FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces New Actions to Provide Debt Relief and Support for Student Loan Borrowers - The White House

No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he’s not done yet. President Biden and Vice President Harris will not let Republican elected officials succeed in denying hardworking Americans the relief they need.

In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling this morning, President Biden and his Administration have already taken two steps this afternoon aimed at providing debt relief for as many borrowers as possible, as fast as possible, and supporting student loan borrowers:

• The Secretary of Education initiated a rulemaking process aimed at opening an alternative path to debt relief for as many working and middle-class borrowers as possible, using the Secretary’s authority under the Higher Education Act.
   
• The Department of Education (Department) finalized the most affordable repayment plan ever created, ensuring that borrowers will be able to take advantage of this plan this summer—before loan payments are due. Many borrowers will not have to make monthly payments under this plan. Those that do will save more than $1,000 a year.

In addition, to protect the most vulnerable borrowers from the worst consequences of missed payments following the payment restart, the Department is instituting a 12-month “on-ramp” to repayment, running from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024, so that financially vulnerable borrowers who miss monthly payments during this period are not considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt collection agencies.

These actions reflect the President’s belief that an education beyond high school should be a ticket to the middle class. It also builds on the unprecedented steps President Biden and his Administration have taken to make college more affordable for working and middle-class families and make federal student loans more manageable. The Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Secured the largest increases to Pell Grants in a decade.
   
• Fixed broken student loan programs such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness, so borrowers actually get the relief they deserve.
   
• Approved more than $66 billion in loan cancellation for 2.2 million borrowers across the country, including public service workers and those who have been defrauded by their colleges.
   

Debt Relief for As Many Borrowers as Possible, as Fast as Possible

The President remains committed to providing relief to low- and middle-income borrowers. For too many Americans, a ticket to the middle-class remains out of reach because of unmanageable student loan debt. COVID-19 exacerbated that challenge – risking tens of millions of borrowers’ financial security and futures because of the economic harms brought on by a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Today, the Department initiated rulemaking aimed at opening an alternative path to debt relief for as many borrowers as possible, using the Secretary of Education’s authority under the Higher Education Act. The Department issued a notice, which is the first step in the process of issuing new regulations under this so-called “negotiated rulemaking” process. The notice announces a virtual public hearing on July 18th and solicits written comments from stakeholders on topics to consider.

Following the public hearing, the Department will finalize the issues to be addressed through rulemaking and begin the negotiated rulemaking sessions this fall. The Department will complete this rulemaking as quickly as possible.

Lowering Monthly Payments

The Biden-Harris Administration today also finalized the most affordable repayment plan ever created, called the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. This income-driven repayment plan will cut borrowers’ monthly payments in half, allow many borrowers to make $0 monthly payments, save all other borrowers at least $1,000 per year, and ensure borrowers don’t see their balances grow from unpaid interest.

Specifically, the plan will:

• For undergraduate loans, cut in half the amount that borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income.
• Raise the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary income and therefore is protected from repayment, guaranteeing that no borrower earning under 225% of the federal poverty level—about the annual equivalent of a $15 minimum wage for a single borrower—will have to make a monthly payment under this plan.
• Forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments, instead of 20 years, for borrowers with original loan balances of $12,000 or less. The Department estimates that this reform will allow nearly all community college borrowers to be debt-free within 10 years.
• Not charge borrowers with unpaid monthly interest, so that unlike other existing income-driven repayment plans, no borrower’s loan balance will grow as long as they make their monthly payments—even when that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

All student borrowers in repayment will be eligible to enroll in the SAVE plan. They will be able to enroll later this summer, before any monthly payments are due. Borrowers who sign up or are already signed up for the current Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan will be automatically enrolled in SAVE once the new plan is implemented. To learn more about the new SAVE plan, visit the Department of Education’s website.

Ensuring Support for Borrowers Most at Risk

To protect the most vulnerable borrowers, the Department is creating a temporary “on-ramp” to protect borrowers from the harshest consequences of late, missed, or partial payments for up to 12 months. While payments will be due and interest will accrue during this period, interest will not capitalize at the end of the on-ramp period. Additionally, borrowers will not be reported to credit bureaus, be considered in default, or referred to collection agencies for late, missed, or partial payments during the on-ramp period. Future monthly bills for borrowers not enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan will be automatically adjusted to reflect the accrued interest during those months.

Borrowers who can pay should do so, but this on-ramp period gives borrowers who cannot make payments right away the necessary time to adjust, enabling them to ultimately make their monthly payments and meet their financial obligations on their loans. Borrowers do not need to take any action to qualify for this on-ramp.

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Supreme Court Sides With Postal Carrier Who Refused to Work on Sabbath - The New York Times

The unanimous decision interpreted a federal civil rights law to require employers to make substantial efforts to accommodate their workers’ religious practices.

The Supreme Court broadened protections on Thursday for religious workers in a case that involved a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service who refused to work on his Sabbath.

In a unanimous decision, the justices rejected a test that had long been used to determine what accommodations an employer must make for religious workers, but declined to rule on the merits of the case, sending it back to a lower court to consider under a new standard.

Writing for the court, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the case gave it the “first opportunity in nearly 50 years” to explain the nuances of how workplaces must adapt to religious requests by employees.

For an employer to deny an employee’s request or a religious accommodation, Justice Alito wrote, it “must show that the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of its particular business.”

The decision could affect countless workplaces and could require many employers to make substantial changes to accommodate religious workers.

The ruling is the latest in a series by the court that have focused on expanding the role of religion in public life, sometimes at the expense of other values, like gay rights and access to contraception.

