TV News LIES

Thousands more public servants will soon see their student loan balances reduced or erased, the Biden administration announced on Thursday. The relief is part of the administration’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF).

“This is relief that will bring real change in [borrowers’] lives, and marks another win for this Administration’s relentless and unapologetic work to fix a broken student loan system,” said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement.

The Biden administration approved roughly $1.2 billion in student loan relief for about 35,000 borrowers who work in public service, including as firefighters, social workers and teachers. Under PSLF, borrowers in qualifying lines of work can have their remaining balances forgiven on eligible loans after making 120 monthly payments.

As of Thursday’s announcement, the Biden administration had discharged $69.2 billion in debt through PSLF for over 900,000 borrowers.

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A visitor to Death Valley national park died Sunday from heat exposure and another person was hospitalized as the temperature reached 128F (53.3C) in eastern California, officials said.

The two visitors were part of a group of six motorcyclists riding through the Badwater Basin area amid scorching weather, the park said.

The person who died was not identified. The other motorcyclist was hospitalized in Las Vegas for “severe heat illness”, the statement said. The other four members of the party were treated at the scene.

“High heat like this can pose real threats to your health,” said park superintendent Mike Reynolds.

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A decision last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit means hundreds of students who paid tuition at the University of Farmington in Farmington Hills – created by undercover agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – have a legal basis to continue pursuing their claims in court. Farmington Hills is about 20 miles northwest of Detroit.

In 2020, a lawsuit was filed against the U.S. government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims by attorneys on behalf of Teja Ravi and other students enrolled at the University of Farmington, which was shut down by ICE after agents arrested about 250 of its students. The lawsuit said the government breached its contract with the students by stealing their tuition money, about $11,000 per year for each student. Students are asking for their money back and other punitive damages.

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The US government, in a report published on Tuesday, acknowledged for the first time the harms that federal dams have inflicted on Native American tribes in the US Pacific north-west.

The report by the interior department details the “historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes”, including how dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers have devastated salmon runs, inundated villages and burial grounds, and deprived tribal members of the ability to exercise traditional ways of life.

The Columbia River basin, an area roughly the size of Texas, historically supported abundant wild salmon, which play an important role in tribal identity and spirituality, as well as steelhead and native resident fish.

The construction of large hydroelectric dams throughout the basin at the turn of the 20th century impeded fish migration and flooded entire villages and towns, forcing people to relocate and transforming the ecosystem.

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