Rural NPR stations ‘disappointed,' determined to survive after rescission package eliminates federal funding
Congress is officially sending a package detailing $9 billion in spending cuts to President Donald Trump's desk after the House of Representatives passed the bill, called a "rescissions package," in a late-night vote on Thursday.
Trump's multibillion-dollar clawback package teed up cuts to "woke" spending on foreign aid programs and NPR and PBS, as Republicans finally yanked federal money from public news outlets in a move advocates said was long overdue.
Tami Graham is the executive director of KSUT, an NPR member station located in the southwestern corner of Colorado that serves the rural Four Corners region. On October 1, KSUT will lose nearly 20% of its budget because of the rescission bill.
"So, for us, that's $330,000, and it's a pretty immediate turnaround we're having to do to try to fundraise so that we don't have to cut critical staff, programming, local news, et cetera. Those are the kind of decisions we're facing down right now," Graham told Fox News Digital.
Graham said staffers were "somber and yet determined" upon arriving to work on Thursday, after the Senate approved Trump's rescission package and reality set in.
"We know how much our region supports us and values our hyperlocal service to them in emergency alerts, and local news and information about what's happening in the region," Graham said.
"It's heavy, it's a bit sad," she continued. "There's very much a determination of, 'We're going to get through this, our listeners value us, and our region values us,' but it's not the kind of news that any of us want to be contemplating."
KSUT is "not going anywhere," Graham stressed, noting that rural areas that rely on public media because of spotty cell service, broadband and internet will significantly feel the impact of the rescission bill.
Trump's rescissions package includes $8 billion in cuts from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the government-backed funding arm for NPR and PBS.
"We get a larger percentage of support from CPB than major market stations because we're rural, because we are serving news deserts, because we don't have the ability to fundraise from our listenership in the way that cities, major markets do," Graham said.
"It'll have minimal impact on NPR," Graham said. "But it's a huge impact on rural America and the news and information and emergency alerts they receive."
Shawn Turner, who serves as WKAR Public Media general manager and also sits on NPR's Board of Directors, oversees the member station that serves eight counties across mid-Michigan that include several "news deserts."
"The loss of federal funding will significantly impact our ability to have our reporters get out to those communities, go to community meetings, talk to people in those communities, go to events to be able to report on what's happening in those communities," Turner told Fox News Digital.
"We'll be relying more on part-time reporters, volunteers, where we can over time, but the quality of the reporting will be impacted," he added. "People across Michigan will not have access to local news and information from their NPR station like they've had in the past."
Turner said there was "disappointment" inside WKAR on the heels of the funding cut.
"People are feeling like the commitment they've made to serve their community has just taken a hit. And that simply does not feel good for any of the people who have committed their life to this work," he said.
While staffers were frustrated, Turner said he was heartened by the degree to which mid-Michiganders worked to ensure that their voices were heard. He said thousands of phone calls and letters reached members of Congress imploring lawmakers to understand that communities need public media.
Much like KSUT, Turner wants Americans to know that WKAR will not simply fold, and that member stations will attempt to adapt.
He explained that some of the services WKAR provides, such as a radio reading service for the visually impaired and educational services, will be reduced but will remain in some capacity for as long as possible.
"We're adjusting the way that we serve our community, but it will be more difficult," Turner said.
NPR and PBS have long been lambasted by Trump and other Republicans as left-leaning institutions that don't deserve taxpayer money. Whistleblower Uri Berliner, a longtime editor at NPR, laid out in painful detail the liberal bias gripping public radio on a national level last year.
