BETSY DEVOS

President Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in loans is held up in the courts. But that hasn't stopped the administration from canceling billions in debt.

Trump's Education Sec. Betsy DeVos, former House Speaker John Boehner and other GOP officials argued why they think student-debt relief is illegal.

The National Education Association (NEA) appeared to play clean-up after it issued a tweet suggesting teachers 'know better than anyone' what students need

In one of the country's premier battleground states, a last-ditch effort from Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon has helped her pull closer with incumbent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A proposal before Michigan voters would create one of the largest voucher-like systems in the country, with the potential to offer more than a half-billion dollars in public funds for students to attend private schools. There’s just one hitch: Most residents have never heard of it. In a recent statewide poll, 93% of the electorate […]

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan claimed that Republicans were enflaming for political gain the issue of of explicit material being allowed in public schools.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has accused Republican challenger Tudor Dixon on Tuesday of “stoking violence” and pushing conspiracy theories meant to divide people.

Key figures including Betsy DeVos and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and parental rights organizations reacted to the poor U.S. report card on math and reading scores.

A congressional district in Michigan that includes Grand Rapids hasn't had a Democratic House member in decades.

Public school advocates who oppose a massive expansion of Arizona’s private school voucher system have filed enough signatures to block it from taking effect.

Biden's Education Department rescinded Trump's memo stating there's no authority for broad-student-loan forgiveness prior to announcing relief.

One GOP strategist estimates Michigan's governor's race could cost between $75 million and $100 million with the DeVos' spending on the campaign.

Speaking at CPAC in Dallas, Texas, former President Donald Trump received loud applause for saying the US Department of Education should go.

In one of the biggest days of this year's primary campaign season, red-state Kansas rejected a measure that would have made it easier to restrict abortion, and voters in Missouri repudiated a scandal-tarred former governor seeking a Senate seat.

Primaries in Arizona, Washington, Michigan and Missouri test ex-President Trump's endorsement power. Kansas voters weigh abortion protections in state constitution.

Republican Tudor Dixon, who is an abortion rights opponent and is backed by former President Trump, will face Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the Michigan race for governor in November.

Dixon, who is endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump, will face incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who ran unopposed in the primary.

Businesswoman and conservative commentator Tudor Dixon has won the Republican primary for Michigan governor.

After riding high on a promise to bring 50 charter schools to Tennessee, the relationship between the president of Michigan's Hillsdale College and Gov. Bill Lee has cooled over the past several months.

The House Jan. 6 committee has interviewed former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and is in negotiations to talk to several other former members of Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

Lawmakers plan to interview additional witnesses and reconvene in September to resume laying out their Jan. 6 findings to the public.

The House Jan. 6 committee plans to interview more former Cabinet secretaries and is prepared to subpoena conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, who’s married to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, as part of its investigation of the Capitol riot and Donald Trump’s role.

The Republican primary for Michigan governor is shaping up as a battle of whose personal baggage is the least disqualifying.

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new book "Hostages No More" recounts her uphill fight for school choice and betrayal from union-backed politicians of both parties.

The Biden administration has agreed to cancel $6 billion in student loans for about 200,000 former students who say they were defrauded by their colleges.

Approximately 200,000 borrowers will be affected, according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

The administration proposed a dramatic overhaul of campus sexual assault rules, acting to expand protections for LGBTQ students, and widen colleges' responsibilities in addressing sexual misconduct.

The rights of LGBTQ students would become enshrined in federal law and victims of campus sexual assault would gain new protections under new rules proposed by the Biden administration.

As many victims of campus sexual assault see it, guidelines put in place to protect them at colleges have a long way to go to fulfill the promise of Title IX.

Both get at a central question: At the time, did those close to the process know how bad the situation was? And the Jan. 6 committee clearly thinks it has the goods.

Trump's former education secretary confirmed that she spoke with Pence and Cabinet officials after the Capitol riot about invoking the 25th Amendment.

A judge has declined to put a former Detroit police chief on the Republican ballot for Michigan governor.

Two Republican candidates for Michigan governor have lost their bids to get on the Aug. 2 primary ballot.

Theranos isn’t the only bad apple out there. Here’s how you can protect yourself and your portfolio from corporate fraud.

