CURRENT EVENTS - Easter - April 25
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Student loans in default to be referred to debt collection, Education Department says
Student loans in default to be referred to debt collection, Education Department says
The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.
apnews.com
“The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.
Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.
The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to forgive millions of people’s student loans, only to be stopped by courts.
… Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds payments from the government — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government.
After a 30-day notice, the department will also begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default. …”
——
I know some folks who just defaulted years ago because they decided the loans were unfair because, well, they didn’t want to have to make the payments. I can’t muster much sympathy for those folks.
That said, plenty of other folks may now be in default in reliance on government policies of the last five years and deserve more than 30 days to re-establish a rational payment plan before their wages and refunds start being garnished.
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New images could change cancer diagnostics, but ICE detained the Harvard scientist who analyzes them
Without scientist Kseniia Petrova’s expertise, no one can fully unlock the data’s potential, putting crucial advancements in early cancer detection at risk.
www.nbcnews.com
“…The scientist, the 30-year-old Russian-born Kseniia Pertova, worked at Harvard’s renowned Kirschner Lab until her arrest at a Boston airport in mid-February. She is now being held at ICE’s Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, and fighting possible deportation to Russia, where she said she fears persecution and jail time over her protests against the war in Ukraine.…”
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“… The fatality investigation team was examining deaths at 20 fire departments when the layoff notices arrived. Those probes are now unlikely to be completed, the investigator said.
“The whole intent of this program was that people would learn through tragedy — what happened to one person — so we can prevent it from happening to others,” the investigator said.
The fatality investigation team was examining deaths at 20 fire departments when the layoff notices arrived. Those probes are now unlikely to be completed, the investigator said.
“The whole intent of this program was that people would learn through tragedy — what happened to one person — so we can prevent it from happening to others,” the investigator said.
… The Trump administration had already hamstrung the program shortly after the inauguration, initially barring the investigative team from traveling to conduct research, communicating with other agencies and publishing reports, according to the investigator. While the department eventually allowed several of the casualty reports to be published, the rest remain unfinished.
… On April 1, the Trump administration also began laying off much of the staff working on the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer.
Its creation in 2018 was a landmark win in a yearslong fight to study why firefighters suffer from certain types of cancer at vastly higher rates than the general population. Both chambers of Congress unanimously passed the bill to create the registry. Trump signed it into law during his first term.
While HHS said in a statement that programs required by law would remain intact, it did not answer a question about whether it would bring back staff to keep the registry running. …”
Bug out bagWhy does Cosplay Barbie have $3k of cash in her purse?
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Six Men Are Charged After Woman Was Dragged From Idaho Town Hall
The plainclothes guards were involved in the forcible removal of a woman from a meeting hosted by local Republicans in Coeur d’Alene, prosecutors said.
Six men who prosecutors said took part in forcibly removing a woman from a town-hall meeting hosted by local Republicans in Coeur d’Alene, a small city in northern Idaho, in February are facing charges including battery and false imprisonment.
The Coeur d’Alene Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Monday that four of the men — Paul Trouette, Russell Dunne, Christofer Berg and Jesse Jones — face charges of battery and false imprisonment. Along with Alexander Trouette IV, they were also cited for security agent uniform and agent duty violations.
A sixth man, Michael Keller, has been charged with battery, the statement said.
The charges stem from an altercation on Feb. 22 that began when Teresa Borrenpohl heckled speakers at a meeting with state legislators hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.
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Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon
The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.
Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon
The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.
“…Mr. Hegseth’s inner circle of close advisers — military veterans who, like him, had little experience running large, complex organizations — is in a shambles.
Three members of the team he brought with him into the Pentagon were accused last week of leaking unauthorized information and escorted from the building.
A fourth recently departed member of Mr. Hegseth’s team, John Ullyot, who had been his top spokesman, accused Mr. Hegseth of disloyalty and incompetence in an opinion essay in Politico on Sunday. “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” Mr. Ullyot wrote.
… Adding to the dysfunction, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has set a loose target of slashing as many as 200,000 jobs from the Pentagon’s civilian work force of 750,000, a level of cuts Mr. Hegseth has warned would cripple some critical functions within the department, three current and former defense officials said.
… Mr. Trump on Monday praised Mr. Hegseth’s work. “He’s doing a great job — ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” the president said, referring to the rebel group in Yemen that the United States has been targeting in military strikes.
…
News of the second Signal chat, in which Mr. Hegseth shared the same information about the Yemen strikes with his wife and Pentagon officials, prompted Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska to become the first Republican lawmaker to openly suggest that Mr. Hegseth should be fired.
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Mr. Bacon, a former Air Force general, said of Mr. Hegseth’s Signal disclosures: “I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.” …”
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Good to see that even in Idaho self-appointed brownshirts don’t have free rein just yet.Six Men Are Charged After Woman Was Dragged From Idaho Town Hall
The plainclothes guards were involved in the forcible removal of a woman from a meeting hosted by local Republicans in Coeur d’Alene, prosecutors said.www.nytimes.com
Six men who prosecutors said took part in forcibly removing a woman from a town-hall meeting hosted by local Republicans in Coeur d’Alene, a small city in northern Idaho, in February are facing charges including battery and false imprisonment.
