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Democratic lawmakers reacted with fury to the Supreme Court's decision striking down Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan. The Court found Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in debt for millions of Americans illegal. The Supreme Court decision came in two separate rulings on Friday. The President has more tools to cancel student debt — and he must use them," Warren tweeted on Friday morning. Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, noted that student debt disproportionately impacts Black and brown Americans, tweeting, "we cannot accept a return to the failed status quo."

Persons: Biden, —, Joe Biden's, Chuck Schumer, MAGA, Pell Grant, Brown, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, they've, Pramila, Roe, Warren, Barbara Lee Organizations: Service, Privacy, Democratic, MAGA Republican, US Department of Education, . Nebraska, GOP, —, California Democrat, CNN Locations: ., Massachusetts, California

☆ California Rep. Maxine Waters introduces bills to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to fight homelessness and solve the affordable housing crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, introduced a trio of bills addressing the housing crisis. They would expand housing vouchers and send $100 billion to help first-generation homebuyers. The legislation — which includes expanding housing vouchers and sending $100 billion to help first-time, first-generation homebuyers — is focused on reducing the racial wealth gap. One bill — the Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023 — includes over $150 billion in funding for affordable housing and investments in closing the racial housing gap. Overall, just one in six eligible families live in public housing, receive a rent-reducing voucher, or live in a subsidized multifamily unit, according to the US Census Bureau.

Persons: Maxine Waters, —, Waters Organizations: California Democrat, Service, Interagency, Homelessness, Census Bureau, Financial Services Locations: California

☆ The bike helmet debate rages on as study finds drivers view cyclists wearing safety gear as 'less human'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A recent study found that drivers viewed cyclists wearing a helmet or safety vest as "less human." This research could add fuel to the debate over bike helmet mandates in the US. Researchers found that cyclists wearing helmets or vests are viewed as "less human" than those without any safety gear on. GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesBike helmet mandates might do more harm than goodThe research could add fuel to the debate over helmet mandates, which are in place in about 200 localities and more than 20 states across the US. Notably, bike helmet usage and mandates are rare in cities with strong bike infrastructure and large numbers of cyclists, including in Europe.

Persons: they'd, —, Colin Browne, Browne Organizations: Morning, Queensland University, Flinders University, Getty, National Transportation Safety Board, Washington Area Bicyclist Association Locations: Australia, Manhattan, New York City, Europe, Utrecht, Netherlands, Munster, Germany, Antwerp, Belgium

☆ 90% of people experiencing homelessness in California are from the state, rather than outsiders moving there for services
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

California is home to 30% of people experiencing homelessness and half of those unsheltered in the US. 90% of unhoused people in California lived in the state before losing their housing, the report found. The state makes up less than 12% of the nation's total population, but is home to 30% of people experiencing homelessness and half of the unsheltered population in the US. In reality, 90% of those experiencing homelessness in California lived in California before losing their housing, according to a major new study from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco. The researchers surveyed 3,200 people across the state and conducted 365 in-depth interviews with adults experiencing homelessness between October 2021 and November 2022.

Persons: —, Dr, Margot Kushel Organizations: Service, Initiative, University of California, UCSF Homeless, Housing Initiative, UCSF Locations: California, San Francisco

☆ Midwest American Cities Are Facing a Downtown Crisis, Urban Doom Loop
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

But Midwestern cities are also facing a crisis of their own — struggling to attract workers, residents, and visitors to their downtowns. Nine of the 13 Midwestern cities tracked in the study were in the bottom half of the rankings. In the early part of the 20th century, Midwestern cities boomed — attracting workers and families seeking out manufacturing jobs and education. Many Midwestern cities relied on a single industry or even a single company to buttress its economy. "If office workers are coming downtown less, but college students are willing to come downtown more, what about literally putting a college in your downtown?"

