Biden Cancels More Student Loans

It’s Thursday, August 18. Welcome to the News Diet. Today I’m gonna talk about Biden’s latest round of student loan cancellation, the massive fee for pharmacies giving out opioids, the CDC directors admission of agency failures, and also the most endangered sea turtle has been found reproducing again. Let’s be informed so we can get on with our day.

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The Department of Education announced that it will be canceling almost $4 billion of federal student loan debt for over 200,000 borrowers. The cancellation is specifically for those who had attended and been defrauded by the now-defunct ITT Technical Institute between Jan 1 2005 and September 2016 when it closed. This will apply even to those who have not submitted a claim. The Biden administration had already approved about $1.9 billion of debt relief for 130,000 borrowers for the same school.

This is in addition to the $5.8 billion of cancellations announced in June for 560,000 students who attended Corinthian Colleges, which is also nowdefunct. In total, the administration has relieved about $32 billion in loans. Also, DeVry University has been targeted as well, is now required to pay millions for borrower defense applications. 

These colleges are said to have defrauded students by over exaggerating or lying about their institution. For example, DeVry claimed to have a job placement rate of 90% when it actually around 58%.

Student loan debt relief has been a big agenda item for Biden, with him and his supporters saying that the student loan debt crisis is crippling millions from moving forward with their lives. Proponents of loan forgiveness say that students were pressured to receive higher educations, regardless of the cost; which has resulted in now $1.7 trillion owed in American student loan debt by about 48 million borrowers. They say this amount is holding people back from buying houses, investing, starting businesses, and more. They argue that eliminating this debt will give borrowers a fresh start and open up possibilities without the weight of all this money on their shoulders. 

Those against student loan forgiveness say that wiping out loans doesn’t address the root cause of rapidly increasing tuition costs, and a misleading message that higher education is needed to be successful, as well as a system that essentially gives massive loans to teenagers no questions asked. Also, they take issue with the idea of millions of people having their loans wiped away when so many others already paid theirs off.

This new announcement comes two weeks before the Education Department ends its pause on student loan repayments. They put a hold on repayments, interest, and collections back in March of 2020, and its set to expire in September. 

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CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart have been ordered to pay over $650M to two Ohio counties, for what a judge has ruled is their role in the current opioid epidemic. These three stores also serve as three of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains and a jury back in November found that the companies continued to give out mass quantities of prescription painkillers, regardless of the growing crisis. The judge also placed blame on drug manufacturers and distributors.

Representatives for CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart spoke out against the ruling, claiming that the finger is being pointed at the wrong link in the chain, and that producers and marketers should be targeted instead. They say that Pharmacists just fill prescriptions that they’re given by doctors, and that if they’re expected to second-guess prescriptions, then that could jeopardize the doctor-patient relationship.

The $650 million is to paid over 10 years, and comes with orders to follow rules within 90 days aimed at bringing awareness to how they are dispensing opioids.

According to the Health and Human Services, in 2019, more than 10 million people over the age of 12 misused opioids. The vast majority of that was from misusing prescription pain relievers.

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The CDC Director has announced a reset to the agency, admitting to shortcomings in the COVID-19 response, as well as other public health crises like monkeypox. The director, Dr. Rochelle Walenskey, is seemingly giving in to the widespread criticisms that the agency was slow to recognize the virus spread and ineffective at communicating developments and the ever changing safety guidelines.

Walensky sent an email to CDC employees yesterday, outlining an overhaul of how the agency analyzes and translates data to the everyday person. Changes will also likely include changes to leadership as well as organizational restructurings of some kind. They also plan to revamp its website to help get information out easier.

The CDC has a budget of $12 billion and more than 11,000 employees.

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For the first time in 75 years, the world’s smallest and most endangered sea turtles are hatching off the Louisiana coast. The Chandeleur Islands are about 50 miles east of New Orleans, and the turtles were found by a crew actually surveying birds. After seeing photos, members of coastal restoration agencies went to go see for themselves and low and behold there were nests and newborn turtles. The type is called the Kemp's ridley sea turtle and they originally nested in Mexico by the tens of thousands, but that number decreased to only around 250 in the 1980s.This announcement comes only a couple weeks after Mississippi announced their first sea turtle nest since 2018. All six sea turtles species found in US waters are protected as endangered species.

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It’s Thursday, August 18. And you’ve just been informed. Now it’s time to get on with your day. I’m Michele Carroll. Thanks so much for listening.

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If you enjoyed the episode and want to continue following a healthier alternative for staying informed, where we forgo partisan fighting and fear-driven narratives, then please be sure to hit that subscribe button - as of course you’ll get more of this show in your feed and also you’ll be helping this new channel grow and reject sensational media. Thank you so much for your support, and I can’t wait to see you in the next episode.

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https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-new-orleans-turtles-climate-and-environment-bda8d947221c981bac265f87cd3f918d

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https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/opioid-crisis-statistics/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/health/opioids-cvs-walmart-walgreens.html 

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https://www.foxnews.com/health/cdc-director-orders-reorganization-saying-covid19-response-did-not-reliably-meet-expectations-report

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-director-calls-drastic-changes-agency-rcna43536 

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https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/16/ed-dept-cancels-3point9-billion-in-student-debt-for-over-200k-borrowers.html

https://fox59.com/news/national-world/federal-government-forgives-nearly-4-billion-in-student-loans/

https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/