WASHINGTON (AP) —Conservative justices holding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court's majority</a>&nbsp;seem ready to sink&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-506">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Biden v. Nebraska

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-535">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Board of Ed v. Brown

In arguments lasting more than three hours Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the administration's authority to broadly cancel federal student loans because of the COVID-19 emergency.

Loan payments that have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago are supposed to resume no later than this summer. Without the loan relief promised by the Biden plan, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer said, “delinquencies and defaults will surge.”

The plan has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts. It did not appear to fare any better with the six justices appointed by Republican presidents.

Biden's only hope for being allowed to move forward appeared to be the slim possibility, based on the arguments, that the court would find that Republican-led states and individuals challenging the plan lacked the legal right to sue.

That would allow the court to dismiss the lawsuits at a threshold stage, without ruling on the basic idea of the loan forgiveness program that appeared to trouble the justices on the court's right side.

Roberts was among the justices who grilled Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and suggested that the administration had exceeded its authority.

Three times, the chief justice said the program would cost a half-trillion dollars, pointing to its wide impact and hefty expense as reasons the administration should have gotten explicit approval from Congress. The program, which the administration says is grounded in a 2003 law that was enacted in response to the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.

“If you're talking about this in the abstract, I think most casual observers would say if you're going to give up that much ... money, if you're going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject that's of great controversy, they would think that's something for Congress to act on,” Roberts said.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested he agreed, saying it “seems problematic” for the administration to use an "old law” to unilaterally implement a debt relief program that Congress had declined to adopt.

Neither justice seemed swayed by Prelogar's explanation that the administration was citing the national emergency created by the pandemic as authority for the debt relief program under a law commonly known as the HEROES Act.

“Some of the biggest mistakes in the court’s history were deferring to assertions of executive emergency power," Kavanaugh said. “Some of the finest moments in the court’s history were pushing back against presidential assertions of emergency power.”

At another point, though, Kavanaugh suggested the program might be on firmer legal ground than other pandemic-related programs that were ended by the court's conservative majority, including an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-courts-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-daa34fb48a04dc9f3ddad94fb6b4cbb2">eviction moratorium</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-eb5899ae1fe5b62b6f4d51f54a3cd375">requirement for vaccines or frequent testing</a>&nbsp;in large workplaces.

Those earlier programs halted by the court were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, is aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.

Prelogar and some of the liberal justices sought several times to turn the arguments back to the people who would benefit from the program. The administration says that 26 million people have applied to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven under the plan.

"The states ask this court to deny this vital relief to millions of Americans,” she said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said her fellow justices will be making a mistake if they take for themselves, instead of leaving it to education experts, “the right to decide how much aid to give” people who will struggle if the program is struck down.

“Their financial situation will be even worse because once you default, the hardship on you is exponentially greater. You can’t get credit. You’re going to pay higher prices for things,” Sotomayor said.

But Roberts pointed to evident favoritism.

He offered a hypothetical example of a person who passes up college to start a lawn service with borrowed money. “Nobody’s telling the person who is trying to set up the lawn service business that he doesn’t have to pay his loan,” Roberts said.

Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress, as well as conservative legal interests, are lined up against the plan as a violation of Biden’s executive authority. Democratic-led states and liberal interest groups are backing the administration in urging the court to allow the plan to take effect.

The justices’ questions mirrored the partisan political divide over the issue, with conservatives arguing that non-college workers should not be penalized and liberals arguing for the break for the college educated.

Speaking on the eve of the arguments, Biden had said, "I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there.”

The president, who once doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, first announced the program in August.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">Legal challenges quickly followed</a>.

The administration says the HEROES Act allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being hurt financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nebraska and other states that sued say the 20 million borrowers who would have their entire loans erased would get a “windfall” leaving them better off than before the pandemic.

“This is the creation of a brand new program, far beyond what Congress intended,” Nebraska Solicitor General James Campbell said in court Tuesday.

The national emergency is expected to end May 11, but the administration says the economic consequences will persist, despite historically low unemployment and other signs of economic strength.

