UN holds hearing on escalating violence against Palestinians in Occupied West Bank; House Dem leader Jeffries calls for closure of Delaney Hall immigrant detention center – August 11, 2026

It's Tuesday, August 11th. I'm Scott Baba. The United States turns towards sanctions as Iran and Oman continue negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The talks between Oman and Iran, we have heard positive statements from both capitals in the recent couple of days, and we are eagerly awaiting. Our main priority here is the reopening of the strait, maintaining the ceasefire, and making sure that we are able to push forward towards a negotiation. Massachusetts passes a new law to protect school and public libraries from book bans. This legislation doesn't tell parents what their kids should read or can read. What it does is ensure that every family continues to have the right to guide their own child's education and reading while respecting that others may make different choices. And local and environmental leaders discuss how to address the threats facing three major California lakes. Take that pressure of climate change, things like wildfire, the loss of snowpack, the warming of the lake, aquatic invasive species are a new big threat. And you couple those with those high visitation and the many different uses of the environment and the community and potentially the economy start to react to those, that combination of stressors. Need stories and more coming up. From the studios of KPFA and Berkeley, this is the Pacific Evening News. I'm Scott Baba.

President Donald Trump is betting on economic pressure to end his war with Iran after months of military strikes failed to force a breakthrough, and the U.S. military is now backing that pressure with force at sea. Trump's administration is hoping the bombing campaign has pushed Iran's economy to the breaking point, forcing its leaders to abandon their nuclear program and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil and gas tankers. Trump told reporters yesterday that Iran is, in his words, totally broke. We control the straight 100%. Now, can they make trouble? Yeah, they can make trouble. But they're broke. They have no money. You know, Iran is broke, totally broke. And they're not paying their soldiers. They have inflation of 300%. As of last night, I heard 300, 309%. So we'll see what happens. The Iranian economy has taken a significant hit since the war began. The International Monetary Fund estimates it shrunk more than 5%, with Iran reporting inflation near 89%. The Trump administration has been calling the sanction-oriented element of its push against Iran as Operation Economic Fury, targeting countries that buy Iranian oil or do business with Iranian banks. United States ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said that it is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who Iranian leaders, see as leading the charge against them, not Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. When they're coming to the table to our negotiators, they are talking about cash, cash, cash, because they'll absorb the bombings. They don't care about their military. They don't care about their soldiers or even the Iranian people after they massacred 40,000 of them. But what are they worried about? They're worried about that their currency is tanking. Inflation is the highest in 80 years. The IRGC controls half the economy. Because this is a corrupt, this is a corrupt elite, religious fanatic regime. that has devastated that country for many, many decades. They are constantly asking for access to cash, access to their assets that we've frozen. And what the president is talking about is that's the squeeze. That couple with the blockade, that's what's going to eventually get the Iranians to move. But experts say sanctions take time to work on like the immediate impact of a blocked shipping route. One former Obama administration sanctions official said Trump has never clearly defined his war goals, shifting between demands on nuclear weapons, the strait and missiles. The military dimension of that pressure campaign played out today in the Gulf of Oman. U.S. Central Command said a Navy helicopter fired two hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Velanova, a Panama-flagged cargo ship. disabling its steering as it tried to break the American blockade and reach an Iranian port. Sentcom said the crew ignored repeated warnings before the strike and the vessel is no longer headed to Iran.

The U.S. has enforced its own blockade of the strait since April. Sentcom said it's now redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled three non-compliance ships, and boarded two others. Officials say American forces remain, quote, highly vigilant. Meanwhile, there are some signs of diplomatic movement. Qatar said talks between Oman and Iran over reopening the strait have shown positive signs in recent days. Qatar, a foreign ministry spokesperson, Dr. Majed al-Ansari said the negotiations have reached a technical stage with Iran preparing to make an official announcement. Our concern right now is in following the latest developments in the talks between Oman and Iran. We have heard positive statements from both capitals in the recent couple of days, and we are eagerly awaiting. Our main priority here is the reopening of the strait, maintaining the ceasefire, and making sure that we are able to push forward towards the negotiation. Our mediation is ongoing, as you know, and the... The talks between both sides are ongoing. Oman and Iran have reportedly agreed on shipping route coordinates for the strait with incoming vessels using Iranian waters and outgoing ships using Omani waters. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said over the weekend that an agreement with Oman was, quote, very close. Still, Iran has tied a broader reopening to demands on Washington, including an end of sanctions and compensation for war damage. Cutters Al Ansari said compensation is not currently part of the Oman-Iran talks. Commercial traffic through the strait remains a fraction of pre-war levels. Just six vessels passed through yesterday compared with more than 130 a day before the conflict began. The United Nations Security Council today held a special meeting on the rising violence in the West Bank. The Security Council heard a report from the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process that said violent attacks from settler extremists have killed dozens of Palestinians and increased tensions in the region. Max Pringle reports. Riyadh Mansour is the permanent Palestinian observer at the UN. He says 76 West Bank Palestinians have been killed this year and attacks from extremist Israeli settlers. Israel's objective remains the same. Seizing maximum Palestinian land with minimum Palestinians. All its policies can be traced back to this singular objective pursued through military assault.

