Six minutes of news from around the nation.

A Kentucky social media lawsuit trust fund would provide resources for kids. Confronting the unique challenges of addiction in rural Nebraska. Illinois looks abroad to rethink its youth justice system. U.S. food manufacturers are being asked to voluntarily remove artificial food dyes. And new federal legislation would give consumers tariff rebates.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Monday, March 16, 2026.

The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is now in its third week.

On Sunday, it was widely reported that the Trump administration's appeal to China, France, Japan, Britain and other allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz isn't yielding any firm commitments yet.

The security of that specific area is deemed vital to limit further disruptions to oil shipments as gasoline prices soar.

Meanwhile, both the U.S. and Iran are pointing fingers at each other over the status of ceasefire talks.

And as the fighting continues, the Palestinian Authority's health ministry said this weekend that Israeli soldiers fired on a car carrying a family in the northern West Bank, killing four people, including two children.

That according to NPR.

In other news, the Trump administration has reversed its proposal to outright ban food dyes that have been known to cause health problems.

Freda Ross explains.

Instead, Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is asking food manufacturers to agree to remove six synthetic petroleum-based food dyes from their products.

Thomas Galligan with the Center for Science and the Public Interest says the additives can cause acute behavioral problems in children.

They can become aggressive, they can have impacts on their sleep, and these types of effects when children are being exposed over and over again can add up and impact children's academic and social success.

Galligan says once a child stops consuming foods containing dyes, many symptoms go away.

Kennedy has defended the move toward the voluntary agreement as progress that should encourage food companies to adapt safer, naturally derived alternatives.

I'm Freda Ross reporting.

In Kentucky, proposed legislation would create a state trust fund for positive youth development programming by using future settlement funds from social media company lawsuits.

Republican State Representative Kimberly Mosier, a sponsor of the bill, says kids across the Commonwealth are struggling with mental health issues at higher rates than seen in previous years.

She says families in her district are grappling with suicides among younger children driven by online forums, cyberbullying, anxiety, and depression.

I've been working with Jamie Seitz, a mom in northern Kentucky who lost her sweet daughter Audrey to suicide.

She was only 13 years old and Jamie had all of the parental controls in place.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against major social media companies like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, accusing them of designing addictive platforms that harm children's mental health.

These include actions by more than and 40 state attorneys general, hundreds of school districts, and thousands of individual families with major trials beginning this year.

The bill up for consideration is now at the committee level.

This is PNS.

A new federal bill would give U.S. shoppers tariff rebates.

The Tariff Relief for Consumers Act uses the estimated $166 billion collected from tariffs the Supreme Court struck down to reimburse taxpayers.

Supporters say the goal is to provide relief from high everyday costs on consumer goods.

Representative Rosa DeLauro, the bill's sponsor, says these refunds should prioritize everyday Americans.

The bill prohibits companies receiving refunds from paying out dividends or conducting stock buybacks until they have provided relief to consumers because my view is that consumers and small businesses need to come before their wealthy shareholders.

Despite ruling.

President Donald Trump is using other laws to implement tariffs.

In the Yale Budget Lab notes, these tariffs will cost consumers $572 initially, but they're expected to grow to more than $1,100 as they're continually renewed.

And these cost increases come as gas prices go up due to the war in Iran.

Back in the nation's heartland, Nebraska researchers are focusing on the special challenges of preventing and treating drug abuse and addiction in rural areas.

Scientists are studying a host of issues among people who depend on drugs, including how community dynamics can limit treatment options.

Mark Moran reports.

Most of the addiction research that's been done so far has focused on urban areas, but rural areas face unique challenges, including available treatment options, transportation, and substance abuse patterns.

University of Nebraska Rural Drug Addiction Research Center Director Rick Bevan says seeking treatment in small towns presents big obstacle.

Stigma is a major issue to seeking treatment when an individual is ready to seek treatment.

Bevin says researchers are working with people seeking treatment to help them overcome that stigma and understand that they can be a vital part of their community.

I'm Mark Moran.

And as Illinois pushes to reform its juvenile justice system, one lawmaker says lessons learned from across the Atlantic could help change the state's approach to young people in conflict with the law.

A group of Illinois state legislators, policymakers, and practitioners went to Northern Ireland to see firsthand how which child-first juvenile justice system supports better outcomes for kids and communities.

State Representative Kelly Cassidy of Chicago says she was struck by the difference in how their system approaches the issue, seeing these young people as children rather than offenders.

If we could just start by adopting the concept of children first, like acknowledge that they are children and then work from that place, that alone would be a huge shift because they are offenders first under our system.

Cassidy also notes prosecutors are not politicians in Northern Ireland, which she says removes the competitive political nature from the entire juvenile justice system there.

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

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