The Coeur d’Alene Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Monday that four of the men — Paul Trouette, Russell Dunne, Christofer Berg and Jesse Jones — face charges of battery and false imprisonment. Along with Alexander Trouette IV, they were also cited for security agent uniform and agent duty violations.
A sixth man, Michael Keller, has been charged with battery, the statement said.
The charges stem from an altercation on Feb. 22 that began when Teresa Borrenpohl heckled speakers at a meeting with state legislators hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.
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Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon
The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.
Under Hegseth, Chaos Prevails at the Pentagon
The defense secretary’s inner circle is in disarray, and distrust is growing among civil servants and senior military officials.
“…Mr. Hegseth’s inner circle of close advisers — military veterans who, like him, had little experience running large, complex organizations — is in a shambles.
Three members of the team he brought with him into the Pentagon were accused last week of leaking unauthorized information and escorted from the building.
A fourth recently departed member of Mr. Hegseth’s team, John Ullyot, who had been his top spokesman, accused Mr. Hegseth of disloyalty and incompetence in an opinion essay in Politico on Sunday. “The building is in disarray under Hegseth’s leadership,” Mr. Ullyot wrote.
… Adding to the dysfunction, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has set a loose target of slashing as many as 200,000 jobs from the Pentagon’s civilian work force of 750,000, a level of cuts Mr. Hegseth has warned would cripple some critical functions within the department, three current and former defense officials said.
… Mr. Trump on Monday praised Mr. Hegseth’s work. “He’s doing a great job — ask the Houthis how he’s doing,” the president said, referring to the rebel group in Yemen that the United States has been targeting in military strikes.
…
News of the second Signal chat, in which Mr. Hegseth shared the same information about the Yemen strikes with his wife and Pentagon officials, prompted Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska to become the first Republican lawmaker to openly suggest that Mr. Hegseth should be fired.
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Mr. Bacon, a former Air Force general, said of Mr. Hegseth’s Signal disclosures: “I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.” …”
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“… The Trump-appointed interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has sent multiple journal editors letters asserting their publications are “partisans in various scientific debates” and asking for responses to a variety of questions.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to cut funding for two open-access, peer-reviewed journals published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) and Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)—according to a leaked draft of an internal 2026 budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services.
The letter, first reported by MedPage Today, is signed by federal prosecutor Edward Martin Jr. A version addressed to the medical journal CHESTwas circulated widely on social media yesterday and the journal confirmed its authenticity. Sciencehas learned that another journal has received a nearly identical letter.
… The prosecutor’s letter makes reference to U.S. regulations, stating that journals have a “position for which they are advocating either due to advertisement (postal code) or sponsorship (under relevant fraud regulations).”
It asks journal editors to respond to questions such as “How do you clearly articulate to the public when you have certain viewpoints that are influenced by your ongoing relations with supporters, funders, advertisers, and others?” and “Do you accept articles or essays from competing viewpoints?”
Responses are expected by 2 May, it adds.
… Online commentators were quick to point out confusing language and apparent errors in the letter sent to the journal. For example, the missive includes the line, “I look forward to I look forward to and appreciate your cooperation with my letter of inquiry after request.” …”
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“… The proposal to kill funding for the two CDC journals is instead part of a broader restructuring of CDC that aims to “refocus [the agency] on emerging and infectious disease surveillance, outbreak investigations, preparedness and response, and maintaining the Nation’s public health infrastructure,” according to a draft budget document obtained by Science earlier this week. The budget has not been finalized, and the cuts would have to gain approval from Congress to become reality.
…EID was established by CDC in 1995 and handles papers dealing with the surveillance, prevention, and elimination of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases around the globe. Its table of contents is emailed out to more than 65,000 people worldwide, and it publishes more than 500 articles a year. It had an impact factor of 7.2 last year, placing it among the higher ranked journals in infectious diseases research and epidemiology.
PCD was started in 2004 by CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion—one of several centers that would be eliminated under the proposed budget. The journal publishes about 100 articles per year, often as collections on particular topics. Recent themes included diabetes prevention and management, strategies to eliminate health disparities, and connections between sleep disorders and chronic disease.
Neither journal charges fees to authors or readers, which has made them widely accessible to researchers and the public around the world. [The article quotes a couple of experts on the particularly high value of these no fee journals to doctors and scientists in the developing world]
… U.S. science agencies publish a variety of other research journals. It’s not yet clear whether the White House will propose eliminating other titles, or whether the CDC journals will be singled out. Global Health: Science and Practice, a journal funded by the now-dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development, hasn’t accepted any new manuscripts since the Trump administration froze funding for agency grantees in January.“
…EID was established by CDC in 1995 and handles papers dealing with the surveillance, prevention, and elimination of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases around the globe. Its table of contents is emailed out to more than 65,000 people worldwide, and it publishes more than 500 articles a year. It had an impact factor of 7.2 last year, placing it among the higher ranked journals in infectious diseases research and epidemiology.
