In an era of declining wages and rising debt, Americans are not aging out of their student loans—they are aging into them. In 1983, at the age of fifty-two, Betty Ann enrolled in New York University’s law school. As a middle-aged Black woman, she wasn’t exactly the typical N.Y.U. law student. Her white male classmates would slyly elbow her books off the long library tables, and once, while standing at her locker, a classmate waved a ten-thousand-dollar tuition check, signed by his father, in her face. Betty Ann had borrowed twenty-nine thousand dollars in federal loans. Today, she owes $329,309.69 in student debt. She is ninety-one years old.

...Sandmann has lost a round of high-profile defamation lawsuits against five mainstream media companies at the summary judgment stage. That’s according to court dockets and an opinion and order signed by a federal judge in the Eastern District of Kentucky on Tuesday.

An anti-trans response apparently from a Canmore deli and butcher to a request for sponsorship went viral.

WASHINGTON – A new book from former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has revealed shocking new details about the Trump administration’s war on Venezuela. “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times” admits that the Trump administration plotted to invade Venezuela and discussed assassinating President Nicolas Maduro, carrying out a wave of terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure, and raising a mercenary army to start a Contra-style terror war. Esper also all but confirms Washington’s involvement in Operation Gideon – a botched military invasion of the country, and a 2018 attempt on Maduro’s life.

Last Wednesday, a patient walked into Julie Rhee’s fertility clinic in St. Louis with pelvic pain that was getting steadily worse. She had a history of ectopic pregnancies and, following months of IVF treatment, was showing all the signs of another one. A recently implanted embryo was growing inside the fragile walls of her fallopian tube, threatening to burst them open and cause internal bleeding at any moment. She needed surgery, and fast. For the first time, though, Rhee discovered her clinical judgment wasn’t enough. She would have to present her case to a hospital ethics committee. In the days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Missouri was one of several states that rushed to pass legislation that bans physicians from terminating a pregnancy unless the mother’s life is in immediate danger. Physicians like Rhee risk losing their medical license and more than a decade of prison time if they violate these laws, so doctors and hospitals are taking no chances. Though an ectopic pregnancy will never result in childbirth, and can cause massive internal bleeding and death if left untreated, the ethics team at Mercy Hospital had to determine that Rhee was exercising appropriate judgment and her patient was in danger before she could be rushed to the operating room. The added bureaucracy took more than half a day of work, and Rhee felt the oversight was intended to protect her and the hospital, at the expense of her patient.

David Jolly is a former Republican congressman from Florida and is executive chairman of the Serve America Movement. Christine Todd Whitman is a former Republican governor of New Jersey and co-founder of the Renew America Movement. Andrew Yang is a former Democratic presidential candidate and is co-chair of the Forward Party.

Over the last several years, the United States has seen a dramatic rise in Christian nationalism, a loosely defined ideology that fuses patriarchy, xenophobia, and pretextual economic populism with an overtly biblical foundation and a deep distrust of democracy. This phenomenon has manifested in many ways, but one of the organizations driving the trend is a far-right think tank called the Center for Renewing America. Several former Trump administration officials are associated with the group, including its president, Russ Vought, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget under Trump. Vought led the administration’s efforts to demonize critical race theory, including removing anti-racism training from federal agencies. He is a regular guest on Steve Bannon’s podcast War Room: Pandemic and on Fox News. His organization is one of several far-right groups under the umbrella of the Conservative Partnership Institute, whose top officials include former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and right-wing legal activist Cleta Mitchell. Both Meadows and Mitchell were intimately involved in Trump’s attempted insurrection, as were at least 18 other people associated with CPI, including CRA senior fellow Kash Patel, former Trump Pentagon official. Perhaps the most significant of Trump’s top coup allies is CRA senior fellow Jeffrey Clark, a former environmental lawyer at the Department of Justice who was hired by the think tank in June. About three weeks later, Clark was targeted in a raid by federal law enforcement. Little is publicly known about the investigation into Clark, but it may revolve around his proposal “to send a letter to state officials in Georgia falsely stating that the department had evidence that could lead Georgia to rescind its certification of Mr. Biden’s victory in that key swing state,” according to The New York Times.

A woman lay dead in her flat for two-and-a-half years after the Met police wrongly reported she was "safe and well" and a housing association failed to fully investigate neighbours' concerns. Sheila Seleoane, 58, was discovered in the recovery position at her "extremely tidy and well-kept" one bedroom flat years after she died, an inquest at Southwark coroners court heard. Ms Seleoane had to be identified by dental records after her decomposed body was discovered in Peckham in February 2021, after her death in August 2019. She had not paid rent since August 2019 and landlord Peabody started taking rent payments out of her Universal Credit benefits in March 2020, they later cut off her gas supply in June 2020. An inquest heard how concerned neighbours raised the alarm after Ms Seleoane had not been seen for several months and a "bad smell" began to fill the hallway outside of her flat. Police attended the property in October 2020 and received no response but said they did not have lawful grounds to force entry into the home and no action was taken.

