skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Environmentalists Call for Commitment to New Climate Spending

play audio
Play

Tuesday, February 11, 2020   

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A coalition of environmental, justice, faith, labor and community groups says Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget comes up short on protecting vulnerable communities from climate change. In a letter sent to state legislators, New York Renews says the budget proposal doesn't contain the funding needed to implement the state's newly enacted Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

According to Raya Salter, the group's policy organizer, they want lawmakers to dedicate $1 billion to promote renewable-energy adoption and community resilience.

"A Climate and Community Investment Fund would focus on energy and infrastructure and energy efficiency, but also pivot towards how can we start protecting communities hardest hit by the climate crisis," Salter said.

The CLCPA, signed into law last year, requires that disadvantaged communities receive at least 40% of the benefits of clean-energy spending. Salter pointed out investing clean-energy dollars in vulnerable communities not only would advance the fight against climate change but also bring much-needed jobs to low-income areas.

"It's like a win-win," she said. "You get local jobs created doing the projects that need to happen to stop the climate crisis and will simultaneously protect communities from the climate crisis."

New York Renews also is asking legislators to exercise oversight of climate spending and to hold hearings on implementation of the climate law.

The governor claims to have a 5-year, $33 billion climate action plan. But Salter noted, with the exception of a proposed conservation bond act, the vast majority of the money for that plan would come from previously committed funds.

"When you look under the hood, you see that there's actually very little in the way of new dollars," she said. "And so there's a lot of big talk about big investments in climate, but in reality, it's status quo and even less than status quo."

She said legislators need to plug the holes in the climate budget and ensure that the money is spent wisely.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021