skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 18, 2024

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

A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

NV Faith Leaders Urge End to Death Penalty After Last Week's Executions

play audio
Play

Monday, January 18, 2021   

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty is urging state legislators to use their 2021 session to end state-level executions.

And members of the U.S. House say they'll act to end the federal death penalty, after three federal executions last week, all in Indiana, of Lisa Montgomery, Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs.

Nevada still allows capital punishment, but hasn't carried out an execution since 2006.

Father Chuck Durante, rector of Saint Thomas Aquinas Cathedral in Reno, called the practice "barbaric" and said it wastes government resources. He added rarely does an execution truly provide closure for a victim's family.

"We stand opposed to the death penalty for many, many reasons," Durante explained. "The dignity of human life being the most obvious and primary, but the racial inequity, the economic inequity, the geographic inequity."

In the weeks leading up to their executions, Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs both tested positive for COVID-19, and they weren't the only ones. Prisons across the country have been epicenters for the virus, with incarcerated people unable to take many key safety precautions.

Pastor Ender Austin III, southern Nevada regional director for the group Faith in Action Nevada, pointed to research that shows if someone kills a white person, they're much more likely to be sentenced to death than if they kill a Black person.

"The reason that's a challenge for us is that if we really have equal protection under the law, if we really live in a state, in a society, in a country, where everybody matters, my mentor teaches us on this mantra, 'Everybody matters to God, comma, everybody,'" Austin asserted.

The Trump administration's Justice Department carried out last week's three executions just days before President-Elect Joe Biden takes office.

Biden has said he aims to work with Congress to end the federal death penalty, and hopes that states will follow.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Environmental advocates are asking California's next state budget to prioritize climate mitigation and cut tax breaks for fossil fuel companies. (The Climate Center)

Environment

play sound

As state budget negotiations continue, groups fighting climate change are asking California lawmakers to cut subsidies for oil and gas companies …


Health and Wellness

play sound

Health disparities in Texas are not only making some people sick, but affecting the state's economy. A new study shows Texas is losing $7 billion a …

Environment

play sound

City and county governments are feeling the pinch of rising operating costs but in Wisconsin, federal incentives are driving a range of local …


Each year since 2018, there have been more than 1 million online ads for guns which could be sold without a background check. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Well over three-fourths of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases, but federal law allows unlicensed people to sell guns at …

Environment

play sound

By Max Graham for Grist.Broadcast version by Alex Gonzalez for Arizona News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Serv…

During what is known as the Medicaid post-pandemic "unwinding" process, South Dakota saw the largest drop in children's enrollment in the country, with a 27% reduction in the first six months. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Last year's Medicaid expansion in South Dakota increased eligibility to another 51,000 adults but a new report showed among people across the state wh…

Health and Wellness

play sound

There is light at the end of the tunnel for Tennesseans struggling with opioid addiction, as a bill has been passed to increase access to treatment …

Environment

play sound

The New York HEAT Act might not make the final budget. The bill reduces the state's reliance on natural gas and cuts ratepayer costs by eliminating …

 

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