skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 3, 2025

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

Trump announces sweeping new tariffs to promote US manufacturing, risking inflation and trade wars; Arizonans experience some of the highest insurance premiums; U.S. immigration policy leaves trans migrants at TX-Mexico border in limbo; Repealing clean energy tax credits could raise American energy costs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Donald Trump announces worldwide tariffs. Democrats decry 'Liberation Day' as the economy adjusts to the news. And some Republicans break from Trump's trade stance.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural schools face budget woes even as White House aims to dismantle the Department of Education, postal carriers argue against proposed USPS changes, fiber networks to improve rural internet may be supplanted by Musk's satellites, and PLAY BALL!

Bill Moves Forward to Lock More Carbon In the Soil

play audio
Play

Thursday, June 30, 2022   

California has seen a lot of proposals to reduce carbon emissions; now a plan to scrub existing pollution is moving forward in the Legislature.

Assembly Bill 2649, which just passed the State Senate Environmental Quality Committee on Wednesday, sets a big goal: to remove 60 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere per year by 2030, all by harnessing nature.

Ellie Cohen, CEO of the Climate Center, a statewide advocacy group, said the plan to sequester more carbon in the ground will slow climate change and help the environment.

"It helps us to hold more water when it does rain," Cohen outlined. "It helps to replenish groundwater. It supports biodiversity, it supports food security, it helps ensure cleaner air, to get many, many co-benefits that help us to be more resilient."

Plants naturally remove carbon from the atmosphere using photosynthesis. Under the plan, the state would supercharge the effect by helping farmers spread compost on their fields and range lands, by restoring vegetation alongside streams, and by encouraging what's known as "blue carbon" by restoring coastal wetlands.

Asm. Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, a co-author of the bill, is especially enthusiastic about efforts to plant more trees in urban areas.

"So the trees would allow us to capture carbon, would help reduce the heat," Garcia explained. "But would also be a sound barrier, would also help capture pollution from all the trucks and cars."

At Wednesday's hearing, the Farm Bureau expressed opposition, saying the bill could present a burden to farmers and growers. The bill has already passed the state Assembly and now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee in August.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

References:  
Assembly Bill 2649 2022

get more stories like this via email
more stories
The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization has become as much as a landmark to the community as the Little Village Arch and was awarded the national Food Sovereignty Prize in 2024. (City of Chicago 2021)

Environment

play sound

By Angela Burke for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Pub…


Social Issues

play sound

More than 1,000 protests against the policies of President Donald Trump are set for Saturday across the country, with 117 planned in California alone…

Social Issues

play sound

A bill known as the Act for Civic Engagement did not make it out of committee in Olympia before the deadline but advocates for people who are incarcer…


Legislation regulating cryptocurrency kiosks is being considered in the Maryland House of Delegates. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A bill in the Maryland General Assembly would regulate cryptocurrency kiosks, the more than 700 ATM-like machines for virtual currencies around the …

Social Issues

play sound

Registration is open for the next information session for the Doswell School of Aeronautical Sciences at Texas Woman's University in Denton, where …

Some two million gray wolves roamed North America in the early 1800s but today, fewer than 7,000 remain on just 10% of their historic range in the Lower 48 States. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., has introduced a bill to remove gray wolves from the list of endangered and threatened species under the Endangered …

Social Issues

play sound

The Trump administration announces its new wave of tariffs Wednesday, and with U.S. Department of Agriculture funding still a question mark, …

play sound

Educators at Iowa State University are creating a new major to meet what they see as a new and growing demand in the health care field: pairing medica…

 

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