News and updates

Here’s a selection of articles that Federal Relations is enjoying this week.

All Hail – John King was cleared by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee this week to move forward and be confirmed as the next Secretary of Education. Read more in the Washington Post.

Not Really Helpful – In most college sexual assault cases, schools take the early step of instituting a no-contact order between the alleged victim and the accused assailant. The order, similar to a restraining order, serves as an interim accommodation for the person reporting an assault. It helps keep the two parties away from each other before, during or after an investigation by the school, but it does not really protect victims.  Read more in the Huffington Post. 

99 Problems – But for college students, the problem is rising tuition prices during the past 15 years coinciding with falling incomes of American families. Read more in The Washington Post. 

InCent-ivizing – A pair of bills would provide tax breaks to employers who help their workers pay of student loans. Companies that offer the benefit typically can’t deduct those payments from their tax bill. Read more in The Huffington Post. 

Auto Law Breaking – A top official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday said student loan companies are at risk of breaking the law if they place people in default when the co-signer of their loan dies or declares bankruptcy, signaling that the bureau may start legal action.  Read more in The Washington Post. 

Grads Got It – A new study suggests grad students may outperform faculty members in the classroom and may also benefit from time away from their dissertations. Read more in Inside Higher Education.

Cruz Crawl – As Trump continues to rise — and Senator Marco Rubio politically plummets in his home state — the Republican establishment is now starting to like Senator Ted Cruz…as the only way to stop Trump. Read more in Politico. 

“Likable” Guy – Donald Trump says everyone loves him. That’s not so true. In fact, the Republican has a problem getting Republican women to vote for him (only 29 percent of female Republican registered voters approved of Trump, while a whopping 68 percent did not). Trump’s bigger problem is that he’s driving  female Republican voters to vote for Hillary. Read more in National Journal. Trump also has a problem where his general favorability rating is a negative 40 percent. Read more in Vox. 

Unleash the Dogs of War – As the primaries keep rolling on,  it looks more likely (or people keep talking about) a brokered Republican convention, but what does that really look like? Read about that in The Boston Globe. And who would a brokered convention really help? *Hint, it’s Trump.* Read more at NBC News.

International Women Day was this week and Google had a doodle honoring Clara Rockmore, who’s birthday was March 9th, a thermin master and godmother in electronic music. Enjoy above.

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this leap week.

S-T-O-P – Two days after Super Tuesday, the GOP establishment’s knives are once again out for Donald Trump — whether it’s Mitt Romney’s speech today, tonight’s debate in Michigan, or the new TV ads targeting Trump. And here’s the reality: The opportunity to stop Trump is real. After the Super Tuesday results, it’s clear that Trump had a good (though hardly great) night. Despite winning seven out of the 11 contests, Trump holds just a 23-delegate lead over Ted Cruz from the Super Tuesday delegates. Read more at NBC.

Security Checks – Many low-income students and children of undocumented parents are having a harder time finishing their financial aid applications this year. That’s because of a new system that’s meant to protect sensitive financial information but in practice keeps out already-disadvantaged populations. Californians must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by midnight Wednesday to be eligible for the biggest pot of state college funds, the Cal Grant. Officials are asking students to submit even an incomplete FAFSA immediately, so that they make the deadline but can fill in more information later. Read more in the LA Times. 

He Speaks – After a decade of silence on the court, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas asked a question. Read more in The New York Times.  

Broken Crown? – Dozens of students, parents, educators and activists are urging the U.S. Senate not to confirm John King, President Obama’s choice to succeed Arne Duncan as education secretary, because he pushed education policies when he was education commissioner of New York State that they say were “ineffective and destructive.” Read more in The Washington Post. 

He’s BAAACK! – Astronaut Scott Kelly has landed after a year in space, and he . Kelly, an identical twin, spent a year in space to help NASA study the effects of zero gravity on the human body, while his twin stayed terrestrial as a control subject. Read more at Voxx.