In the past few years, the Supreme Court has ruled that a high school football coach had a constitutional right to pray at the 50-yard line after his team’s games, that state programs supporting private schools in Maine and Montana must include religious ones, that a Catholic social services agency in Philadelphia could defy city rules and refuse to work with same-sex couples who apply to take in foster children and that the Trump administration could allow employers with religious objections to deny contraception coverage to female workers.

The latest decision may be less divisive than some of the court’s recent rulings on religion, in part because protecting observance of the Sabbath may not split Americans along the usual lines. Indeed, liberal justices have tried in the past to shield workers from discipline and termination for following their faith, and all three on the court signed onto the decision.

The case was brought by Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian and former missionary who worked as a substitute mail carrier. After the Postal Service made a deal with Amazon in 2013 to deliver packages on Sundays, Mr. Groff said he had to choose between his faith and his livelihood, opting to quit after being disciplined for missing work.

“I felt that I had a decision between what the post office wanted and what God wanted of me,” Mr. Groff said in an interview on Thursday. “I hope that this is inspiring to people because in America we do have these freedoms and they’re protected.”

The Postal Service said in a statement that it was confident that it would prevail once the lower court reconsidered the case.

Mr. Groff was represented by First Liberty Institute, which describes itself as the largest legal organization in the nation focused exclusively on defending religious freedom.

Kelly Shackelford, the president and chief counsel of First Liberty, welcomed the ruling, saying that it restored “religious freedom to every American in the workplace.”

“This decision will positively help millions and millions of Americans — those who work now and their children and grandchildren,” he said.

American Atheists, which advocates secularism in governmental policies and which submitted an amicus brief in support of the Postal Service in the case, Groff v. DeJoy, No. 22-174, said the ruling continued a worrying trend.

“While today’s decision doesn’t give religious employees carte blanche in the workplace, it certainly continues this court’s recent practice of expanding loopholes, accommodations and ‘rights’ for the religious while shifting more burdens onto atheists, humanists and the nonreligious,” said Geoffrey T. Blackwell, litigation counsel for the group.

Mr. Groff had sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that requires employers to “reasonably accommodate” workers’ religious practice so long as they can do so “without undue hardship” to the company’s business.

A 1977 precedent, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, stood in his way. That decision said that employers need not accommodate workers if the effort imposed more than a trifling, or “de minimis,” burden on their businesses.

Lawyers for the Postal Service argued that Mr. Groff’s refusal to work on Sundays imposed a significant burden on a small post office, was in tension with an agreement with a labor union and was bad for other workers’ morale.

Lower courts ruled against Mr. Groff. Judge Patty Shwartz, writing for a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, said that “exempting Groff from working on Sundays caused more than a de minimis cost on U.S.P.S. because it actually imposed on his co-workers, disrupted the workplace and work flow, and diminished employee morale.”

In dissent, Judge Thomas M. Hardiman wrote that “the majority renders any burden on employees sufficient to establish undue hardship, effectively subjecting Title VII religious accommodation to a heckler’s veto by disgruntled employees.”

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Human remains likely recovered from wreckage of Titan submersible Coast Guard says - USA TODAY

Human remains were likely recovered from the Titan submersible wreckage, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Wednesday night, nearly a week after five people aboard the submersible were presumed dead after a "catastrophic implosion."

The remains were "carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident," the Coast Guard said in a news release, adding that U.S. medical professionals will "conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains."

“The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy," Marine Board of Investigation Chair Captain Jason Neubauer said in a statement. "There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.”

The announcement came as debris from the destroyed vessel returned to land Wednesday at a Canadian coast guard pier. Photos from the wharf in St. John’s, Newfoundland, show what appeared to be several pieces and twisted chunks of the submersible.

The debris will be further analyzed and tested as part of the ongoing investigation into why the implosion occurred. The investigation, involving several government agencies from the United States and Canada, is being led by the Coast Guard.

Search and rescue teams had found debris on the sea floor about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on June 22, four days after it went missing.

Coast Guard officials said the debris was “consistent with catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber” in the submersible. The five passengers were believed to be dead, according to OceanGate, the company that led the tourist mission and operated the vessel.

US Coast Guard leads Titan investigation

On Sunday, the Coast Guard announced it was leading the investigation into the loss of the submersible to determine what caused the implosion.

Salvage operations started on the ocean floor and the Canadian-flagged Horizon Arctic carried a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that searched the area of the wreckage site, about 435 miles south of Newfoundland.

The company that owns the ROV, U.S.-based Pelagic Research Services, confirmed Wednesday that its team "successfully completed" offshore operations and was now removing its equipment from the Horizon Arctic after "working around the clock for 10 days."

PATENTS, LAWSUITS, SAFETY CONCERNS: A timeline of OceanGate's Titan sub.

'Major marine casualty'

The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board called the incident a "major marine casualty."

The five passengers who were aboard the submersible when it imploded were OceanGate’s CEO Stockton Rush; British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding; French maritime and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet; one of the richest men in Pakistan Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood. 

It was OceanGate's third annual expedition to the Titanic, where the company offered extreme tourists a chance to become one of the few to “see the Titanic with your own eyes,” according to an archived itinerary of the mission. Each passenger had paid $250,000 to see the wreckage.

The vessel, criticized for its unconventional design, was made of carbon fiber and titanium. It was about 9 feet high, 8 feet wide, 22 feet long, and weighed 25,000 pounds, according to OceanGate.

The Titan had imploded on its journey to tour the Titanic wreckage and debris was found at about 12,500 feet — where there is enormous pressure, absolute darkness and extremely cold temperatures. Last week, authorities found "five major" parts of the vessel, including its tail cone and landing frame.

The Marine Board of Investigation said Wednesday it will continue evidence collection and witness interviews "to inform a public hearing regarding this tragedy."