Settlers violence, home demolitions, discriminatory laws, and annexation measures. Danny Danon is Israel's permanent representative to the UN. He said Israel condemns violence against all West Bank residents, Palestinian and Jewish. He said Israeli authorities have arrested and convicted settlers involved in extremism as it continues to fight extremism on the Palestinian side. Israel does not tolerate extremism. We confront it, but we do not ignore the reality on the ground. While Israeli extremist attacks are declining, Palestinian terrorist attacks are rising, making up the majority of attacks in Judea and Samaria. Dorothy Shea is U.S. Sharjade Affairs to the United Nations. She said the U.S. administration continues to push for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We further welcome the milestone achieved at the end of July when Hamas finally and for the first time committed to an actionable plan for its disarmament. All parties must build on this momentum. to full and irreversible disarmament and ensure that Gaza is never again a launching pad for threats to Israel's national security. This path forward, as the Board of Peace has noted, holds the promise of delivering significant benefits to the people of Gaza. Under the U.S. brokered Gaza Peace Agreement between Israel and Hamas, Israel must begin a phased withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and Hamas must fully disarm in hand control of the strip over to a Palestinian interim governing body under the oversight of the Board of Peace. The Palestinian Authority would take over security control in the interim. For KPFA News, I'm Max Pringle. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels renewed attacks today on government-controlled areas in Yemen as the violence threatened to reignite that country's civil war. The attacks also raise fears over new threats to regional shipping lanes. Yemen's military said the rebels targeted the government-held port city of Moka and the central province of Marib with missiles and drones, but did not provide further details. Instead, the Houthis also hit Moka with missiles and drones over the weekend and killed at least seven people. The escalation by the Houthis against government forces in Yemen and oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia aims to threaten the kingdom's alternate route for shipping its oil. The attacks could reignite Yemen Civil War following a 22 truce and open a new front in the Middle East War. The Yemen Civil War started in 2014.

It killed some 400,000 people. Houthi attacks on aid shipments and detention of NGO personnel have disrupted food distribution that's threatened millions with starvation. A Syrian court has sentenced ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his brother to death in absentia for crimes against humanity during Syria's 14-year conflict. The court in Damascus issued death sentences against nine people today, marking the first against Bashar al-Assad or his inner circle since their regime fell 20 months ago. Bashar al-Assad's cousin, Atafnajib, was the only former official sentence who was in custody. Bashar al-Assad and his brother had fled to Russia, where they received asylum after their government's fall in December of 2024. The verdicts will be popular among many Syrians, especially those who have expressed frustration that the new government hasn't moved with enough speed or strength against Bashar al-Assad-era figures. In Lebanon, the parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty, becoming the first country in the Arab world to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment and hard labor. Lebanon had an unofficial moratorium on execution since 2004, though courts continued issuing death sentences that were later suspended or commuted. a majority of the 128-member parliament backed the measure, with Hezbollah's block the only holdout. Lebanon's justice minister called it a, quote, historic step. Human Rights Watch praised the vote, calling capital punishment, quote, unique in its cruelty and finality. It's still unclear exactly how the new hard labor sentences will be enforced as Lebanon's prisons are overcrowded and the country remains cash-strapped. The vote comes as Parliament separately debates, a controversial amnesty law that could reduce sentences for convicted militants and drug dealers. Families of soldiers killed by militants have protested that measure, saying they wanted to see the perpetrators face execution. A massive earthquake rocked Colombia yesterday. President Al-B. abelardo de alasprea said today that at least one hundred and eighty-one people died in the cities of cali perera chaco and manizales and thousands more were injured or missing more than a thousand buildings were destroyed President Dela Esperia has mobilized military and police resources, and soldiers, rescue teams, and volunteers are sifting through the rubble. Other Latin American countries and the United States are providing aid. Pereira and Cali have enforced curfews to prevent looting. Ben Thomas has more.

