News from around the nation.

Connecticut lawmakers consider a state Child Tax Credit bill; Houthi missile strike kills two civilian mariners; HUD files discrimination charge against Montana apartment owner; and congressional budget impasse threatens IL community health centers.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, March the 7th, 2024.

Child tax credit legislation has been considered now in Connecticut.

State is one of several without such a credit, though a child tax rebate was offered early in the pandemic.

Connecticut's growing cost of living has made it hard for families to afford essentials.

United Way of Connecticut's Alice Essentials Index shows basic costs increased more than 18% between 2021 and 2023.

Jessica Vargas is a New Britain single mother who feels this credit can help people who don't meet income requirements for other assistance programs.

Because my income fell slightly above the income threshold that many programs had, that left me not qualifying for much of anything.

And so I was forced to strategize ways to stretch my weekly paycheck to ensure all of our basic needs were met.

Connecticut's credit would provide families with a $600 per child credit for up to three children.

Legislation to create a state credit was brought before the General Assembly in 2022, but failed in committee.

Testimony at public hearings for both the House and Senate versions of the bill had unanimous support.

I'm Edwin J.

Vieira.

The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities finds the new federal credit will benefit 16 million low-income kids nationwide in its first year, 119,000 of them in Connecticut.

Now from the Washington Post, a missile launched by Houthi militants in Yemen struck a commercial vessel on Wednesday, and marking the first known fatalities in the Houthis' month-long campaign of violence against maritime traffic.

The Post reports at least six other mariners were injured and the crew has abandoned ship.

According to one U.S. official, the attack marks the fifth anti-ship missile launched by Houthis in the past two days.

And the U.S.

Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged a Montana landlord with discrimination after investigating a complaint filed by a former tenant.

The HUD complaint charges Livingston-based Yellowstone Apartments and owner Dana Christian with discriminating against a longtime renter for retaliating after the resident's daughter visiting from Russia allegedly rebuffed Christian's advances.

Montana Fair Housing Executive Director Pam Bean says the renter, a Russian immigrant and U.S. citizen, had never had a problem until she asked the property owner not to approach her daughter.

She had lived there for four years without any notices or violations and all of a sudden received multiple violations in a few week period and ultimately moving to evict the complainant.

Bean says the case will be assigned to federal court soon and the U.S.

Department of Justice will represent the renter.

Christian did not respond to a request for comment.

I'm Mark Moran.

The HUD charge cites a violation of the Fair Housing Act by unlawfully coercing, intimidating, threatening or interfering with a tenant's right to complain.

This is Public News Service.

State lawmakers across the country continue to introduce anti-LGBTQ bills and there's been a record number of them for four years in a row.

Denver Van Fleet reports a Nebraska LB 574 restricting gender affirming care for transgender minors nearly ground the unit Camerill to a stop for weeks last year.

With another anti-LGBTQ bill pending this session, LB 575, the Schools and Spaces Act, participants in Out Nebraska's recent LGBTQ+ Legislative Day were unsure what to expect.

However, Out Nebraska legislative intern Mackenzie Lonke says most participants felt very positive about their interactions with their state senators.

We're really hopeful that these personal testimonies that everyone shared are able to humanize our cause and they recognize that we deserve and are entitled to protections. 10 to 15 percent of Americans identify as LGBTQ+ with higher percentages among millennials.

Floor debate on LB 575 regulating transgender youth's participation in school sports, which would override the existing policy of the Nebraska School Activities Association, has not yet been scheduled.

And community health centers in Illinois are stuck in financial limbo as Congress contends with another potential government shutdown.

More than 40 community health centers serve low-income communities across the state, but a lack of long-term funding has impacted their ability to hire staff or plan for behavioral, pediatric and other care.

Perla Herrera, a patient at Access Community Health Network, received treatment for breast cancer in 2002 and again last year for a stroke.

Never before that did I ever feel that anybody cared about me.

But Access, they did.

They threw that life raft out for me.

Herrera says the center saved her life and gave her the chance to meet her granddaughter.

I'm Catherine Carley reporting.

Finally, a Midwest network of regenerative farmers is rethinking chicken.

Mike Bowen reports in this Civil Eats Solutions Journalism Minnesota News Connection collaboration.

Rahe Haslett Marroquin and his team from Northfield are using a process that involves raising the birds in one spot alongside trees and other perennial crops.

That helps build soil rich with organic matter, making it more resilient in the face of the climate crisis.

Haslett Marroquin says not only does this energy flow help the planet, but it also benefits the well-being of consumers.

We are what we eat, and so raising poultry in a way that is natural is central to our health.

These efforts are taking shape as Americans eat more than 160 million servings of chicken every day with industrial poultry farming under the microscope for water and air pollution.

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

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