Contributing: Camille Fine and Kayla Jimenez, USA TODAY; Associated Press

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Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel in Trump election interference probe - CBS News

The Justice Department's special counsel investigators interviewed Rudy Giuliani recently as part of their probe into alleged efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, a spokesperson for Giuliani confirmed Tuesday.

"The appearance was entirely voluntary and conducted in a professional manner," said the spokesperson, Ted Goodman, who is a political advisor to Giuliani.

A source familiar with the matter said Giuliani was questioned about fundraising and meetings that took place between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021, when President-elect Biden's electoral college victory was certified despite a deadly riot at the Capitol.

CNN first reported that investigators for special counsel Jack Smith interviewed Giuliani, who was former President Donald Trump's personal attorney for much of Trump's time in office — and was among a group of attorneys who falsely alleged Trump had won the 2020 election.

Investigators were particularly interested in meetings Giuliani attended at the White House, the source said.

Giuliani was asked about his interactions with other attorneys who vocally supported returning Trump to office despite his defeat, according to the source. They included John Eastman, who crafted a legal strategy to reject state electoral votes, Sydney Powell, who claimed widespread voter fraud prevented Trump from winning, and Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official which a congressional committee concluded had crafted a plan to instruct state legislatures to select new electors.

The special counsel did not indicate that Giuliani is a subject of the investigation, and his team does not believe he is, according to the source. 

The special counsel's investigation into election interference appears to have gained steam in the weeks since Trump was indicted in relation to its separate probe into alleged mishandling of documents. On June 13, Trump entered a not guilty plea to 37 felony charges in that case.

On Wednesday, the special counsel will interview Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Atlanta, according to a spokesperson for Raffensperger.

A Jan. 2, 2021, recorded phone call between Trump and Raffensperger, in which Trump said "I just want to find 11,780 votes" has been a focus of both federal and state investigations.

In the weeks after audio of the call became public in 2021, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced that her office intended to investigate. That inquiry has since grown into a sprawling probe involving dozens of Trump's allies, according to court filings. 

Willis has said she will likely announce charging decisions related to the investigation in August.

Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges when he was indicted on March 30 by a New York state grand jury. In that case, he entered a not guilty plea to 34 felony counts related to alleged falsification of business records. Manhattan prosecutors said Trump tried to obscure reimbursements to Michael Cohen, who at the time was Trump's personal attorney, for a "hush money" payment made to an adult film star before the 2016 presidential election.

Trump's attorneys in that case are trying to have it moved to federal court, but at a hearing on Tuesday, a judge appeared skeptical of their argument that the payments were made as official acts tied to Trump's presidency.

Trending News

Graham Kates

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com

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Judge skeptical of Trumps plea to move NY criminal case to federal court - CNN

New York CNN  — 

A judge appears poised to reject former President Donald Trump’s attempt to move the New York criminal case that accuses him of falsifying business records tied to a hush money payment to federal court.

In a hearing Tuesday, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein was skeptical of Trump’s argument that the case should be tried in federal court because the alleged violations – reimbursements Trump made to his former personal attorney Michael Cohen – occurred during his presidency.

“The act for which the president has been indicted does not relate to anything under color of his office,” Hellerstein said.

Hellerstein, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, said he plans to issue a decision within two weeks.

Unused privacy booths are seen at a voting site in Tripp Commons inside the Memorial Union building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Election Day in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, U.S. November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan

Bing Guan/Reuters/FILE

How the 'independent state legislature' theory, now rejected by SCOTUS, fueled chaos in 2020 and could influence 2024

“Cohen was hired as a private matter to take care of a private matter,” the judge said. “The fact that it was a president who made that private hiring does not change the facts or the legal principle to be derived from the facts,” he added.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records when he reimbursed Cohen, who prosecutors allege made hush money payments during the 2016 campaign to Stormy Daniels. The adult film actress claimed she had an extramarital affair with the former president, which Trump denies. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued that Trump was acting in his personal capacity when he supposedly sent the payments.

“Writing personal checks, even if he did it in the Oval Office, is not an official act,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said Tuesday.

Trump’s lawyers first filed a motion to move the case in May, claiming that the allegations tied to the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records are related to his duties as president.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued Tuesday that the alleged business records were truthful because they were so-called “retainer” or “legal payments” to Cohen.

Takeaways and key lines from the indictment against Donald Trump

But when Hellerstein pushed Blanche on whether there was a retainer agreement in place, Blanche confirmed there was no agreement but claimed the invoices from Cohen to Trump detail the agreement enough.

That didn’t seem to sway the judge.

Other than the reimbursements to Cohen related to the Daniels settlement, there’s no documentation of any legal services provided by Cohen as special counsel to the president, Hellerstein said. “There’s no proof of what he did.”

Hearing foreshadowed part of Trump’s defense

In an unexpected move, Blanche called Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer, to the stand. He testified that the former president contracted Cohen on a retainer to serve as his private attorney to help him navigate separating public and private business.

According to Garten, Cohen took on the role of personal attorney to President Trump after he left the Trump Organization in 2017. Garten said it was done to adhere to new policies put in place when Trump assumed office.

Business related to Trump or then-first lady Melania Trump would be funneled through Cohen at that time, Garten said.

“I know those payments were made to Mr. Cohen in 2017,” Garten said.

“My understanding was to reimburse him for the payments that he had made as part of the Clifford settlement agreement and also to compensate him for the work in the role that he was playing as counsel,” Garten testified when asked why Cohen was paid by Trump. But he added he didn’t know what work Cohen actually did for Trump.

This photo taken April 4, 2023, shows a copy of the unsealed indictment for former President Donald Trump.