Search teams dug through the rebel in Cali, Colombia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck collapsing hundreds of buildings. By Monday afternoon, people had begun reporting their loved ones missing on digital databases. One listed more than 2000, the number steadily climbing. The epicentre that was Chocco. Barbara Mello with World Vision. It's very known for its poverty, so a lot of people are in need right now. She tells Sky, children are of particular. We ask adults to know how to react, imagine the children. The desperate scenes recall the search is still ongoing in neighboring Venezuela after it was devastated by powerful back-to-back earthquakes in June. They killed more than 6,300 people. I'm Ben Thomas. Russia launched a new wave of missile, drone, and glide bomb attacks across Ukraine today, killing at least 10 civilians. Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia used North Korean supply ballistic missiles in a strike on Zaporizia that killed seven steel plant workers. Three more people, including a 15-year-old, died in the Nipropretivisk region. Volodymyr Zelensky said North Korea is also preparing to send more troops to help Russia, warning the moves show Moscow is, quote, preparing not for peace, but for escalation. A Washington think tank said Ukraine's shortage of Patriot Air Defense missiles is giving Russia an edge heading into winter. Russian strikes also hit near a children's hospital in Kiev, though no one was hurt there. Russia said it intercepted nearly 400 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukraine says it struck an oil refinery deep inside Russia near the Kazakhstan border. The United Nations said more than 16,000 civilians remain in Russian detention with reports of widespread torture and abuse. Meanwhile, an American military veteran held in Russia for more than four years is now on his way home. Robert Gilman, a 32-year-old Massachusetts teacher and former Marine, was released today after President Trump said he spoke directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said the release was on humanitarian grounds with no exchange of prisoners involved. Gilman is headed to a military hospital in Texas for treatment. His health had reportedly deteriorated severely behind bars. According to Advocacy Group Global Reach, he spent 47 days in what's described as a dissociative stupor before being hospitalized and hooked up to a feeding tube. Gilman's family and the State Department say he was wrongfully detained. He'd faced multiple prison sentence extensions on charges of assaulting guards and officials, which his father disputes. His sister thanked President Trump and Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey for pushing for his release, saying Gilman was, quote, hurt for no reason other than that he was both an American and a Marine.

U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believe Russia was behind a drone bombing at Germany's Lipzig airport last week, according to American media reports. The drone loaded with plastic explosives was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane. Germany's interior minister called it a, quote, new level of danger for the country, though Berlin has not officially named a suspect. The Wall Street Journal and CNN both report U.S. officials believe the drone likely belonged to the Russian government, citing intelligence and the type of explosive material used. German investigators say the drone slipped past airport defenses undetected for roughly four hours until a bus driver spotted it. That same night, a cargo plane forced to abort landing struck an object midair, possibly a second hostile drone. Days later, drones were spotted over a German military site housing U.S. Patriot missile components. Germany said it's doubling its anti-drone task force in response. Russia denies involvement, calling the accusations a, quote, rashly contrived provocation. Hungary's Parliament has elected Andres Baca, a former top judge removed from office under Viktor Orban as the country's new president. Prime Minister Péter Magyar said the move is part of efforts to restore democratic standards after ending Viktor Orban's 16-year rule. Baca was nominated by Magyar's Titsa Party, which won power in an April landslide election. The presidency is largely ceremonial, but Magyar wants it to play a stronger role protecting democratic checks and balances. Baca previously served as president of Hungary's Supreme Court before Viktor Orban's government restructured the judiciary in 2011, ending his tenure early. Baca later won a case at the European Union Court of Human Rights, which ruled Hungary had violated his rights. Magyar's party said it consulted with Hungarian citizens through a public nomination process before selecting Baca, describing him as, quote, truly independent. Baca's term is set to begin August 19th and could last up to five years. Congolese health officials say 2,000 people have died in its Ebola outbreak. They're calling it the fastest Ebola outbreak on record. More from Chris Okamringa in Kinshasa. The DRC had another outbreak in 2018, where 2,300 people were killed in two years. It ended in 2020, 2020. But this one was just declared on May 15th, and we're already seeing more than 20,000 people dead. So there's a lot of concern, and the international community has called for a stepping up of all the major pillars. They have urged donors to also contribute money so that they can be able to contain this outbreak.

