Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump plans military deployment to Chicago; Maryland court strikes down anti-DEI policy in schools; Electric vehicle battery plant workers in KY to vote on union; Closing global EV sales gap could help manufacturing in AZ; Trump budget bill cuts funding for infrastructure project in St. George, UT.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service still newscast August 25th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

The Trump administration has been planning to send the National Guard to Chicago as part of an expanding anti-crime agenda in major US cities, two officials told CNN.

Democratic lawmakers and local leaders are pushing back, saying the president's claims are at odds with the facts on the ground.

CNN reports Trump's law enforcement efforts have gone hand in hand with his goal of ramping up deportations.

The deployment of federal agencies in DC this month led to a huge spike in immigration arrests.

And Trump has threatened funding for bridge construction in Baltimore due to an escalating clash with Maryland's governor over crime.

Meantime, the U.S. District Court of Maryland says the Department of Education cannot withhold funding for schools that fail to remove initiatives and programming related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

One Maryland teachers union hails the August 14th decision as a win for students and educators.

In February, the Department of Education sent a letter threatening to withhold funding from schools that continue DEI programs.

The Maryland chapter of the American Federation of Teachers challenged the letter, citing violations of the First Amendment.

Kenya Campbell with AFT Maryland says the Trump administration went too far.

The way that the letter was written, it was very arbitrary in that the directive from Trump's Department of Education was an unlawful overreach that basically threatened the education of all Maryland students.

The Trump administration takes a hard stance against DEI initiatives, claiming they indoctrinate students with liberal ideologies.

The administration also believes considerations of race or ethnicity in any type of program or admissions decisions are discriminatory under the Civil Rights Act.

I'm Zimone Perez.

And workers at Blue Oval SK, an electric vehicle battery manufacturer, will vote on forming a union at a plant in Kentucky this week.

Haley Hadfield, an employee at the plant, says workers want to feel valued for the expertise and hard work that goes into their jobs.

They were going to treat us like expendable assets, which if you've ever worked in manufacturing or any kind of work where you know you are generating revenue for an investor or someone other than yourself to an exorbitant level, that's not cool.

Supporters of the effort say communities across the Commonwealth stand to gain from a union win.

According to a Kentucky Center for Economic Policy report, there are fewer good jobs in the automotive industry.

And over the past decade, annual average wages have declined by thousands of dollars when adjusted for inflation.

Blue Oval S.K. is a joint venture of Ford Motor Company and South Korea's S.K. Group.

The company's Hardin County facility says it eventually expects to employ around 5000 people.

This is Nadia Romligon for Kentucky News Connection.

In 2023, the UAW won a 25 percent increase in wages and other key improvements.

Two years earlier, Kentucky lawmakers gave the company $250 million in corporate subsidies.

This is public news service.

The US is falling behind in the global race to sell electric vehicles and losing the race could harm states with EV manufacturing plants like Arizona.

The nation still has the chance to catch up with China, its biggest competitor, according to Catherine Yusko with the American Security Project.

She's written about the EV race, highlighting some of the ways the U.S. can close the gap with China, as well as some of the biggest barriers.

She says funding from the climate legislation passed under President Joe Biden provides clean manufacturing credits that enable the U.S. to build out a more resilient domestic battery supply.

Unfortunately, with these credits being phased out by 2033, this is a new development as of the big, beautiful bill.

This is likely to slip in.

There have been billions of dollars in cancellation in battery factories in battery manufacturing since the first months of the Trump administration.

USCO notes tariffs are another challenge as China has a chokehold on the minerals needed to produce EV batteries.

If the EV market declines in the US, it could mean serious impacts for Arizona.

The state is home to the eighth largest EV factory in the country, Lucid Motors, which began operating in 2021.

I'm Eric Tegethoff reporting.

Next to Utah where a much needed highway project for the city of St. George was scuttled when President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The $87 million project would have built crosswalk underpasses along Interstate 15, which currently divides the city.

St. George Councilwoman, Daniela Larkin, was part of the coalition that obtained the grant.

She says losing the funding came as a shock.

We had a big celebration when we were awarded the funding initially because it really is such an important connector and safe route to school in our community.

The budget bill rescinded more than $2 billion approved for infrastructure projects under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.

GOP Congresswoman Celeste Malloy, whose district included St. George, voted yes on the budget bill.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

Mark Richardson reporting.

And the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada holds annual general consumer sessions today in Las Vegas.

It is a chance for members of the public to speak their minds to the commission.

A coalition of local nonprofits will hold a public rally before the evening session to ask the commission to increase oversight of NV Energy, the state's monopoly utility provider.

Camelot Todd with the Nevada Conservation League notes the commission filed a petition in May to open an investigation into NV Energy for overcharging ratepayers.

They overcharged more than 80,000 customers by $17 million for more than two decades and then tried to avoid forward payment of those overcharges by applying the wrong refund rule and that only came to light because Nevadans flagged that for the PUC.

Envy Energy has acknowledged the billing errors and has begun issuing refunds.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

This is Mike Clifford and thank you for starting your week with Public News Service.

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