Rebecca Wright/CNN

Why New York's hush money case against Donald Trump is viewed as risky

The testimony of Garten turned into a mini trial with back-and-forth over whether there was a retainer agreement, if that was normal practice at the Trump Organization, and how those payments were accounted for in the general ledgers of Trump and the Trump Organization – foreshadowing part of Trump’s defense.

Trump did not appear in the Manhattan federal courtroom. Hellerstein previously granted the former president’s request to waive his appearance ahead of the hearing.

The litigation over moving the case to federal court has not stopped the case from moving forward where it currently proceeds before Judge Juan Merchan in New York state Supreme Court.

Merchan set a trial date in New York for March 25, 2024, potentially setting the trial to occur in the middle of the Republican presidential primary season early next year.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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Civil Rights Giant James Meredith Suffers Fall at 90th Birthday Party - The Daily Beast

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1. Civil Rights Giant James Meredith Suffers Fall at 90th Birthday Party  The Daily Beast
2. Civil rights icon James Meredith turns 90, urges people to fight crime by obeying Ten Commandments  WDIV ClickOnDetroit
3. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Civil rights icon James Meredith turns 90 urges people to fight crime by obeying Ten Commandments - The Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — James Meredith knew he was putting his life in danger in the 1960s by pursuing what he believes was his divine mission: conquering white supremacy in the deeply, and often violently, segregated state of Mississippi.

A half-century later, the civil rights leader is still talking about his mission from God. In recent weeks, he made several appearances around his home state, urging people to obey the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule in order to reduce crime. On his 90th birthday on Sunday, Meredith said older generations should lead the way.

“Old folks not only can control it — it’s their job to control it,” Meredith told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday after an event honoring him at the Mississippi Capitol.

Meredith is a civil rights icon who has long resisted that label because he believes it sets issues such as voting rights and equal access to education apart from other human rights.

During the event, Meredith fell while trying to stand and speak. He leaned on an unsecured lectern, and it crashed forward with Meredith on top. People nearby scrambled to return him to a wheelchair.

Meredith suffered no visible injuries. An ambulance crew checked him later, and then Meredith went to his home in Jackson to have a birthday celebration with his family. His wife, Judy Alsobrooks Meredith, said Monday that he was spending time with grandchildren and showing no signs of pain.

In October 1962, federal marshals escorted Meredith as he enrolled as the first Black student at the University of Mississippi, while white people rioted on the Oxford campus. Mississippi’s governor at the time, Ross Barnett, had stirred mobs into a frenzy by declaring that Ole Miss would not be integrated under his watch.

Meredith was a 29-year-old Air Force veteran who had already taken classes at one of Mississippi’s historically Black colleges, Jackson State. NAACP attorneys represented him as he obtained a federal court order to enter the state’s flagship public university. After a largely solitary existence at Ole Miss, Meredith graduated in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

After graduating, Meredith set out to promote Black voter registration and show that a Black man could walk through Mississippi without fear. In June 1966, a white man with a shotgun wounded Meredith on the second day of a march from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi. With Meredith hospitalized, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael and other civil rights leaders continued the march, often followed by long lines of activists and local people.

Less than three weeks after he was shot, Meredith had recovered enough to join the final stretch of what became known as the March Against Fear. It ended at the state Capitol, where an estimated 15,000 people gathered for Mississippi’s largest civil rights rally.

This year, Meredith had planned to walk 200 miles (322 kilometers) in Mississippi to spread his anti-crime message — roughly the same distance as the March Against Fear. Instead, he made a series of appearances in recent weeks, often using a rolling walker, a wheelchair or a golf cart.

On Sunday, Meredith rode in a golf cart for the final quarter-mile (0.40 kilometers) from Jackson City Hall to the Mississippi Capitol, led by a high school marching band and accompanied by dozens of people on foot. A racially diverse group of about 200 people sought shade under magnolia and oak trees while listening to songs, speeches and a child’s poem praising Meredith.

Flonzie BrownWright, a longtime Mississippi civil rights activist who participated in the 1966 March Against Fear, said she believes Meredith is a genius at creating strategies for social change.

“He is a very smart man, endowed with a lot of old-fashioned wisdom. He has been able to use that for the greater good of his people,” BrownWright said Sunday. “I love him like a big brother.”

In the decades since Meredith integrated Ole Miss, the university has erected a statue of him on campus and has held several events to honor him and his legacy.

John Meredith said Sunday that his father had a profound effect on higher education, but the March Against Fear had a greater impact on him as a son because it demonstrated the importance of elections.

“The silent gift of voting is the ability to help shape the laws under which you live. It is the beauty and the curse of America,” said John Meredith, the current city council president in Huntsville, Alabama. “Participation in voting yields inclusion, diversity and opportunity. Failure to vote results in the loss of freedom … and government oppression.”

At the Capitol birthday celebration, Iyanu B. Carson, a 5th grade student from Jackson, read her poem titled “90 Years of History,” saying she aspires to be like Meredith.

“You made the choice to use your voice, you were strong and made them believe you belonged,” Iyanu said. “Today we celebrate history, and Mr. Meredith, history is you! We’re proud of your accomplishments and all that you have been through.”

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Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooting suspect pleads guilty to 5 counts of murder - ABC News

The suspect in a mass shooting at LGBTQ bar Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that left five people dead accepted a plea deal Monday.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary, has pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in the first degree, 46 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. They pleaded no contest to two bias-motivated crimes.

Aldrich will receive five consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole on the murder charges, according to Judge Michael McHenry. Aldrich will also receive 46 consecutive 48-year sentences for the attempted murder counts followed by mandatory periods of parole, according to the judge.

