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New rule targets college programs that leave grads with low income, high debt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — College programs that leave graduates underpaid or buried in loans would be cut off from federal money under a proposal issued Wednesday by the Biden administration, but the rules would apply only to for-profit colleges and a tiny fraction of programs at traditional universities.The Education Department is calling it a significant step toward accountability for the nation’s colleges. With more students questioning the value of a degree, the measure aims to weed out low-performing programs and assure students the cost of tuition will pay off in the long run.“Investing in a college degree or career certificate is supposed to pay off — instead, too many students are getting ripped off every single year,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a call with reporters.Opponents, however, say the scope is too narrow to help most students.Known as gainful employment, it revives an Obama-era policy that was dismantled by the Trump administration before it took full...

Montana becomes 1st state to ban TikTok; law likely to be challenged

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana became the first state in the U.S. to completely ban TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that’s more sweeping than any other state’s attempts to curtail the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese tech company. The measure is expected to be challenged legally and will serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned. “Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” Gianforte said in a statement.TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter argued that the law infringes on people’s First Amendment rights and is unlawful.“We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana,...

Attorneys agree to pause federal litigation for water violations in Mississippi’s capital

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for the federal government, Mississippi and the state’s capital city have agreed to request to delay litigation from a complaint filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that said the city wasn’t meeting standards for providing reliable drinking water. In a Wednesday court filing, government attorneys asked for a six-month stay, which would be the second such order. It’s part of a broader federal push to fix Jackson’s water system, which nearly collapsed last summer and continues to have problems with broken pipes and leaks. In November, the Justice Department filed a complaint on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that Jackson has failed to provide drinking water reliably compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act. An agreement between federal officials and the city put that litigation on hold for six months. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate then appointed Ted Henifin, who spent 15 years mana...

Warning issued on surgery in Mexican border city after suspected cases of meningitis, 1 death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — State and federal health officials are warning U.S. residents to cancel planned surgeries in a Mexico border city after five people from Texas who got procedures there came back and developed suspected cases of fungal meningitis. One of them died, officials said.The five people who became ill traveled to Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, for surgical procedures that included the use of an epidural, an anesthetic injected near the spinal column, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Tuesday. Four remain hospitalized, and one of them later died.Those who became ill range in age from 30 to 50 years old, the department said.The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory Tuesday for U.S. residents seeking medical care in Matamoros. Meningitis is the swelling of the protective covering of the brain and spinal cord and should be treated urgently. Symptoms include fever, headache, a stiff neck, nausea, vomi...

Prosecutor in Ralph Yarl case says legal precedent favors keeping court records open

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri prosecutor is asking a judge to carefully consider the public’s right to information while determining whether to seal court records in the case of Andrew Lester, a white homeowner who is accused of shooting a Black teenager who mistakenly came to his home.Lester’s attorney, Steven Salmon, filed a motion May 1 asking a judge to seal court records. He argued that local and national publicity surrounding the April 13 shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City had created a bias against his client and would make it difficult to find an impartial jury.In a motion filed Tuesday, Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson did not specifically oppose the request but said legal precedent has established a “strong presumption” in favor of keeping court records open.Lester, 84, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He is accused of shooting Yarl twice after he mistakenly came to Lester’s home looking for hi...

Television writers strike in front of NBC Tower in the Loop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

CHICAGO — Members of a television writers union formed picket lines in the Loop Wednesday as a part of a nationwide strike, which has forced the late night comedy shows to go dark, and has delayed a number of other Hollywood television and film productions.Writers Guild of America (WGA) members picketed in front of the NBC Tower in downtown Chicago as part of a strike that has stopped the production of late-night comedy shows, and postponed the production of numerous other shows and television series, including the Showtime series The Chi, which is shot in Chicago.“We are watching the stability of television and film writing as a job, as a viable career, basically being erased,” said Martin Zimmerman, a WGA member and writer on the shows Narcos and Ozarks.The WGA represents at least 11,500 TV, film, radio and online writers, with about 100 of them living and working in Chicago. Daytime Emmy Awards postponed because of writers strike Those striking are asking for pay increases, whi...

Chicago bicyclists remember cyclists killed on National Ride of Silence Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

CHICAGO — Bicyclists in Chicago will join others in more than 200 communities on Wednesday, National Ride of Silence Day, to remember cyclists who have been killed. Those gathering in Chicago are also remembering Rick Lomas who died a week after a driver hit him. Buffalo Grove High School students killed in Wheeling crash ID’d Lomas, police said, was struck and killed by a driver when he went through a red light on May 7 in the 1000 block of North California Avenue.The driver who hit Lomas left the scene, police said, and Lomas refused medical treatment at the scene before leaving.According to an attorney for the family, Lomas died on May 10 from massive brain bleeding. As the warmer days become more frequent and more people are riding, organizations like Bike Lane Uprising, remind people to be aware of their surroundings and know the rules of sharing the road."Everybody is just trying to get to and from and this person had a family and unfortunately, that family is dealing with t...

Nakili, Oldest Eastern Black Rhino in North America, euthanized at Brookfield Zoo

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

BROOKFIELD, Ill. —The oldest living male Eastern Black Rhinoceros in a North American zoo was humanely euthanized Wednesday at the Brookfield Zoo, according to the Chicago Zoological Society.Nakili, a long-time resident of the Brookfield Zoo, was 33 years old at the time of his death. Nakili, an Eastern Black Rhinoceros at Brookfield Zoo was euthanized on May 17 due to kidney disease. Of the current population of eastern black rhinoceros, at 33 years of age, he was the oldest male living in an accredited North American zoo. (Credit: Jim Schulz/CZS-Brookfield Zoo)Having first arrived at the Brookfield Zoo at the ripe age of 4 in 1994, Nakili was seen by millions of guests at the zoo and served as a source of education on the plight of his critically-endangered species in its native habitat, which is primarily in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya."Nakili was a favorite among the animal care staff, volunteers, and zoogoers,” said Joan Daniels, senior director of hoofed mammal c...

Illinois coroner confirms 8th death from I-55 dust cloud crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) -- The Sangamon County Coroner in central Illinois has confirmed another death caused by the tragic pile-up crash from a dust storm on I-55 earlier this month. According to a release, Jim Allmon, 81-year-old Ruth Rau from Sorento, Illinois died from her blunt force injuries Tuesday evening.In a news conference the day after the crash, ISP confirmed seven people died. Rau was not included in that death count. ISP releases final victim’s name from I-55 dust storm crash Rau was a passenger in a vehicle in the crash. She was transported to HSHS St. John's Hospital in Springfield. Her death remains under investigation by Illinois State Police and the Sangamon County Coroner.

Derek Chauvin appeals conviction in George Floyd's murder to the Minnesota Supreme Court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:14:58 GMT

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin appealed his murder conviction in the killing of George Floyd to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying the district judge's decision not to move the proceedings out of the city deprived him of a fair trial.His attorney, William Mohrman, filed a petition for review with the state's highest court a month after the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld Chauvin's conviction for second-degree murder and let his 22 1/2-year sentence remain in place.Morhman had unsuccessfully asked the appeals court to throw out the ex-officer’s conviction for a long list of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. But the three-judge panel last month sided with prosecutors who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence. Chauvin raises several of those arguments again in his latest appeal."We’re very hopeful that the Minnesota Supreme Court will accept review of the case,” Mohrman said...