skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

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

Trump touts immigration crackdown despite concerns about due process; NY faces potential impacts from federal vote on emissions standards; ND Tribes can elevate tourism game with new grants; WA youth support money for Medicaid, not war.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Major shifts in environmental protections, immigration enforcement, civil rights as Trump administration reshapes government priorities. Rural residents and advocates for LGBTQ youth say they're worried about losing services.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Migration to rural America increased for the fourth year, technological gaps handicap rural hospitals and erode patient care, and doctors are needed to keep the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians healthy and align with spiritual principles.

Low marks for NC Congress members in 2024 conservation scorecard

play audio
Play

Friday, February 28, 2025   

North Carolina lawmakers in Congress received mixed marks in the new League of Conservation Voters scorecard.

The scorecard ranks members of Congress on their 2024 votes. North Carolina's senators received zero grades. House members fared better, at 47%.

Dan Crawford, director of governmental relationship at the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, said 2024 was the tale of two leaders for the state in Congress.

"You have ones that care about clean air, clean water and protecting the North Carolina natural landscape," he said, "and then you have other types of leaders that want to protect the profits of polluters and choose not to support democracy."

Votes considered in the scorecard broke down into five categories: climate, conservation, democracy, 'dirty' energy and healthy communities. The organization looked at other votes such as judicial confirmations, including that of Nicole Berner in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which includes North Carolina.

Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, said the 117th Congress in 2021 and 2022 was historically productive on environmental issues, including passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. However, the 118th Congress in 2023 and 2024 was among the least productive in recent history.

"Over and over, House Republican leadership catered to the most extreme members of their caucus," she said, "even as 2024 was the hottest year on record for the second year in a row, and communities suffered from climate-fueled deadly and devastating heat waves, wildfires and storms."

Crawford said prospects for legislation on climate change and other issues look grim in the near future, even though building climate-resilient communities would be beneficial in North Carolina.

"Some of these members continue to have their heads stuck in the sand and choose to ignore the problem instead of doing something about it," he said. "It's penny-wise and pound-foolish to have to come in and keep rebuilding some of these areas that are being affected by climate."

Disclosure: League of Conservation Voters contributes to our fund for reporting. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A day before Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested, federal authorities apprehended a former New Mexico judge and his wife on charges related to harboring an undocumented immigrant. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Legal experts and advocates are outraged over the arrest of a Milwaukee judge last week who was charged with helping an undocumented defendant avoid a…


play sound

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have proposed privatizing the United States Postal Service by selling it off to a corporation such as FedEx or UP…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Brett Kelman for KFF Health News.Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Arkansas News Service reporting for the KFF Health News-Public News Service Co…


Advocates from Compassion & Choices attended a hearing for Senate Bill 403 before the State Senate Committee on Health on April 23. (Patricia Portillo/Compassion & Choices)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A bill to make medical aid in dying permanently legal in California goes before the state Senate Judiciary Committee today. The End of Life Option …

Social Issues

play sound

On May 1, Oregon labor and immigrants' rights organizations are gathering in Salem calling for justice for immigrant workers and an end to mass …

play sound

A bill to legalize cigar smoking in designated Montana barrooms has failed a third reading in the state House. Similar legislation is introduced most …

Social Issues

play sound

Tourism generates $3 billion annually in North Dakota but tribal officials say direct spending from visitors does not always reach their areas. Now…

 

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