by Shauneen Miranda, Kentucky Lantern
April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education said Monday that it will resume collections May 5 for defaulted federal student loans.

After pausing during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency has not collected on defaulted loans in over five years. More than 5 million borrowers sit in default on their federal student loans, and just 38% of borrowers are current on their payments, the department said.

“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Monday.

During last year’s presidential campaign, President Donald Trump criticized his predecessor and successor, President Joe Biden, for his efforts to erase student debt. McMahon resumed that line of attack Monday, blaming Biden’s administration for unreasonably raising borrowers’ expectations of forgiveness.

“The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear. Hundreds of billions have already been transferred to taxpayers,” McMahon said.

She added that “going forward, the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, will shepherd the student loan program responsibly and according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment — both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook.”

The department said the Office of Federal Student Aid will restart the Treasury Offset Program, which the U.S. Treasury Department administers, on May 5.

The Education Department statement said all borrowers who are in default will get emails over the next two weeks “making them aware of these developments and urging them to contact the Default Resolution Group to make a monthly payment, enroll in an income-driven repayment plan, or sign up for loan rehabilitation.”

The department said the Office of Federal Student Aid will “send required notices beginning administrative wage garnishment” later this summer.

More than 42.7 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt, according to the department. 

The administration claims that “instead of protecting responsible taxpayers, the Biden-Harris Administration put them on the hook for irresponsible lending, pushing the federal student loan portfolio toward a fiscal cliff.” 

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Assessment: Center-Right

The content primarily reflects a Center-Right political bias, as it focuses on the resumption of federal student loan collections and criticizes the previous administration’s attempts to implement student debt forgiveness. The statements made by U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon highlight a commitment to fiscal responsibility and emphasize the idea that taxpayers should not bear the burden of student loan defaults. Additionally, the language used aligns with conservative viewpoints that prioritize personal responsibility and criticize government overspending. The framing of the Biden administration’s actions as misleading further underscores a critical stance typical of a Center-Right perspective.

SUMMARY: The Kentucky Safe Teen Driving Challenge aims to promote safe driving habits among teens, coinciding with new regulations allowing 15-year-olds to take permit tests. Inspired by a similar program in Missouri, the competition culminated in the announcement of winners, including grand prize winner Emily Emerson, who received $2,000. Despite being an experienced driver, Emerson faced challenges on the road, such as aggressive drivers and traffic violators. In light of the concerning statistics—13,000 injuries and 210 deaths from teen driving crashes in Kentucky over three years—state leaders emphasize the importance of safe driving and adherence to traffic laws.

A new statewide competition focused on teen road safety came to Kentucky, and prize winners say they walked away with more than cash prizes.

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Source

by Ashley Murray, Kentucky Lantern
April 19, 2025

The U.S. Supreme Court early Saturday temporarily blocked a new round of deportations under the wartime Alien Enemies Act until the high court considers the case of several migrants in Texas whose lawyers say are at risk for “imminent removal.”

The justices issued the one-page order just after 1 a.m. Eastern, directing the government “not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court.”

The order was unsigned and noted conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. 

The rare overnight order followed a flurry of activity Friday after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the migrants’ appeal for a temporary restraining order.

A federal judge in the Northern District of Texas on Thursday denied the petitioners were at “imminent risk of summary removal” because immigration officials said in a previous court filing they would not deport the migrants until the district court resolved allegations that the removals are illegal.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Supreme Court to take up the matter Friday after the group said their clients were “loaded on to buses, presumably headed to the airport,” violating an earlier ruling from the justices.

The attorneys for Venezuelan men held at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, “learned that officers at Bluebonnet have distributed notices under the Alien Enemies Act, in English only, that designate Venezuelan men for removal under the AEA, and have told the men that the removals are imminent and will happen today.”

“These removals could therefore occur at any moment,” the ACLU wrote in its application.

President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in mid-March to trigger the removals of the Venezuelans age 14 and up whom the administration suspected had ties to the Tren de Aragua gang.

The deportation flights sparked a legal challenge separately winding through the federal courts. Family members of many of the Venezuelan men say they have no gang ties and have been illegally deported without due process.

Last updated 11:09 a.m., Apr. 19, 2025

Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kentucky Lantern maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jamie Lucke for questions: info@kentuckylantern.com.

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