Of all the disappointments brought by the Biden administration in its tepid, bewildered response to the repeal of Roe v. Wade, none was more shocking than the rumored appointment of Chad Meredith to a district court judgeship in Kentucky. A Republican, anti-choice, Federalist Society–minted lawyer, Meredith was reported to have been tapped as a favor to Mitch McConnell, to be announced the same day as the Supreme Court delivered its verdict. Generally subordinate Democrats broke ranks to condemn the rumored nomination in the days to follow, but the ultimate insult was still to come. Meredith’s appointment was dashed, not by activist outrage or the White House’s better sense, but by Kentucky’s junior senator Rand Paul, who was unwilling to turn in his blue slip—a piece of paper indicating home-state senator support of the nominee—out of spite for McConnell’s deal-making with the White House without consulting him. Since before President Biden was even sworn in, he has made clear that one of the areas where he would break with recent Democratic tradition was the judiciary. Unlike his predecessors, he would take it seriously, moving quickly to fill vacancies and doing so with nominees that broke the mold of corporate lawyers and prosecutors that dominate the federal bench. Then-White House counsel Dana Remus circulated a now-legendary letter insisting that senators submit home-state judicial recommendations for district court nominees within 45 days of a vacancy arising, and requested that those nominees hail from backgrounds of civil rights law, public defense, or public interest. The first year of the administration showed a strong commitment to this ambition. The Biden White House far outpaced other Democratic administrations in filling vacancies, actually confirming the most judges for a first-year president since Ronald Reagan; Donald Trump only confirmed 18 in year one, and Barack Obama just 12. Biden also nominated an overwhelming number of judges with public-service backgrounds (though not all). But in year two, that project has collapsed. The quality of nominees has deteriorated, as corporate lawyers have regained the lion’s share of appointments. An excessive and unrequited deference to Senate norms and procedures has gummed up the confirmation process, resulting in a number of Republican-picked judges getting confirmed, even as up to 65 seats could remain unfilled by the end of the year.

"I was just wondering," he said of his experience on Nathan Fielder's new show, "if I was about to be murdered for my faith or something."

Speaking in the echoing state Capitol Rotunda and encircled by portraits of Texas’ past governors — all of them white — a group of about 50 teachers, schoolchildren and advocates gathered Tuesday morning to call on the state’s political leaders to stop “whitewashing” history and censoring books in public libraries or schools that discuss race, sexuality or LGBTQ issues. They gathered while carrying books that have been banned across the state and holding signs saying “Teach the Truth” and “I read because … ” with handwritten notes underneath, such as “I want to learn about people’s lives who are different from my own” and “Knowledge is power.” The “read-in” organized by the Texas Freedom Network was just a few doors down from a hearing room where scores of witnesses lined up to testify to Republican lawmakers preparing for their next steps in regulating public school lessons and library books. Convening at the exact same time as the “read-in,” the state House Public Education Committee met all day to discuss how to further “parental choice” in schools ahead of next year’s legislative session. More than 100 witnesses registered to speak. “They’re focusing on social justice, CRT, SEO (Social-Emotional Learning) and every acronym in the book. They’re focusing on feelings ahead of facts,” said Jena Masquelier, from Frisco. “We didn’t come to complain, we came to ask them to return to basics.” As an example, Blachowski said, she was frustrated that her ninth-grade son was taught about Banksy, a world-famous street artist, in his introduction-level art class. She scrolled through images of his paintings. “He’s an anti-free market person. He’s a pro-George Floyd person. He’s got kids with guns. It’s just, you know, very controversial. This is a man and woman kissing, but they’re looking at cellphones,” she said.

Late on May 31, 2018, five days after she was sworn in as prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley and her top advisers gathered in the windowless anteroom of her administrative office in Bridgetown, the capital, for a call that could determine the fate of her island nation. The group settled into uncomfortable straight-backed chairs around a small mahogany table, staring at framed posters of Barbados’ windmills and sugar cane fields. Mottley, who was then 52, can appear mischievous in the moments before her bluntest declarations, but on this evening her steely side showed. She placed her personal cellphone on speaker and dialed a number in Washington for the International Monetary Fund. As arranged, Christine Lagarde, the managing director, answered. Mottley got to the point: Barbados was out of money. It was so broke that it was taking out new loans just to pay the interest on the old ones, even as its infrastructure was coming undone. Soon the nation would have no choice but to declare itself insolvent, instigating a battle with the dozens of banks and creditors that held its $8 billion in debt and triggering austerity measures that would spiral the island into further poverty. There was another way, Mottley said, but she needed Lagarde’s help. Mottley, the first woman to lead Barbados, had been working toward this conversation for nearly two years, consulting expert financial and legal advisers to develop a plan that would restructure the country’s soaring debts in a way that would free up money to invest in Barbados’ economy. Then, nine months before voting day, that plan took on new urgency as two powerful hurricanes ripped through the Caribbean 12 days apart; they missed Barbados, but one of them obliterated nearby Dominica.