And that was Chris Okamringa reporting. Humanitarian organizations are calling on Congress to pass legislation which would block restrictions to foreign aid on ideological grounds. Zimon Perez reports. The Protect Human Rights and Public Health and Foreign Assistance Act would nullify the expansion of President Donald Trump's global gag rule. The State Department's latest expansion of the rule now includes restrictions on all foreign aid for groups that promote LGBTQ rights, gender-affirming care, or diversity and equity initiatives. Felicity Gray, with nonviolent peace force, says such restrictions could hurt organizations that support women who face sexual assault and violence. Under the current expansion of the DEI provisions, we might not be able to advocate for someone targeted because of the... gender or their race or ethnicity because of the way that this policy silences humanitarian organizations and their ability to do the work that they are mandated to do. The original gag roll from the 1980s restricted non-governmental organizations that perform or even promote reproductive abortion care from receiving U.S. aid for family planning. The administration has argued the move is a part of a larger effort to root out support for progressive issues out of the U.S. government and organizations that receive taxpayer funding. Studies show the global gag rule has led to clinic closures, decreases in contraceptive services, and a loss of mobile outreach services. Gray says the Trump administration's decision to expand the rule impacts organizations in countries thousands of miles away, and it could also have ripple effects here in the U.S. Our safety, our health, all of this is interconnected. If we don't want to be impacted by things like HIV and malaria in our own countries in the U.S., then we need to make sure that we're considering how the decisions that we make elsewhere change that risk. Democratic administrations have consistently rescinded the global gag rule when in power. One study finds that countries heavily rely on U.S. AIDS see a 10% rise in maternal mortality when Republicans are elected to the White House, and the global gag rule is reinstated. I'm Simone Perez for Pacific Network and Public News Service. President Trump secretly flew out of last month's NATO summit in Turkey on a different plane than the public was led to believe, according to the Washington Post. The Post reports the switch was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat. Trump boarded Air Force One in view of cameras but was then quietly moved to a smaller jet using an airport catering truck, while reporters and staff believed they were still traveling with him on Air Force One. The White House hasn't directly addressed the report. A spokesperson said the administration uses, quote, every tool out of disposal to protect the president. The Secret Service declined to comment. The report comes amid heightened security concerns during the ongoing war with Iran. A former Secret Service agent called the move unusual but not unprecedented. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal is calling for a congressional briefing, saying the incident is, quote, surreal and downright scary.

Democratic House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries is calling for the closure of a controversial immigrant detention center in New Jersey. Hakeem Jeffries made his call after a visit to the center where he saw a lack of medical care for pregnant women and other detainees. He also took broader aim at what he described as a brutalizing violent mass deportation machine. Christopher Martinez reports. After months of controversy and reports of poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall Immigrant Detention Center in New Jersey, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has had enough. He and other lawmakers spoke to reporters at a church in Morristown, New Jersey. We know there's no ability by these immigration officials or... private companies to behave in a manner consistent with American values, and that certainly is the case at Delaney Hall, that Delaney Hall needs to be shut down. And that will remain a high priority for us until it takes place. Jeffrey's remarks came after the lawmakers attended a closed-door roundtable with family members of people who were killed by ICE agents or died in custody. So I thank the families who we heard from, for your courage, for your bravery. for your resilience. We will get this situation turned around, and we will make sure that there's justice for your loved ones who have been killed or died. in custody. Margarita Cielo Balbuena, who was detained at the Elizabeth Detention Center and later released from custody, said detainees were fed rancid food and denied medical care. Speaking to a translator, she says she still has nightmares. Now I'm traumatized for this experience. Even now I feel traumatized by this experience. I'm afraid to drive. I'm afraid to leave. I'm afraid to leave and go out in the street. I'm afraid to leave my husband, my husband. I'm afraid to leave my son, my husband. I'm afraid to be away from my children. It is very difficult to sleep. It is very difficult for me to sleep. It is difficult for me to talk about what I have suffered. The privately run Delaney Hall facility is operated by the contractor Geo Group under a 15-year billion-dollar federal contract. It was the site of high-profile demonstrations in May after advocates said detainees launched a hunger strike. Hakeem Jeffries criticized both the detention center and immigration enforcement more broadly, saying enforcement should be fair and humane, but he says that is not what is happening now. Taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the people of this community, this state, and throughout our country. Instead, taxpayer dollars are being used by ICE.

and Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine to brutalize and kill American citizens and law-abiding immigrant families. Donald Trump lied to the American people. He said that immigration enforcement in this country was going to target the worst of the worst. That's not what has been happening. even as jeffreys was decrying ice violence and brutality associated press is reporting that emigration and customs enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver powerful electric shocks ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on what it calls conductive distraction and de-escalation devices. Jan Rollnick Borchetta of the American Civil Liberties Union calls the gloves a recipe for harm to the public, saying ICE spent the last year showing this country they are too quick to use force. Now they will be able to deploy electric shocks with the slight push of a button that maybe nobody else can see them do. Meanwhile, Hakeem Jeffries expects Democrats will push for the closure of Delaney Hall after winning a majority in the upcoming midterm elections. As it happens, Jeffrey's news conference comes just days after the United Nations Security Council held a hearing on conditions of people incarcerated on the other side of the globe, namely, Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians incarcerated in the Russian Federation. There, Liberian Ambassador Louis Brown told the Security Council to give light to those waiting in the dark. International humanitarian law is not preserved in the comfort of diplomatic chambers like this. It is preserved in cell blocks, in transit camps, and at exchange points, or it is not preserved at all. Reporting for Pacifica Radio News KPFA, I'm Christopher Martinez. President Trump did not rule out declaring a national emergency ahead of the midterm elections during an interview on Real America's voice early today. Host Wayne Allen Root suggested Trump could use emergency powers to push through the Save Act voting legislation if it stalls in Congress. Let me put an idea in your head, okay? Because it's so hard to get the Senate to do anything, now they're on recess, they don't get anything done if they never get the Save America Act done. You have the right to declare a national security emergency for elections. And the Supreme Court ruled in 1983 under Reagan, that INS versus Chata, that if you declare a national security emergency as the President of the United States, they can't challenge it. only be overturned by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress. So if you do this in the next month, we will get photo ID, proof of citizenship, and a limit to mail-in ballots, and you don't even need the sent-top. Okay, I'll leave it at that.