In addition to the debate over the authority to forgive student debt, the court is confronting whether the states and two individuals whose challenge also is before the justices have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

Parties generally have to show that they would suffer financial harm in order to have standing in cases such as this. A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">an appellate panel said the case could proceed</a>.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in repeatedly questioning Nebraska's Campbell on that issue. But it would take at least one other conservative vote to form a majority.

Of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">two individuals who sued in Texas</a>, one has student loans that are commercially held and the other is eligible for $10,000 in debt relief, not the $20,000 maximum. They would get nothing if they win their case.

Among those in the courtroom Tuesday was Kayla Smith, a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, who camped out near the court the night before in order to get a seat. Biden’s plan would lift a burden for her mother, who borrowed more than $20,000 in federal student loans to help Smith attend college.

“It just seems kind of messed up that college is the expectation, higher education is the expectation, but then at the same time, people’s lives are being ruined,” said Smith, 22, who lives in Atlanta.

The arguments could be listened to live on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">AP youtube channel</a>&nbsp;or on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677600472863.png" alt="Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, ahead of arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)" />
 <figcaption>Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, ahead of arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —Conservative justices holding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court's majority</a>&nbsp;seem ready to sink&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-506">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Biden v. Nebraska<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-535">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Board of Ed v. BrownIn arguments lasting more than three hours Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts led his conservative colleagues in questioning the administration's authority to broadly cancel federal student loans because of the COVID-19 emergency.Loan payments that have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago are supposed to resume no later than this summer. Without the loan relief promised by the Biden plan, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer said, “delinquencies and defaults will surge.”The plan has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts. It did not appear to fare any better with the six justices appointed by Republican presidents.Biden's only hope for being allowed to move forward appeared to be the slim possibility, based on the arguments, that the court would find that Republican-led states and individuals challenging the plan lacked the legal right to sue.That would allow the court to dismiss the lawsuits at a threshold stage, without ruling on the basic idea of the loan forgiveness program that appeared to trouble the justices on the court's right side.Roberts was among the justices who grilled Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and suggested that the administration had exceeded its authority.Three times, the chief justice said the program would cost a half-trillion dollars, pointing to its wide impact and hefty expense as reasons the administration should have gotten explicit approval from Congress. The program, which the administration says is grounded in a 2003 law that was enacted in response to the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.“If you're talking about this in the abstract, I think most casual observers would say if you're going to give up that much ... money, if you're going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject that's of great controversy, they would think that's something for Congress to act on,” Roberts said.Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested he agreed, saying it “seems problematic” for the administration to use an "old law” to unilaterally implement a debt relief program that Congress had declined to adopt.Neither justice seemed swayed by Prelogar's explanation that the administration was citing the national emergency created by the pandemic as authority for the debt relief program under a law commonly known as the HEROES Act.“Some of the biggest mistakes in the court’s history were deferring to assertions of executive emergency power," Kavanaugh said. “Some of the finest moments in the court’s history were pushing back against presidential assertions of emergency power.”At another point, though, Kavanaugh suggested the program might be on firmer legal ground than other pandemic-related programs that were ended by the court's conservative majority, including an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-courts-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-daa34fb48a04dc9f3ddad94fb6b4cbb2">eviction moratorium</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-eb5899ae1fe5b62b6f4d51f54a3cd375">requirement for vaccines or frequent testing</a>&nbsp;in large workplaces.Those earlier programs halted by the court were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, is aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.Prelogar and some of the liberal justices sought several times to turn the arguments back to the people who would benefit from the program. The administration says that 26 million people have applied to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven under the plan."The states ask this court to deny this vital relief to millions of Americans,” she said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor said her fellow justices will be making a mistake if they take for themselves, instead of leaving it to education experts, “the right to decide how much aid to give” people who will struggle if the program is struck down.“Their financial situation will be even worse because once you default, the hardship on you is exponentially greater. You can’t get credit. You’re going to pay higher prices for things,” Sotomayor said.But Roberts pointed to evident favoritism.He offered a hypothetical example of a person who passes up college to start a lawn service with borrowed money. “Nobody’s telling the person who is trying to set up the lawn service business that he doesn’t have to pay his loan,” Roberts said.Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress, as well as conservative legal interests, are lined up against the plan as a violation of Biden’s executive authority. Democratic-led states and liberal interest groups are backing the administration in urging the court to allow the plan to take effect.The justices’ questions mirrored the partisan political divide over the issue, with conservatives arguing that non-college workers should not be penalized and liberals arguing for the break for the college educated.Speaking on the eve of the arguments, Biden had said, "I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there.”The president, who once doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, first announced the program in August.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">Legal challenges quickly followed</a>.The administration says the HEROES Act allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being hurt financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Nebraska and other states that sued say the 20 million borrowers who would have their entire loans erased would get a “windfall” leaving them better off than before the pandemic.“This is the creation of a brand new program, far beyond what Congress intended,” Nebraska Solicitor General James Campbell said in court Tuesday.The national emergency is expected to end May 11, but the administration says the economic consequences will persist, despite historically low unemployment and other signs of economic strength.In addition to the debate over the authority to forgive student debt, the court is confronting whether the states and two individuals whose challenge also is before the justices have the legal right, or standing, to sue.Parties generally have to show that they would suffer financial harm in order to have standing in cases such as this. A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">an appellate panel said the case could proceed</a>.Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the three liberal justices in repeatedly questioning Nebraska's Campbell on that issue. But it would take at least one other conservative vote to form a majority.Of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">two individuals who sued in Texas</a>, one has student loans that are commercially held and the other is eligible for $10,000 in debt relief, not the $20,000 maximum. They would get nothing if they win their case.Among those in the courtroom Tuesday was Kayla Smith, a recent graduate of the University of Georgia, who camped out near the court the night before in order to get a seat. Biden’s plan would lift a burden for her mother, who borrowed more than $20,000 in federal student loans to help Smith attend college.“It just seems kind of messed up that college is the expectation, higher education is the expectation, but then at the same time, people’s lives are being ruined,” said Smith, 22, who lives in Atlanta.The arguments could be listened to live on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">AP youtube channel</a>&nbsp;or on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>.A decision is expected by late June.___

