skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

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

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Poll: Huge Public Support for Investing In National Parks

play audio
Play

Monday, August 26, 2019   

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Americans love their national parks and want Congress to invest in maintaining them, according to a new national poll from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Marcia Argust, project director with the Restore Americas Parks campaign at Pew, said they found more than 80% of folks favor pending legislation that would fund badly needed repairs at national parks with royalties from mineral extraction on public lands.

"That's four out of five Americans – broad appeal, regardless of party affiliation, gender, ethnicity or geographic location,” Argust said. “Pretty impressive numbers."

The last major investment in the parks was 50 years ago. Argust said the 400 sites managed by the park service now have an almost $12 billion backlog of deferred maintenance.

Scot Faulkner, president of the Friends of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, said the legislation has 2-to-1 support in the House, and so far is supported by one-third of the Senate, including West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito. But, he said bill seems to have gotten "lost in the shuffle" on Capitol Hill.

Faulkner said the hundreds of millions of folks who come to the parks could use their cell-phone cameras to give the issue more urgency.

"Every time you see a trail that's got a fallen tree across it, or you have a building display a sign saying 'closed until further notice,' take a picture of it, send it in to to your member of Congress and senator, saying, 'This is in your district,' and also post that on social media,” Faulkner said.

He noted that Harpers Ferry includes buildings once occupied by historic figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Stonewall Jackson and Frederick Douglass that are actually crumbling for lack of repairs.

He said some suffer a little more with every rainstorm – and the longer they go without maintenance, the more they will cost to fix.


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

Disclosure: The Pew Charitable Trusts - Environmental Group contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy & Priorities, Climate Change/Air Quality, Consumer Issues, Endangered Species & Wildlife, Energy Policy, Environment, Health Issues, Public Lands/Wilderness, Salmon Recovery. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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