Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Another storm slams California on Christmas Day with flooding rain, high winds and mountain snow; Ohio wastewater data signals early flu surge; NM's LGBTQ+ community champions expanded data privacy laws; NYC immigration judges fired in justice system purge; MI researchers create lab-grown human hearts for breakthrough study.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast December 26th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

After harrowing a deadly Christmas Eve in California with rescues and evacuations amid widespread flooding and debris flow threats, another storm is battering the state Christmas day and more expected into Friday.

That from CNN.

Already on Christmas morning, a line of severe thunderstorms moved into Northern California with wind gusts in excess of 70 miles an hour, setting off flash flooding in the San Francisco metro.

CNN notes that Wednesday's potent storm brought five to more than 10 inches of rain to Southern California's mountains and two to five inches in lower elevations.

While the rainfall today and Friday will be less than fell on Christmas Eve, any new rain could result in flooding because the ground is already saturated.

Meantime, Ohio public health officials are urging residents to take precautions after wastewater data showed a sharp rise in influenza levels, an early signal that flu cases could soon increase statewide.

Health leaders say monitoring untreated wastewater allows them to spot viral trends before hospitals see a surge in patients.

Cleveland's public health director, Dr. David Margolius, says the data now points to flu season arriving earlier and more intensely than some may expect.

The wastewater surveillance is showing a pretty dramatic uptick in the amount of influenza that they're seeing.

This is an early predictor for what we'll be seeing in terms of the number of cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

Margolis says the data gives communities time to act before emergency rooms become overwhelmed.

He notes that while flu patterns remain fairly typical compared to recent years, the warning signs are already clear.

State and local agencies issue flu alerts after two consecutive wastewater samples exceed established detection thresholds.

Officials say rising viral concentrations often precede higher transmission, case counts and hospitalizations, giving communities time to promote prevention measures.

Farah Siddiqui reporting.

This story was produced in association with media in the public interest and funded in part by the George Gunn Foundation.

And when the New Mexico legislature convenes next month, LGBTQ advocates will ask lawmakers to consider data privacy legislation.

Leila Garcia with Equality New Mexico says they're backing the New Mexico Community and Health Information Safety and Privacy Act, which aims to stop unchecked data from being collected, process sold and stored by online entities and instead require explicit consent for its use.

She says it's not just folks in the LGBTQ community they're trying to protect, but all New Mexicans whose data collection could impact their jobs, safety and personal lives.

We're seeing constant federal attacks and many of those are aided by online surveillance.

So right now, New Mexico has the opportunity to sort of lead in data privacy legislation to explicitly protect our vulnerable and marginalized communities.

I'm Roz Brown.

This is Public News Service.

Several New York City immigration judges have been fired as part of a national purge of the justice system.

Close to 100 immigration judges nationwide have been let go from the bench by the Trump administration.

Many of the justices being let go have high rates of granting asylum or backgrounds in immigration defense.

Eileen Grinch, an immigration enforcement reporter with Documented, says recently fired San Francisco immigration judge Jeremiah Johnson sees this as an attack on the courts.

He noted that he himself had taken on an extra load of cases in addition to his normal caseload for those who were outside of those detention centers in everyday life.

He said he felt this was kind of a broader strategy to reshape this U.S. legal system into a tool for mass deportation.

There hasn't been an explanation for the firings from the executive office of Immigration Review.

They've only said they don't comment on personnel matters.

After the firings, the Trump administration has begun to install more likely to rule in favor of deportation in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Santa Ana.

Grench says the fire judges feel this is the administration's way of skirting the law when it comes to justice for all immigrants.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This story was produced with original reporting by Eileen Grench for Documented.

Atrial fibrillation, a dangerous heart rhythm disorder, affects more than 10 million U.S. adults or roughly 4 to 5 percent of the population.

And as Crystal Blair reports, a lab creation from Michigan scientists has opened the door for researchers to study AFib in ways not previously possible.

Even with so many people affected, doctors have been stuck with the same treatment options for years, mostly because studying living human heart tissue hasn't been possible.

Well, researchers at Michigan State University say that barrier may finally be gone, thanks to a new lab-grown model that closely mimics how the human heart actually functions.

Associate Professor Ador Aguirre at Michigan State says his team is now able to create personalized based heart models using donated cells.

We develop technologies to model the human heart.

So we take cells from people and then we can make little hearts that are genetically matched to the person they were derived from.

Researchers say the three-dimensional heart organoids beat on their own and allow scientists to study disease development and drug responses, something that wasn't possible with animal models alone.

Crystal Blair reporting.

And the day after Christmas in Florida often means one thing, enjoying holiday leftovers to make sure those meals are safe.

Experts say proper handling is key.

Toxologist Brad Reisfeld says the magic is trusting your senses, which is a powerful first line of defense when evaluating food safety.

Is it starting to look off?

Does it smell different than when you bought it?

Is the texture weird?

Is it starting to get like slimy or something like that?

And those are all clues that something's going on in terms of the biology and things that might be growing on your food.

[Unintelligible] for those living in a warm climate that can accelerate food spoilage.

So proper refrigeration is even more important.

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

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