🎤Supreme Court seems ready to reject student loan forgiveness

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday her first visit to Ukraine underscored Washington's commitment to continuing its economic support for the country, as the din of air raid sirens echoed across the Ukrainian capital.

Yellen said following talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal that the US has provided nearly $50 billion in security, economic and humanitarian assistance and announced another multibillion dollar package to boost the country's economy.

Shmyhal offered thanks to the U.S. for its support and hailed Yellen as a "friend of Ukraine.” He said Ukraine's budget deficit now stands at $38 billion and that the U.S. will provide another $10 billion in assistance by September.

Shmyhal and Yellen also discussed sanctions aimed at weakening Russia's economy as well as the possibility of using Russian frozen assets to help in Ukraine's economic recovery.

Yellen repeated U.S. President Joe Biden's message that Washington will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. She underscored the importance of fighting corruption, praising Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for enacting measures to ensure transparency in how the assistance is spent.

The U.S. official also visited a renovated school that had its windows blown out by the blast wave from a Russian missile that landed nearby in March. She also announced an additional transfer of $1.2 billion, the first tranche of the $10 billion assistance package.

“Maintaining an effective government is indispensable to Ukraine’s capacity to respond to Russian attacks and other emergencies,” said Yellen. “Our economic support is keeping essential public services running. These services maintain economic and social stability in Ukraine”.

Addressing the school's students and teachers, Yeller said they are helping to “write history" in a country that is “a central force in the history of the free world."

“America stands with you in this fight for freedom, and we will be by your side and help you rebuild”.

Yellen also met with Zelenskyy and other top officials, including the head of Ukraine’s National Bank.

Zelenskyy posted on Telegram after the meeting with Yellen that it is “necessary to strengthen further sanctions to deprive Russia of the ability to finance the war.”

