Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Pennsylvania grant funding used at Carnegie Mellon to fight food insecurity; pushback continues as Detroit airport considers adding a cigar lounge; Congress pressed to fund wildlife crossings as Florida panther deaths rise; youth program in Maine encourages skills through travel; and Indiana's governor refuses to sign syringe program bill.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast for Friday, March 20th, 2026.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education is awarding $1 million in hunger-free campus grants to 30 colleges and schools to help address student food insecurity.

Daniel Smith reports

The program, now in its fourth year, has supported 92 institutions statewide since 2023.

Carnegie Mellon University just received its fourth $60,000 grant, so its awards have totaled $240,000.

Elizabeth Vaughn with Carnegie Mellon says the bulk of the Hunger-Free Campus dollars will support a variety of food initiatives, including what's known as the Meal Swipe Program to help students who have the highest level of need.

This meal swipe program offers an additional resource to those students to be able to eat at our all you care to eat dining facility on campus and also a secondary location that has allergen free options.

A judge is allowing local and state conservation groups to intervene in a lawsuit in order to defend Chukwala National Monument.

Suzanne Potter has that story.

An off-road group based in Idaho and a miner from Michigan have sued the U.S. Department of the Interior seeking to strip protections from the National Monument located in the Desert Mountains 80 miles east of Palm Springs.

Colin Barrows is with the non-profit Cactus to Cloud Institute in La Quinta, one of the interveners in the lawsuit.

He says Chukwala is significant to 13 tribal nations.

There's a lot of World War II mining history in the area and there are pieces that have found nowhere else on Earth.

We've got endangered desert tortoises, bighorm sheep, hundreds of species of plants and animals.

President Joe Biden used the Antiquities Act to confer national monument status on Chukwala weeks before leaving office.

Officials at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport are reviewing bids for a proposed cigar lounge inside the McNamara Terminal.

As Crystal Blair reports, the idea keeps getting pushback.

The plan under consideration would allow a bar and cigar lounge with a designated smoking area.

For more than a decade, Michigan has banned smoking in most indoor public places with limited exceptions.

And opponents of the plan warn it comes with health risks, exposing travelers and airport workers to secondhand smoke.

They include Molly Mettenblick with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network in Michigan.

If you're sitting next to someone in an airplane who is just in a cigar lounge, you know, you've got a four-hour flight, you're breathing in that smoke that that person is covered in.

And how about the workers in the airport who are working in this area?

They're going to be exposed the second you have smoke, whether they want to be or not.

In response, the airport authority says the proposal is part of a request for new concessions, including a bar and cigar lounge with an enclosed smoking area.

Officials say it was driven by interest from businesses and travelers and would require an advanced ventilation system to reduce smoke exposure.

This is Public News Service.

Vehicle collisions kill endangered Florida panthers and other forms of wildlife and cost the nation billions annually.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports four panther deaths on state roads so far this year.

More from Tramell Gomes.

A federal wildlife crossing pilot program set to expire in September has already funded a project along U.S. 27 in Highlands County, a known hotspot where panthers and black bears are often hit.

Sarah Gledhill with the Florida Wildlife Federation says after two years of effort and an initial rejection in the competitive application process, the funding came through.

FDOT reapplied for that funding. We supported it along with a number of other state agencies and conservation organizations, and the state got the money, and they received $6.1 million for a new wildlife crossing.

What's known as the Venus Crossing will connect roughly 90,000 acres of conservation land. The National Pilot Program was created in 2021 with $350 million and will expire this fall unless Congress acts.

Supporters say it saves lives of people and animals and reduces costly collisions. Critics question the federal spending and whether states should shoulder more responsibility.

A youth program in Rockland, Maine, focused on long-term mentoring is seeing positive results, and communities statewide are hoping to build upon its success.

Katherine Carley reports.

The Trekkers program works with students over the course of six years, from 7th to 12th grades, and offers them a chance to travel to unique locations throughout the region and beyond.

Executive Director Stephanie Welch says she's seen students' confidence grow with each adventure. It's crafted to provide opportunities for students to challenge themselves, to reflect, and to connect with each other.

And it really helps them to grow in really amazing ways.

From hiking in Acadia National Park to visiting Washington, D.C., Trekkers has expanded the horizons of Midcoast Maine students for more than 30 years.

Welch says the nonprofit is now partnering with the Rural Youth Institute to encourage new programs molded in the Trekkers yet unique to their own hometowns.

This story is based on original reporting by Drew Himmelstein with the Midcoast Villager.

Indiana Governor Mike Braun is letting a major public health bill become law without his signature.

Joe Ulery has more.

It is the only measure from the 2026 session he chose not to sign.

The law renews syringe service programs in six counties for five years, but adds new limits including ID requirements and one-for-one needle exchanges.

Indiana State Medical Association President Dr. Ryan Singerman says the programs play a key role in preventing disease.

They are safe, they are effective, and ongoing studies continue to show that they reduce transmitted diseases, that they increase the amount of people going into recovery, and it does not lead to any increase in substance use.

Supporters say the programs reduce HIV and hepatitis risk and connect people to treatment.

Critics, including Braun, argue they focus on symptoms instead of addiction itself.

The governor says the new restrictions reflect compromises pushed during the legislative

process.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Public News Service.

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