Six minutes of news from around the nation.

GOP Senators raise questions about a potential deal with Iran; Federal job cuts bring an increase in Virginia's Black unemployment rate; New Mexico aims for larger voter turnout with semi-open primaries; Therapist: Climate change carries physical, mental risk; Florida lawmakers hold the key as Congress weighs foreign aid.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, May the 26th, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

As U.S. and Iranian officials talk about an emerging framework that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran committing to disposing of its highly enriched uranium, the proposal is drawing fire from unlikely foes, Senate Republicans.

On CNN's State of the Union Sunday, GOP Senator Tom Tillis called the Iranians' commitment to reopening the Strait of Hormuz questionable without a finalized peace deal.

Trump fired back on social media, calling his critics losers.

He said the deal was good and proper.

Meantime, job cuts at federal agencies last year hit harder among black workers, leading to record high black unemployment levels in the Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland metro area.

An Economic Policy Institute analysis finds that black unemployment rates nationwide reached 7.6 percent in the first three months of 2026.

In the DVM region, it was just under 10 percent.

The Institute's study author, Valerie Wilson, believes that current numbers are trending in the wrong direction.

Relative to recent historical lows, absolutely we are seeing it trending up and moving away from what had been some positive progress on bringing the rate down.

In 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, reduced the federal workforce by more than 300,000 jobs.

Wilson says those cuts disproportionately affected workers in the DVM region and had a disproportionately high impact on black adults.

I'm Mark Richardson.

And New Mexico voters headed to the polls next week could rub shoulders with newcomers as lawmakers created semi-open primary rules.

In 2024, legislators passed a bill to allow registered independents and unaffiliated voters to participate in future primaries.

Previously, they had to pick a party to cast a primary ballot.

Bernalillo County Clerk Michelle Kavanaugh says a change will allow more than 330,000 people to vote on June 2nd.

We all hope that it's going to really open floodgates and that all the independents who didn't participate before will choose to vote in the primary now.

Kavanaugh says independent voters and those who declined to state a preference make up at least 22% of the state's electorate.

I'm Roz Brown.

And some Indiana communities are contending with environmental hazards linked to climate change.

The fallout can be more than physical.

Governor Mike Braun signed an executive order in 2025 prohibiting all state agencies from using environmental justice as a determining factor in making permitting enforcement or grant decisions.

Therapist Derek Seabree says climate change can create hazards beyond the immediate physical environment.

That's extreme heat.

It tends to exacerbate mental health emergencies and tends to have an impact on people who take antidepressant medication because of things like the difficulty with the body regulating heat.

Seabree argues the policy leaves vulnerable communities at greater risk.

This is Public News Service.

Neighbors in a Southern California town are demanding changes to a massive proposed rail yard project. residents plus a coalition of labor and environmental groups want to protect the air water supply and keep noise levels low bnsf railway is planning the barstow international gateway a 4500 acre rail yard that would bring international shipping containers by rail from the ports with items then sent off to other cities the company says it'll create thousands of jobs improve supply chains and cut 800 000 truck trips per year sherry bailey who lives near the site works with the Sylvan Avenue Community Group and the Green Locomotive Project.

Our main concern is our air quality, making sure that our wells do not get impacted and that we are able to have something that would separate us from the noise and sound vibration of this project.

The group wants the company, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, to construct a sound barrier wall.

I'm Suzanne Potter.

And last year, the Trump administration froze foreign aid programs with no warning.

Congress later made those cuts permanent with a $7 billion rescission.

Archimel Goves reports that was a double-barrel blow to the flow of foreign humanitarian aid.

Megan Rogers is U.S. government policy and advocacy manager for Nonviolent Peace Force, an international civilian protection organization.

She says the damage went deeper than lost services.

It destroyed trust.

It's really important that we're trusted by the community, especially in these really tense conflict dynamics. and we just abandon and we say, sorry, we can't do this programming anymore with no warning, it's very difficult to come back in and reinstate that programming because we've lost that confidence from the community.

Congress is now negotiating the fiscal year 2027 budget.

Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart chairs the House Appropriations Committee, which rejected some Trump administration foreign aid cuts last year, though it still approved a 22% reduction overall.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

Finally, a Pennsylvania partnership is hitting a big milestone by planting its 10 millionth tree along the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

A celebration today in Hummelstown marks eight years of work to clean up water and restore streamside habitat.

Julia Kroll with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says trees offer many advantages and are affordable and accessible.

She adds that any landowner or resident with available space can plant one, creating benefits for the environment, strengthening communities and enhancing overall quality of life across Pennsylvania.

Trees are such a good filter and they help to absorb and slow down polluted runoff from rainstorms.

Their roots help to stabilize stream banks.

In 2018, the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership set out to plant that many trees across Pennsylvania's portion of the watershed.

Danielle Smith reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

Member and listener supported.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.