Yellen also laid the flowers at the Wall of Remembrance dedicated to fallen soldiers and met Ukrainian landmine removal experts whose equipment was financed with US funds.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677611855709.png" alt="U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ambassador Brink&nbsp; are looking at destroyed Russian tanks in St. Michael's Square in Kyiv on Monday-Photo courtesy U.S. Dept. of Treasury" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Ambassador Brink&nbsp; are looking at destroyed Russian tanks in St. Michael's Square in Kyiv on Monday-Photo courtesy U.S. Dept. of Treasury</figcaption>
 </figure>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday her first visit to Ukraine underscored Washington's commitment to continuing its economic support for the country, as the din of air raid sirens echoed across the Ukrainian capital.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The U.S. will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. I commend <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ZelenskyyUa</a> for his leadership, and thank him for our discussion on support from the U.S. and allies – including the announcement today of the transfer of the first $1.25B in U.S. support this year. <a href="https://t.co/kHafuGjinR">pic.twitter.com/kHafuGjinR</a>&mdash; Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecYellen/status/1630254898854998019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 27, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Yellen said following talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal that the US has provided nearly $50 billion in security, economic and humanitarian assistance and announced another multibillion dollar package to boost the country's economy.Shmyhal offered thanks to the U.S. for its support and hailed Yellen as a "friend of Ukraine.” He said Ukraine's budget deficit now stands at $38 billion and that the U.S. will provide another $10 billion in assistance by September.Shmyhal and Yellen also discussed sanctions aimed at weakening Russia's economy as well as the possibility of using Russian frozen assets to help in Ukraine's economic recovery.Yellen repeated U.S. President Joe Biden's message that Washington will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. She underscored the importance of fighting corruption, praising Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for enacting measures to ensure transparency in how the assistance is spent.The U.S. official also visited a renovated school that had its windows blown out by the blast wave from a Russian missile that landed nearby in March. She also announced an additional transfer of $1.2 billion, the first tranche of the $10 billion assistance package.“Maintaining an effective government is indispensable to Ukraine’s capacity to respond to Russian attacks and other emergencies,” said Yellen. “Our economic support is keeping essential public services running. These services maintain economic and social stability in Ukraine”.Addressing the school's students and teachers, Yeller said they are helping to “write history" in a country that is “a central force in the history of the free world."“America stands with you in this fight for freedom, and we will be by your side and help you rebuild”.Yellen also met with Zelenskyy and other top officials, including the head of Ukraine’s National Bank.Zelenskyy posted on Telegram after the meeting with Yellen that it is “necessary to strengthen further sanctions to deprive Russia of the ability to finance the war.”Yellen also laid the flowers at the Wall of Remembrance dedicated to fallen soldiers and met Ukrainian landmine removal experts whose equipment was financed with US funds.

Treasury Sec. announces more U.S. financial support for Ukraine  

WASHINGTON (AP) — A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab?

(Click below to watch: John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, downplays COVID lab leak report)

Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” in that it began with a lab leak, according to a person familiar with the report who wasn’t authorized to discuss it. The report has not been made public.

But others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree.

“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started,” John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. “There is just not an intelligence community consensus.”

The DOE's conclusion was first reported over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document. The DOE oversees a national network of labs.

White House officials on Monday declined to confirm press reports about the assessment.

In 2021, officials released an intelligence report summary that said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-coronavirus-pandemic-2570b89545d4332b8a3bd7289982aa22">four members of the U.S. intelligence community believed</a>&nbsp;with low confidence that the virus was first transmitted from an animal to a human, and a fifth believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab.

While some scientists are open to the lab-leak theory, others continue to believe the virus came from animals, mutated, and jumped into people — as has happened in the past with viruses. Experts say the true origin of the pandemic may not be known for many years — if ever.

The U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the report. All 18 offices of the U.S. intelligence community had access to the information the DOE used in reaching its assessment.

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, said she isn’t sure what new intelligence the agencies had, but “it’s reasonable to infer” it relates to activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. She said a 2018 research proposal co-authored by scientists there and their U.S. collaborators “essentially described a blueprint for COVID-like viruses.”

“Less than two years later, such a virus was causing an outbreak in the city,” she said.

The Wuhan institute had been studying coronaviruses for years, in part because of widespread concerns — tracing back to SARS — that coronaviruses could be the source of the next pandemic.