PCD was started in 2004 by CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion—one of several centers that would be eliminated under the proposed budget. The journal publishes about 100 articles per year, often as collections on particular topics. Recent themes included diabetes prevention and management, strategies to eliminate health disparities, and connections between sleep disorders and chronic disease.
Neither journal charges fees to authors or readers, which has made them widely accessible to researchers and the public around the world. [The article quotes a couple of experts on the particularly high value of these no fee journals to doctors and scientists in the developing world]
… U.S. science agencies publish a variety of other research journals. It’s not yet clear whether the White House will propose eliminating other titles, or whether the CDC journals will be singled out. Global Health: Science and Practice, a journal funded by the now-dismantled U.S. Agency for International Development, hasn’t accepted any new manuscripts since the Trump administration froze funding for agency grantees in January.“
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“… Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, blocked news from its apps in Canada in 2023 after a new law required the social media giant to pay Canadian news publishers a tax for publishing their content. The ban applies to all news outlets irrespective of origin, including The New York Times.
Amid the news void, Canada Proud and dozens of other partisan pages are rising in popularity on Facebook and Instagram before the election. At the same time, cryptocurrency scams and ads that mimic legitimate news sources have proliferated on the platforms. Yet few voters are aware of this shift, with research showing that only one in five Canadians knows that news has been blocked on Facebook and Instagram feeds.
The result is a “continued spiral” for Canada’s online ecosystem toward disinformation and division, said Aengus Bridgman, director of the Media Ecosystem Observatory, a Canadian project that has studied social media during the election. …”
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—> https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy...29?st=G2mYGR&reflink=mobilewebshare_permalink“…Borrowers in default will receive an email notification from the Office of Federal Student Aid asking them to make a monthly payment, enroll in an income-driven repayment plan or sign up for loan rehabilitation, the department said Monday. Later in the summer, they will receive notices beginning administrative wage garnishment.
The department plans to authorize guaranty agencies to begin involuntary collections on loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program as well.
The Office of Federal Student Aid has not collected defaulted loans since March 2020 when collections were put on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic starting. Former President Joe Biden extended the program through his term while attempting to pass loan-forgiveness programs, which were rejected by the Supreme Court.
The department said it was resuming collections to protect taxpayers from shouldering the cost of federal student loans. …”
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“… An example of an out-of-control Department is the Global Engagement Center (GEC) that I shuttered last week. The office engaged with media outlets and platforms to censor speech it disagreed with, including that of the President of the United States, who its director in 2019 accused of employing “the same techniques of disinformation as the Russians.” Despite Congress voting to shutter it, the GEC simply renamed itself and continued operating as if nothing had changed.
…With a bloated budget and unclear mandate, the expansive domain of the former Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Human Rights, and Democracy (known internally as the “J Family”), provided a fertile environment for activists to redefine “human rights” and “democracy” and to pursue their projects at the taxpayer expense, even when they were in direct conflict with the goals of the Secretary, the President, and the American people.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor became a platform for left-wing activists to wage vendettas against “anti-woke” leaders in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Brazil, and to transform their hatred of Israel into concrete policies such as arms embargoes. The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to international organizations and NGOs that facilitated mass migration around the world, including the invasion on our southern border. …”
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Marco Rubio announces sweeping reorganisation of US state department
Secretary of state says overhaul of department will close a number of overseas missions and reduce staff
Marco Rubio announces sweeping reorganisation of US state department
Secretary of state says shakeup of department will close a number of overseas missions and reduce staff
Two days ago:
Rubio denies that Trump will politicize the Foreign Service and slash embassies
State Department says a draft executive order, which would have created new loyalty requirements for career staff and eliminated many offices, is fake. A reorganization of the department is still expected shortly.
Rubio denies that Trump will politicize the Foreign Service and slash embassies
State Department says a draft executive order, which would have created new loyalty requirements for career staff and eliminated many offices, is fake. A reorganization of the department is still expected shortly.
www.govexec.com
“…
The draft executive order, obtained by Government Executive, would have ended the use of the Foreign Service Officer Test and created new guidelines for evaluating potential hires, which would have included “demonstrated charisma,” “verbal authenticity” and “diplomatic appearance.” It also would have included “alignment with the president’s foreign policy vision.” Any hiring would have required sign off from the White House “to ensure the candidate’s alignment with administration priorities.”
While career Foreign Service officers are expected to carry out the policies of any administration, they are part of a career cadre of experts and do not serve at the pleasure of the president as do political appointees. They also serve as generalists who accept assignments around the world, but the draft order we have reoriented that configuration to instead make the employees regional specialists who only serve at posts in their designated areas.
… The reporting was “entirely based on a fake document,” said a State spokesperson, who did not address any of the specific matters included in the draft order.
Multiple sources suggested the document stemmed from Pete Marocco, a former politically appointed State official who Rubio fired last week. Marocco previously oversaw the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. …