They will plead no contest to "a class five felony bias-motivated crime and class one misdemeanor bias-motivated crime" with associated sentences, according to McHenry.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, the suspect in the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub appears with state public defenders Joseph Archambault and Michael Bowman before a judge during his advisement hearing in a video link from jail in Colorado Springs, Colo., Nov. 23, 2022, in a court artist sketch.

Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Investigators and witnesses said Aldrich allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q before midnight on Nov. 19, 2022. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.

Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance died in the attack. At least 19 people were also injured in the shooting.

In February, preliminary hearings were held on whether the case against Aldrich was strong enough to move forward. Their defense attorneys focused on Aldrich's mental health and highlighted Aldrich's history of drug use and claimed they suffered abuse at home to counter the messaging that Aldrich was motivated by hate.

"Aldrich's behavior after this incident says they're sorry, upset and emotional about what they did," defense attorney Joseph Archambault said in court. "It's categorically different than someone who targets a group, and that's not what Aldrich did."

Lead investigators for the state said Aldrich administered and ran a website that hosted a "neo Nazi white supremacist" shooting training video, according to testimony from Lead Detective Rebecca Joines in the preliminary hearings. Joines also said that Aldrich used gay and racial slurs when playing video games online, in testimony aimed at Aldrich's bias charges.

The defense has not openly commented on the case, as per Office of the State Public Defender policies.

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Supreme Court unfreezes Louisiana redistricting case that could boost power of Black voters - The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday lifted its hold on a Louisiana case that could force the state to redraw congressional districts to boost Black voting power.

The order follows the court’s rejection earlier in June of a congressional redistricting map in Alabama and unfreezes the Louisiana case, which had been on hold pending the decision in Alabama.

In both states, Black voters are a majority in just one congressional district. Lower courts had ruled that the maps raised concerns that Black voting power had been diluted, in violation of the landmark federal Voting Rights Act.

About a third of Louisiana’s residents are Black. More than one in four Alabamians are Black.

The justices put the Louisiana case on hold and allowed the state’s challenged map to be used in last year’s elections after they agreed to hear the Alabama case.

The case had separately been appealed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The justices said that appeal now could go forward in advance of next year’s congressional elections.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

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Trailing Donald Trump in polls Ron DeSantis returns to New Hampshire - Florida Politics

The Race to the White House polling average shows Trump ahead of DeSantis 45% to 13% in a crowded field.

Florida’s Governor is returning to New Hampshire, facing the most serious deficit in polls since he began to float the idea of a 2024 presidential campaign.

According to the Concord Monitor, Gov. Ron DeSantis plans a town hall in Hollis Tuesday morning. That event will counterprogram Donald Trump speaking at the Federation of Republican Women’s annual Lilac Luncheon in Concord.

DeSantis’ appearance comes as polls show attrition in the pivotal First In the Nation Primary state.

A New Hampshire Journal-Coefficient poll shows the Florida Governor with just 13% support. That number puts him 34 points behind former President Trump (47%), and just 4 points above a surging Chris Christie.

In a hypothetical two-way matchup with DeSantis, Trump takes 47% support, while DeSantis is at 23%.

Although DeSantis has just 13% support in this survey, it’s actually better for him than another June survey.

A new National Research Inc. survey of 500 likely New Hampshire Republican Primary voters shows DeSantis with just 12% support, down 6 points from the May survey by the same pollster.

The Race to the White House polling average shows Trump ahead of DeSantis 45% to 13% in a crowded field, with Christie at 8%, and 49% to 25% if the race were just two people.

DeSantis has attempted to glow up the Granite State at the expense of Florida and its residents.

“I was born and raised in Florida, and it’s only been recently that we’ve developed a sense of state pride ourselves,” DeSantis said at a party dinner this Spring. “We’re proud to have stood up for freedom in the last few years when it wasn’t easy. We did it our own way and I’m proud of that.”

“But I must admit, we draw inspiration from the people here in New Hampshire,” DeSantis continued. “Because more than any other state, you don’t mince words when it comes to your stand on liberty. You say it very clearly: Live Free or Die.”

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Woman fatally shot an Uber driver in Texas. Police say she wrongly thought she was being kidnapped - USA TODAY

EL PASO, Texas — A woman accused of fatally shooting her Uber driver in West Texas after mistakenly believing she was being kidnapped into Mexico has been charged with murder, authorities said.

Phoebe Copas, 48, who is from Tompkinsville, Kentucky, was visiting her boyfriend in El Paso, Texas, when the shooting took place on June 16. The El Paso Police Department said Copas shot 52-year-old Daniel Piedra Garcia in the head while he was driving her to a location in far southeast El Paso.

According to a complaint affidavit, Copas saw traffic signs that read “Juarez, Mexico,” during her ride and falsely believed she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico. El Paso is located on the U.S.-Mexico border across from Juarez.

El Paso Police officers initially arrested and charged Copas on suspicion of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury in connection to the shooting. Copas was booked into the El Paso County Jail and remained jailed on Sunday.

With Piedra's death, the charge has been upgraded to murder, El Paso Police Department officials said. Copas' bond is now set at $1.5 million.

Suspect claims fear of kidnapping was reason for shooting

Piedra picked up Copas at about 2 p.m. in a gray Nissan Maxima and was driving her to another location to meet with her boyfriend, the affidavit states.

As they drove on U.S. 54 southbound in South-Central El Paso, Copas saw traffic signs that showed the words "Juarez, Mexico." That allegedly led her to believe Piedra was attempting to kidnap her and take her across the border, the affidavit states.

Copas is accused of grabbing a silver and brown handgun from her purse and shooting Piedra in the back right side of his head, according to the affidavit. This caused the vehicle to crash into roadway barriers before coming to a stop on the freeway.