No intelligence agency has said they believe the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 was released intentionally. The unclassified 2021 summary was clear on this point, saying: “We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon.”

“Lab accidents happen at a surprising frequency. A lot of people don’t really hear about lab accidents because they're not talked about publicly,” said Chan, who co-authored a book about the search for COVID-19 origins. Such accidents "underscore a need to make work with highly dangerous pathogens more transparent and more accountable.”

Last year, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-world-organization-government-and-politics-8662c2bc1784d3dea33f61caa6089ac2">World Health Organization recommended</a>&nbsp;a deeper probe into a possible lab accident. Chan said she hopes the latest report sparks more investigation in the United States.

China has called the suggestion that COVID-19 came from a Chinese laboratory “ baseless.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-covid-19-083bd75a801f9824e0b9ad7316062a5c">Many scientists believe</a>&nbsp;the animal-to-human theory of the coronavirus remains much more plausible. They theorize it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal.

In a 2021 research paper in the journal Cell, scientists said the COVID-19 virus is the ninth documented coronavirus to infect humans — and all the previous ones originated in animals.

Two studies, published last year by the journal Science, bolstered the animal origin theory. That research found that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was likely the early epicenter. Scientists concluded that the virus likely spilled from animals into people two separate times.

“The scientific literature contains essentially nothing but original research articles that support a natural origin of this virus pandemic," said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has extensively studied COVID-19's origins.

He said the fact that others in the intelligence community looked at the same information as the DOE and “it apparently didn't move the needle speaks volumes.” He said he takes such intelligence assessments with a grain of salt because he doesn't think the people making them “have the scientific expertise ... to really understand the most important evidence that they need to understand.”

The U.S. should be more transparent and release the new intelligence that apparently swayed the DOE, Worobey said.

The DOE conclusion comes to light as House Republicans have been using their new majority power to investigate all aspects of the pandemic, including the origin, as well as what they contend were officials’ efforts to conceal the fact that it leaked from a lab in Wuhan. Earlier this month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-us-republican-party-brad-wenstrup-james-comer-anthony-fauci-5fdee072d1d60ae097e7044c73a5d3ca">Republicans sent letters</a>&nbsp;to Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others as part of their investigative efforts.

The now retired Fauci, who served as the country’s top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.

Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked the Biden administration to provide Congress with “a full and thorough” briefing on the report and the evidence behind it.

Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, emphasized that President Joe Biden believes it's important to know what happened "so we can better prevent future pandemics” but that such research “must be done in a safe and secure manner and as transparent as possible to the rest of the world.”