More than 20 Republican attorneys general including Texas' Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Tuesday against President Joe Biden's administration over a Department of Agriculture school meal program that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The challenge, led by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, claims that the federal government is attempting to force states and schools to follow anti-discrimination requirements that "misconstrue the law." The coalition of attorneys general are hoping for a similar result to a separate challenge from earlier this month when a Tennessee judge temporarily barred two federal agencies from enforcing directives issued by Biden's administration that extended protections for LGBTQ people in schools and workplaces. The judge sided with the attorneys general, ruling that the directives infringed on states' right to enact laws, such as banning students from participating in sports based on their gender identity or requiring schools and businesses to provide bathrooms and showers to accommodate transgender people.

Two Chicago Public Schools teachers face firing for their roles encouraging high school students to protest the proposed move of General Iron to the Southeast Side, an action that their union says is retaliation for embarrassing Mayor Lori Lightfoot during the years-long debate. George Washington High School teachers Chuck Stark and Lauren Bianchi were two of the most visible activists fighting the planned relocation of the metal-shredding operation from Lincoln Park to East 116th Street along the Calumet River. On Wednesday, the Chicago Board of Education will decide whether to accept a recommendation from the district to fire the two teachers. A number of students from the high school — located a little more than half a mile from the newly built shredding facility — participated in protests. After several years of demonstrations, the Lightfoot administration in February rejected the permit that would allow the operation to open. “An investigation uncovered several significant policy violations by the teachers, including violation of safety policies concerning the transportation of students,” CPS said in a statement. The teachers’ actions showed “repeated instances of poor judgment and bias in their instructional roles and in their faculty adviser roles.” However, Thad Goodchild, a lawyer for the Chicago Teachers Union, called the investigation, which is laid out in a more than 400-page report, “a witch hunt” and “a sad example of vindictiveness of the mayor’s office.” Goodchild said he believes the mayor orchestrated the actions against the teachers. Without going into specifics, he said the report focused on “bizarre technical” policies and did not include what he considered offenses that should lead to firing. Neither CPS nor the union would release the investigative report. A spokesman for Lightfoot didn’t respond to a request for comment. In a news conference last week, Lightfoot reacted angrily after federal officials found actions leading up to the planned relocation of General Iron from a predominantly white neighborhood to a Latino-majority community was indicative of discriminatory practices by the city. That pattern of racial discrimination took place before and during Lightfoot’s time in office, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said.

A Florida man has been arrested for attempting to break into the Patrick Space Force Base using a stolen truck to warn the U.S. government of a war between aliens and Chinese dragons. Corey Johnson, 29, of Ocala, Florida, was arrested on Friday. Florida Man drives stolen truck to Space Force Base to warn of battle between aliens, dragons, reports say.

Hundreds of pages of internal documents detail Matrix LLC's secret work to help power companies like FPL protect their profits. The CEO of the biggest power company in the U.S. had a problem. A Democratic state senator was proposing a law that could cut into Florida Power & Light’s profits. Landlords would be able to sell cheap rooftop solar power directly to their tenants — bypassing FPL and their monopoly on electricity. “I want you to make his life a living hell....seriously,” FPL’s CEO Eric Silagy wrote in a 2019 email to two of his vice presidents about State Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, who proposed the legislation. Within minutes, one of them forwarded the directive to the CEO of Matrix, LLC, a powerful but little-known political consulting firm that has operated behind the scenes in at least eight states. Rodríguez was ousted from office in the next election. Matrix employees spent heavily on political advertisements for a candidate with the same last name as Rodríguez, who split the vote. That candidate later admitted he was bribed to run.

What really happened on Denali, North America's tallest peak, on the day a 31-year-old mountaineer from Canada fell 1,000 feet?

The monkeys aren’t interested in food, so traps haven’t worked. They have targeted mostly children and the elderly.

Growing up in mid-sized Virginia Beach, Andrew Waldholtz wanted to live in a big city so he moved to the District of Columbia for college. After four years in the comparatively expensive city, he realized he wanted a place to live that was more affordable.

It’s the second lawsuit that has followed the October 2021 incident that led to a guard at the Indiana jail being criminally charged.