Politics and views in the United States

A shooting at a San Diego mosque leaves three dead. Tennessee's lone Democratic representative retires after redistricting and the EPA is rolling back several forever chemical standards.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We have seen heightened anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiment, actions, and threats, as well as policies being put forward by our elected officials for several years now.

Zahra Ballou with the Council on American-Islamic Relations in San Francisco says the horrifying attack on a San Diego mosque is tied to the increasing hostility toward Muslims from public figures since the Gaza War began.

Three people were killed when two teenage shooters fired shots at the San Diego Islamic Center before the killings.

Muslim advocacy groups said congressional hearings by GOP lawmakers to make America, quote, Sharia-free are being weaponized and stoking fear.

Tennessee Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen is retiring after nine terms in Congress.

The state's lone blue seat, based around Memphis, which is 60 percent black, was broken up between three districts after the Supreme Court upended Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Cohen says he's angry the community he was honored to serve is losing that representation just to give Republicans an advantage in the midterms.

That district and those people vote and choose as Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act gives them that opportunity.

They choose the person that they think is the best, who represents them the best, who does the best job, who votes their positions, and does the constituent services.

Protesters are rallying in Southern state capitals against last-minute redistricting being rushed through against the will of the voters.

Alabama Republicans argue they're just abiding by the Supreme Court ruling, but the high court never said maps had to be redrawn.

Richard Franklin with the Birmingham American Federation of Teachers says state lawmakers raced to vote in near record time in spite of chaos.

We had tornadoes.

We had a gas leak at the statehouse.

We were there and they actually was evacuating this flood and they went into a recess and then gaveled back in before we could get out and they voted.

Pennsylvanians vote in their primary today as a national watchdog coalition ramps up efforts to safeguard ballot access, and protect voters.

Leaders from the 2026 election protection campaign say they want to help voters navigate challenges at the polls and push back against growing threats to fair elections.

Jill Green with Common Cause Pennsylvania points to confusion about whether Real ID is needed to vote and to a presidential executive order on mail-in voting.

Some voters think they're not going to be able to vote because they don't have the right ID, so we have to kind of redouble our effort to get the word out.

Nothing has changed in Pennsylvania as of now.

You can still vote.

The EPA is repealing some limits on cancer-causing forever chemicals in drinking water.

Environmental and health advocates argue the agency is opposing or dragging its feet on science-backed standards to protect public health.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says these changes are about being realistic.

We're going to follow the law, follow the science, give water systems standards they can actually build their compliance programs around.

And as I mentioned earlier, tackle PFAS not just at the tap, but across its full life cycle.

President Donald Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS as the Justice Department is creating an almost $1.8 billion quote anti-weaponization fund.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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