Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Trump urges Speaker Mike Johnson to raise taxes on the wealthy, adding new wrinkle to massive GOP bill; New Sierra Club dashboard tracks IN coal pollution; Report says moms spend 167% more time parenting than dads; MI 'clean fuels' backers speak out as Congress could end EV tax credits. 

Transcript

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, May 9, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

President Trump privately pressed House Speaker Mike Johnson during a phone call Wednesday to add two additional proposals to the massive package for his agenda.

That's from NBC News.

They report one is to raise the tax rate on the highest earners and the other to close the so-called carried interest loophole.

That's according to GOP sources familiar with the call.

NBC notes that Trump's 11th hour request added a new wrinkle to an already complicated process for GOP lawmakers as they desperately try to find enough savings for the bill.

Which seeks to extend his 2017 tax cuts, boost funding for immigration enforcement, and next to Indiana where Joey Lurie reports residents now have a new way to track pollution from coal plants across the state.

The Sierra Club's new online national dashboard shows how rollbacks of federal pollution rules could increase harmful emissions from Indiana's dozen coal plants.

Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Director Robin Skiabas says the data highlights risks for both rural and urban communities.

You could be being impacted.

Some of the worst air quality in the nation is located in southern Indiana because there's such a high concentration of super polluting coal plants.

The dashboard allows users to zoom in on specific plants and track pollutants like mercury, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide.

Utilities and state officials say they follow current environmental laws and that balancing energy needs and emissions limits can be complex.

Environmental groups say the dashboard also gives Hoosiers a tool to demand stronger action from state regulators and from lawmakers.

And Sunday is Mother's Day and what moms may need most is a day off.

Research shows inequities persist in the amount of time moms and dads spend on child care.

In 2023, American mothers spent on average 167 percent more time on primary caregiving than fathers.

And the Institute for Women's Policy Research says that costs a mom nearly $17,000 per year and $450 billion nationwide in foregone income.

The Institute's chief economist Kate Bond says the trend continues with secondary child care or supervising children while multitasking.

Mothers spend 133 percent more time doing so than fathers.

That is not time you can go into an office.

That is not time where you can be out of the house.

And so that is time where you also still can't work for earnings.

So mothers are really constrained by their disproportionate caregiving responsibility.

Data show in Montana, mothers make 59 percent of what fathers make per year, a difference of nearly $25,000.

The inequities are worse among Native American moms in the state whose pay is about half the earnings of white fathers.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

And in case you haven't heard, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, is the first pope of the U.S.

That from CNN.

They report he spent much of his career as a missionary in South America.

This is Public News Service.

A Michigan group is speaking out after a top congressional leader's comment that lawmakers will likely scrap the $7,500 federal tax credit for buying electric vehicles.

Ending the tax credit could deal a major blow to the EV market and the country's clean energy goals.

Michigan automakers and suppliers have pumped more than $30 billion into the state's EV industry since 2020.

Jay McCurry of Clean Fuels Michigan says her group joined several local and national nonprofits in signing a letter to the U.S.

House Transportation Committee in support of the EV tax credits.

Demonstrating that it's not just industry, not just individuals, but large nonprofits and advocacy groups that really care about continuing to show support for the clean mobility transition.

Despite growing Republican support for EV tax credits, some GOP senators have introduced the Elite Vehicles Act.

It would eliminate the $7,500 credit, a $4,000 credit for buying used EVs, and charging station incentives.

Crystal Blair reporting.

And despite uncertainty about Medicaid funding in Congress, Tennessee is moving ahead to help improve people's health outcomes with a program for community health workers.

The details from our Daniel Smith.

Tennessee's Medicaid program, TennCare, is partnering with the Tennessee Community Health Workers Association to offer an accreditation program that promotes best practices for training and supporting this workforce.

Nikala Boyd with the association says community health workers, or CHWs, link people to care and promote healthy habits.

So in addition to CHWs having individual certification, we are also accrediting the actual CHW program.

So accrediting that program, that organization, that employer.

TennCare will fund grants for up to 14 organizations to complete the accreditation process.

Finally, a new mapping tool shows South Dakota is a big player on the farm conservation scene.

The online feature coincides with polling that reveals most farmers want stronger funding for climate-smart practices.

In a recent survey of more than 500 farms across the country, the National Wildlife Federation says 3 out of 4 support an increase in long-term funding for the USDA's voluntary conservation programs.

These initiatives incentivize farmers and ranchers to work their land in specific ways that make it more resilient to extreme weather, like prolonged droughts or widespread flooding.

The Federation's Aviva Glazer says survey support was consistent across geographic areas.

The farmers not only supported this funding, but they got a lot of value out of this funding, and they cited things like soil health.

Meanwhile, NWSMAP shows South Dakota farmers have enrolled more than 7 million acres in the conservation stewardship program above all other states.

I'm Mike Moen reporting.

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

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.