Six minutes of news from around the nation.

A Florida grand jury finds the DeSantis administration ‘misappropriated’ funds from Medicaid settlement; Search efforts continue in Nepal and Tibet following deadly flooding and Texas commission to reduce childcare scholarship availability in 2027.

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service Daily Newscast, August 28, 2026.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A Florida grand jury finds Governor Ron DeSantis' administration misappropriated $10 million in taxpayer money by diverting it to a charity tied to his wife.

That's according to a leaked Florida grand jury report.

The New York Times notes the report also said grand jurors found insufficient evidence to levy charges, but it intensified a controversy over the investigation into the fundraising of Hope, Florida.

The charity First Lady Casey DeSantis started in 2021.

And from the Guardian, the search for survivors is continuing for a second night in Nepal and Tibet, where a flash flooding Wednesday devastated the Himalayan border region.

In Nepal, over 900 people are missing.

In Tibet, three people are dead.

More than 550 are missing.

Meantime, the rising cost of child care is impacting a program in Texas that helps families send their children to daycare.

Members of the Texas legislature being urged to provide additional funding to supplement the state's child care scholarship program.

The Texas Workforce Commission has announced it will reduce the number of scholarships in 2027 by close to 15,000.

Max Rombardo with Texans Care for Children says the proposed reductions would be devastating to families and the state's economy.

We've engaged with families who have told us that the child scholarship program is life-changing.

It helps parents gain an additional income.

It helps parents make decisions for their families that benefit everybody, not just in the immediate family, right, but their communities and their economy at large.

Rombardo says Texas has enough money in its rainy day fund to cover the additional cost.

I'm Frida Ross reporting.

And with the war in Iran soon to enter its seventh month with no end in sight, the Trump administration is asking the Congress for a record $1.5 trillion in military spending for 2027.

The request includes a $500 billion increase in the Department of War's budget, in part to replenish ammunition stockpiles and begin construction of a new space-based missile defense system known as America's Golden Dome.

Brian Garvey, executive director of Massachusetts Peace Action, says Americans will pay the price with cuts to health care, education, and housing.

That's going to be your taxes, and it's going to be cuts to services that you enjoy and that your families and your neighbors desperately need.

The U.S. military's budget is now roughly the size of the next seven largest military budgets around the world combined.

To help cover the Department of War's growing price tag, the administration has requested a 10% cut in all non-defense spending.

I'm Katherine Carley.

Anti-war activists are calling for a fundamental shift in the nation's priorities away from war and militarism, and toward the urgent needs of families and communities.

This is Public News Service.

More than 4,000 children were hospitalized for gunshot wounds in Florida between 2018 and 2024, an average of more than one child per day.

An analysis of hospital data by KFF Health News and The Trace found that the injuries are concentrated in a small number of zip codes with large Black and Latino populations, including in Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami, and Tampa.

Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen is a retired pediatrician at University of Florida Health Jacksonville and former director of the Duval County Health Department.

He says the root causes are deeper than crime.

The root causes are grounded in a host of historical issues, generational issues, issues related to racism, issues related to discrimination, and on and on.

Homicide is now the leading cause of death for children and teens nationally.

In Jacksonville, three zip codes rank among the 10 worst in the state for firearm injuries involving children.

The Florida Department of Health does not identify gun violence as a public health issue, and the state's health improvement plan does not mention firearms.

This story was produced with original reporting from KFF Health News, The Trace, Action News Jax, and WFTV.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

And Utah voters care deeply about protecting public lands from privatization and development.

That's according to a new analysis.

Researchers aggregated multiple polls and found that most Utah voters opposed selling public land and rolling back environmental protections.

Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, points to poll results showing that 75 percent of Utahns oppose the Trump administration's funding cuts to agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service.

What all of these polls very consistently go is that Western voters see public lands, waters, and wildlife as a motivating factor in how they vote.

And that is worth keeping in mind as we head into this election season.

I'm Mark Richardson.

Finally, summer may be coming to an end, but there's still plenty of water sports across the Great Lakes state.

With more than a million registered boats spread across Michigan, lakes remain busy with families squeezing in their final days on the water.

One of the fastest growing water sports is wake surfing, where riders use a rope to get onto a wave created by a boat, then let go and surf behind it.

Whitney Bernash, a wake surfer and boating expert with Silver Spray Sports in Fenton, shares what boaters should know to enjoy the sport safely and respectfully.

Really, the biggest thing is that we don't want to be real close to shore.

The boats aren't designed to be close to shore or in shallow water, so we really seek the deepest part of the lakes.

And that's also going to give you the best wave for the rider as well.

Crystal Blair reporting.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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