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.

Michigan Welcomes Federal Unity on Climate Change

play audio
Play

Thursday, April 22, 2021   

LANSING, Mich. -- President Joe Biden's global climate summit could be a turning point in the fight for climate action.

Forty heads of state are expected at the virtual event today, which coincides with Earth Day.

Along with re-establishing the U.S.' role as a global climate leader, Biden is expected to announce emission-reduction targets that are expected to create new jobs, cut carbon pollution and expand clean energy.

Simone Lightfoot, a former board member of the Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education and an Air Force veteran, is excited states such as Michigan will have a federal partner working together to create a clean-energy economy.

"We haven't always had the cleanest industries that have funded our state," Lightfoot observed. "They've been quite high-pollutant industries, if you will. And so it's important, of course, that we make that transition. Yes, there's the need, and I think all of us agree: The 'how' is what requires all hands on deck."

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order in 2020 committing the state to reduce emissions by 28% by 2025 and to be carbon-neutral in all sectors by 2050.

While the previous administration openly questioned the science on climate change, Biden has made the issue a priority, and recently restored U.S. participation in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Biden's infrastructure proposal, the American Jobs Plan, also includes investments in clean-energy generation.

Lightfoot contended the plan will help ensure a just transition for workers in the fossil-fuel sector, noting it directs at least 40% of investments to communities of color and others disproportionately impacted by pollution.

"How they get that done, the politics and methodology, making sure that it gets into communities that are at the front line and fence line of all of this environmental justice concern and infrastructure need, that's a whole other conversation," Lightfoot acknowledged. "But happy with the goals, of course. Would always love more, but am very realistic."

Michigan had 125,000 clean energy jobs in 2019, with more than 57% of them in manufacturing.


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