The President is expected to sign the spending cut bill on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Broken Promise: Rate Hikes Guaranteed, Coverage Expansion Dubious, After Lara's Secretive Model Reviews, says Consumer Watchdog
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is breaking his promise to Californians by guaranteeing rate hikes without guaranteeing more coverage, said Consumer Watchdog today, following his approval of another black-box wildfire model for use in pricing home insurance. The confidential closed-door review of a model owned by insurance ratings agency Moody's, and two others over the last week, confirmed that modeling companies will not have to provide regulators or the public access to their models. The models' inner workings remain secret, denying regulators and the public the ability to test the validity of the rate hikes they will now drive. Switch Auto Insurance and Save Today! Great Rates and Award-Winning Service The Insurance Savings You Expect Affordable Auto Insurance, Customized for You Lara's actions implement part of his deal with the insurance industry allowing them to use secret models to raise rates without public justification of the reasons for those increases. In return, Lara promised Californians he would expand access to home insurance in wildfire areas. However, the rules implementing that promise give insurance companies multiple ways to avoid selling more policies to those who have lost coverage. "Lara made a deal with the industry: let them raise rates with secret models, and in return, they'd offer more coverage in wildfire zones," said Carmen Balber, executive director of Consumer Watchdog. "Today's action fulfills the industry's wish list. But for consumers, the promised coverage has vanished into a maze of loopholes and delays. Nothing in the rules guarantees new sales to those who were non-renewed and dumped on the FAIR Plan." "Today's announcement is just more public relations cover for a strategy that is a direct assault on the transparency that Californians rely on to hold insurance companies accountable," said Will Pletcher, Litigation Director at Consumer Watchdog. Secret Models Guarantee Rate Hikes: The Department's review of the Moody's and Verisk wildfire catastrophe models — algorithmic pricing models insurance companies will now be allowed to use to increase rates in future rate filings—was conducted through a secretive, closed-door process known as PRID (Pre-Application Required Information Determination). While Commissioner Lara claims the review was open to the public, PRID lacks the procedural safeguards, transparency, and public access required under Proposition 103. The commissioner's action will replace the current use of transparent data about wildfire claims to set prices with the unverified predictions of these algorithmic pricing models. "You can't claim public participation while locking the public out of the data and deliberations that will now determine billions in future premiums," said Pletcher. "This is the antithesis of Proposition 103, which requires insurance companies to justify rate hikes in full view of the public." No Guarantee of More Insurance Sales to Consumers: The Insurance Commissioner has widely claimed that insurance companies will have to cover more homeowners in exchange for the right to raise rates with these models' secret algorithms. However, the text of the regulation contains no such guarantee. As Consumer Watchdog has documented, the rule is riddled with loopholes allowing insurance companies to opt for token compliance rather than meaningful expansion. The regulation says insurance companies may commit to selling a number of policies in wildfire areas equal to 85% of their market share in less-risky areas. But it also allows insurance companies to instead say they will increase coverage in fire areas by just 5 percent. Companies may also opt for a third, undefined, "alternative commitment." The loopholes are explained in this KGO-TV story. Insurance companies then do not have to report they've met their commitments until two years after their rate hikes take effect. If after two years they have not sold more policies as promised, the regulation allows insurers to change their commitments. And there are no mandated penalties if a company fails. Ultimately, insurers may never be held responsible for increasing sales to Californians, said Consumer Watchdog. Moody's and Verisk's significant financial conflicts of interest have also been ignored. The largest shareholder of insurance rating agency Moody's RMS is Berkshire Hathaway, through the Warren Buffett-owned insurance companies National Indemnity Co. and GEICO. Wall Street financial services companies The Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc., which manage hundreds of billions in assets for insurance clients, are the second and third largest shareholders of Moody's. Vanguard and BlackRockare the largest shareholders of Verisk. These shareholders benefit financially if models push rates too high, and this conflict creates powerful financial incentives to use the models' undisclosed algorithms to artificially inflate insurance rates, said Consumer Watchdog. Meanwhile, private insurers continue to drive more and more Californians onto the FAIR Plan—which now covers nearly 600,000 policyholders statewide. Without enforceable requirements and stronger accountability, Lara's strategy won't deliver real coverage—it will entrench an overpriced, under–serving system where consumers lose and insurers win. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Consumer Watchdog Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Who is Erika McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner fired by Trump?