President Biden extended relief for federal student loan borrowers for an additional 90 days because borrowers are "still coping with the impacts of the pandemic." Payments now resume May 1.

The U.S. Marshals Service won’t provide a full-time security detail to the first Black U.S. attorney confirmed to that post in Massachusetts, leaving her without […]

The high-profile trial of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes boils down to a single question: Did she cover up defects in her startup’s blood-testing technology to rip off investors while potentially endangering the lives of unwitting patients.

Newly released documents found Biden has been holding on to a memo detailing whether he can broadly cancel student debt since at least April.

Knowledgeable sources and message exchanges reveal that Venezuela’s government quietly offered last year to release imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S. letting go a key financier of President Nicolás Maduro.

A rep who manages investments for the family office of Betsy DeVos testified that Elizabeth Holmes was misleading in trying to lure an investment for Theranos.

Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThe family of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos invested nearly $100 million in Theranos after a marathon meeting with the biotech startup’s founder Elizabeth Holmes, a director of the billionaire’s family office testified on Tuesday.Lisa Peterson, who manages private equity investments for the DeVos clan’s RDV Corporation, told jurors at Holmes’ California wire fraud trial that she and members of the Michigan-based dynasty flew to Silicon Valley in 2014 to meet Holmes

Thousands of public servants who were rejected from a student loan forgiveness program will get their cases reviewed by the Education Department as part of a new settlement.

Theranos wasn’t the only potential bad actor out there. Here’s how you can protect yourself and your portfolio from corporate fraud.

At the beginning of the pandemic, federal student loan borrowers were granted a reprieve on their loan payments. The U.S. Education Department says that reprieve will end on Jan. 31, 2022.

The U.S. Education Department has announced it will forgive student loans for more than 1,800 borrowers who attended for-profit colleges that made false recruiting claims.

The U.S. Education Department is loosening the rules around a grant program that’s meant to help aspiring teachers pay for college but has actually left many stuck with debt.

The U.S. Education Department on Wednesday expanded its interpretation of federal sex protections to include transgender and gay students.

The Biden administration said it is approving 18,000 loan forgiveness claims from former students of ITT Technical Institute, a chain that closed in 2016 .

The U.S. Education Department says it's erasing student debt for thousands of borrowers who attended a for-profit college chain that exaggerated its graduates’ success in finding jobs.

A USA Today investigation found no evidence of students or faculty at Reagan National University in South Dakota, which ACICS formally recognized.

What Trump alums are doing now can be divided in two groups — those promoting Trump and the MAGA movement, and those who are going more traditional routes. It underscores the GOP divide Trump created.

"Extraordinary circumstances warrant the deposition of Secretary DeVos for three hours, excluding breaks," U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote.

"My girlfriend" just doesn't have the same ring to it, but comedian John Mulaney is reportedly dating actress Olivia Munn — news that broke shortly after Page Six revealed he's divorcing his wife of six years, Anna Marie Tendler. Munn and Mulaney supposedly met at church, though Munn has admitted she's had her eye on Mulaney for years. In a 2015 HuffPost Live interview resurfaced by Page Six on Friday, she revealed "we were at a wedding together and I was like 'Oh my gosh, do you and your fiancé want to go have dinner or something and go hang out?'" She added that "I was just so obsessed with hanging out with and talking with him," but afterwards, when Munn emailed Mulaney, he never wrote her back. "I might've got the wrong email — probably. That's what I tell myself," she joked. More stories from theweek.comRepublicans' dishonest war against 'critical race theory'There's growing speculation that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will name their daughter 'Philippa'The Republican theory of unemployment is classic Marx

The nation’s consumer watchdog is signaling a more aggressive approach toward the financial services sectors after a few years of being on a tight leash.

"Why are you on a constant crusade against our #LGBTQ students & teachers?" one lawmaker fired at DeVos

Since March 27, 2020, federal student loan interest rates have been set to 0% and payments have been paused.

The Education Department is taking the next step to revise federal rules around campus sexual assault, paving the way for an overhaul of a polarizing Trump-era policy that President Joe Biden has vowed to reverse.