ASSOCIATED PRESSWASHINGTON (AP) — A crucial question has eluded governments and health agencies around the world since the COVID-19 pandemic began: Did the virus originate in animals or leak from a Chinese lab?(Click below to watch: John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, downplays COVID lab leak report)<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fvideos%2F161756043333991%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=576" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Now, the U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” in that it began with a lab leak, according to a person familiar with the report who wasn’t authorized to discuss it. The report has not been made public.But others in the U.S. intelligence community disagree.“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started,” John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said Monday. “There is just not an intelligence community consensus.”The DOE's conclusion was first reported over the weekend in the Wall Street Journal, which said the classified report was based on new intelligence and noted in an update to a 2021 document. The DOE oversees a national network of labs.White House officials on Monday declined to confirm press reports about the assessment.In 2021, officials released an intelligence report summary that said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-coronavirus-pandemic-2570b89545d4332b8a3bd7289982aa22">four members of the U.S. intelligence community believed</a>&nbsp;with low confidence that the virus was first transmitted from an animal to a human, and a fifth believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab.While some scientists are open to the lab-leak theory, others continue to believe the virus came from animals, mutated, and jumped into people — as has happened in the past with viruses. Experts say the true origin of the pandemic may not be known for many years — if ever.CALLS FOR MORE INVESTIGATIONThe U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment on the report. All 18 offices of the U.S. intelligence community had access to the information the DOE used in reaching its assessment.Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, said she isn’t sure what new intelligence the agencies had, but “it’s reasonable to infer” it relates to activities at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. She said a 2018 research proposal co-authored by scientists there and their U.S. collaborators “essentially described a blueprint for COVID-like viruses.”“Less than two years later, such a virus was causing an outbreak in the city,” she said.The Wuhan institute had been studying coronaviruses for years, in part because of widespread concerns — tracing back to SARS — that coronaviruses could be the source of the next pandemic.No intelligence agency has said they believe the coronavirus that caused COVID-19 was released intentionally. The unclassified 2021 summary was clear on this point, saying: “We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon.”“Lab accidents happen at a surprising frequency. A lot of people don’t really hear about lab accidents because they're not talked about publicly,” said Chan, who co-authored a book about the search for COVID-19 origins. Such accidents "underscore a need to make work with highly dangerous pathogens more transparent and more accountable.”Last year, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-world-organization-government-and-politics-8662c2bc1784d3dea33f61caa6089ac2">World Health Organization recommended</a>&nbsp;a deeper probe into a possible lab accident. Chan said she hopes the latest report sparks more investigation in the United States.China has called the suggestion that COVID-19 came from a Chinese laboratory “ baseless.”SUPPORT FOR ANIMAL THEORY<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-covid-19-083bd75a801f9824e0b9ad7316062a5c">Many scientists believe</a>&nbsp;the animal-to-human theory of the coronavirus remains much more plausible. They theorize it emerged in the wild and jumped from bats to humans, either directly or through another animal.In a 2021 research paper in the journal Cell, scientists said the COVID-19 virus is the ninth documented coronavirus to infect humans — and all the previous ones originated in animals.Two studies, published last year by the journal Science, bolstered the animal origin theory. That research found that the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan was likely the early epicenter. Scientists concluded that the virus likely spilled from animals into people two separate times.“The scientific literature contains essentially nothing but original research articles that support a natural origin of this virus pandemic," said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has extensively studied COVID-19's origins.He said the fact that others in the intelligence community looked at the same information as the DOE and “it apparently didn't move the needle speaks volumes.” He said he takes such intelligence assessments with a grain of salt because he doesn't think the people making them “have the scientific expertise ... to really understand the most important evidence that they need to understand.”The U.S. should be more transparent and release the new intelligence that apparently swayed the DOE, Worobey said.REACTION TO THE REPORTThe DOE conclusion comes to light as House Republicans have been using their new majority power to investigate all aspects of the pandemic, including the origin, as well as what they contend were officials’ efforts to conceal the fact that it leaked from a lab in Wuhan. Earlier this month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-us-republican-party-brad-wenstrup-james-comer-anthony-fauci-5fdee072d1d60ae097e7044c73a5d3ca">Republicans sent letters</a>&nbsp;to Dr. Anthony Fauci, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Health Secretary Xavier Beccera and others as part of their investigative efforts.The now retired Fauci, who served as the country’s top infectious disease expert under both Republican and Democratic presidents, has called the GOP criticism nonsense.Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked the Biden administration to provide Congress with “a full and thorough” briefing on the report and the evidence behind it.Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, emphasized that President Joe Biden believes it's important to know what happened "so we can better prevent future pandemics” but that such research “must be done in a safe and secure manner and as transparent as possible to the rest of the world.”___

🎥Coronavirus origins still a mystery 3 years into pandemic

DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 809,000 small SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because a key problem can cause the ignition to shut off while they're being driven.

The recall covers certain Rogues from the 2014 through 2020 model years, as well as Rogue Sports from 2017 through 2022.

Nissan says the SUVs have jackknife folding keys that may not stay fully open. If driven with the key partially folded, a driver could touch the fob, inadvertently turning off the engine.

This can cause loss of engine power and power brakes, and the air bags might not inflate in a crash.

The company says it's not aware of any crashes or injuries caused by the problem.

Nissan hasn't come up with a fix yet. Owners will be notified in March with an interim letter telling them not to attach anything else to the key ring. Then they'll get another letter telling them to take their SUVs in for repairs. The automaker says owners with keys that won't stay in the open position should contact their dealers.

