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☆ Online College Classes Are Making the Student Debt Crisis Worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

She applied and was accepted to the online program in 2020. In exchange for expanding course offerings and recruiting students, OPMs receive a big chunk of the tuition revenue from the online programs, which usually cost the same as in-person schooling. While it's not always the case, many experts and grads told me that OPMs were offering online students a worse education for a sky-high price. A third-party provider to those schools, 2U signs a contract to offer services such as recruiting and technology to boost online enrollment. OPMs have helped fuel the student debt crisis, saddling may students with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt and an uncertain future.

Persons: Iola Favell, Favell, Rossier, Zavareei, USC Rossier, OPMs, it's, grads, Eric Rothschild, John Katzman, Katzman, Clare McCann, McCann, —, Aaron Ament, Barack Obama, That's, STEFANI REYNOLDS, Helen Drinan, Cabrini University —, Drinan, Democratic Sens, Elizabeth Warren, Tina Smith, Sherrod Brown, Pearson, Rosa DeLauro, Virginia Foxx, Ament Organizations: University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, USC, Student Defense, Zavareei LLP, US, Education Department upended, Education Department, Arnold Ventures, OPM, Office, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street, Canyon University, Grand Canyon, Century Foundation, Getty, Cabrini University, Simmons University, Democratic, GAO, Republican, GOP, Universities, Protection, Consumer Financial, Bureau Locations: California, Georgetown, —, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts

☆ Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Candidacy and What Might Have Been
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Lance Morrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Images: AP/Getty Images Composite: Mark KellyWhen I was a kid in the mid-1950s, I used to play touch football with Robert F. Kennedy, the father, and his crew on a field in Georgetown. I remember one Saturday morning when—despite being conspicuously pregnant—Ethel Kennedy was in the game. Bobby, as usual, was captain and quarterback. Ethel faked right, then cut to the inside, and her husband threw her a perfect spiral. She bobbled it, the ball doing a little dance in midair for a second, and then she dropped it.

Persons: Donald Trump's, Biden, MAGA, Mark Kelly, Robert F, Kennedy, — Ethel Kennedy, Bobby, Ethel, cussed Organizations: Republican Locations: Georgetown

☆ Opinion | ‘Doing the Work’ and the Obsession With Superficial Self-Improvement
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Jessica Grose | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And when you notice something like this on social media, it’s a safe bet that there’s an aspect of performance at play: “Do the work” isn’t just about doing the work; it’s about being perceived as a person who does the work. The colleague wondered, “Why didn’t she just say she was sick?” That’s because until very recently, saying “I need a mental health day” wouldn’t have been understood as an acceptable motive for missing a class. But now, focusing on your mental health is more normative. Tannen agreed with Smith that when you’re talking about “doing the work” and tending to your burnout, there’s “a sense that this makes you a good person,” Tannen said. But when we talk about introspection and reflection as work, it cheapens the whole enterprise.

Persons: Mychal Denzel Smith, ” Smith, “, ”, Deborah Tannen, Smith, Wright Mills, Tannen, ” Tannen, it’s Organizations: Georgetown University, Wright

☆ Opinion | Jackie on My Mind
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — I think about Jackie Kennedy several times a day. Tour groups come by my house in Georgetown to see John Kennedy’s bachelor pad, where he was living when he met Jacqueline Bouvier at a dinner party. “Jackie told Jack he needed to get out of this dump,” the guide said. (Never a Heathcliff type, Jack sometimes treated her, as Jackie once told Gore Vidal, as though she were a campaign asset, like Rhode Island.) Carl Sferrazza Anthony’s new biography, “Camera Girl,” offers a lovely snapshot of Jackie’s single years in D.C., working at The Washington Times-Herald.

Persons: WASHINGTON, Jackie Kennedy, John, Jacqueline Bouvier, “ Jackie, Jack, we’ll, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Jackie, Gore Vidal, Carl Sferrazza Anthony’s Organizations: D.C, The Washington Times, Herald Locations: Georgetown, Rhode

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday it had dismissed 42 pending enforcement cases after discovering enforcement staff had improper access to materials meant for commission officials ruling on those cases. The enforcement and in-house ruling arms of the SEC are supposed to be kept completely separate from each other regarding such matters. It added that in most cases, the problematic materials were not uploaded to enforcement staff until after a decision had been handed down. An internal SEC review found that there was no evidence that the improper access had any effect on decisions made by either enforcement staff or officials reviewing those cases, according to SEC officials. Nonetheless, the agency decided to dismiss all pending cases, primarily against individuals and smaller firms, who were impacted by the improper access.