The Constitution does not give President's authority to unilaterally rewrite state election laws. Legal experts say there's no clear mechanism for such an emergency declaration to take effect. ABC News reported in February that a group of pro-Trump attorneys had circulated a draft order that would cite alleged foreign election interference to justify banning mail-in ballots. I'm Scott Baba. You're listening to the Pacific Evening News. We'll be back with more after this. Everything feels sharp lately. The world moves fast, and people are scared, anxious, tired. So let's slow it down. Just for a moment. Just for this breath. Be kind. Beginning with you. Kindness may seem small. It isn't. It's how we carry each other through in times like these. Information matters, care matters too. KPFA is here for both, independent, listener supported, and rooted in community. This is 94.1 KPFA and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley. 88.1 KFCF in Fresno and online across the multiverse at KPFA.org. Newly installed, Attorney General Todd Blanche expanded significant legal protections for President Trump this week just hours after being sworn in. A memo released yesterday by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel said the president can claim executive privilege over communications with his private advisors, as long as those communications are confidential and tied to presidential decision-making. The memo also appears to extend that privilege to communications between the president's top advisors and private citizens. Several Republican senators who had been opposed to Todd Blanche but ultimately voted to confirm him, including Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn, and Thom Tillis had cited his promise to limit a separate presidential immunity. The move could limit congressional investigations into Trump and other officials if Democrats win control of the House. In the midterms, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded in a post on social media, saying, quote, Donald Trump is scared. He knows accountability is coming. He's using his newly installed attorney general slash personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to cover up his communications with private advisors and special interest cronies. These are the actions of someone with something to hide, and it shows he is petrified of the questions. A Democratic Congress will demand answers to. We will not let Trump escape the accountability he deserves.

At least 238 killed and 467 injured. Separately, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and nine other lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in July, accusing his department of gutting civilian harm mitigation efforts in potential violation of federal law. The allegations track with a formal warning already on the record. The Pentagon's own Inspector General in a report made public in May. found the Department of War made only partial progress on its civilian harm mitigation and response action plan, and did not fully implement any of its 11 objectives by the deadline, which was the end of fiscal year 2025. Investigators found 15 Pentagon components struggled to hire qualified staff, a steering committee meant to oversee the effort, didn't even assign responsibility for tasks. until December of 2024, the final year of the four-year plan. And the panel didn't meet at all after that month. The watchdog also found that in February of 2025, top defense officials floated scrapping the program entirely, including eliminating the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence and rolling back the Department's civilian harm policy. No final decision has been made, but funding for a key data tracking platform was pulled, and the Protection Center lost much of its staff and leadership anyway. The Inspector General concluded the pending on may not be complying with federal law requiring a functioning civilian casualty policy. Joint staff and combatant command officials warned investigators that cut in the program... also raises risks to U.S. troops and missions, citing damaged alliances, more local resistance, and a higher chance of failed strikes. Six states are holding primaries today. In elections, all eyes will be on Swing State, Wisconsin, where Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong wants to become the Democratic Party nominee for governor. A Democratic battle for an open Senate seat in Minnesota has become a familiar contest between moderate congresswoman Angie Craig and Liberal Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. In Connecticut, a one-time insurgent who challenged a famed dissentress from the left is now being challenged from the left himself in the governor's primary. And South Carolina holds yet another primary, this one, to select a successor to the late Republican senator, Lindsey Graham. As corporate profits push Wall Street near record highs, a new report by the Economic Policy Institute said real wages for workers across the nation are currently stuck, and millions of American workers are being left behind. And some researchers argue unions could be the fix. Eric Galatas reports.