DETROIT (AP) — Nissan is recalling more than 809,000 small SUVs in the U.S. and Canada because a key problem can cause the ignition to shut off while they're being driven.The recall covers certain Rogues from the 2014 through 2020 model years, as well as Rogue Sports from 2017 through 2022.Nissan says the SUVs have jackknife folding keys that may not stay fully open. If driven with the key partially folded, a driver could touch the fob, inadvertently turning off the engine.This can cause loss of engine power and power brakes, and the air bags might not inflate in a crash.The company says it's not aware of any crashes or injuries caused by the problem.Nissan hasn't come up with a fix yet. Owners will be notified in March with an interim letter telling them not to attach anything else to the key ring. Then they'll get another letter telling them to take their SUVs in for repairs. The automaker says owners with keys that won't stay in the open position should contact their dealers.

Nissan recalls over 800K SUVs; key defect can cut off engine

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative justices holding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court's majority</a>&nbsp;pressed skeptical questions Tuesday about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans.

The high court, with its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">6-3 conservative majority</a>, heard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">arguments</a>&nbsp;on two challenges to the plan, which has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.

Arguments were scheduled to last two hours but were likely to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lengthy-arguments-3972cd3bc725431545c47ad6dddf96d2">go much longer</a>. The public could listen in on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">AP youtube channel</a>&nbsp;or on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>.

Several conservative justices spent time grilling the Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Elizabeth Prelogar, and suggested that the administration had exceeded its authority with the program.

Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to the wide impact and expense of the program, which is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.

“If you're talking about this in the abstract, I think most casual observers would say if you're going to give up that much ... money. If you're going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject that's of great controversy, they would think that's something for Congress to act on,” Roberts said.

Roberts’ fellow conservative, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, suggested that the administration was using an “old law” to unilaterally implement a debt relief program that Congress had rejected. He said the situation was familiar: "In the wake of Congress not authorizing the action, the executive nonetheless doing a massive new program.”

Kavanaugh noted that the administration was citing the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic as authority for the debt relief program. But he argued that some of the “finest moments in the court's history" have been "pushing back against presidential assertions of emergency power.”

The administration says that 26 million people have applied to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven under the plan.

“I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there,” Biden said on Monday, at an event to mark Black History Month.

Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress, as well as conservative legal interests, are lined up against the plan as a clear violation of Biden's executive authority. Democratic-led states and liberal interest groups are backing the Democratic administration in urging the court to allow the plan to take effect.

Without it, loan defaults would dramatically increase when the pause on loan payments ends no later than this summer, the administration says. Payments were halted in 2020 as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The administration says a 2003 law, commonly known as the HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being worse off financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nebraska and other states that sued say the plan is not necessary to keep the rate of defaults roughly where it was before the pandemic. The 20 million borrowers who have their entire loans erased would get a “windfall” that will leave them better off than they were before the pandemic, the states say.

Dozens of borrowers came from across the country to camp out near the court on a soggy Monday evening in hopes of getting a seat for the arguments. Among them was Sinyetta Hill, who said that Biden's plan would erase all but about $500 of the $20,000 or so she has in student loans.

“I was 18 when I signed up for college. I didn’t know it was going to be this big of a burden. No student should have to deal with this. No person should have to deal with this,” said Hill, 22, who plans to study law after she graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in May.

Biden's plan could meet a frosty reception in the courtroom. The court's conservatives have been skeptical of other Biden initiatives related to the pandemic, including vaccine requirements and pauses on evictions. Those were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, is aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.

In addition to the debate over the authority to forgive student debt, the court also will confront whether the states and two individuals whose challenge also is before the justices have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

Parties generally have to show that they would suffer financial harm and benefit from a court ruling in their favor. A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">an appellate panel said the case could proceed</a>.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;has begun hearing arguments in a partisan legal fight over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">Click here to listen</a>&nbsp;to the live oral argument 9a.m.CST

The high court, with its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">6-3 conservative majority</a>, heard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">arguments</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday on two challenges to the plan, which has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.

Arguments were scheduled to last two hours but were likely to go much longer. The public can listen in on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">an outside link</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">the court's website</a>.