Tens of thousands of U.S. student loan borrowers defrauded by for-profit colleges are getting debt relief. The U.S. Department of Education is cancelling $1 billion in debt held by about 72,000 student borrowers misled by institutions including the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. The stance, which takes effect Thursday, represents an about-face from a process touted by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that offered only partial student loan forgiveness to those defrauded by private, for-profit colleges. The Obama administration had cracked down on for-profit colleges that enticed students to take on hefty loans. The DOE called Thursday's announcement a "first step" in addressing student debt claims and said it would be "pursuing additional actions, including re-regulation, in the future."

WASHINGTON – Thousands of students defrauded by for-profit schools will have their federal loans fully erased, the Biden administration announced Thursday, reversing a Trump administration policy that had given them only partial relief. The change could lead to $1 billion in loans being canceled for 72,000 borrowers, all of whom attended for-profit schools, the Education Department said. The borrower defense to repayment program allows students to have their federal loans canceled if they were defrauded by their schools. The Education Department said a total of 343,331 applications for relief under borrower defense had been received as of Feb. 28. Sen. Patty Murray, who heads the Senate committee overseeing education, said DeVos used “faulty math” to deny student full relief.

Biden also signed a second executive order formally establishing the White House Gender Policy Council, which his transition team had announced before he took office. Any effort to rewrite DeVos’ rules would have to go through a federal rulemaking process that can take years to complete. AdRepublicans slammed Biden’s move and defended DeVos’ rules. The scope of cases that colleges must address is also likely to be expanded again under the Biden administration, he said. Biden is starting the process even as DeVos' policy faces ongoing legal challenges.

FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2021, file photo, Education Secretary nominee Miguel Cardona testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate has confirmed him as Education Secretary on March 1. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File)The Senate voted Monday to confirm Miguel Cardona as education secretary, clearing his way to lead President Joe Biden’s effort to reopen the nation’s schools amid the coronavirus pandemic. AdCardona, who gained attention for his efforts to reopen schools in Connecticut, has vowed to make it his top priority to reopen schools. In an increasingly fractionalized world of education, Cardona has vowed to be a unifier.

While the state has swung back to Democrats since Trump's narrow 2016 win, choosing President Joe Biden by more than 150,000 votes, Michigan's Republican Party has taken a hard right turn. Ad“All these things were a catalyst,” said Ken Sikkema, a former Michigan GOP Senate leader whose Grand Rapids district lost 5,000 jobs with three plant closures just before the 2008 crash. “Forces of nature take over at that point, and those forces were definitely tilting right, extreme far-right," said Venable, who was state Republican Party chief of staff in 2010. AdNodding to the emerging right wing, Michigan GOP fundraiser Ron Weiser invited Maddock to share the ticket for his bid to become state party chair. All the while, Michigan's GOP leadership has for the first time in memory bestowed legitimacy on its state's militia, long relegated to the shadows.

Biden administration backs Betsy DeVos in student loan lawsuit Former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is involved in a lawsuit over student loans and President Biden’s Department of Justice is helping her fight a subpoena. This comes as the president faces increasing pressure from his own party to take on student loan forgiveness. CBS News reporter Kate Smith joined “CBSN AM” with the latest.

Biden administration backs Betsy DeVos in student loan lawsuit Former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is involved in a lawsuit over student loans and President Biden's Department of Justice is helping her fight a subpoena. This comes as the president faces increasing pressure from his own party to take on student loan forgiveness. CBS News reporter Kate Smith joins CBSN AM with the latest.

It also provides more detailed suggestions about what type of schooling should be offered given different levels of virus transmission, with differing advice for elementary, middle and high schools. But the state has dealt with school-related infections, including an outbreak at a high school wrestling tournament in December in which 38 attendees tested positive. "So when we are in areas of high transmission, we have pushed more for elementary school hybrid learning. Government officials estimate that about 60% of K-12 schools right now have some form of in-person learning going on, though in many cases it may be part-time. AdSchools also can tighten up restrictions for the in-person learning that is going on.