The area where the car crashed was "not in close proximity of a bridge, port of entry or other area with immediate access to travel into Mexico," the affidavit states.

It adds, "The roadway (Copas) was traveling on is a normal route to drive to the destination requested by the (Copas)."

Prior to calling 911, police allege that Copas took a photo of Piedra after he was shot and sent it to her boyfriend via text message. Officers arrived at the scene at about 2:20 p.m. and saw Copas being helped out of the car by her boyfriend.

Copas then dropped everything she was holding in her hands on the ground, including a brown and silver handgun, the affidavit states. Officers found Piedra slumped over in the driver's seat of the car, shot in the head.

Copas was detained by the officers as they investigated the shooting. Piedra was taken to University Medical Center of El Paso for treatment.

Piedra was declared brain dead at the hospital

Piedra was hospitalized for several days before his family took him off life support after doctors told them he would not recover. The decision to remove him from life support devastated the family, Piedra's niece Didi Lopez said.

"His status was not gonna change if we did not disconnect him," Lopez said. "It was basically just gonna be like in a vegetative state. We didn't want to see him suffering. We didn't want him to live out his life like that.

"It was hard because we wanted him to, of course, wake up and continue living his life, but we basically didn't make the decision. The decision was made for us and for him the second that those bullets went inside of his head."

'A hardworking man'

All Piedra wanted to do was provide for his family and be there when they needed him the most.

"He was a hardworking man and really funny," Lopez said. "He was never in a bad mood. He was always the one that if he saw you in a bad mood, he'd come over and try to lift you up and always was making us laugh. Such a funny, caring and hardworking man."

Three weeks ago, Piedra, the sole provider of his household, began working as an Uber driver. He began his shift by picking up passengers at 7 a.m. and ending it around 2 p.m.

On June 16, he picked up his last customer of the day and as his shift neared its end, his wife had not heard from him.

She called and texted him but received no answer. And his family never heard from him again.

"They (Piedra's family) started calling all the hospitals, trying to see if he was there. And then someone had mentioned the article that came out about an Uber driver being shot. They called the (El Paso Police Department) nonemergency number and then that's when they told them that it was him. And so for us to go to the hospital. That's how we found out."

Community comes together to support family, remember Piedra

Since the shooting, the El Paso community has come together to help Piedra's family and honor his life, which was cut way too short, Lopez said.

"We want justice," Lopez said. "It wasn't fair that that's how the situation played out. I wish she (Copas) would've spoken up, asked questions, not acted on impulse and make a reckless decision because not only did she ruin our lives, but she ruined her life, too. We just want justice for him. That's all we're asking."

A vigil for Piedra was held on Friday at a local park and his family welcomed the community to celebrate Piedra's life and memory.

"We basically just wanted to open it up to the community because his funeral will be private," Lopez said. "We have seen how much people are backing us up online and all the people who have donated. And so we kind of wanted a chance to give the community a moment to just kind of grieve with us and see their support in real life."

A GoFundMe page was created to help the family pay for hospital and funeral expenses.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

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Montana bridge collapse sends train cars into Yellowstone River prompting federal response - CBS News

A bridge collapse early Saturday morning in Montana sent several freight train cars crashing into the Yellowstone River, authorities said. The train was carrying hazardous materials, but it remains unclear if any of those materials leaked. 

The collapse occurred at about 6 a.m. local time in a section of the river between Reed Point and Columbus, according to Stillwater County Disaster and Emergency Services, which is about 60 miles west of Billings. There was no word of any injuries. 

At least three of the Montana Rail Link cars which collapsed into the river contained hot asphalt, and four were carrying molten sulfur, the agency said, later adding that there was "no expected hazmat impact" to towns in the county.   

In a statement, Montana Rail Link said that "both substances solidify rapidly when exposed to cooler temperatures."

The bridge collapse with the train in the river. Stillwater County DES

Montana Rail Link said that two cars which contained sodium hydrogen sulfate, an acid salt, did not enter the water, and that initial air and water tests did not find any evidence that they had leaked. 

Multiple local and federal agencies were on scene, including Federal Railroad Administration officials.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted that he had spoken to Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte about the incident, and that "residents concerned about potential impacts should follow information and instructions from local authorities." 

The state Fish, Wildlife and Parks department said the river would be closed, and asked boaters to avoid the area. 

The public works department for the city of Billings, which borders the river, wrote on Facebook Saturday afternoon that "there is very little chance of any hazardous material getting" to the city. The department initially reported that its plan was "to shut down the water intake for the time it takes for any material to pass by Billings."

The nearby Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office initially stated in a Facebook post that several tanker cars were "leaking petroleum products near the Yellowstone River." However, Stillwater County News, a local paper, later reported that none of the freight cars were carrying oil.   

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Kerry Breen

Kerry Breen is a news editor and reporter for CBS News. Her reporting focuses on current events, breaking news and substance use.

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Montana Republicans are third state legislators to receive letters with mysterious white powder - CBS News

Republican lawmakers in Montana are sharing that they received letters with white powder as federal agents investigate mysterious substances similarly mailed to GOP officials in two other states.

In a Friday night tweet, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte said he has received "disturbing" reports of anonymous threats sent to legislators. The Montana attorney general posted on Facebook that the local sheriff's office collected evidence after his mother, a state representative, opened one letter with a "white powder substance" sent to her home address.

I've received disturbing reports that Montana legislators are receiving anonymous, threatening letters containing white powder. The state will bring to bear whatever resources are needed to support law enforcement officers as they investigate.

— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) June 24, 2023

"PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS about opening your mail," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in the post directed toward legislators. "If you receive a suspicious package, contact law enforcement immediately."