Some 50 million Americans say they would join a union if they could, according to a new report, but they face significant barriers under current U.S. labor laws. Co-author Heidi Shearholz with the Economic Policy Institute says tripling the number of union members would bring widespread benefits, including boosting public schools, expanding access to health care, and increasing wages to help families pay for the rising cost of just about everything. Almost every conversation about affordability focuses entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life more affordable is to make things cheaper. But affordability depends on both prices and pay. For decades, corporations have warned Americans about the potential costs of joining a union, including dues workers, have to pay and the risk of losing jobs if companies can't stay competitive. Amazon, Starbucks, and others invest millions in union avoidance strategies and make the case to their workers that companies are best positioned to take care of their own. Corporations have also successfully lobbied Congress and state legislatures to pass laws that make it much harder to form or join a union. The report calls for reforming those laws. AFL-CIO President Liz Schuller represents some 15 million workers. She says tripling union membership is not a pipe dream. More than one in three private sector workers belong to a union in the 1950s. Back in the 1950s, when frankly, our wages were actually growing along with the economy and when economic growth, meant that all of us won, not just the billionaires. Shearholz notes if wages had kept up with productivity gains since the 1950s, average worker paychecks would be 40% bigger than they are today. Scherholt says making it possible for more workers to join a union could help address some of today's biggest challenges. Rebuilding union density would raise wages, shrink racial wage gaps, expand health coverage, strengthening communities, and protect our democracy, all at the same time. There is no other policy. lever that does all of that. This is Eric Gladys reporting for the Colorado News Connection. Internal National Park Service documents reportedly show hundreds of millions of dollars have been shifted away from national parks to fund projects on White House grounds. According to reporting from journalist Scott McFarlane, more than $323 million has been made available this year for White House grounds projects, nearly a 5,000 percent jump from 2024. Almost $100 million more went towards projects on the National Mall. At the same time, records show multi-million dollar funding cuts at major parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. Combined the money for White House and national projects this year is larger than the total funding for nine of the country's largest national parks. Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of the nonprofit public employees for environmental responsibility, said the Park Service is being used as a, quote, piggy bank for President Trump's projects. An Interior Department spokesperson did not dispute the figures, saying the funding comes from sources including endowments and park pass revenue, not solely taxpayer dollars.

Democratic lawmakers, including members of the House Ways and Means Committee, have criticized the spending as a misuse of public resources. A federal judge has again blocked President Trump's executive order that sought to limit male voting ahead of the midterm elections. U.S. district court judge Indira Tawani ruled today in favor of the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups, barring the U.S. Postal Service from taking any action to implement the order. Tawani wrote that, quote, the executive branch has no authority to regulate elections. The order would have created a federal voter list and directed the Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to people on that list. White House spokesperson Lauren Biss said the administration will keep pushing its election agenda. Marcia Johnson of the League of Women Voters called the ruling, quote, a victory for voters and for the Constitution. The Trump administration has already asked the Supreme Court to lift a related injunction blocking similar changes in nearly half the country. Plaintiffs argue only states in Congress, not the president, have authority to set election rules. Massachusetts Governor Morahili has signed a new law aimed at curbing book bans in schools and libraries. This legislation doesn't tell parents what their kids should read or can read. What it does is ensure that every family continues to have the right to guide their own child's education and reading while respecting that others may make different choices. Libraries and schools are places where young people discover who they are. Find stories that inspire them maybe make them love learning for the rest of their life expose them to new ideas and possibilities where they can explore science and history poetry and art where families come together as well to learn to ask questions The Freedom to Read Act requires a formal process before materials can be removed from libraries, including a public hearing and a vote by the local school committee. Only school employees, parents, guardians, or enrolled students can file challenges. Book challenges have surged statewide from fewer than 10 in 2019 to 229 last year. This according to Andrea Fiorillo, co-chair of the Massachusetts Library Associations, intellectual freedom committee. She said librarians have faced harassment, doxing, and even bomb death threats. The law also shields librarians and teaches from professional retaliation for good faith material selections. Governor Healy drew a direct line between the attacks on books and librarians and the tone set by the Trump White House.