They bolstered their case with accounts from the rioters themselves, some of whom said they were acting on Trump's orders. The former president's defense team insists Trump's speech near the White House was protected under the First Amendment. And they argue he shouldn't be on trial in the Senate because he is no longer in office — an argument Democrats reject. To underscore their point, Democrats showed videos using rioters own words. Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said he expects the defense will wrap up in less than a day.

Education Secretary nominee Miguel Cardona testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. On school choice, Cardona said it’s important that families have education options, but that a quality public school must be one of them. Public schools are “the bedrock of our country,” he said, adding that most students attend public schools. AdHis deep roots in public education helped him stand out as a contender to lead the Education Department. During his presidential campaign, Biden had promised to nominate someone with experience in public education.

Requesting a forbearance extension on federal student loans was among 17 executive actions Mr. Biden signed on his first day in office. Since March, all federal student loan payments have been suspended as part of the federal government's COVID-19 response. Last year federal student loan debt reached an all-time high, nearing $1.6 trillion among more than 40 million Americans, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden promised voters tackling student loan debt would be one of his top priorities as president. Under DeVos, the Department of Education warned the transition will be chaotic when student loan payments resume.

Since March, all federal student loan payments have been suspended as part of the federal government's COVID-19 response. Student loan debt has been a looming financial issue since before the pandemic, but widespread coronavirus-related job losses and pay cuts, especially among millennials, have exacerbated the issue. Last year federal student loan debt reached an all-time high, nearing $1.6 trillion among more than 40 million Americans, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden promised voters tackling student loan debt would be one of his top priorities as president. Under DeVos, the Department of Education warned the transition will be chaotic when student loan payments resume.

Requesting a forbearance extension on federal student loans was among 17 executive actions Mr. Biden signed on his first day in office. Since March, all federal student loan payments have been suspended as part of the federal government's COVID-19 response. Last year federal student loan debt reached an all-time high, nearing $1.6 trillion among more than 40 million Americans, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. On the campaign trail, Mr. Biden promised voters tackling student loan debt would be one of his top priorities as president. Under DeVos, the Department of Education warned the transition will be chaotic when student loan payments resume.

If the lawsuit succeeds, officials at the nonprofit say they will file legal challenges in other states with similar school choice programs. A similar lawsuit challenging Maine’s exclusion of religious schools from a high school tuition voucher program was denied by the 1st U.S. Maine and New Hampshire have similar programs for students who live in communities without schools to attend public or non-religious private schools of their choice. The school treats him “as a welcomed member of the school community rather than as an imposition,” the lawsuit said. But he is now in 9th grade and the district has a high school so tuition money is not provided to attend another school.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf resigned Monday, becoming the third Cabinet-level official to quit on the heels of the riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters. Wolf, in a letter to Department of Homeland Security staff, said his resignation was "warranted by recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary." He had been acting secretary of DHS since November 2019. Pete Gaynor, who currently is the administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will become acting DHS secretary. The White House declined to comment on Wolf's resignation, which came four days after Trump withdrew Wolf's nomination to become DHS secretary, as opposed to acting chief.

Pelosi, addressing her hometown San Francisco constituents during an online video conference, shed no fresh light on Democrats' plans. Trump has not publicly made such threats, but officials warn of grave danger if the president is left unchecked. A person on the call said Pelosi also discussed other ways Trump might be forced to resign. ”Democratic leaders have called on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to force Trump from office. The House impeached Trump in 2019, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him in early 2020.

She is dedicated to promoting school choice but her critics say she really wants to privatize the public school system that she once called, quote, "a dead end." Do choice schools perform better than public schools? But when parents choose these options, taxpayer funds follow the child and that means that the public school left behind can end up with less money. Betsy DeVos: Well, we should be funding and investing in students, not in school-- school buildings, not in institutions, not in systems. She often manages to offend, as when she called historically black colleges and universities "pioneers" of "school choice" – as though they had a choice.

From the 60 Minutes archive: Betsy DeVos on guns, school choice and why people don't like her From 2018: Betsy DeVos, the lightning rod secretary of education, says she's "more misunderstood than anything."

