Biden Administration Forgives $39 Billion in Student Debt
The Department of Education announced Friday that it will automatically forgive $39 billion worth of student debt for some 800,000 borrowers. The new policy means borrowers’ debt could be eliminated if they have been making student loan payments for 20 years or 25 years, depending on when they borrowed along with their loan and plan […]
UPS Strike Could be Nation’s Costliest in a Century
A threatened strike by United Parcel Service (UPS) workers could be one of the “costliest” in at least a century, the Anderson Economic Group said Thursday. The economic think-tank added that a potential ten-day work stoppage at UPS, the world’s biggest parcel delivery firm, could top $7 billion. That figure includes customer losses $4 billion […]
Earth Broke Global Heat Record in June and July has Gotten Hotter
Earth just endured its hottest June, breaking the previous record for the month by one-fourth of a degree Fahrenheit (0.13 degrees Celsius). June’s global average was 61.79 degrees Fahrenheit or 16.55 degrees Celsius, which is 1.89 egrees Fahrenheit or 1.05 degrees Celsius hotter than the average for the 20th century. According to the National Oceanic […]
Brett Kavanaugh Defends Supreme Court, Saying it’s Not a Partisan Institution
Justice Brett Kavanaugh defended the Supreme Court as non-partisan in the first public remarks by any Justice since the Court recessed last month. At a judicial conference in Minnesota on Thursday Kavanaugh said, “The court is an institution of law. It’s an institution of law not of politics, not of partisanship.” He pointed to what […]
Putin Says He Offered Wagner Mercenaries Option to Continue as Single Unit
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that five days after the Wagner group’s brief revolt he offered its mercenary soldiers the option to continue serving as a single unit under one commander. Putin made the claim in an interview published Friday in the daily newspaper Kommersant. The Russian President described a June 29 event at the […]
Hollywood Actors Officially Join Writers on Strike
The SAG-AFTRA union representing actors announced that its members are on strike, joining writers in their walkout after talks with Hollywood Studios broke down. The actors union’s national board unanimously voted Thursday to approve a strike recommendation by its negotiating committee. That recommendation had also been unanimous. Hollywood studios are officially facing their first dual […]
Russian Oil Exceeds Price Caps set by the G-7
The price of Russian crude oil on Wednesday rose above the price cap of $60 per barrel set by the Group of Seven (G-7) nations. The breach was reported by Argus Media, which provides price assessments and other data to commodity markets. The price was calculated based on the average price quoted by buyers, sellers […]
Conservative Policy Push Looming over Must-Pass Defense Spending Bill
A string of policy amendments by far-right members of Congress are threatening the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) needed to fund the military. The bill passed its first procedural hurdle in the House on Wednesday, but proposed amendments that aim to eliminate Pentagon policies on abortion, LGBTQ or racial identity have led […]
Free Speech Institute Challenges Texas TikTok Ban on Public University Employees
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University on Thursday sued the state of Texas over its banning public university employees from using TikTok on state-owned devices or networks. The institute alleges the ban on the Chinese-owned video sharing app is compromising research and teaching, in a filing in U.S. District Court in Austin on […]
In Finland Biden Welcomes Newest NATO Member into Alliance
President Biden arrived in Finland Thursday for a meeting with Nordic leaders, and welcomed the newest NATO member nation into the military alliance. “I don’t think NATO has ever been stronger,” Biden told reporters at the presidential palace in Helsinki. “Together we’re standing for shared democratic values.” Finland, which shares a border with Russia, broke […]
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