We're here today at a time where there's a lot of stuff going on in the country, right? And we've got a president in Donald Trump who repeatedly tries to silence anyone who disagrees with him, it seems, and has also tried, and the Trump administration has tried to control the way our kids learn all across this country. He's made devastating cuts to education, dismantling the entire department of education. And he's made other cuts that really directly impact in negative ways our schools. He's scrubbed Pentagon websites of references to black and women veterans. And he's even tried to ban books at some of our military bases. In this moment when education and free thinking are under attack, it's really important that there's leadership coming from the states. And that's what today is about Massachusetts. It's about states leading in a time when certain forces are trying to take folks in this country backwards. The Massachusetts House passed the bill 152 to 1 in July. California lawmakers and advocates gathered at the state capital yesterday to press Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders to protect food assistance for Californians hit by federal cuts. Assembly member Celeste Rodriguez convened the event alongside civil rights icon Dolores Huerta. Advocates warn that tens of thousands of immigrants and low-income families have already lost CalFresh benefits. since federal cuts under HR1 took effect this spring. KPFAs, another Felix, has more. Outside the Capitol Monday morning, the podium was packed with food bank workers, county officials, immigrant rights advocates, and a West Sacramento mayor who lined up to speak about the toll of federal food aid cuts. According to organizers with end-child poverty California, more than 34,000 refugees, asylum seekers and other humanitarian immigrants have already lost cow-fresh benefits since April. The benefits were cut under the federal law called H.R.1. Advocates say roughly half of those losing aid are children, seniors or people with disabilities. Yassanja Robancho, Associate Director of Policy and Strategy with End Child Poverty, California, said lawmakers need to act now before the state's budget window closes or thousands more Californians will go hungry. Today, we are asking our budget leaders to do three things that can prevent hunger today. First, protect food assistance for humanitarian immigrants. Second, provide a one-time food supplement for these households. Third, we must maximize food support for vulnerable Californians. Youth in foster care, people experiencing homelessness, and Californians receiving in-home services, particularly those with known medical conditions.

For Koi Sachin, a legislative advocate with the coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations, the issue is personal. Her family fled to the U.S. from Laos as war refugees in the 1980s. My family came here as humanitarian immigrants, and that matters. Hunger is not a policy debate. It really is a child going to bed hungry in the richest state and the richest country in the world, and this is unacceptable. Gabby Davidson, a policy advocates with the California Association of Food Banks, said food banks are already stretched thin, trying to fill the gap and can't do it alone. California Food Bank, they're on the ground. We have 43 number of food banks as our association, and we know that they're doing all they can to help meet the need, but food banks are not enough. Snap, known as Cal Fresh in California, is our first line of defense against hunger. It helps our families. It helps our grocers. It helps our retailers and our economy at large. And we need California to act now. We're urging them to reverse the cuts and the cost shifts caused by HR1. But Californians are going hungry right now. Our food banks cannot do this alone. West Sacramento mayor Martha Guerrero said she's watched the need grow firsthand. As I see our food bank lines in West Sacramento triple in numbers. I have seen the lines grow. I have seen children with their families waiting hours to receive just a handful of groceries that is supposed to cover them for the week. That is insufficient. And so we must fight harder. We must collectively work together to protect our family's future. Assembly member Rodriguez, who organized today's press conference, said she's pushing to have the food assistance proposals included in end-of-summer budget talks. The legislature returns from recess later this month, with roughly three weeks left before the budget process concludes. Organizers with end-child poverty, California, and the Food for All coalitions say they will continue pressing Governor Gavin Newsom to act before his term ends in January 2027. Reporting for KPFER Radio, I'm Annetta. Felix. Environmental problems face three large California lakes and state agencies, along with local organizations, are trying to find solutions. A panel of local experts came together to discuss current conditions at Clear Lake, Lake Tahoe, and the Salton Sea. They reviewed major issues at hand and the work being done to heal decades of damage. Vic Bodoyan reports. Three large and important California lakes are in trouble. Clear Lake, Lake Tahoe, and the Salton Sea are different in geology and history, but similar because they have all suffered generations of harm from natural and human-made sources. The California Natural Resources Agency has been involved in studying each of these significant bodies of water. Agency leader Wade Crowfoot set the table. Clear Lake is a shallow water body north of the Bay Area in Lake County. Lake Tahoe, of course, is on the border of California and Nevada, one of our largest alpine lakes in the country. And the Salton Sea is actually our largest lake in California. It's a terminal lake because it doesn't, when water enters, doesn't actually exit out. And in each place, state government policy leaders, legislators, community leaders, tribes, local governments have really dug into helping these lakes be all they can be.