Biden said he was just fine with that, calling it “one of the few things we have ever agreed on." “Donald Trump doesn’t want to be in Washington as the second-fiddle loser standing on stage with Joe Biden,” he said. “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump said in a tweet. White House counsel Pat Cipollone has repeatedly warned Trump that he could be deemed responsible for inciting Wednesday’s violence. On Capitol Hill, Democrats laid plans to impeach Trump a second time, with articles of impeachment expected to be introduced on Monday.

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks at the Phoenix International Academy in Phoenix. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao on Thursday became the highest-ranking administration officials to resign over the pro-Trump insurrection. Neither impeachment nor ouster under the 25th Amendment was considered probable with less than two weeks left in Trump's presidency. Yet many White House aides, both senior officials and lower-level staff, were struggling with whether or when to exit, according to two people familiar with internal deliberations at the White House. “They’re all going to have their historic revisionism, they’re all going to have their own imaginary heroism,” Wilson said.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her resignation Thursday night in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. Her resignation came hours after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced her resignation, effective Monday. Chao and DeVos are both members of Mr. Trump's Cabinet, and President-elect Joe Biden had already announced his choices to replace them. "The president has long disregarded and diminished the rule of law and the constitution," said Costello, the deputy assistant secretary of commerce for intelligence and security. "Yesterday, that culminated in violent sedition against the U.S. Congress for the purposes of overturning a legally recognized and valid election."

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos listens during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response event about reopening schools hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, U.S., August 12, 2020. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned Thursday night, blaming President Donald Trump for rhetoric that fueled the "unconscionable" invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Earlier Thursday, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said she would resign. A number of other Trump administration officials also have quit since Wednesday over the riot. In a letter to Trump, which said she would leave office Friday, DeVos listed what she said were the successes she and Trump had in education policy.

They stuck with President Trump through Charlottesville, Helsinki and Lafayette Square. Matthews joined the White House last summer as deputy press secretary, and she quit on Wednesday. Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power.”Stephanie GrishamStephanie Grisham served as White House press secretary, among other roles. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)Grisham worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign, then served in the White House in various roles, most notably as a press secretary who never held an official press briefing. “It has been an honor to serve the country in the White House,” she said in a statement to CNN.

The U.S. Capitol Police says an officer who was injured after responding to riots at the Capitol has died. ___7:20 p.m.President Donald Trump is conceding to President-elect Joe Biden and condemning the violent supporters of his who stormed the nation’s Capitol. He was a web developer and founder of Trumparoo, a social media site for supporters of President Donald Trump. ___2:35 p.m.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s seeking the resignation of Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund a day after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. ___2:30 p.m.Canadian-based e-commerce company Shopify Inc. has removed online stores affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying his actions have violated the company’s policies.

Outgoing U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged Congress to "reject" calls to forgive student loan debt, a promise made on the campaign trail by President-elect Joe Biden. In what reads like a farewell letter, DeVos offered "closing thoughts" on her time leading the education department. In its $900 billion stimulus bill, Congress neglected to extend the program and student loan payments could resume as soon as February. Tackling student loan debt will be a major issue for the Biden administration. Where there were once dozens of phone numbers, now there is a single 800 number," DeVos wrote.

In a farewell letter to Congress on Monday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged lawmakers to reject President-elect Joe Biden's education agenda, while imploring them to shield Trump administration policies that Biden has promised to eliminate. DeVos offered an unemotional farewell to a Congress that had a chilly relationship with her from the start. More broadly, DeVos urged Congress to direct federal education funding directly to families rather than to schools. The letters says federal education funding has already tripled since 1960 but has failed to translate to better outcomes on standardized tests. In her appeal to Congress, DeVos says her regulation “restores fairness on campuses by upholding all students’ rights."

In this Dec. 31, 2020, file photo pardoned Blackwater contractor Evan Liberty poses for a photo in Washington. The Blackwater contractors meet none of that criteria. They were convicted in the killings of unarmed Iraqi women and children and have long been defiant in their assertions of innocence. “I feel like I acted correctly,” he said of his conduct in 2007. He says he's grateful to his supporters and to Trump for what he calls a “second chance at life."

