News from around the nation.

Two more bodies found after Michigan church shooting led to devastating fire; Expert: NOAA research cuts could affect MD farms, banks, others; MS postal leader champions 250-year legacy amid privatization concerns; WV electric customers likely to see increasing rates.

Transcript

The Public News Service Monday afternoon update, I'm Mike Clifford.

The search for more potential victims of a mass shooting at a Michigan church continued today after a gunman killed at least four people while hundreds were worshipping on Sunday morning.

That from ABC News.

They report the 40-year-old gunman, Thomas Jacob Sanford, drove his truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan on Sunday morning before shooting congregants and setting the building on fire.

At least four people were killed and eight others were injured in the shooting and fire.

The gunman was then killed in a shootout with responding police.

ABC notes the FBI is leading the investigation, calling the attack an act of targeted violence.

Meantime, advocates warn President Donald Trump's plan to break up a key office in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, will hurt scientific research and multiple industries.

Trump administration officials want to disperse research dollars from the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA across multiple offices, which advocates say would dilute its effectiveness.

The office was responsible for innovating flood warning systems, tornado detection, hurricane tracking, and more.

Craig McLean retired from NOAA as an assistant administrator for research.

He says the breakup of the office will reverberate across many industries that rely on NOAA research.

Seasonal weather that the agricultural community is wholly dependent upon for what they plant, When they plant it, the risks insurance companies need to fund and to be financing banks, mortgage rates, multiple industries are reliant upon the information that NOAA generates.

I'm Zimone Perez, Maryland News Connection.

And as the U.S. Postal Service marks its 250th anniversary this year, a retired Mississippi letter carrier is working to ensure communities recognize the institution's value and oppose efforts to privatize it.

George Collins is the recently retired president of the Mississippi Postal Workers Union.

He says many are unaware of the anniversary or the service's ongoing importance.

The post office was there when roads were built, when railways were built, when airlines were developed and put into use.

It's a vital part of the fabric binding this great nation together.

I'm Trammell Gomes.

Collins is urging the public to contact members of Congress about keeping the service public.

Next, with West Virginia poised to attract new data centers, electric ratepayers will likely see their energy bills continue to climb.

This spring, the state passed the Power Generation and Consumption Act, enabling data center operators to create microgrids, offsetting at least some of the impact on the power supply.

David Hill is with the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Not only big data centers, it's increased home electrification, electrification of vehicles, population growth, more manufacturing activity.

The truth is the demand can be added to the system faster than the new generation supply and the new transmission lines can be added.

West Virginians are now impacted by electric demands in other areas.

This is Public News Service.

Even though some Florida utilities are touting clean energy commitments, a new report reveals what organizers call the dirty truth about their claims.

The Sierra Club's report grades 75 utilities on their plans to cut coal and gas.

Florida utilities scored poorly, with only a couple like Orlando Utilities Commission earning a B.

Susanna Randolph with the Sierra Club's Florida Chapter says the state's providers are behind the curve.

We are seeing that the Florida utilities are overall pretty slow to move off of fossil fuels.

They're slow to shut down or retire or make a plan for retirement.

Coal plants in particular that cause climate change is one of the biggest fuelers of climate change.

State lawmakers recently repealed the state's longstanding renewable energy goals, arguing they are no longer needed.

The report singles out Duke Energy Florida for continuing to operate a coal plant in Crystal River, Jacksonville Electric Authority for recently approving a new combined cycle gas plant, and TECO for its coal reliance.

I'm Trammell Gomes.

Next to New England, where charities say they'll continue to track rates of food insecurity following the end of a longstanding effort by the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced it would end its longstanding annual survey of hunger nationwide, calling it redundant, costly, and politicized.

Matthew Martin with End Hunger New England says the public should know that requests for help from regional food pantries have more than doubled over the past year.

Federal government's not going to do it.

Feeding America's going to do it.

End Hunger New England's going to do it.

We can make sure that people are aware.

For 30 years, the annual food insecurity survey has helped shape anti-hunger policies, but federal officials claim the data has been misused by Democrats to increase eligibility for SNAP benefits.

Martin says one in three New Englanders are considered food insecure.

For New England News Service, I'm Katherine Carley.

Finally, Wyoming's Republican congressional representative has introduced the House version of the Grizzly Bear State Management Act of 2025, which would remove Endangered Species Act protections.

But Bradley Williams with the Sierra Club says the work to fully recover grizzlies is far from over.

Scientists have warned that the greater Yellowstone ecosystem population's gene pool is dangerously shallow, and they need federal protections to connect with bears in other states.

Williams believes decades of recovery work would be at risk if the bear is turned over to state management.

We could very likely see the bear back in a place that it was in the 1970s, where it's at these very bare minimum numbers, and if any kind of catastrophic event, genetic or disease event happens to a population of bears, we can see them at a point where they're not able to be recovered.

Proponents claim the species has already met population recovery goals set in 1993 and say delisting grizzlies will cut through red tape at the US Fish and Wildlife Service that slows oil and gas development.

I'm Eric Galatas.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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