Republican officials in Tennessee and Kansas have recently received similar letters. A legislative office building in Nashville temporarily locked down on Thursday after the House Speaker said multiple Republican leaders got mail with "a white powder substance." The letters included "obvious threats made by a liberal activist specifically targeting Republicans," according to a House Republican Caucus spokesperson who did not provide further details.

The FBI said Thursday that ongoing lab tests did not indicate any risk to public safety.

About 100 such letters have been sent to lawmakers and public officials across Kansas, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Preliminary tests did not detect any common dangerous toxins and no injuries have been reported.

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US special counsel seeks delay to start of Trump documents trial until Dec - Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith on Friday asked a federal judge to delay the start of former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of willful retention of classified government records and obstruction of justice until Dec. 11, a court filing showed.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set an initial trial date of Aug. 14.

But Smith, in the filing, said the Aug. 14 date "would deny counsel for the defendant or the attorney for the Government the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation."

Trump, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president for the 2024 election, was arraigned in federal court in Miami last week, during which he pleaded not guilty to charges he unlawfully kept national security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them.

The case will need to proceed under a strict and meticulous set of rules set forth in a law known as the Classified Information Procedures Act, which aims to protect classified evidence and manage how such records can be disclosed.

In the filing, Smith said the start of the trial should be delayed so Trump's lawyers have time to get security clearances to review classified documents.

Smith laid out a schedule in the lead up to the proposed Dec. 11 start of jury selection, including a Sept. 5 deadline for all defense discovery requests.

He said Trump's lawyers do not oppose scrapping the Aug. 14 trial start date but he anticipates they will file a motion opposing the prosecution's proposed schedule. A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Sandra Maler and Jacqueline Wong)

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Titanic submarine investigation: What's next in the recovery efforts - CBS Boston

The desperate search to find the missing Titan submersible turned into a recovery effort Thursday after officials announced that the vessel imploded sometime this week, killing all five aboard, near the Titanic shipwreck. Now authorities are turning their focus to determining why the "catastrophic implosion" happened.

Deep-sea robots will continue to search the sea floor for clues about what occured deep in the North Atlantic. 

"I know there are also a lot of questions about how, why and when did this happen. Those are questions we will collect as much information as we can about now," Coast Guard rear Adm. John Mauger said, adding that it was a "complex case" that happened in a remote part of the ocean and involved people from several different countries.  

The Titan, owned by undersea exploration company OceanGate Expeditions, had been chronicling the Titanic's decay and the underwater ecosystem around the sunken ocean liner in yearly voyages since 2021.

Many questions about what occurred underwater remain: Exactly when and why did the implosion occur? Will the victims' bodies ever be found? How could this tragedy have been prevented?

Here's what we do know so far:

WHEN AND WHERE DID THE TITAN GO MISSING?

The craft submerged Sunday morning, and its support vessel lost contact with it about an hour and 45 minutes later, according to the Coast Guard.

The vessel was reported overdue about 435 miles south of St. John's, Newfoundland, according to Canada's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A Google Map by NOAA shows where in the Atlantic Ocean the Titanic wreckage is located, hundreds of miles from Newfoundland, Canada.  NOAA/Google Maps

The Titan was launched from an icebreaker that was hired by OceanGate and formerly operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The ship has ferried dozens of people and the submersible craft to the North Atlantic wreck site, where the Titan has made multiple dives.

WHAT HAPPENED ABOARD THE TITAN?

The vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five aboard, sometime this week after it submerged Sunday morning. It's not clear exactly when or where the implosion occurred. But a senior military official said Thursday that a U.S. Navy acoustic system detected an "anomaly" Sunday that was likely the Titan's fatal implosion.

The Coast Guard announced that debris from the submersible had been found and the end of rescue efforts Thursday, bringing a tragic close to a saga that included an urgent around-the-clock search and a worldwide vigil for the missing vessel.

"The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber," Mauger said in a news conference Thursday.

A deep-sea robot discovered the debris, near the Titanic shipwreck, that authorities say came from the submersible.

A U.S. Navy official said the Navy detected "an acoustic anomaly consistent with an implosion" shortly after the sub, named Titan, lost contact with the surface Sunday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reported. The information was relayed to the Coast Guard, which used it to narrow the radius of the search area, the official said.

Meanwhile, banging noises that were detected during the week were assessed to have been noise from other ships in the area, Martin reported.

WHAT'S NEXT AND WHO WAS KILLED?

The Coast Guard will continue searching near the Titanic for more clues about what happened to the Titan.

Officials say there isn't a timeframe for when they will call off the massive international search. Mauger said that the prospect of finding or recovering remains was unknown.

"This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor, and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel," he said. "We'll continue to work and search the area down there."

Rescue teams will remain on scene with the underwater robots mapping the debris field, but there's no indication if or when remains will be brought to the surface.

"We're going to continue to investigate the site of the debris field and then there will be a lot of questions about how, why and when did this happen," Mauger said.

Five passengers were aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible that was lost on a dive to view the Titanic. CBS News

The victims are: Oceangate chief executive and Titan pilot Stockton Rush; two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," OceanGate said in a statement. "We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."

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Stockton Rush CEO of WA-based OceanGate among 5 dead near Titanic shipwreck - The Seattle Times

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. Stockton Rush, CEO of WA-based OceanGate, among 5 dead near Titanic shipwreck  The Seattle Times
2. Missing Titanic sub updates: Latest on search efforts  The Associated Press
3. The pilot, 4 passengers of the Titan submersible are dead, US Coast Guard says  WJAR
4. The Titanic wreck led to safer seas. Maybe the Titanic tourist sub will, too. | Opinion  Charlotte Observer
5. How a Trip to the Titanic Ended in Tragedy  The Atlantic
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Gercino Dos Santos Jr. and Elma Santos Preven Bailed George Santos Out of Jail: Report - The Daily Beast

We finally know who bailed Rep. George Santos (R-NY) out of jail—despite the beleaguered congressman claiming he’d rather go to jail than give up their names.