Persons: Pete Schroeder, Chizu Nomiyama, Diane Craft Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Thomson

☆ McCarthy’s Debt-Ceiling Deal Meets ‘Die Hard 2’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Daniel Henninger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Daniel Henninger's weekly column, “Wonder Land,” appears in The Wall Street Journal each Thursday. Mr. Henninger was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing in 1987 and 1996, and shared in the Journal's Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for the paper's coverage of the attacks on September 11. In 2004, he won the Eric Breindel Journalism Award for his weekly column. He has won the Gerald Loeb Award for commentary, the Scripps Howard Foundation's Walker Stone Award for editorial writing and the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Distinguished Writing Award for editorial writing. He is a weekly panelist on the "Journal Editorial Report" on Fox News.

Persons: Daniel Henninger's, ”, Henninger, Eric Breindel, Gerald Loeb, Scripps Howard Foundation's Walker Organizations: Scripps, American Society of Newspaper, Fox News, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Locations: Cleveland

☆ When the Neighbors Don’t Share Your Vision (and That Vision Involves ‘Transformers’ Statues)
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Noreen Malone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The thing about putting a pair of 10-foot statues of metal-hewn Transformers outside your townhouse in the most picturesque district of the nation’s capital is that the neighbors are going to have opinions. Plenty of people love the statues, which resemble invaders from the future, in a neighborhood that does its best to hang on to its cobblestone past. Students at nearby Georgetown University can’t get enough. Neither can tourists: The Transformers statues have their own entry on Google Maps as a place of interest, with 4.9 stars. “The best part of visiting Georgetown,” one reviewer declared.

Persons: —, Newton Howard, Georgetown University can’t, “, ” Organizations: Optimus, Georgetown University, Google Locations: Georgetown, Taiwan

☆ Royal wedding showpiece highlights Jordan's role as West's stable ally
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Prince Mohammed last visited Jordan a year ago following years of tensions, also prompting hopes then that warmer ties would unlock more fulsome economic support. KING-IN-WAITING[1/10] Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein and Rajwa Al Saif are seen together at their royal wedding ceremony, in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2023 in this screen grab taken from a video. At the Arab League summit in Jeddah last month, he walked alongside his father to greet Crown Prince Mohammad. Washington's desire for a stable ally in an otherwise volatile region meant it too has often turned a blind eye to Jordan's slow democratic reforms and mixed human rights record. It's the prince's wedding, not ours," said Abdullah al-Fayez, a retired servicemen living on slim savings on the outskirts of Amman.

Persons: Prince Hussein, Rajwa Al Saif, Britain's William, Kate AMMAN, King Abdullah, Jordan, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Lady Jill Biden, Britain's Prince, Princess of Wales, William, Kate, Prince Mohammed, Hamza, Hussein, Joe Biden, Prince Mohammad, Prophet Mohammed, Alia Ibrahim, Abdullah al, Suleiman Al, Khalidi, John Stonestreet Organizations: West, Saudi, U.S, Royal Hashemite, REUTERS, Georgetown, Sandhurst, League, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: Saudi, West, U.S, Amman, Jordan, Jeddah, Mecca, Iraq, Syria

☆ Online College Class Providers Screwing Over Students, Adding to Debt Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

She applied and was accepted to the online program in 2020. In exchange for expanding course offerings and recruiting students, OPMs receive a big chunk of the tuition revenue from the online programs, which usually cost the same as in-person schooling. While it's not always the case, many experts and grads told me that OPMs were offering online students a worse education for a sky-high price. A third-party provider to those schools, 2U signs a contract to offer services such as recruiting and technology to boost online enrollment. But beyond scandals, the everyday business of OPMs is leaving many online students with exorbitant bills, despite how cheap it is to administer the courses.