(Gary Schottle via AP)Gary Schottle arrived in time to see the other kids in line hitting and jumping on his young son. Special Olympics changed everything. Special Olympics has since branched out to more than 170 countries, empowering more than 5 million athletes who had often been cast aside. In 20 years of Special Olympics competition, Tank's confidence has soared, his leadership spreading across playing fields, the Houston area and beyond. Once one of the bullied, he has become a living embodiment of the Special Olympics message.

FILE - This combination made from file photo shows Blackwater guards, from left, Dustin Heard, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatten and Paul Slough. “The infamous Blackwater company killed Iraqi citizens at Nisoor Square. The 2007 killings in the Baghdad traffic circle were among many attacks, large and small, hitting civilians that served to turn even some initial Iraqi supporters of Saddam Hussein's overthrow against Americans. The case against the Blackwater guards ping-ponged across courts in Washington, with a federal appeals court at one point overturning the first-degree murder conviction of one defendant, Nicholas Slatten, and sharply reducing the prison sentences of the three others. In Iraq, said Ford, the former diplomat, the pardons will “necessarily give some ammunition to those who say get the Americans out now."

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2017, photo, flags decorate a space outside the office of the Education Secretary at the Education Department in Washington. President-elect Joe Biden has chosen the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public school teacher to serve as education secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)President-elect Joe Biden introduced Miguel Cardona as his pick for education secretary on Wednesday, saying Connecticut's education chief and life-long champion of public schools is the right pick to lead the department as the nation struggles to educate students safely during the pandemic. But despite their occasional conflict with him, a coalition of Connecticut education unions supported his candidacy as Biden's education secretary. Beyond the pandemic, Biden's education secretary will also be tasked with reversing an array of policies enacted by DeVos.

Washington — President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate Miguel Cardona for education secretary, multiple sources familiar with the decision confirm to CBS News. By choosing Cardona, currently the education commissioner in Connecticut, Mr. Biden will fulfill his promise to tap an education secretary with public school experience, in sharp contrast to current Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. We urge you to nominate Mr. Cardona as our next Secretary of Education." In a statement, former Education Secretary John King, now the president and CEO of Education Trust, praised Mr. Biden's choice of Cardona. "I am pleased that President-Elect Joe Biden is nominating Miguel Cardona as U.S. Secretary of Education.

He became state schools chief later that year. The president-elect has called for all public schools to resume in-person learning within his first 100 days in office. In Connecticut, Cardona pushed to keep schools open as unions objected based on safety concerns. “Public education is still the great equalizer,” Cardona said to state lawmakers during his confirmation hearing in Connecticut early this year. “We are now leading the nation in removing the tech barriers that stood in the way of every child receiving a world-class education,” Cardona said in the announcement.

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2017, photo, flags decorate a space outside the office of the Education Secretary at the Education Department in Washington. President-elect Joe Biden has chosen the education commissioner for Connecticut and a former public school teacher to serve as education secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Miguel Cardona, Connecticut's education chief and a lifelong champion of public schools, to serve as education secretary. The selection delivers on Biden’s promise to nominate someone with experience working in public education and would fulfill his goal of installing an education chief who stands in sharp contrast to Secretary Betsy DeVos. Despite their occasional conflict with him, a coalition of Connecticut education unions supported his candidacy as Biden's education secretary.

The massive, catchall bill combines $900 billion in COVID-19 aid with a $1.4 trillion spending bill. A 1994 bill blocked prisoners from the program, but momentum has been growing to reverse the decision. For Republicans, the bill secures a longtime goal to simplify the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form that students fill out to determine their eligibility for federal financial aid. It would provide $23 billion to colleges and universities, the first federal virus aid since a virus package Congress approved in March. For K-12 schools, the bill provides $54.3 billion, with an additional $4.1 billion that governors can use on education.

The Trump administration on Monday moved to loosen Obama-era restrictions on religious organizations that receive federal money to provide social services. It also removes a rule telling religious groups to give clients written notice about their rights, including that they can’t be forced to participate in religious activities. Trump also vowed to protect prayer in public schools and bolster the rights of religious groups on college campuses. “The Trump administration has worked diligently to push back against policies that would diminish the faith of any American." Religious groups applauded the changes, while civil rights groups said they opened the door for discrimination.