Persons: COVID, Michael Hicks, Jacob Frey, Salesforce, Karen Chapple, Hicks, Michael Siluk, Amanda Weinstein, Weinstein, weren't, it's, Tracy Hadden Loh, Hadden Loh, It's, they've, you've, Chapple, Edwin Remsberg, downtowns, I've, —, Columbus, Keyvan Esfarjani, Eliza Relman Organizations: metros —, metros, Ball State University, University of Toronto, St, of Cities, Midwest, University of Akron, Brookings Institution, Institution, Arizona State University, Cleveland, Housing, While Ohio, Ohio State University's, Intel Locations: San Francisco, Seattle, Indiana, Midwest, Louis, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Kansas City , Missouri, Detroit, Akron, leafier, downtowns, Lake Erie, Burke, Downtown, Kansas, Chicago, Columbus, While, Ohio

☆ The debt-ceiling bill that just passed the Senate eases the way for a new gas pipeline — and for clean energy projects like EV charging and solar panels
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Bartie Scott | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The debt-ceiling bill includes reforms that aim to speed up construction on energy projects. It also claims a West Virginia pipeline is in the national interest — and pushes through its completion. The reforms in the bill include limiting the environmental permitting process to two years, along with requiring projects to name a single lead agency that would develop one master environmental review document. Now, the permitting reforms included in the deal would force federal agencies to approve all remaining permits for the pipeline and allow it to bypass the courts and fast-track construction. Manchin, who is also the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, plans to bring more comprehensive legislation to the Senate floor by the end of the summer.

Persons: —, Kevin McCarthy, Raúl Grijalva, polluters, Grijalva, Melanie Stansbury, Stansbury, Sen, Joe Manchin, Tim Kaine, Kaine, Manchin Organizations: Service, Environmental, White, Sunday, Arizona, Natural Resources Committee, NEPA, Natural Resources, Infrastructure Law, Democratic, Senate, Senate Energy Locations: West Virginia, Virginia

☆ A top DeSantis aide battled with Trump's team over his 'Soviet' plan for new 'dystopian' American cities
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ron DeSantis accused Trump of proposing "Soviet dystopian nonsense." Christina Pushaw attacked Trump's plan for new federally-chartered US cities on federal land. Ron DeSantis publicly battled with former President Donald Trump's defenders on Twitter over what she called the ex-president's "Soviet dystopian" plan for American cities. This is Soviet dystopian nonsense," she tweeted. A Republican consultant close to Trump's campaign told Insider in March that Trump came up with the idea for Freedom Cities himself and was likely inspired by Saudi Arabia's futuristic desert cities.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Trump, Christina Pushaw, Pushaw, —, Donald Trump's, DeSantis, Obama, Biden, Hillary, Paul Ryan, Ron, didn't, I've, Pushaw didn't, Sonnie Johnson, That's Organizations: Gov, World Economic, Service, Florida Gov, Twitter, World, Trump, Freedom Cities, Pacific Partnership, — Trump, Tea Party, Fox News Locations: Soviet, Freedom, globalism, Pres, It's, Saudi

☆ Joe Manchin is set to get a big win out of the debt ceiling deal on a gas pipeline that Virginia Democrats and environmentalists hate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has long pushed for a controversial gas pipeline. The debt ceiling deal will likely force federal agencies to approve the project's remaining permits. The Democrat and his fellow West Virginia lawmakers have for years pushed for the completion of a controversial 303-mile pipeline that would carry Appalachian shale gas from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. Virginia's Democratic lawmakers are staunchly opposed to the pipeline provision. He plans to file an amendment to remove this harmful Mountain Valley Pipeline provision."

Persons: Sen, Joe Manchin, —, Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy, Manchin, McCarthy, Manchin didn't, Virginia Sens, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Kaine, Jennifer McClellan, Kaine doesn't, John Podesta, Tim Kaine's Organizations: West, West Virginia Democrat, Service, Democrat, Republicans, Democratic, Appeals, Circuit, Democratic House, Washington Post Locations: West Virginia, Virginia, America

☆ Democrats in Texas and New York are blocking efforts to build cheaper housing while also making life more difficult for Airbnb landlords
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Texas and New York have both recently killed major pro-housing legislation in their states. In New York and Texas, Democrats recently facilitated the death of major pieces of pro-housing legislation. Some Texas Democrats opposed the legislation because it would have opened opportunities for short-term rentals, like Airbnbs. Texas needed to build 330,000 more homes back in 2019, before the pandemic-induced surge of buyers, according to one report. The overwhelming majority of New Yorkers say housing affordability is a top concern.

