no controllers working Monday night so management of incoming flights was being assumed by counterparts at Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control in San Diego.

That's one of the busiest air traffic facilities in the world.

Meantime, voting rights advocates are pushing back against an initiative to require voters to have enhanced driver's licenses or provide other proof of citizenship in order to vote in the state of Washington.

Under the initiative, registered voters would be automatically unregistered in November of 2027 if they do not provide the required documents.

Shoma Lahiri Gupta of the immigrant rights organization One America calls the initiative an attack on voting rights that would harm all Washingtonians.

Adding more and more requirements will create more and more hurdles to fulfill something that is designated as a right in the Constitution for all US citizens.

A right should not have hurdles.

A right should be as easily accessible as possible.

State Republican Party Chair, Jim Walsh, filed the initiative in May.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

And Florida Climate Week is now underway at launch Monday in Jacksonville with a call for community-wide action on sustainability and resilience.

Jacksonville Mayor, Donna Deegan, joined city sustainability staff and environmental partners to proclaim the week, emphasizing the city's role in preparing for climate impacts such as flooding through local initiatives.

And I am proud to say Jacksonville is not just participating, we are leading things to initiatives like the Resilient Jacksonville Strategy, the Regional Climate Action Plan, and other bold steps, all to build a city that is prepared for the future.

The statewide initiative is led by the Volo Foundation, which focuses on data-driven solutions for the environment.

I'm Tramel Gomes.

Next, the Nature Conservancy is working with the U.S. Forest Service to adopt a high-tech-driven approach to making Arizona's forests healthier and reduce the risk of wildfire.

The Nature Conservancy Arizona's Travis Woolley says the high-tech approach is 10 times faster than using traditional methods such as painting stands of trees to mark them.

They go out in the woods and they can see where they are and they can see kind of based on the map where they should be leaving those trees and what the density should be and then where they should be creating those kind of more open areas.

The Walker Hill project is among the first of its kind to keep forest restoration on pace.

Forestry specialists are using digital tools such as e-tablets, satellite imagery and LiDAR, a remote light sensing method to prepare stands of trees for thinning or preserving.

This is public news service.

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, the National Group is helping New York's Hispanic and Latino community with end of life planning.

While this is important so family members understand a person's final wishes, it comes with numerous challenges such as language barriers.

Leslie Martinez Ramirez with Compassion and Choices notes forms aren't always translated properly or easily understood once they are.

She says another challenge is the cultural barrier related to talking about death.

You wanna start this conversation with the old ones, for example, with the elders, and they start like, "No, no, no, I don't wanna talk about it.

This is bad luck.

You bring death if you would start these conversations."

Trainings are offered so community groups can help people make these decisions and understand their options.

Ramirez notes it's important to meet people where they are, such as churches and nonprofits.

Compassion and Choices train the advocate program for community health workers as one way to ensure Hispanic and Latino families have a better chance of accessing this information.

She says these health workers are part of the community serve and are trusted when it comes to health matters.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

And an estimated 22,000 jobs in the wind manufacturing industry could be created in Appalachian Pennsylvania and neighboring states in the coming decades as according to a new report from Reimagine Appalachia.

Wind and solar projects made up 96 percent of new electric capacity nationwide through the first half of this year.

Michael Shields with Reimagine Appalachia says the region's existing skilled workers, manufacturing history and unique geography could make the Keystone State a key player.

That doesn't mean that Appalachia has to lose its place as a driving force behind energy production in the U.S. and we find that through opportunities for Appalachian communities to participate in manufacturing for the new energy economy.

More than 73,000 wind turbines operating across the country generate enough power to keep the lights on in more than 46 million American homes according to the report.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Finally our Julie Lurie lets us know broad ripple in Indianapolis is welcoming a new landmark.

Artist Jason Myers of Logan Sport is installing a large-scale sculpture designed to symbolize unity and diversity at the entrance to the cultural district.

Myers says he has always turned to art to capture memory and meaning.

I wanted my work to be more about the feeling of these interactions we have in life and convey those memories of those moments in life.

The broad ripple piece called Gavin Divergence reflects what Meyer sees as the village's spirit.

He says the transparent skeletal design represents the structures of society with music, food, culture, and community all connected in one place.

A location at College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard chosen as a gateway to the district.

The Broad Ripple sculpture expected to be unveiled after Halloween.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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