Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Mamdani will be first N.Y.C. Mayor to use the Quran at his swearing-in; Some TN renters launch tenants' union to address complaints; More than 21,000 nurses authorize strike at NYC, LI hospitals; NV preps for higher health care costs in 2026; Wisconsin quilting group benefits seniors in memory care.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for New Year's Day, January 1, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

When Zohran Mamdani is sworn in as mayor of New York City today, he will represent a range of demographics the city has not seen before in top leadership, South Asian, Millennial, and Muslim.

They report for New York's hundreds of thousands of Muslim residents who have taken pride in seeing one of their own rise to the job of mayor. inauguration will bring another special first, rooted in tradition, piety.

During both his swearing-in ceremonies, he'll put his hand on the Quran, Islam's holiest book, making him the first mayor in New York City to do so.

Meantime, as folks in Tennessee grapple with rising housing costs and increasing price of basic necessities, residents in an apartment complex in rural Shelbyville are banding together to push for better living conditions.

Tenants at the Bedford Manor apartments have formed what organizers call Bedford County's first apartment based tenants union.

Now with 56 members, Tristan called with Bedford County's listening projects as tenants are calling for long overdue repairs and immediate pest control.

He says the union has sent a letter with their demands and has heard back from the California based landlord but is now pushing for accountability citing a history of unmet promises.

A unit by unit inspection to get ready to do serious repairs that people have been asking for and then they also say if they're going to do basically pest control of the entire complex all 108 units 10 buildings.

The landlord WNC incorporated says it has received the residents letter and in a statement says it promptly initiated follow-up action.

Danielle Smith reporting.

And a majority of nurses in several downstate New York hospitals have approved strike authorizations.

Nurses in several New York City and Long Island hospitals approved the strike authorization amid lengthy contract negotiations.

While safety at some hospitals is a growing concern, staffing shortages and increasing patient ratios remain top-of-mind issues.

Grace Silva is a registered nurse at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital.

She says staffing ratios must be implemented to protect patient safety.

Nurses are forced to take one extra patient than they previously were.

It already was hard enough, but now adding that extra patient, it's impossible.

And then starting January 1st of next year, they're gonna add another patient to the workload of the nurses.

For emergency room nurses like Silva, there are no caps on patients at Huntington Hospital.

While New York State has some nurse to patient ratios, these only apply to critical care and intensive care units.

The bargaining committees are allowed to call a strike if contracts at the 15 facilities aren't settled by Wednesday, December 31st.

Northwell Health claims they can't afford to meet nurses' salary demands despite acquiring NuVans Health this year.

Reports show Northwell increased patient prices after each of its 21 acquisitions.

After almost a year of bargaining with Northwell Health, Silva says nurses are frustrated and disheartened.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

This is Public News Service.

As the new year approaches, Nevadans are bracing for higher healthcare costs.

Republicans in Congress refuse to extend sparring pandemic area subsidies that make Affordable Care Act plans on Nevada Health Link less expensive.

One analysis predicts that premiums will rise by 34 percent in Nevada or about $800 a year for many people on ACA plans who make about $130,000 a year for a family of four.

The higher cost could lead many to drop their plans.

Daniel Corona is a former mayor of West Wendover and vice chair of the Nevada Democratic Party who says an affordable plan on the ACA saved his life when he needed emergency brain surgery in 2021.

I started having symptoms in June of 2020.

I put it off for seven months because I didn't have health insurance.

And so someone who will be in the same shoes that I was in, they're not going to be as lucky and they're not going to survive.

Republicans in Congress allowed the subsidies to expire in order to fund other Trump administration priorities when they passed what was dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And work is underway to expand the XTX trail across Texas into a 1500 mile long hiking, biking and equestrian trail.

Organizers say the new trail will connect the Piney Woods in the east to the Trans-Pecos Mountains in the west using public and private land.

The project's Becky Irvin says her first job is to get Texas landowners involved.

I am going to be putting a lot of energy into just listening to Texans, inviting more and more stakeholders to the table.

We've already talked to hundreds of people.

I want to talk to thousands.

I want people to feel like they have genuinely been heard before we create this massive thing.

Parts of the current trail are on public roadways.

Irvin says they hope to move those routes onto private property by using public access easements.

This story was produced with original reporting from Madeline DeFigurito for the Daily Yonder.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

Finally, a thousand square foot house in southern Madison, Wisconsin has been transformed into a creative space and safe space for seniors in memory care to express themselves through quilting.

The cottage founded by art director Katrina Sparkman aims to support artists and writers and focuses on fighting Alzheimer's disease through art.

Sparkman told PBS Wisconsin about the program.

One of our programs is the Memory Collector Storytelling Project Fighting Alzheimer's with Art.

This is our health equity program.

It's totally free for all of our participants in the program and this is our program for grown women.

Nearly a quarter of black Americans over age 70 have dementia.

That is twice the rate of older white adults.

The Memory Collector Storytelling Project operates out of the Creator's Cottage offering free co-working and quilting space for older African-American women.

This story with reporting by Amy Franke Felici with Arts Midwest.

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

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