☆ Republicans' proposal to raise the debt ceiling would leave 9,300 more children exposed to lead poisoning, White House says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

House Republicans have proposed deep spending cuts in exchange for increasing the debt limit. The White House says these cuts would leave thousands of children more vulnerable to lead poisoning. The cuts would reduce funding for HUD, which helps mitigate housing-related lead poisoning. The White House said this would mean cutting funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development's lead mitigation efforts. The funding cuts would also heavily impact other housing assistance programs for low-income families, including taking housing vouchers from more than 800,000 households, the White House said.

☆ A couple transformed an 150-year-old abandoned farmhouse in rural Japan into an Airbnb. Here's how they built their country homestead.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Byron and Kaori Nagy have fully renovated a 150-year-old unoccupied farmhouse an hour outside Tokyo. Byron, who's originally from New Jersey, also created a farm on land nearby. They've also spent between $300,000 and $400,000 building a new home in the traditional Japanese style. Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. "It's easier today to live in this country than it's ever been," Allen said.

☆ Americans aren't mixing with people in different income brackets or leaving their neighborhoods as much as they did before the pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Americans are mixing with each other and exploring the cities they live in less frequently, a new study found. They found that Americans' behavior has significantly shifted since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tracked visits to 433,000 "point of interest" locations, including museums, parks, coffee shops, and grocery stores. And the researchers used Census data to categorize people in four income brackets based on the average income of the census block they lived in. Los Angeles saw the largest drop in diverse interactions, while Dallas, where pandemic restrictions were the least severe, saw the smallest change.

☆ 2 Nashville millennials share how they're fighting loneliness in a broken housing market
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Car-centric neighborhoods with few shared spaces exacerbate loneliness, research has found. She moved into a walkable neighborhood in downtown Nashville and paid $500 a month to rent a room in a house with roommates. She credits the neighborhood's walkability, shared spaces, and dense housing with boosting her social connections. And those ties are much easier to form in neighborhoods with welcoming shared spaces and programming. "We have the green spaces in the neighborhood to do all that kind of stuff, which is something we just didn't have in the old neighborhood," Hughes said.

☆ Utah bicycling groups and Democrats call on Mitt Romney to rethink his comments calling bike lanes 'the height of stupidity'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Romney faced widespread criticism after telling Insider that bike lanes are "the height of stupidity." "I love Mitt," Schatz told Insider recently in the Capitol. "We're not forcing anybody from an automobile onto a bike, but the truth is, the market is starting to demand that, but the bike lanes haven't caught up. And then in a matter of months, people are putting in their real estate advertisements that it's next to a bike lane. "As much as I ride my bike, unless it's a protected bike lane I don't trust it," he said.

☆ A 74-year old Democrat in Congress pushing to make roads safer thinks 'the bicycle is the key to much of what ails us'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Biking advocates gathered on Capitol Hill on Thursday morning to push for federal legislation. The 74-year-old lawmaker has a short ride to work, but "on a nice morning, you just sometimes keep going," he added. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, with his bicycle at a congressional bike ride organized by cycling advocacy groups. Romney's comments received significant backlash from biking advocates and others, who pointed out that there's plenty of evidence that better bike infrastructure gets more cyclists on the road, reduces driving, and cuts emissions. "Every person on a bicycle is somebody who's not in a car in front of you," Blumenauer said.

☆ Democratic lawmakers are skeptical about using a $1 trillion coin or the 14th amendment to get around the debt ceiling
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Minting a $1 trillion platinum coin or using the 14th amendment could solve the crisis while sidestepping Congress. The 14th amendment, on the other hand, contains a clause that could declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional and get rid of it forever. 'That's beyond my paygrade and my mental capacity'Insider asked some Democratic senators what they thought of minting a coin or using the 14th amendment to get around the debt ceiling crisis. Sen. Ron Wyden, top lawmaker on the Senate Finance Committee, said that when it comes to the 14th amendment, "I'm not there yet. Yellen also said at a new conference in Japan on Wednesday that "it's legally questionable whether or not that's a viable strategy," referring to the 14th amendment.

