US makes its case for legality of Biden student debt program
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration urged the Supreme Court to uphold the president’s student loan forgiveness plan Wednesday in the face of several challenges to a program that could forgive up to $20,000 in debt for millions of borrowers.
Wednesday’s filing leaned heavily on a 2003 federal law that allows the secretary of education to cancel debts for borrowers who face hardship because of national emergencies. The filing asks the justices to reject challenges from frustrated borrowers and conservative-led states in the case, which is set for oral arguments next month.
In Wednesday’s brief, the administration argued that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s actions related to an emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic “fall comfortably within the plain text” of that law.
The Justice Department wrote that Congress intended the Education secretary to have broad powers, and several provisions of the law “underscore Congress’ intent to respond quickly and fully to national emergencies.”
—CQ-Roll Call
DNA evidence, cellphone records led to University of Idaho homicide suspect’s arrest, document shows
MOSCOW, Idaho — A court document that explains the Moscow Police Department’s step-by-step investigation into the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students was released Thursday morning, shortly before the suspect in the killings appeared in an Idaho court for the first time.
The 19-page probable cause affidavit sheds new light on what led police to suspect and eventually arrest Bryan C. Kohberger in the killing of seniors Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Moscow Police Cpl. Brett Payne wrote in the affidavit that through the use of DNA evidence, cellphone records and vehicle records police were able to zero in on the 28-year-old graduate student at Washington State University. Kohberger was arrested last Friday at his family’s home in eastern Pennsylvania.
Both Kernodle and Chapin were found on the second floor of the King Road house, and Mogen and Goncalves were found together in Mogen’s room on the third floor, the affidavit said. Police previously had not indicated where the victims were, other than to say the top two floors.
—Idaho Statesman
Hillary Clinton to be Columbia University professor
NEW YORK — Former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton will join the faculty at Columbia University next month, officials announced Thursday.
Clinton will be a professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs, or SIPA, and a presidential fellow at Columbia World Projects, as first reported by the college newspaper The Columbia Spectator.
“Given her extraordinary talents and capacities together with her singular life experiences, Hillary Clinton is unique, and, most importantly, exceptional in what she can bring to the University’s missions of research and teaching, along with public service and engagement for the public good,” wrote University President Lee Bollinger in an email to students and faculty.
Clinton will work on initiatives through SIPA related to global politics and policy, and female leaders in those professions, according to the announcement. As a fellow, she is expected to support programs related to protecting democracy and engaging women and young people worldwide.
—New York Daily News
Russia pardons first convicts who survived 6 months at front
Russian authorities pardoned the first wave of former convicts who survived six months at the front in Ukraine, making good on a promise made to them by mercenary tycoon Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has sent thousands of troops to fight in the Kremlin’s invasion.
Prigozhin, head of the Wagner military contracting company, announced the pardons and hailed the roughly two dozen survivors as “warriors” in a meeting with them from the southern Krasnodar region near the Ukrainian border, according to the state-run RIA Novosti agency, which published a brief video showing him clad in fatigues. A second clip showed him at an apparently separate event with wounded fighters, including several who had lost legs.
A longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has emerged as one of the most prominent supporters of his war, providing tens of thousands of troops, both contractors from Wagner and convicts.
The latter program started around June, with the former catering tycoon personally visiting prisons to offer inmates who lasted half a year at the front pardons, but threatening those who surrendered or deserted with death.
—Bloomberg News