It appears that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are in favor of extending the student loan forbearance. Student loan borrowers may not have to worry about their monthly bills until at least May of next year. In a summary of bipartisan legislation circulated on Wednesday that could become the next stimulus package, lawmakers included a provision to continue student loan forbearance through April 30, 2021. The U.S. Department of Education first said in March that the 42 million Americans with federal student loans would be off the hook from their monthly bills until September. Then President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August that continued the interest-free reprieve until the end of December.

Lily Eskelsen García, who was president of the National Education Association until September, has been calling members of Congress to build support for her candidacy. The caucus drew attention to Biden's proposals to confront racial disparities in education, saying Eskelsen García has been pursuing that work for decades. Andrade called her a “bona fide, proven educator” with a compelling personal story and a firm commitment to public education. “You will not find a bigger contrast in people than between DeVos and Eskelsen García,” Andrade said. Supporters of Eskelsen García say her nomination would fulfill Biden’s promise to install an education chief with experience working in public education.

The Trump administration on Friday suspended all federal student loan payments through the end of January and kept interest rates at 0%, extending a moratorium that started early in the pandemic but was set to expire at the end of this month. By extending payments by one month, the administration is effectively leaving it to the Biden administration or Congress to decide whether to provide longer-term relief to millions of student borrowers. In announcing the extension, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos rebuked Congress for failing to act. DeVos won praise for using her authority to pause federal student loan payments in March. A federal lawsuit filed against DeVos in April alleged that thousands of overdue borrowers were still getting pay withheld despite the mortarium.

U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced on Friday that the payment pause and interest waiver for student loan borrowers will be extended through the end of January. The department said it would also halt collection activity on federal student loans, including garnishing wages and Social Security checks, until next year. The 42 million Americans with federal student loans were offered a break from their monthly bills in March, as it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic would drive up unemployment. Now federal student loan borrowers don't need to resume making their monthly payments until February 2021. The average student loan bill is around $400 a month.

In a veiled swing at President-elect Joe Biden's education plans, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday blasted the push for free college as a “socialist takeover of higher education” that could damage the nation's economy. But she railed against “politicians” who have issued “shrill calls” to cancel federal student debt or make college free. “Make no mistake: It is a socialist takeover of higher education,” DeVos said. DeVos argued that free college would place an unfair burden on taxpayers, requiring Americans who do not pursue college to “pay the bills” for those who do. When Sanders asked DeVos about free college during her 2017 Senate confirmation, DeVos argued that “nothing is truly free," an idea that she repeated in her speech Tuesday.

NEW YORK – One of publishing's most thriving genres of the past four years, books about President Donald Trump, is not going to end when he leaves office. In 2021 and beyond, look for waves of releases about the Trump administration and about the president's loss to Democratic candidate Joe Biden. “But there are tens of millions of Americans who look to the Trump presidency as an important time and are fans of his administration. Center Street, a Hachette Book Group imprint, has published Donald Trump Jr., Newt Gingrich and Judge Jeanine Pirro among others. Any publisher signing with Trump or a top administration official might face the anger not just of Trump critics among the general public, but from within the industry.

“It’s a mistake to ever have thought Wisconsin was a safely blue state,” said state Democratic Chairman Ben Wikler. To reverse Clinton's losses in the “blue wall” states, Biden benefited from both strong suburban turnout and in the urban centers of Philadelphia, Detroit and Milwaukee. Even in losing Republican-heavy Waukesha County, Wisconsin, Biden's suburban gains were part of his winning Wisconsin formula. Trump also lost Saginaw County, Michigan, a struggling former General Motors supply manufacturing county Obama carried before the president flipped. But we're still a manufacturing economy and nearly stagnant in our growth,” Erie County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Wertz said.

(AP Photo/John Flesher)WASHINGTON – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos planned a “Moms for Trump” rally in her home state of Michigan. It's long been one of the benefits of incumbency that a president can enlist his Cabinet to promote administration accomplishments. “The Trump administration has completely obliterated that line," said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, which describes itself as a nonpartisan watchdog organization. "The White House is now the seat of government, where the president lives, and one of his chief campaign props. “The Trump administration takes the Hatch Act seriously and all events are conducted in compliance with the law,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said.