News from around the nation.

President Donald Trump predicts the US-Iran War will end immediately after the midterm elections, a new report finds Connecticut lags as new problems extend the trend, Pennsylvania data center regulations aim to protect farmland, water, and communities.

Transcript

The Public News Service Thursday afternoon update on Mike Clifford.

Iran's state media had warned Tehran targeted U.S. assets across the region in retaliation for American attacks on Iranian oil tankers, and on Wednesday they made good on the threat Iranian strikes damaged three U.S. fighter jets on a Jordanian military base.

CBS News notes President Trump said Wednesday that Iran is desperate to affect the midterm elections and added, I think the war will end immediately after the election.

And at his midterm GOP Trumpapalooza convention in Dallas, Trump said he would offer every adult American a $5,000 payout if Republicans win both chambers of the Congress in November's midterm elections.

The BBC notes that Democrats called it an empty promise.

Others questioned whether such a pledge was even legal.

Meantime, a fresh analysis of Connecticut's economy and labor prospects shows it hasn't kept up with national growth.

The latest state of work in Connecticut report finds the state had the slowest job growth in all 50 states between 1990 and 2025.

It also notes Connecticut suffers from long-standing issues like slow labor productivity and wage growth exacerbated by new issues like unemployment spikes, higher everyday costs, and cuts to public benefits.

Report author Patrick O'Brien with Connecticut Voices for Children explains how these compound long-term harms to personal incomes.

Rising unemployment will slow earnings and overall income growth for workers and households and in turn further weaken the state's fiscal capacity.

Higher prices will reduce where earnings and income buy and erode the real value of state support that's not indexed to inflation.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

And with growing concern about data centers affecting communities and water resources connected to the Chesapeake Bay, clean water advocates say Governor Josh Shapiro's new executive order brings needed transparency.

It requires proposed data centers seeking state permits to make legally binding commitments to rules under the state's governor-responsible infrastructure development or grid, and local approval is needed first.

Harry Campbell with Chesapeake Bay Foundation says without proper oversight, data centers can compromise air quality and put local streams, the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay at risk.

You cannot manage what you don't measure, and by empowering the local governments to do so, they allow for that accountability, further that accountability, to understand what those potential impacts are so as to protect the health, well-being, and quality of life of Pennsylvanians.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And these days, folks in North Carolina will hear bleating.

Instead of the roar of a lawnmower, Coastal Credit Union has partnered with Raleigh-based Goats on the Go to use a herd of more than 40 goats to eat overgrown vegetation on an empty lot near its headquarters.

Jennifer Gallagher, who works with the credit union, says the property was not conducive to traditional landscaping maintenance.

People messaging me all day long like, how are the goats?

What's going on with the goats?

It's been really fun and very engaging for everyone.

She says there's been an outpouring of interest in the goats and their work on the property both from inside and outside their organization.

This is Public News Service.