Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Federal officials investigate suspicious letters sent to election officials, postal workers call on the USPS to rescind attacks on mail-in voting, and healthcare costs are one of the most pressing issues leading up to the midterms.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service, daily newscast for October 16th, 2026.

I'm Mary Sherman.

The FBI and U.S. Postal Service are investigating letters sent to state officials and election offices containing a suspicious substance.

Recipients are encouraged to treat the letters as potentially hazardous.

A similar threat caused alarm in 2023 when election offices in six states were sent envelopes containing a white powder.

As voters cast their ballots in this year's midterm elections, postal workers are calling on the service to rescind attacks on mail-in voting.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March that would have required states to upload eligible voter lists onto a federal database and allow the Postal Service to restrict mail-in ballot delivery if states didn't comply.

In September, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that bars the Trump administration from implementing the rules in this election cycle.

Now, postal workers want the agency to rescind the rule altogether.

Miriam Bell is the president of American Postal Workers Union Local 375 in Charlotte.

She says postal workers are nonpartisan and dedicated to making sure ballots get where they need to go.

As postal workers, we do not look at whether you're voting red or blue or independent.

We look at processing pieces of mail.

This has been around for decades.

We take extraordinary care with the processing of ballots.

Trump argues the new rules are meant to combat what his administration alleges is widespread voter fraud that occurs when people vote by mail.

Independent audits have confirmed no widespread voter fraud has occurred, and Trump himself has voted by mail multiple times in the past.

I'm Zamone Perez.

Early voting is underway in many states, but some voters still have questions before they cast a ballot.

Julia Vaughn with Common Cause Indiana says voters who run into trouble at an early voting site or on Election Day should not simply leave.

There's a hotline, 866-OUR-VOTE, that any voter can call now during early voting and on election day to ask questions about what are the requirements for voters.

The nonpartisan election protection hotline is available during early voting and on election day.

Health care access is now a defining issue in tight races across the country.

President Donald Trump's budget policy bill cut $1 trillion in Medicaid funding over 10 years, and Republicans in Congress declined to extend health insurance subsidies for the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

A poll by KFF and Navigator finds that more than 60 percent of voters are concerned about affording health care costs for them and their families.

Athena Jones with Service Employees International Union Virginia 512 says Republicans paid for the cuts to benefit billionaires and the ultra wealthy.

It is a promise that disability does not diminish one's right to be independent and that home should remain a place that someone belongs if they so choose to be there.

It shouldn't be leveraged on privilege and policy to benefit billionaires.

This is Public News Service.

A traveling memorial in Illinois honoring people reported to have died during immigration operations will make its next stop just two miles from where a 38-year-old Mexican father was shot and killed.

The Immigrant Crosses exhibit is part of a Catholic-led effort to confront what organizers describe as the human cost of immigration enforcement.

Father Brendan Curran, a Dominican priest with the Resurrection Project, says 128 wooden crosses memorialized people identified as having died in detention or during ICE operations since 2020, including local father Silvero Villas-Gonzalez.

A young man from Mexico who, beginning our usual school day as a proud parent, in the midst of pulling him over, ICE agents opened fire into his window, shooting him dead.

A joint report from Catholic and Evangelical Organizations estimates that 80% of immigrants vulnerable to deportation identify as Christian, including 61% who are Catholic.

Changes to the half-century-old Endangered Species Act are threatening many species, including the iconic spotted owl.

Isobel Charle has the story from Oregon.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reinterpreted the word take under the act to cover only intentional attempts to harm or kill individual animals.

Jim Murphy of the National Wildlife Federation says the Endangered Species Act has been successful because it protects species like the spotted owl from habitat loss, which she argues causes far more harm than direct killing.

Even if the cutting down of the old growth forest doesn't directly kill any owls, it takes away the habitat so they're not able to breed successfully.

Their food source is gone and they die out that way.

Hispanic and Latino residents make up roughly 20 percent of the U.S. population and new research is raising concerns about their cardiovascular health.

A report from the American Heart Association says cardiovascular disease has surpassed cancer as the leading cause of death among Hispanic adults nationwide.

The report draws attention to the high rates of obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Dr. Johanna Contreras, a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital and American Heart Association volunteer, says knowing your history is key.

Know your heritage and know your family history.

The best gift you can give your kids is talk to your kids about your family history.

The report also finds 41% of Hispanic adults, including 66% of older adults, have limited health literacy compared with 9% of white adults, making it harder to understand medical information and access care.

Contreras recommends regular checkups, healthy habits, knowing your blood pressure, and levels for cholesterol and blood sugar.

Crystal Blair reporting.

I'm Mary Sherman for Public News Service.

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