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the agency that compiles the closely watched monthly jobs report usually toils in obscurity, but on Friday, the current holder of that job was loudly fired by the president of the United States. Erika McEntarfer, a longtime government employee, bore the brunt of President Donald Trump's unhappiness with Friday's jobs report, which showed that hiring had slowed in July and was much less in May and June that previously estimated. He accused her without evidence of manipulating the job numbers and noted she was an appointee of President Joe Biden. McEntarfer, a longtime government worker who had served as BLS head for a year and a half, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press. But her predecessor overseeing the jobs agency, former co-workers and associates have denounced the firing, warning about its repercussions and saying McEntarfer was nonpolitical in her role. Here's what to know about Erika McEntarfer: McEntarfer has a strong background on economics McEntarfer, whose research focuses on job loss, retirement, worker mobility, and wage rigidity, had previously worked at the Census Bureau's Center for Economic Studies, the Treasury Department's Office of Tax Policy and the White House Council of Economic Advisers in a nonpolitical role. She has a bachelor's degree in Social Science from Bard College and a doctoral degree in economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. She was confirmed as BLS head on a bipartisan vote McEntarfer was nominated in 2023 to serve as BLS head, and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions recommended that her nomination go to the full Senate for a vote. She was confirmed as BLS commissioner in January 2024 on a bipartisan 86-8 Senate vote. Among the Republican senators who voted to confirm her included then-Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, who is now Trump's vice president, and then-Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who is now Trump's secretary of state. Before her confirmation hearing, a group called the Friends of the BLS, made up of former commissioners who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, members of statistical associations and credentialed economists, said McEntarfer's background made her a great choice for the job. 'The many reasons to quickly confirm Dr. McEntarfer as the new BLS Commissioner all boil down to this: the agency, like the entire statistical system, is undergoing an intense, significant period of change and Dr. McEntarfer's wealth of research and statistical experience have equipped her to be the strong leader that BLS needs to meet these challenges,' Friends of the BLS wrote. Her former associates and co-workers decry her firing William Beach, who was appointed BLS commissioner in 2019 by Trump and served until 2023 during President Joe Biden's administration, called McEntarfer's firing 'groundless' and said in an X post that it 'sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the statistical mission of the Bureau.' Former Labor Department chief economist Sarah J. Glynn, who received regular briefings from McEntarfer about BLS findings, said McEntarfer was generous with her time explaining what conclusions could or couldn't be reached from the data. If the data didn't support something an administration official was saying, McEntarfer would say so, Glynn said. She also never weighed in on how the administration should present or interpret the data, Glynn said — she would simply answer questions about the data. 'She had a sterling reputation as someone who is concerned about the accuracy of the data and not someone who puts a political spin on her work,' Glynn said. Heather Boushey, a senior research fellow at Harvard University, served with McEntarfer on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and said McEntarfer never talked politics at work. 'She showed up every day to focus on the best analysis and the best approach to her field and not get political. That is what I saw from her time and again. She is brilliant and well-respected among labor economists generally,' Boushey said. 'She wasn't coming into my office to talk politics or the political implications of something. She definitely wasn't engaging on that side of things.' ___ Olson reported from New York. Associated Press writer Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. Fatima Hussein And Alexandra Olson, The Associated Press
Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kansas governor candidate Cindy Holscher objects to alleged pressure campaign by Kelly's staff
Sen. Cindy Holscher, a Johnson County Democrat seeking the party's nomination for governor in 2026, said staff in the administration of Gov. Laura Kelly attempted to pressure Democratic lawmakers into idling their campaigns for governor so a preferred candidate could prevail. (Grace Hills/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — State Sen. Cindy Holscher expressed frustration Friday with behind-the-scene involvement of Gov. Laura Kelly's staff in attempting to influence who launched a campaign for the Kansas Democratic Party's nomination for governor in 2026. Holscher, who announced her bid for governor in June, said she was among three Democrats in the Kansas Senate told by the Kelly administration to stand aside so Democratic primary voters would be more likely to nominate Lawrence attorney Chris Mann in the race to determine who would be the party's choice to replace the term-limited Kelly. Holscher said she as well as Sens. Dinah Sykes and Ethan Corson, also of Johnson County, were initially discouraged from impeding Mann's path in the August 2026 primary for governor. 'All three of us were told basically 'do not run' because Chris Mann's the guy,' Holscher said. 