Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Governor Pritzker challenges Trump's threat to send troops to Chicago; MN VA workers decry loss of bargaining rights; Montana mine expansion gets federal OK, sparks outcry; WI nonprofit opposes proposed USDA reorganization.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, August the 26th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has a message for President Trump, keep the military out of Chicago.

That from the New York Times, they report Pritzker and Democrats stood alongside the Chicago River Monday, flagged by Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, pastors, business leaders, and community organizations.

To push back on Trump's offhand declaration, he would send the military into the city, as he had done in LA and Washington.

The Times quotes Pritzker as saying, "Calling the military into U.S. city to invade our streets and neighborhoods and disrupt the lives of everyday people is an extraordinary action and it should require extraordinary justification."

Pritzker added, "Eight of the ten states with the highest homicide rates were led by Republicans."

Meantime, workers from several federal agencies are seeing their collective bargaining rights terminated with new action this month by the Trump administration.

Late Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it was following up on an executive order by no longer recognizing union activity in contracts.

A similar move was announced by the VA in early August.

At an AFL-CIO rally this week, Jake Romans of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center suggested the White House is turning its back on those who served by diminishing the quality of care.

It's not about helping veterans, it's about abandoning them.

It's about starving the VA of the resources and needs.

Advocates contend the move also was in retaliation for members speaking out against job cuts.

The Trump administration says with no more union interference, staff can focus on care instead of organizing activity.

I'm Mike Moen.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is part of the mix and VA hospital staff in Minnesota are calling it a betrayal.

And a controversial southeastern Montana coal mine expansion has received federal approval.

It's a move environmental advocates say ignores court orders and will worsen pollution.

The U.S. Interior Department's Office of Surface Mining approved expansion of the Rosebud Mine, which supplies the coal strip generating station, a coal-fired power plant.

Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center says the decision bypasses necessary environmental analysis and condemns the region to decades of continued water and air pollution from a facility she calls unreliable and expensive.

And agricultural producers and others downstream of that mine are the ones who have to suffer the consequence and will continue to suffer the consequence because of this haphazard approval by the federal government that was done without the rigorous analysis necessary.

The Trump administration has framed the approval as part of its plan to bolster domestic energy in rural jobs.

Hedges dismisses that claim, arguing the decision forces Montanans to subsidize expensive dirty energy despite the state's vast potential for wind and solar power.

This is Trumell Gomes.

This is Public News Service.

A Wisconsin agricultural nonprofit is sounding the alarm on proposed federal changes to reorganize USDA and are urging farmers and advocates to oppose them.

Part of the reorganization would relocate national operations out of Washington, DC, which Chuck Endares with the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute says he believes is part of a larger effort to further reduce the size of the agency.

Wisconsin has lost about 22 percent of its USDA staff this year.

A lot of them were spread throughout the state and it caused a lot of disruption of services It makes it a lot more difficult for the government to efficiently carry out its mission in those areas.

And Darragh says organizations like his rely on partnerships with the USDA, but communication has become increasingly difficult.

He says additional agency cuts would disrupt farmer access to critical programs.

The USDA has said the reorganization would cut costs and better meet the needs of farmers.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

And West Virginia expected to lose more than $73 million in federal funding for public education.

Educators say the loss will worsen these state's teacher shortage and outcomes for students.

Kanawha County educator Octavia Cordon says schools are already hurting from declining enrollment and learning setbacks from COVID.

She's worried the potential funding losses for programs that improve teacher effectiveness and leadership will drive more people out of the profession.

The teacher shortage is already at a high rate as it is.

You know, we have teachers, you know, pulling out, retiring, switching jobs.

Under the current proposal, West Virginia could no longer use federal block grant funding to support wraparound services, after-school and summer programs, aid for migrant children, programs that support English learners, and programs that serve children with disabilities, among other changes.

This is Nadia Ramlagon for West Virginia News Service.

Finally, with the new state anti-fraud measure looming, Nebraska advocates are raising awareness about cryptocurrency ATM fraud.

Crypto kiosks are becoming more common at retailers as well as bars and restaurants, and a new consumer protection law will take effect next week.

Retailers will be required to register each machine and to post warnings advising people to be wary of scams and noting that government agencies do not accept payments from kiosks.

Gina Raglin with AARP Nebraska says scammers will often send people QR codes and for those who are not tech savvy, scammers can appear very supportive.

The scammers are really good about being very compassionate.

So if somebody doesn't understand how to do it, they're more than happy to walk them through how to use that QR code.

They're very friendly with them as long as they're getting what they want from the consumer and knowing that they're going to be able to scam them out of that money.

Brett Pivito reporting.

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

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