Clear Lake was born from volcanic activity and tectonic movements and one of California's most ancient lakes. It has been home to numerous Pomo Indian tribes and still is. E.J. Crandall is chair of the Robinson Pomo Rancheria and he is on the Lake County Board of Supervisors. He pointed out some of the ecological challenges. Clear Lake is one of the oldest natural watersheds, or actually one of the most oldest natural freshwater lakes in California. And it's sustained my ancestors for, you know, since time immemorial. It's a shallow lake impacted by contaminants and algae growth. And as you know, just through history, there's been a lot of things done around the shoreline, like... levees and things like that and then dams. And so you have situations where there's a lot of algal bloom. Harmful algal blooms are currently the main problem at Clear Lake, depleting oxygen in the water. There are a wide variety of other concerns such as the long-term pollution from a local mercury mining superfund site and sediment runoff from a landscape that has seen industrial development and many wildfires. Geneva Thompson is a state liaison working with locals. You will see kind of those environmental challenges having that ripple effect to economic and social and health challenges for the communities that live in and around Clear Lake. E.J. Crandall targets Middle Creek that flows into the lake as the most important place to restore marshes that would filter out sediment and help clarify the lake. Local tribes are also working to revive the hitch. It's a cultural icon, a small fish unique to Clear Lake. There were once millions of them that provided food for native peoples that lived around the lake. There was a real scare that there wouldn't be any hitch because there was a time where we couldn't find anywhere outside of the tributaries. And then the year after they started finding different signs of where the hitch were in Tully Lake, which is further up north. Lake Tahoe spreads over parts of two states and four counties. Its alpine setting in the high Sierra makes it one of the state's major recreational regions. With more visitors than any national park, Lake Tahoe supports a multi-billion dollar outdoor recreation and pleasure industry. Regional issues are managed in a collaborative manner by 80 local agencies. Jim Jordan Vasquez of the Tahoe Conservancy Explain that the lake has historical impacts from logging and grazing in the 1800s to major development booms in the late 20th century, resulting in the loss of meadows and wetlands. And he says there is current impairment to the lake's ecological health. And in more present-day context, some of those challenges that we see in Tahoe are we take that pressure of climate change, things like wildfire, the loss of snowpack. the warming of the lake, aquatic invasive species are a new big threat. And you couple those with those high visitation and the many different uses of the environment and the community and potentially the economy start to react to that combination of stressors. And so our challenge is how do we protect this unique environment and manage it in such a dynamic setting?

Vasquez says there's now a project to restore a thousand acres of wetlands and meadows in the upper Truckee River watershed to help revive Lake Tahoe's renowned clarity. Serendipity gave birth to Salton Sea. A flooding irrigation ditch in 1905 poured Colorado River water into an ancient lake bed and gave it new life. It was a big resort destination during much of the 20th century. But for decades, local residents have seen Salton Sea become increasingly degraded. Its only water source is a meager flow of agricultural tail water from surrounding farmland. And that water is contaminated, according to Sylvia Paz, the director of the Alianza Coachella Valley. She says it's the source of numerous health problems. Right now is that as the water leaves... or evaporates, there is the accumulation in the sediments of the toxic that comes from pesticides. And it has increased salinity levels. There's harmful bacteria in the water. There's the smells. And with the wind blowing over the Salton Sea, all of this is being released. into the air, so causing chronic respiratory illnesses in surrounding communities. As a leader in the state's Salton Sea Task Force, she is part of a larger effort to expand hiking trails and other amenities to boost the local economy. Gavin Newsom has pledged $30 million toward that effort. Pause acknowledges it will be a daunting task. My memories of the Salton Sea was wondering, what is that smell? And then thinking, oh, it's coming from the Salton Sea. I was a teenager in the 90s when we faced the massive fish die of. People continue to wake up in the desert to go to work. We're surrounded by agriculture. Unfortunately, these decades of... very minimal investment, I think have us at a point right now where we're working to stabilize and try to turn things around so that we can conserve and improve the quality of life of the people that have called the Salton Sea Home. Salton Sea residents have a more recent challenge coming from proposed lithium mining ventures. The desert region is now referred to as lithium valley by state agencies, and it's the target of a robust effort by the state and local geothermal producers to develop one of the largest deposits of lithium in the nation that lies under the bottom of Salton Sea. That's leaving residents asking where the water from mining that precious metal will come from, and will it bring even more misery to an already beleaguered landscape. Vic Bedoyan reporting for Pacifica Evening News and KFCF Radio.

Bay Area weather this evening, increasing clouds with lows around 60, mostly cloudy tomorrow morning, then becoming partly cloudy, highs in the 70s. In the Central Valley, increasing clouds tonight with lows in the low 70s. Tomorrow, cloudy through mid-morning before gradually clearing, but with patchy smoke midday, highs in the high 90s. In Los Angeles tonight, partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms before 11 p.m., highs in the mid-60s. mostly sunny tomorrow with highs in the mid-80s. That's it for the news tonight. I'm Scott Baba. Good evening. Missed today's news? No problem. The Pacifica Evening News airs every night at 6 p.m. But if you can't catch it live, you can always listen later. Anytime at kpFA.org. Our daily news archives are updated and ready when you are, so you never have to miss a beat. Stay informed. Stay connected. With original reporting, you can trust. Head to KPFA.org. Find the latest Pacifica evening news and catch up on the stories that matter most.

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