☆ The 26 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Eliza Relman | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

At least 26 women have accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct since the 1970s. Renewed attention was brought to the allegations amid the #MeToo movement and a national conversation concerning sexual misconduct. On Tuesday, a Manhattan jury found Trump liable for the sexual abuse of columnist E. Jean Carroll. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyAt least 26 women accused President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, including assault, since the 1970s. Here are all of the allegations — in chronological order — made by 26 named women:

The US could breach the debt ceiling and run out of money to pay its debts as soon as June 1. A White House official previously told Insider that Biden would stress that Congress "must take action to avoid default without conditions." Additionally, Wall Street's response to the debt-ceiling crisis is different this time around. Even so, he added, this debt-ceiling crisis "seems much more dangerous" than the ones from the Obama years. Biden has options to avoid a debt-ceiling crisis that don't involve CongressTuesday's meeting between Biden and congressional leadership aims to break through the logjam.

☆ DC Mayor Muriel Bowser wants to expand tax breaks for developers turning empty downtown offices into much-needed housing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

DC's mayor has proposed an expansion of tax relief for developers who convert offices into residences. The city has more than 20 million square feet of unused office space — an unprecedented vacancy rate, according to the DowntownDC Business Improvement District's 2021 report. —Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) December 15, 2022The mayor and city officials say the tax relief, called the Housing in Downtown (HID) Abatement, is necessary to incentivize and speed up costly commercial building transformations. "We know that creating new housing in downtown will lead to a more vibrant neighborhood and 24/7 economy. The Housing in Downtown Abatement Program will incentivize more conversions, and bring about more housing affordability and retail opportunities."

☆ Republicans dismiss fears that their debt ceiling bill would make the housing crisis worse for 1 million families as 'scaremongering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans' debt ceiling bill would cut significant funding from federal housing services. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the agency would suffer "the most devastating impacts in HUD's history" if the funding cuts in the bill are made law. He went on, "It's being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. "The House bill reduces spending to the levels we had in 2022. The last I checked, 2022 was not a horrid apocalypse sweeping across our country," Cruz told Insider on Wednesday.

☆ Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia wants to get rid of rules requiring parking spots that are making the housing affordability crisis worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Eliza Relman | Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A congressman is planning to introduce a bill banning minimum parking requirements near mass transit. "We know that parking raises the cost of housing immensely," Garcia told Insider. "We know that parking raises the cost of housing immensely," Garcia told Insider on Wednesday. Critics argue that parking requirements around transit hubs are particularly unnecessary and inequitable because many residents in those communities don't own cars. Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning parking requirements for developments near transit hubs across the state.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is introducing a bill on Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, and it's remained unchanged since 2008. Sanders has long pushed for a higher federal minimum wage, although he's been more recently stymied by centrist Democrats. Scott said in a statement at the time that even before the pandemic, "the $7.25 federal minimum wage was economically and morally indefensible." Mandating a $15 minimum wage would put many of them out of business."

☆ Elon Musk's private jet emitted 132 times as much carbon as the average American does in an entire year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk travels more by private jet than nearly anyone else in the US. His annual carbon footprint — just from flying private — is 132 times that of the average American. Musk's carbon footprint from his 171 private flights in 2022 was 132 times the size of the average US resident's total annual footprint from all activities, the report found. His private plane burned about 221,358 gallons of jet fuel and emitted about 2,112 metric tons of carbon emissions last year, the report found. It notes that Musk purchased an additional private plane last year — a $78 million Gulfstream G700, the world's largest purpose-built private jet — that's expected to replace his G50ER model.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Free Apple AirTags, EV resistance, and ChatGPT Plus for all
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I attended my first rodeo, woke up early for a farmers' market, visited different pickleball venues, and tried other new things. Researchers examined 1,600 conversations (850 hours and 7 million words total) and measured how people reacted to the interactions. Firstly, IRL conversations involve a degree of back-and-forth that is hard to replicate digitally because of lag and missed cues. Elon Musk pays $10,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit. Elon Musk has cut around 90% of the company within half a year of taking over.

☆ The ultra-wealthy who fly private are costing average flyers who won't ever use a private plane a lot of money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Private jet travel has surged in the US over the last few years and accounts for one in every six flights. But private flyers pay just two percent of the taxes that fund the Federal Aviation Administration. Commercial flyers must pay a tax on every ticket equivalent to 7.5% of the fare price. But private flyers only pay a jet fuel tax. Private airplane travel is significantly worse for the environment than commercial flight travel, since private jets carry far fewer people.

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