News from around the nation.

Mamdani stuns Cuomo in New York Mayoral Primary; Health advocates propose alternative payment system for KS primary care; Ag advocates warn federal legislation could harm NH family farms; Report: NY seniors lack stable retirement income.

Transcript

The Public News Service Wednesday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Zohran Mamdani, a little-known state lawmaker whose progressive platform and campaign trail charisma electrified younger voters, stunned former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City Tuesday night, building a lead so commanding that Cuomo conceded.

That from the New York Times.

They report Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist from Queens, tapped into a current anxiety about New York City's growing affordability crisis.

Mamdani has embraced an economic platform that includes everything from free bus service and child care to publicly owned grocery stores.

Meantime, policy experts say the current Medicare payment system for reimbursing primary care physicians in Kansas and elsewhere is flawed and needs to be revised.

Under the current system, primary care physicians or family doctors are paid based on the number of procedures they perform, but not on how well they take care of their patients.

Kendall Strong, a senior analyst with the nonprofit think tank Bipartisan Policy Center, says their data show that Kansas has a high number of rural providers and could benefit from alternative payment models.

I've seen some data to suggest that the primary care workforce shortage that's impacting the whole nation is particularly acute in Kansas.

And given the value of alternative payment models, it could be really beneficial to clinicians in that state.

He says these alternative models are designed to incentivize high quality, high value care by allowing clinicians to focus on specific clinical conditions or populations.

I'm Mike Moen.

And advocates for family farmers say legislation before Congress could have negative impacts for rural parts of New Hampshire.

The Senate's current reconciliation bill proposes deep cuts to public safety programs like SNAP, which local farmers often supply, while the House's 2026 spending plan erodes funding for conservation and agricultural research.

Mike Lavender is with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

These cuts, even to relatively small programs, are going to mean that fewer farmers have access to resources and information that help them have a successful livelihood, help their business work.

Supporters of the bills promote responsible budgeting by cutting spending and boosting efficiency.

I'm Catherine Carley.

Last report showed that fewer New York seniors have stable retirement income.

A Center for an Urban Future report finds almost half of the state's senior population has no retirement income and lacks access to Social Security benefits as of 2022.

Robin Haberman is with AARP New York.

We think more about our immediate needs as humans than we do think about anything else.

That's why AARP really puts a focus on planning, to remind people how important it is that we need to be paying attention to these things, not just, "Hey, our bills today, but how are we going to pay them in the long run?"

This comes as new data finds Social Security's reserves could run out in 2034, forcing a 23 percent cut across the board.

This is Public News Service.

A new law in Connecticut ends the independence of the state's State Election Enforcement Commission.

Senate Bill 1405 limits SEAC's ability to do post-election audits and lets the General Assembly choose the agency's executive director.

Good government groups worry this will infuse partisanism into a traditionally nonpartisan agency.

This is David Quickmire with Common Cause Connecticut says there must be independent accountability for lawmakers.

Without the independence of the oversight agency, legislators aren't basically able to do what they think they should be doing with their campaigns without any oversight.

This also strains the Citizens Election Program, which prevents many candidates for elected office from taking money from special interest groups.

Along with CEP candidates not having to do their own fundraising, it would also reduce the number of candidate reviews SEAC can do.

Initially, SEAC was required to perform audits on all candidate committees, but that was reduced to 50 percent over the years.

The new law cuts it down to 20 percent.

I'm Edwin J. Viera.

And Minnesotans are cooling off after last weekend's extreme heat, but communities that bear the brunt of environmental injustice say there'll be more climate extremes to contend with, prompting heightened outreach.

Researchers say the harmful effects of climate change is one of the drivers behind Latino populations migrating to the Midwest.

Destructive wildfires brought Josefina Geronimo from California to Minnesota.

She acknowledges the move doesn't mean extreme weather events and other environmental harms are gone.

She says her family is still prepared in case they're forced to evacuate.

Extra pair of clothes, water bottles, maps, flashlights, you know, kind of an emergency to go bag.

It isn't just those preparations on her mind, since Geronimo is a leader on the Environmental Justice Committee for Minnesota's Communities Organizing Latino Power in Action, or COLPA.

The panel is trying to foster more grassroots conversations about topics such as air pollution disproportionately harming Latino neighborhoods and an equitable transition to clean energy.

I'm Mike Moen.

And finally, federal tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act are fueling big growth in Tennessee's battery supply chain.

The volunteer state has become a major hub in battery production, with 11 manufacturers in the state.

For example, in Clarksville, LG Chem is investing $1.7 billion in a facility to produce cathode materials for electric vehicle batteries.

Zane Fishman with the Bipartisan Policy Center's Energy Program says clean energy tax credits are driving investments in Tennessee's battery industry.

We've really seen a resurgence in battery manufacturing in the U.S. and in Tennessee in particular, with factories coming online.

It's a sector that has been dominated by China.

The volunteer state has attracted more than $5 billion in clean energy investments and created 6,700 new jobs since 2022.

I'm Danielle Smith.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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