skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

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

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Final Vote Planned to Reauthorize Major Conservation Bill

play audio
Play

Friday, February 22, 2019   

PHOENIX - Congress could vote its final approval next week on a package of public-lands bills that includes permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

The popular federal program, which easily passed in the Senate last week, uses funds from drilling leases to support everything from national parks and wildlife preserves to local trails and parks. The fund has invested more than $228 million over five decades to protect Arizona's outdoors.

Tracy Stone-Manning, the National Wildlife Federation's vice president for public lands, said the fund has had a major impact on Americans' access to the outdoors.

"For over 50 years, this fund has funded things as simple as a swimming pool and a basketball court in an inner city to protecting wildlife habitat for goats in Glacier National Park," she said. "It just runs the gamut of projects."

If the current bill is not approved, the program and its protections for parks and open spaces could disappear. In recent years, the fund has improved dozens of Arizona facilities, including Grand Canyon and Saguaro national parks and Lost Dutchman and Patagonia Lake state parks.

Many veterans put a high value on public lands, said Garett Reppenhagen, Rocky Mountain regional director for the Vet Voice Foundation, adding that outdoor recreation also can be good therapy.

"Military veterans use the outdoors to heal from our military trauma, from our experiences on the battlefield," he said. "It helps with our post-traumatic stress disorder, and we use the outdoors to bond with our family and friends when we come home from long deployments."

Reppenhagen said continued funding will make sure future generations can continue to enjoy the outdoors.

"The funds come from offshore oil and gas revenues, so it's not a burden on the taxpayers," he said. "This is something that helps American families and Americans use and appreciate our outdoors and get some time outside, even in our urban areas."

Arizona's outdoor-recreation industry generates more than $20 billion a year and supports 201,000 jobs that generate almost $6 billion in annual wages.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

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