Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump calls latest offer from Iran "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE," Nevada pro-democracy groups condemn SAVE Act; In the face of unpopularity, community-minded data centers emerge; Massachusetts lawmakers aim to replicate the success of Harlem Children's Zone.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast for May the 11th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Totally unacceptable, all in caps, is President Donald Trump's response to the latest offer from Tehran.

Trump did not offer any details about why the Iranian response was not acceptable.

Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran have stalled in recent weeks.

And from the New York Times, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC's Meet the Press that the Trump administration would be open to pausing the federal gas tax to give Americans some relief at the pump.

Meantime, President Trump has made passing the Save America Act a top priority before the midterms, but supporters of safe and fair elections in the silver states say it would be a disaster for democracy.

The bill, which purports to combat non-citizen voting, would make it much harder to register to vote.

It passed the U.S. House but is stalled in the Senate.

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto said the bill also directs the states to turn their voter lists over to the feds.

It gives Department of Homeland Security information about our voter rolls that the department has been trying to get across this country for the last several months because they want to be able to go through those voter rolls and decide for themselves who's eligible to vote and who's not.

In a recent social media post, President Trump reiterated calls for severe restrictions on mail-in voting, saying elections are rigged.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And the Minnesota city of Hermantown is pausing a vote on a proposed data center amid prolonged public debate.

As the pushback grows against this type of development, a local company feels it can be done without harming communities.

Controversial tax breaks and environmental impacts are main concerns as tech giants continue building massive facilities across the country to process AI data and other digital information.

Elsewhere in Minnesota, clean energy developer Geronimo Power is pitching a data center in Nobles County.

The company's Drew Terwilliger says they mean it when they tell transparency.

We don't do NDAs with any local officials.

Haven't done them, won't do them.

We're coming out front and telling you what it is.

He's referring to non-disclosure agreements which also have come under scrutiny.

Residents say elected officials use them to keep controversial projects secret.

Geronimo's project would also be powered by a mix of wind, solar, and energy storage, shielding ratepayers from added costs.

Despite these the Nobles County Board rejected a zoning change tied to the project.

I'm Mike Moen.

And the Massachusetts Senate is backing what's being called a transformational anti-poverty bill meant to uplift thousands of kids and families.

Democratic State Senator Sal DiDomenico says poverty rates are increasing and federal funds are drying up.

The need and the issues are not going away, but the resources potentially are.

So we have to find new ways to maximize every investment that we have, public and private.

The Enough Act would create a state fund for investments in struggling neighborhoods.

This is Public News Service.

Ohio affordability advocates say American Electric Power is taking in record profits as residents face rising costs and an increasing number of disconnections.

The company recently hosted its quarter one earnings conference call for 2026 and announced a more than $36 million compensation package for the company's CEO.

Morgan Harper, executive director of Columbus Stand Up, says many Ohio residents are struggling to keep up with utility bills, reaching as high as $800 a month.

She notes people on fixed incomes are simply unable to keep up with the higher rates.

And we want to make sure people are aware of it so that ultimately they start to engage and tell the folks in charge that we're not going to take this anymore and they've got to do something to rein in utility profits.

According to new Pew Research Center poll results released this month, the majority of Americans have seen their home energy costs go up over the last few years.

And more than 60% say it's because utility companies want to make more money.

This is Nadia Ramlagan.

And rentals in Los Angeles and across California are rising rapidly while incomes stagnate, leaving many families burdened by housing expenses that are beyond their means.

A group of nonprofit agencies is exploring creative ways to build and preserve affordable rental homes in the region.

The Center for Community Self-Help recently sponsored an online roundtable to examine initiatives to provide high-quality, stable housing for low- and moderate-income households.

Dan Levine, Housing Director for the Center, says where you live can be critical to your quality of life.

Housing is so core to how families experience access to education, access to jobs, access to transit, health, to the point that there's lots of research about how your zip code impacts your life expectancy.

Levine says naturally occurring affordable housing is being rapidly lost to corporate buyers and market rate conversions.

I'm Mark Richardson.

Finally, almost half of young kids in the U.S. live in child care deserts.

According to a new report, in Wisconsin, 54% of residents do not have access to adequate child care with higher numbers for rural areas.

The Center for American Progress says the gap percentage rises to 70% in Wisconsin's smaller communities.

The center's Casey Peake says this creates a stark urban-rural divide.

She notes policymakers are rightfully focused on affordability issues, given child care costs are out of reach for most American families, but adds that's only part of the problem.

You can make child care free for every family living in a rural community tomorrow, but that's not going to solve the access piece.

She says inadequate staffing leads to program closures and causes less options and higher costs for families.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.