Persons: Iola Favell, Favell, Rossier, USC Rossier, OPMs, it's, grads, Eric Rothschild, John Katzman, Katzman, Clare McCann, McCann, —, Aaron Ament, Barack Obama, That's, STEFANI REYNOLDS, Helen Drinan, Cabrini University —, Drinan, Democratic Sens, Elizabeth Warren, Tina Smith, Sherrod Brown, Pearson, Rosa DeLauro, Virginia Foxx, Ament Organizations: University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, USC, Student Defense, US, Education Department upended, Education Department, Arnold Ventures, OPM, Office, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street, Canyon University, Grand Canyon, Century Foundation, Getty, Cabrini University, Simmons University, Democratic, GAO, Republican, GOP, Universities, Protection, Consumer Financial, Bureau Locations: California, Georgetown, —, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts

☆ ‘California is meant to burn': Experts teach landowners art of prescribed burns
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Nathan Frandino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Volunteer David Palmer takes part in a broadcast burn in advance of wildfire season near Blodgett Forest Research Station in Georgetown, California, U.S., May 20, 2023. Teaching locals is exactly what Susie Kocher is hoping to accomplish through the El Dorado Amador Prescribed Burn Association. Founded in 2021, the association teaches private landowners about prescribed burns, including how to plan and carry them out safely. California last year launched a strategic plan for wildfire and forest resilience with the aim of expanding prescribed burns to 400,000 acres annually by 2025. The Saturday class for two dozen volunteers – mostly college students and a few private landowners - at the Blodgett Forest Research Station west of Lake Tahoe turned out just as the experts had hoped.

Persons: David Palmer, Loren Elliott GEORGETOWN, Susie Kocher, Amador, it's, Kocher, Sarah Fischbach, haven't, ” Fischbach, we're, ”, Ariel Roughton, Cathy Mueller, we've, ” Mueller, Nathan Frandino, Mary Milliken, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Research, REUTERS, El, Burn, “, Blodgett, Thomson Locations: Blodgett, Georgetown , California, U.S, Loren Elliott GEORGETOWN , California, California, Sierra Nevada, Lake, “ California

☆ Former SEC chief Harvey Pitt passes away at 78
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 31 (Reuters) - Harvey Pitt, a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, passed away on Tuesday, according to a statement from the director of the SEC Historical Society shared with Reuters. At the time, fellow SEC Commissioner Roel Campos said: "There has certainly never been anyone who loved this agency more than Chairman Pitt." Pitt was a graduate of St. John's University School of Law and the City University of New York, according to the SEC's website. He passed away on Tuesday, according to the statement from Jane Cobb, executive director of the SEC Historical Society. "Over the years, Harvey has been extremely generous with his time and sage advice," said Michael Piwowar, a former SEC commissioner.

Persons: Harvey Pitt, Pitt, George W, Bush, Roel Campos, Jane Cobb, Harvey, Michael Piwowar, Chris Prentice, Douglas Gillison, Niket, Shinjini Ganguli, Paul Simao Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC Historical Society, Reuters, SEC, FBI, Enron, San Francisco Chronicle, Oxley, St, John's University School of Law, City University of New, Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania, Kalorama Partners, Thomson Locations: City University of New York, Washington, New York, Bengaluru

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. banks saw total deposits decline by a record 2.5% in the first quarter of 2023, and industry-wide profits were relatively flat after taking into account the effects of two large bank failures, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said Wednesday. The FDIC said the $472 billion in deposit outflows in the first quarter was the largest it had recorded since it began collecting such data in 1984. The decline was primarily from uninsured funds, as insured deposits actually rose $255.1 billion, or 2.5%, amid the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. The decline in deposits was offset by increased wholesale funding, which rose 14.4% in the first quarter. The results showed banks shrinking the amount of unrealized losses on their books and maintaining strong capital ratios.

Persons: Martin Gruenberg, Gruenberg, Pete Schroeder, Sinead Carew, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC, Valley Bank, Signature Bank, First Republic Bank, Comerica, Citizens, Thomson

☆ Gen Zers are skipping New York and LA and flocking to smaller cities with cheaper homes, great jobs, and lots to do
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Alex Akmal and her partner, Alex, along Memorial Union Terrace on Lake Mendota. In the case of Gen Z, one move often begets another, according to one demographer. Gen Z bonds have been cemented even more because many young people are delaying marriage and having children, the center found. After her studies, she said she might move to Washington, D.C., an even larger Gen Z hangout with those offerings and more. Cities must evolve for the futureFor whatever reason they are coming to these cities, these Gen Zers are here to stay.

