Politics and views in the United States.

Debates over prosecutorial power, utility oversight, and personal autonomy are intensifying nationwide as states advance new policies on end-of-life care and teen reproductive access. Communities also confront violence after the Brown University shooting.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

Letitia James is one of the most corrupt, shameless individuals ever to hold public office.

Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller says New York Attorney General Letitia James should be charged with mortgage fraud, even though two grand juries have refused to indict her.

Supporters and critics of President Donald Trump both accuse the other side of using the justice system for political retaliation.

The White House says it will try again to indict James and former FBI Director James Comey, even though several grand juries have unusually refused to go along.

A 24-year-old man is in custody after the deadly shooting at Brown University.

Two students were killed and nine wounded during final exams.

There have been more than 150 shootings at U.S. schools this year.

Officials in Australia say at least 12 people were killed in a mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on a Sydney beach.

The country has strict gun laws and hasn't had a mass shooting in three years.

North Carolina conservationists and consumer advocates want to stop a major expansion of nuclear power there.

NC Warren's Jim Warren is one of those on a letter to Governor Josh Stein.

We're calling on the governor to challenge Duke Energy.

If they believe they can build new nuclear again, let's have their investors take the financial risk, put up the money and quit insisting that power users and tax dollars have to backstop them.

Duke Energy says the state needs diverse energy sources to maintain reliability.

But watchdogs say decades of failed nuclear projects have already cost ratepayers billions.

Research in Texas says more teens are continuing pregnancies they don't want since the state all but outlawed abortion.

Kari White of Resound Research for Reproductive Health says the young people can't get abortion pills by mail if they don't have a credit card, among other issues.

Young people just recognized their pregnancy later and so certainly weren't able to get into an abortion providing facility before embryonic cardiac activity.

They also just may have been reluctant to disclose their pregnancy to a family member.

Her team found abortions for Texans under 18 dropped more than a quarter after Senate Bill 8 took effect.

The law's supporters say it's working as intended.

In Illinois, a new act called Deb's Law means more options for end-of-life care.

Callie Riley of Compassion and Choices says it has a lot of safeguards in it and will give patients more autonomy.

Terminally ill Illinoisans who have prognosis of six months or less to live and are capable of making their own medical decisions can request a prescription from their physician that will allow them to peacefully end their suffering.

Illinois is the first of Midwestern states to allow aid in dying.

Advocates say that'll stop patients from leaving the state for care, while opponents worry about potential risks to people with depression or disabilities.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.