Court documents unsealed Thursday revealed that Santos’ father and aunt put up the $500,000 bail bond that allowed Santos to walk free after his arrest by federal authorities last month.

While only their signatures appeared on the unsealed document, a source close to the matter confirmed their names as Gercino dos Santos Jr. and Elma Santos Preven.

Gercino dos Santos Jr., Santos’ father, lives in New York and previously worked as a house painter, according to The New York Times.

Santos’ father and aunt both donated thousands to his congressional bid, according to federal elections data. Preven’s social media accounts reflect a particular interest in Brazilian politics, as she has posted material critical of the country’s left-wing President Ignacio Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and supportive of his far-right foe and predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. A United States Postal Service worker, she owns properties in both Queens and in Brazil.

"My family & I have made peace with the judges decision to release their names,” Santos tweeted on Thursday afternoon. “Now I pray that the judge is correct and no harm comes to them.”

Prosecutors have accused Santos of running a scheme to defraud political donors, cheating the federal government out of COVID-19 relief funds, and even faking disclosure forms during his campaign for a Long Island congressional seat. The Justice Department indicted him in May on 13 counts that include money laundering, stealing public money, wire fraud, and making false statements to Congress. Santos pleaded not guilty to all those charges, calling the case a “witch hunt.”

“I’m going to fight my battle, I’m going to deliver, I’m going to fight the witch hunt, I’m going to take care of clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that,” he told reporters massed outside the court last month.

Santos surrendered to authorities at a Long Island courthouse on May 10. His suretors—the people who bailed Santos out of jail that day—stepped in to cover his $500,000 bond, but not before Santos’ defense team moved to have their identities redacted from public court filings.

Since then, Santos and his lawyers have fought tooth and nail to keep those names out of the public eye, citing perceived threats to their physical safety and emotional well-being.

“There is little doubt that the suretors will suffer some unnecessary form of retaliation if their identities and employment are revealed,” attorney Joseph Murray wrote in a June 5 letter to Judge Anne Y. Shields. He added that Santos would rather have the parties withdraw their support and await his trial in jail “than subject these suretors to what will inevitably come.”

In that same letter, Murray claimed that one of Santos’ suretors backed out after witnessing the “media frenzy” around the case.

The identity of Santos’ mystery benefactors drew the interest not only of the news media but also the House Ethics Committee, which wants to evaluate whether receiving the bail bond breached congressional rules on receiving gifts.

Media outlets had asked Judge Shields to unseal the names of Santos’ benefactors, to which she agreed in a June 6 order. Santos immediately appealed. When that move failed this week, Judge Joanna Seybert slated the reveal for Thursday at noon.

In the unsuccessful appeal, Murray countered claims that Santos violated House ethics rules by revealing that the bail money came, at least in part, from members of Santos’ family.

Santos first gained notoriety when a New York Times investigation revealed that he had lied his way into office, fabricating practically his entire resume. Since then, most of his life story—from his religious background to his mother’s death to his volleyball skills—has been exposed as fraudulent.

Santos has faced a cascade of public scandals. State and local entities, as well as authorities in Brazil, have pursued criminal probes against him. Democrats in Congress have pushed for his expulsion, while Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has declined to support his re-election bid.

“I think he has other things to focus on in his life than running for re-election,” McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol.

But Santos hasn’t wavered on his plans to run again for New York’s 3rd congressional district in 2024, even as his legal troubles pile up.

—With additional reporting by William Bredderman.

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Idaho Murders: Prosecutors Reveal DNA Match to Bryan Kohberger - The Daily Beast

The DNA collected from a knife sheath found at the scene of the quadruple murder of four University of Idaho students last fall is a “statistical match” to accused killer Bryan Kohberger, prosecutors say.

In a June 16 motion for a protective order, Idaho prosecutors revealed that a “STR” DNA comparison was performed between a cheek swab collected from 28-year-old Kohberger and the sheath found “face down and partially under” one of the four murder victims. The DNA was “at least 5.37 octillion times more likely” to belong to Kohberger than an “unrelated individually randomly selected from the general population,” prosecutors said.

The motion seeks to protect some of the investigation, including raw DNA data, lab notes, the names and personal information of Kohberger’s relatives, and names that were matched against the DNA from genealogy services. The DNA link is the latest development in the closely watched case, and provides new details into how investigators used genetic genealogy to identify Kohberger as their prime suspect.

Prosecutors allege that Kohberger murdered Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, and Madison Mogen as they slept in their off-campus home in Moscow at around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13. The former doctoral criminology student at Washington State University has pleaded not guilty to several charges and is scheduled to face trial in October.

The motion says that when authorities arrived at the scene, “the sheath was face down and partially under both Madison’s body and the comforter on the bed.” Initially, the Idaho State Lab concluded that DNA found on the sheath came from a male, but the FBI was not able to directly tie it to any data in publicly available genealogy sites.

“The FBI went to work building family trees of the genetic relatives to the suspect DNA left at the crime scene in an attempt to identify the contributor of the unknown DNA,” the motion states, adding that a break in the case came when a tip was sent in to investigate Kohberger.

The tip, the motion states, did not provide “law enforcement with substantive evidence of guilt” but did prompt them to collect a DNA sample from trash recovered from Kohberger’s Pennsylvania family home. Ultimately, investigators also took a buccal swab from the suspect. That evidence was then sent to the Idaho State Lab for testing, which prosecutors say yielded a match with the sheath.

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