☆ Teenage Girl in Guyana Is Charged With 19 Counts of Murder in School Dorm Fire
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A 15-year-old student accused of deliberately setting a fire in a girl’s school dormitory in Guyana that killed 18 of her schoolmates and a 5-year-old boy was charged on Monday as an adult with 19 counts of murder. The defendant appeared virtually at a hearing in a court south of the capital, Georgetown, and she was ordered held in custody pending further court proceedings. Investigators accused the girl, who was not identified, of igniting the blaze at Mahdia Secondary School in anger with the administrator over the confiscation of her cellphone. The government boarding school serves remote Indigenous villages in the country’s southwest. If found guilty, the student could face life in prison.

CNN —At least 20 people have been killed and several others injured in a “horrific” school dormitory fire in the South American country of Guyana, officials said on Monday. “It is with great sadness that we bring to you a heart-wrenching update on the fire at the dormitory at the Mahdia Secondary school” in central Guyana, a Department of Public Information statement said. The Guyanese government earlier mobilized a “full-scale medical evacuation-supported response” after the fire broke out. The Mahdia Secondary School Dormitory, where the fire happened, is at the center of the Guyanese government’s push to improve the education level in the less developed part of the country. In previous government statements, they describe the construction of the school dormitory as an effort to “bridge the gaps between the hinterland and coastal areas.”This is a developing story.

But as some argue, in its quest to avoid another taper tantrum, the Fed delayed that two-pronged tightening too long, which has partly contributed to the stickiness of inflation today. This lengthy buildup may have averted another taper tantrum, but tied the Fed's hands on raising rates even as inflation was roaring back. Markets thought this not only meant the Fed would soon "taper" its bond purchases, but also raise interest rates. The Fed and markets have learned their lessons from the taper tantrum. Maybe the taper tantrum illustrates that it wasn't as planned and consistent as it should have been," he said.

☆ Fire in Guyana School Dormitory Kills at Least 20
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Cora Engelbrecht | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A time of celebration in Guyana as it prepared to mark its independence day this week turned to mourning on Monday after at least 20 people, many of them children, were killed when a fire engulfed a girls’ dormitory at a school in the central part of the South American country. The country’s president described the fatal blaze as “horrific” and a “major disaster.”The ages of the victims are not known, but students enrolled at the school are between 12 and 16. Several others were injured in the fire, which broke out late Sunday in Mahdia, a gold mining town about 120 miles southwest of the capital, Georgetown. Seven students in critical condition were being evacuated to the capital. “The focus now is on the children to ensure that we do everything, to give them as much help as we can,” President Mohamed Irfaan Ali told journalists early Monday at Ogle airport, also known as Eugene F. Correia International Airport, where he was organizing a “full-scale emergency” plan.

☆ What Christian Nationalism Has Done to Wyoming Is a Sin - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Susan Stubson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

What followed was an uncomfortable master class in racism and xenophobia as the man decanted the reasons our country is going down the tubes. I now understand the ugliness I heard was part of a current of Christian nationalism fomenting beneath the surface. And in large part, it’s my faith community, white, rural and conservative, that got them there. As my faith grew, so did Tim’s political career in the Wyoming Legislature (he served in the House from 2008 to 2017). Christian nationalists have hijacked both my Republican Party and my faith community by blurring the lines between church and government and in the process rebranding our state’s identity.

☆ US cities with military bases risk economic damage in debt ceiling fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Bryan Mena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington, DC CNN —The United States could default on its debt in less than two weeks, and cities with a large military presence risk an economic firestorm if lawmakers don’t act. About a sixth of government spending goes toward national defense, a quarter of which is to pay military personnel, according to the Congressional Budget Office. If the United States can’t pay its national defense bills, cities with large military bases face a potentially massive fallout, encompassing missed payments, rising debt and a significant pullback in spending that would cut into local businesses’ bottom lines. That could further damage local economies grappling with financial market turbulence that could unfold even ahead of a possible default. Federal workers could get stuck pulling from their savings accounts or relying on credit to make everyday purchases, Mayo said.

