Six minutes of news from around the nation.

MN political commentators analyze the social program fraud scandal; the ACLU of IL is busy with hundreds of lawsuits against policies they say 'violate constitutional rights'; rollbacks on bonding requirements for oil and gas companies could leave NM footing the bill; gray whales might not be bouncing back as fast as previously thought and NY advocates are celebrating a federal ruling saying the Trump Administration's wind energy ban was illegal.

TRANSCRIPT

Public News Service Daily Newscast for Friday, December 12th, 2025.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

Minnesota leaders, particularly Governor Tim Walz, are on the defensive amid national criticism of state programs allowing people to swindle taxpayer dollars.

Mike Moen shares one political commentator's views on damage to the state's reputation and how it could be fixed in this report.

The Walz administration is under scrutiny for responding too late with wrong prevention efforts following a string of high profile cases.

They often involved people posing as service providers, filing reimbursement claims.

The Minnesota Reformers' chief editor, Patrick Kulikin, says in the past, Minnesota has been known for operating a clean and functional state government.

He warns being dragged through the mud nationally is hard to overcome.

And that kind of thing, when it appears in so many national news outlets, it starts to sink in.

Governor Walz claims his response helped lead to arrests.

Kulikin says federal investigators deserve a nod, and he recommends a sincere acknowledgement of state government failures.

He adds emerging reforms will also need time to prove they're working.

In the wake of this scandal, Trump supporter and MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, announced he's running for Minnesota governor.

While part of his platform will center on weeding out fraud in state programs, his campaign will also focus on ending the state's use of electronic voting machines.

It comes months after a federal jury demanded Lindell pay more than $2 million in damages for defaming a former Dominion Voting Systems employee.

This year, the ACLU has filed more than 200 challenges nationwide to federal orders that it says violate constitutional rights.

As Judith Ruiz Branch reports, the group's lawyers in Illinois have been busy.

At the ACLU of Illinois, Ed Ianca says most recent local litigation has centered on warrantless immigration arrests and the inhumane treatment of immigrants, journalists, and protesters during the targeted federal action known as Operation Midway Blitz.

Ianca says a class action lawsuit aims to improve what he describes as horrific conditions at the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center in Broadview.

There's no question that the level of attacks on basic rights and the way in which those attacks have sought to dismantle fundamental government structures and protections have been particularly acute during this time.

He stresses that while the ACLU has filed lawsuits against every presidential administration since its founding in 1920, the current administration has kept their office particularly busy this year.

The Trump administration wants bonding requirements for oil and gas companies rolled back, which which critics say would leave New Mexico taxpayers to foot the bill for billions in environmental cleanup costs.

Ross Brown has more.

Bonding requirements act like an insurance policy, mandating that oil and gas companies plug wells at the end of their life and restore the surrounding environment.

But many find loopholes to avoid spending money on cleanup.

David Jenkins leads conservatives for responsible stewardship.

He believes bonding rates and mandates imposed by the Biden administration should be preserved.

These companies, as a condition of their permit, they promise to plug and clean up those wells.

So they make the profit and they give us the cost.

And why would the Trump administration say, oh, that's a good thing?

This is public news service.

Childcare workers at the University of Michigan say low and stagnant wages are pushing them out of the jobs their families depend on.

As Crystal Blair reports, their union is fighting back.

The labor union, University Staff United, has handed out flyers to parents this week at all three U of M childcare centers, urging support as contract negotiations continue.

The union says many early childhood educators earn wages so low they're working multiple jobs just to get by.

USU Vice President Therese Theopoulos says the financial strain is pushing some staff to take desperate measures.

And we're there almost 10 hours and then some of the teachers go home and some of them have to actually go to soup kitchens to eat.

And last week another teacher had to move from her apartment because it went up $300.

The University of Michigan says it has been negotiating in good faith and notes that its child care centers operate within broader university budget constraints.

U of M points to its recent order of a one-time payment and adjustments to workload policies, saying those proposals reflect meaningful progress, while larger compensation decisions must go through the school's regents and central administration.

New research says birth rates for gray whales are still low, likely due to climate change affecting their food sources.

However, melting sea ice has created new feeding opportunities, and as Isabelle Charlay reports, scientists are hopeful the whales can adapt allowing populations to rebound.

Gray whales are known to have what are known as unusual mortality events when many whales die at once followed by an uptick in their populations.

But researchers Sue Moore at the University of Washington says the whales don't seem to be recovering from their latest mortality event that started in 2019.

Why we're concerned now is we are having an unusual, unusual mortality event because after a brief looking recovery, bang, the numbers of stranded whales went up, the estimate down, maybe this UME is not over.

This is something different.

Moore adds that with the loss of sea ice in Alaska, more warm water is now passing through the Bering Strait, bringing with it nutrients and new prey for the whales who feed by filtering tiny shrimp and other animals from the ocean floor.

She says the whales are known to be highly adaptable feeders, and it is possible this trait will help them survive a rapidly changing climate.

A Boston judge ruled the Trump administration's nearly year-long ban on permitting for wind farms was illegal.

This allows New York and other states to develop clean energy projects proponents say will benefit energy independence.

Marguerite Wells with the Alliance for Clean Energy New York says wind energy can do a lot to help the state.

Wind energy is often the most powerful at night and in the winter when solar is the weakest.

So solar and wind actually work together to provide a balanced renewable energy portfolio to the grid.

Then there's the economic benefits.

There's a lot of jobs in developing, building and operating these projects and they also generate a lot of tax revenues for the host communities. as New York's power authority approved a plan to double its goal for solar, wind and energy storage projects.

The hope is that new investments will kickstart clean power in the state as private markets continue to rely on fossil fuels.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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