'Why are insiders picking candidates? We're being bullied, essentially.' After the dust cleared at the end of July, Mann had chosen to launch another campaign for attorney general after narrowly losing to Republican Kris Kobach in 2022. Corson and Holscher had declared their campaigns for governor. Kelly threw her support to Corson. Lt. Gov. David Toland, at one point the presumed frontrunner in a Democratic gubernatorial race, said he wouldn't run. Sykes remained on the sideline. Will Lawrence, Kelly's chief of staff, said the two-term governor met with potential Democratic candidates for governor and offered advice on how each could approach the 2026 election cycle. 'No one told them, 'You can't run.' They can make their own decisions,' Lawrence said. 'There's a lot of give and take in those conversations. It was never forceful. Cindy was the one that kept coming to the governor trying to get her support. The governor kept saying, 'I'm not going to support you in the governor's race if that's what you choose to do.' The governor was very clear about that.' Lawrence said Kelly would prefer Democrats didn't set the stage for grueling primary battles in statewide races. In an interview, Holscher said it was disappointing Lawrence had participated in an effort to essentially anoint a Democratic nominee for governor. Holscher also asserted Lawrence attempted to leverage future political support from the governor to secure Holscher's vote for a bill altering regulation of child care facilities and exemptions to vaccination mandates. Holscher said it was concerning that Lawrence wielded financial influence over Democratic campaigns by controlling the governor's Middle of the Road political action committee. 'This whole situation is what frustrates Democrats,' Holscher said. She said Democrats suffered under Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate. In the Senate, the GOP edge stands at 31-9 — the same mix as in 2018. The House GOP majority is 88-37, representing the addition of three Republican representatives since 2018. 'If you take a look, you know, we've had the governor's office the past seven years. We haven't advanced in terms of growing our numbers. We've gone backward,' she said. Lawrence, who has held a leadership role with the governor's $2.3 million PAC, made a push during the 2024 elections to alter the balance of power in the Legislature. The Republican supermajority was targeted by Democrats because the GOP's numerical advantage made it easier to override Kelly's vetoes. Outcome of the 2024 election was a disappointment for Democrats up and down the ballot, Lawrence said. Holscher notified Lawrence in mid-June about her views on the Kelly administration's involvement in the development of Democratic campaigns for governor. Holscher sent a text to Lawrence, obtained by Kansas Reflector, that included a warning that Holscher would 'swiftly hand over all the proof I have to the press' of the governor's intervention in Democratic campaigns. 'I am so done with the games coming from you and the governor's office,' Holscher's message to Lawrence said. 'I want to be very clear about something.' Holscher vowed she would go to the media if anyone affiliated with the Kelly administration 'says anything negative about me or my candidacy,' attempted to interfere with Holscher's hiring of campaign staff or in signing up volunteers, 'does so much as attempt to put a thumb on the scale in any way to interfere with this election' or made use of the Democratic Governors Association, which is led by Kelly, to 'impede or negatively influence' her Democratic primary. In the interview, Lawrence said language used by Holscher in the text could be interpreted as an attempt to intentionally gain something of value from Lawrence or Kelly against their will. 'It would be worthwhile for Cindy to take a look at the statute and reassess how she communicates with people,' Lawrence said. 'Extremely disappointing behavior. Questionable behavior. Not someone who has gubernatorial temperament, who has to compromise and negotiate on things every day in this building.' In a July social media post after Kelly embraced Corson's candidacy for governor, Holscher offered an explanation as to why Kelly chose to support Corson. Holscher wrote pressure had been applied by Lawrence regarding an upcoming vote during the 2025 session on House Bill 2045. It rolled back child care safety standards and tinkered with exemptions to vaccination mandates. Holscher voted against the bill, which passed the House and Senate with bipartisan votes and was signed into law by Kelly. 'I had received tons of emails from constituents adamantly opposed to the bill,' Holscher's post said. 'The gov and Will (her chief of staff), told me that if I didn't support it, the governor's office wouldn't be supportive of me in future races. I wasn't going to go against my district and the people I represent, so I voted 'no.' So, it looks like they are holding true to that threat.' Lawrence said he didn't agree with Holscher's analysis of meetings the senator had with the governor about the legislation. 'That vote has nothing to do with the gubernatorial election,' Lawrence said. Holscher, elected to the House in 2016 and to the Senate in 2020, has been endorsed by former Lt. Gov. Lynn Rogers. He served in Kelly's first term before appointed to the job of Kansas state treasurer in 2021. Corson, who entered the Senate in 2021, said in an interview at the Capitol that he appreciated Kelly's expression of support. It was helpful to voters because Kansans wanted the kind of bipartisan, moderate leadership delivered by Kelly since sworn into office in 2019, Corson said. He said he hadn't taken notice of social media chatter about Holscher's claims of how the Kelly administration handled legislators who declined to fall into line with the governor. 'I just haven't seen any of that,' Corson said. 'I haven't paid attention to it. We've been out there talking to folks and trying to meet people in real life.' Candidates lined up to take part in the Kansas Republican Party's campaign for governor included Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, Senate President Ty Masterson, Secretary of State Scott Schwab and former Gov. Jeff Colyer.