☆ Exxon says Guyana insurance dispute could cut revenue $350 million per month
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kiana Wilburg | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GEORGETOWN, May 19 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) on Friday said an ongoing dispute with the government of Guyana over oil-spill insurance could halt production at its first offshore platform, cutting revenue by about $350 million per month. A Guyanese court this month found Exxon in breach of insurance obligations for Liza One, its first offshore oil project, and called for additional insurance adequate to protect against a catastrophic oil spill. Exxon and partners in an offshore consortium that has produced all the country's oil to date have $600 million in insurance and up to $19 billion in assets in the country, Exxon officials said at media briefing. Exxon said that if the sides are unable to agree, it could halt output from Lisa One platform and cost about $350 million in lost revenue. Guyana would incur a hit of $80 million to $88 million to earnings from its share of production, according to the country's National Resource Fund's latest quarterly report.

☆ A 26-year-old developer whose firm owns 40 acres of land in Richmond explains why he's betting on the capital of Virginia — and why he would personally invest in real estate there
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Meanwhile, "the DC market was considerably faster-moving, especially the condominium market." So I developed single-family homes on those myself and it turned out pretty successful." Thakker bought land in Richmond in 2020 and developed three, single-family homes, including the one pictured, on the lot. Across their three major projects in Richmond, Dorado has acquired 40 acres of land, which is equivalent to over 40 football fields. The interior of one of the single-family homes Thakker built and sold in Richmond.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is questioning federal bank regulators on their decision to sell First Republic Bank to the nation's largest bank, JP Morgan Chase. In a letter sent to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Wednesday, Warren said the deal was "deeply troubling," and sought details on how the agencies decided to arrange that particular sale, allowing JPM to grow even larger. This is a troubling outcome, leaving me with numerous questions," she wrote. The FDIC announced this month it had seized First Republic and sold it to JPM in a deal that it estimated would cost its deposit insurance fund $13 billion. Warren also pressed the matter with Michael Hsu, the acting Comptroller of the Currency, at a hearing Thursday.

☆ Analysis: Qatar takes diplomatic back seat as Saudi flexes political muscle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Andrew Mills | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Qatar has been steadily mending ties with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Qatar cast the Syrian National Coalition as a government-in-exile, handing them Syria's Arab League seat and opening the Doha mission in a villa nearby other embassies. Several Gulf states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates began backing rebel groups fighting to oust Assad from power. As Syria's anti-Assad movement lost ground, "Saudi Arabia and the UAE shifted their policy most dramatically but Qatar has not," Kamrava said. Qatar initially opposed efforts this spring by Saudi Arabia to galvanise support to readmit Syria to the Arab League following its 2011 suspension.

☆ See how an interior designer turned a 124-year-old home she bought on Facebook for $15,000 into a dreamy country getaway
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In 2019, Claire Zinnecker purchased a barren plot of land with no immediate plans for development. Her plans quickly changed after discovering an idyllic 124-year-old home on Facebook Marketplace. See how she and her partner moved the crumbling house and restored its classic charm. "I was not planning on doing anything with the land for a while because it was completely raw," she told Insider. See how the couple transformed the crumbling home and barren land into a country getaway.

☆ Activist firms call on Dollar General, Dollar Tree to improve worker safety, wages
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | In Gabrielle-Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Two activist investment firms are calling on Dollar General and Dollar Tree shareholders to approve a pair of resolutions aiming to improve worker safety and wages, the firms said Tuesday. Dollar General Proposal 7, led by Domini Impact Investments, calls for an independent audit into worker safety and well-being. "It's far too dangerous in the stores that we work in," David Williams, a Dollar General stocker, said during a panel event Tuesday. Federal regulators have repeatedly found similar violations at Dollar General stores across the country, prompting OSHA to label it a "severe violator" of workplace safety rules. Considering the $37.84 billion in sales Dollar General posted in fiscal 2022, the penalties are unlikely to have a major impact on its balance sheet.

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