Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Democrats call for Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz to resign; NOAA staff cuts could affect CO wildfire, avalanche, flash flood warnings; Facing funding hurdles, IL 'March for Meals' event moves forward; PA school support staffers push for $20 'living wage'; Judge orders U.S. to stop attempts to deport Columbia undergrad student.

Transcript

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The Public News Service Daily newscast, March the 26th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Several Democrats in Congress called Tuesday for the resignations of Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and Michael Walz, the National Security Advisor, over their involvement in a Signal group chat discussing U.S. strikes in Yemen.

That for "The New York Times."

They report Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized both Hegseth and Walz during a hearing Tuesday where he said that others who had discussed sensitive defense information in an unclassified chat would most likely have been fired.

The "Times" notes Warner went further on social media, "When the stakes are this high, incompetence is not an option."

He added, "Pete Hegseth should resign, and Mike Walz should resign."

Meantime, meteorologists are warning that cuts to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, will threaten American safety, especially in states like Colorado, with extreme weather events.

The Trump administration wants to cut up to 20 percent of NOAA's staff, more than 1,000 jobs.

Bernadette Woods-Plackey with Climate Central says NOAA's National Weather Service provides critical weather data forecasters rely on for warnings and advisories.

Because of NOAA data, we know when to evacuate ahead of storms, fires.

We know when not to evacuate, which is also really critical, 'cause that saves a lot of money and a lot of time.

NOAA data also helps Coloradans navigate risks, including avalanches, floods, high winds, air quality, red flag, wildfire warnings, and extreme heat.

I'm Eric Galatis.

And a local Meals on Wheels organization is forging ahead with an event to provide meals and personal care items to seniors in four Illinois counties, despite the looming uncertainty about federal funding that helps to run these programs.

March for Meals brings community members and elected officials together who volunteer to deliver and serve nutritious meals to seniors in Cook, Grundy, Kendall, and Will counties.

Kaitlin Wilson, who manages the group's community cafe in Schaumburg, says they also help pack care bags to deliver to those who are homebound.

Just to know that they're not alone, that we are here, and that they're not left just at home, that we are thinking about them.

Nationally, March for Meals commemorates the Older Americans Act and the funding it provides for nutritious programs for people in their 60s and older.

I'm Judith Ruiz, Branch, reporting.

And from The New York Times, a federal judge Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to halt its efforts to arrest and deport a 21-year-old Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The administration began seeking to arrest student Yongseo Chung this month, according to a lawsuit filed by her lawyers.

The judge said during a hearing in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, nothing in the record indicated that Ms. Chung posed a danger to the community or foreign policy risk or had communicated with terrorist organizations.

This is Public News Service.

Amid a severe teacher and staff shortage, school support workers and their unions rallied Tuesday in Harrisburg for a better living wage.

Our Daniel Smith has the story.

The group says House Bill 777 would raise wages for more than 41,000 school staff members.

More than 100 people gathered on the Capitol steps and met with lawmakers to gauge their support for the bill.

Aaron Chafin with Pennsylvania State Education Association says it would raise the pay for support staff in public schools to a living wage of at least $20 per hour.

About 45 percent of our colleagues that are support professionals would benefit from a raising the wage to $20 an hour.

And unfortunately, so many of our educational support professionals, they're not able to make ends meet with the current salaries that they have.

Many of them have a second job.

The House bill has 22 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Chafin says it would raise support staff wages by about $3 an hour.

And the U.S. plans to import 420 million eggs from Turkey in the hopes of combating nationwide egg shortages and sky-high prices.

But the Associated Dean of the School of Public Policy at UC Riverside, Bruce Babcock, says the move would only lower prices by a small percentage.

In order to lower egg prices by a significant amount, say 10 percent, the nation would need to import close to 2 billion eggs, an unlikely scenario.

Other countries don't have that many surplus eggs.

And if they did try to export that many eggs to the United States, their egg prices would rise dramatically.

As avian influenza continues to spread, each day resulting in the culling of thousands of chickens, the U.S. government is scrambling to keep costs low for consumers.

According to the website SoFiLearn, West Virginia ranks among the states with the lowest egg prices.

Nadia Ramlagan reporting.

Finally, wild lamb firefighting is a tough job, and the industry has long struggled with worker retention.

Trading boot camps have helped bring new firefighters, especially women, into the fold in recent years, but federal cuts could threaten that progress.

About 84 percent of federal wild lamb firefighters are men, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Boot camps targeting women have been popular.

Montana saw its first just last year.

Reva Duncan with Grassroots Wild Lamb Firefighters worked in fire for over three decades and says the boot camps offered a safe environment to raise concerns.

Beyond the actual required training, just having discussions about, "Well, how do you address hygiene?"

You know, "What do I do if I feel like I'm being treated unfairly?"

And those kind of questions that don't get covered in a classroom setting.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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