“The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals put a final end to former President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan on Tuesday. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey originally sued the Biden administration over its $500 million effort to wipe away student loans, known as the SAVE plan. The court’s Tuesday ruling found that Biden’s secretary of education had ‘gone well beyond this authority by designing a plan where loans are largely forgiven rather than repaid.’ Bailey noted in a statement that the ruling has no active impact beyond blocking future presidents from attempting Biden’s maneuver. ‘Though Joe Biden is out of office, this precedent is imperative to ensuring a President cannot force working Americans to foot the bill for someone else’s Ivy League debt,’ Bailey said in a statement.” (02/18/25)
“Government forces and local militias have clashed south of the provincial capital of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as troops fall back in the face of an advance by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, military sources and townsfolk say. The troops and their militia allies were meant to pull back from Bukavu — a trading and mining industry hub — to avoid urban battles with the rebels and to dig in elsewhere to stall the rapid offensive. The militias wanted to stand and fight. … Direct clashes with the M23 were largely avoided, but towns south of Bukavu then found themselves in the middle of firefights as pro-government militia fighters, known as the Wazalendo, tried to disarm or halt retreating or deserting Congolese soldiers.” (02/18/25)
“Wisconsin’s Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday proposed cutting taxes by nearly $2 billion, echoing a priority of Republicans, while also outlining a plan to fight water pollution and push back on President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Evers will deliver his two-year spending plan to the Republican-controlled Legislature on Tuesday night. Republicans have promised to dramatically rewrite the plan, as they have done on his three previous budgets, before passing it later this year. Evers has clashed with Republicans over tax cuts in the past, gutting a $3.5 billion tax cut in the last budget, while approving a $2 billion tax cut in 2021. In his new budget, Evers said he will call for cutting taxes by nearly $2 billion — equal to about half of the state’s roughly $4 billion budget surplus. Republicans have said they want to use all the state’s surplus to cut taxes.” (02/18/25)
“The Social Security Administration’s top official resigned over the weekend in the latest clash over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) access to sensitive government records, the Washington Post reports. … Acting commissioner Michelle King, who worked at the agency for over 30 years, left her position after refusing to give DOGE staffers access to sensitive information. President Trump appointed Leland Dudek — who runs the Social Security Administration’s anti-fraud office — as acting commissioner while his permanent pick, Frank Bisignano, awaits Senate confirmation.” (02/18/25)
“The Washington Post reportedly killed a $115,000 advertisement calling on President Trump to fire DOGE chief Elon Musk — sparking renewed outcry over censorship at the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. Advocacy group Common Cause wanted the anti-Musk wraparound ad, which would cover the front and back pages, to run this week, but it was scrapped without management providing a reason, according to the Hill. Common Cause, along with partner Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, had planned to spend $115,000 for both the wraparound ad and a similar full-page ad inside the paper, the outlet reported. ‘We are forced to ask ourselves if the Washington Post — a pillar of investigative journalism during Watergate — is unwilling to challenge those in power,’ Virginia Kase Solomón, president at Common Cause, told the New York Post in a statement.” (02/18/25)
“Supporters of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte have urged the Supreme Court to dismiss her impeachment, calling it a politically motivated attack. In a petition filed Tuesday, lawyers supporting Duterte argued that the impeachment — based on charges of corruption and betraying public trust — was pushed through without due process and should be nullified. They also called for the court to block an impending Senate trial that could expel her from office.” (02/18/25)
“Detained Britons Craig and Lindsay Foreman have been charged in Iran with espionage, the country’s judiciary news agency has said. Mr and Mrs Foreman were arrested in the city of Kerman in January but news of their detention, on unspecified security charges, emerged last week. Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said that the couple, both aged 52, had ‘entered Iran under the guise of tourists’ and ‘gathered information in multiple provinces of the country.’ The couple had been on a motorbike trip around the world and had planned to stay in Iran for five days before they were charged with espionage, or spying, by Iranian authorities. Mr and Mrs Foreman were heading for Australia on their journey across the globe and had crossed into Iran from Armenia on 30 December and were planning to be in Pakistan by 4 January.” (02/18/25)
“Elon Musk’s xAI on Tuesday unveiled its latest artificial intelligence model, Grok 3, claiming it can outperform offerings from OpenAI and China’s DeepSeek based on early testing, which included standardized tests on math, science and coding. ‘We’re very excited to present Grok 3, which is, we think, an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2 in a very short period of time,’ Musk said at a demonstration of Grok 3 that was streamed on his social media platform X. The team also said it was launching a new product called ‘Deep Search,’ which would act as a ‘next generation search engine.’ Grok 3 will be rolled out for premium X subscribers, starting Tuesday stateside, and will also be accessible through a separate subscription for the model’s web and app versions, the xAI team said.” (02/18/25)
“A California court ruled on Wednesday that the owner of a Bakersfield bakery violated state law when she refused to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple in 2017. A three-judge panel in the 5th Appellate District Court unanimously ruled that Cathy Miller’s policy of denying the cake was intentionally discriminatory, reinforcing that businesses cannot deny services based on sexual orientation under the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. The ruling overturned a 2022 decision by Kern County Judge Eric Bradshaw, who had found in Miller’s favor. … Eileen and Mireya Rodriguez-Del Rio, visited Tastries Bakery to purchase a cake for their wedding. They selected a predesigned white cake — one regularly sold for birthdays and baby showers — but Miller declined to sell it after learning it was for a same-sex marriage.” [editor’s note: So no special cake, just their ordinary predesigned one? Yep, book ’em, Danno! – SAT] [editor’s note: Such discrimination, while disgusting, should be perfectly legal – TLK] (02/18/25)
“Honda is willing to resume takeover talks to create the world’s fourth-biggest car producer if Nissan’s chief executive Makoto Uchida steps down, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations. The 58-year-old had been one of the strongest advocates within Nissan for a deal with Honda. However, relations between Uchida and his counterpart Toshihiro Mibe deteriorated as Honda became frustrated with the speed of Nissan’s restructuring and the depth of its financial troubles. The merger talks broke down after Honda demanded that Nissan become a fully owned subsidiary instead of establishing a holding company, with the two companies on an ‘equal footing.’ Honda would be prepared to revive negotiations under a new boss who can better manage internal opposition, according to one person.” (02/17/25)