Twenty-six million people have applied, and 16 million have been approved to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven, the Biden administration says. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;will hear arguments Tuesday over President Joe Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">student debt relief plan</a>, which impacts millions of borrowers who could see their loans wiped away or reduced.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">Click here to listen</a> to the live oral argument 9a.m.CST

So far, Republican-appointed judges have kept the Democratic president's plan from going into effect, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">it remains to be seen how the court, dominated 6-3 by conservatives, will respond</a>. The justices have scheduled two hours of arguments in the case Tuesday, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lengthy-arguments-3972cd3bc725431545c47ad6dddf96d2">it will probably go longer</a>. The public can listen in on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>&nbsp;beginning at 10 a.m. EST.

Where things stand ahead of the hearing as well as what to expect:

The debt forgiveness plan announced in August would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income per year. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

College students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could have their debt erased entirely, according to the Biden administration.

The White House says 26 million people have applied for debt relief, and 16 million people had already had their relief approved. The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades.

HOW DID THE ISSUE WIND UP AT THE SUPREME COURT?

The Supreme Court is hearing two challenges to the plan. One involves six Republican-led states that sued. The other involves a lawsuit filed by two students.

A lower court dismissed the lawsuit involving the following states: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina. The court said the states could not challenge the program because they weren't harmed by it. But a panel of three federal appeals court judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit — all of them appointed by Republican presidents — put the program&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">on hold during an appeal</a>. The Supreme Court then&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">agreed to weigh in</a>.

The students' case involves Myra Brown, who is ineligible for debt relief because her loans are commercially held, and Alexander Taylor, who is eligible for just $10,000 and not the full $20,000 because he didn’t receive a Pell grant. They say that the Biden administration didn't go through the proper process in enacting the plan, among other things.

Texas-based U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of President Donald Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">sided with the students</a>&nbsp;and ruled to block the program.&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.368635/gov.uscourts.txnd.368635.37.0.pdf">Pittman ruled</a>&nbsp;that the Biden administration did not have clear authorization from Congress to implement the program. A federal appeals court left Pittman's ruling in place, and the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case along with the states' challenge.

To cancel student loan debt, the Biden administration relied on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, commonly known as the HEROES Act. Originally enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, the law was initially intended to keep service members from being worse off financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now extended, it allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans as necessary in connection with a national emergency.

Trump, a Republican, declared the COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-health-83b0c8e168548fd453b0c177dd1f203a">a national emergency</a>&nbsp;in March 2020, but Biden recently announced that designation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-covid-public-health-2a80b547f6d55706a6986debc343b9fe">will end May 11</a>. The Biden administration has said that the end to the national emergency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-california-state-government-delaware-new-mexico-covid-743899ad1dcbeb5d88f37f98513035c5">doesn't change the legal argument for student loan debt cancellation</a>&nbsp;because the pandemic affected millions of student borrowers who might have fallen behind on their loans during the emergency.

WHAT ARE THE JUSTICES LIKELY TO ASK ABOUT?

Expect the justices to be focused on several big issues. The first one is whether the states and the two borrowers have the right to sue over the plan in the first place, a legal concept called “standing.” If they don't, that clears the way for the Biden administration to go ahead with it. To prove they have standing, the states and borrowers will have to show in part that they're financially harmed by the plan.

Beyond standing, the justices will also be asking whether the HEROES Act gives the Biden administration the power to enact the plan and how it went about doing so.

It will likely be months before borrowers learn the outcome of the case, but there's a deadline of sorts. The court generally issues all of its decisions by the end of June before going on a summer break.

Whether or not the debt gets cancelled, the case's resolution will bring changes. While federal student loan payments are currently paused, that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-government-and-politics-f524c55faae26c2066b6795a9d29bc8d">will end 60 days after the case is resolved</a>. And if the case hasn't been resolved by June 30, payments will start 60 days after that.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677600500744.png" alt="Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, ahead of arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)" />
 <figcaption>Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, ahead of arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative justices holding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court's majority</a>&nbsp;pressed skeptical questions Tuesday about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-506">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Biden v. Nebraska<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-535">Click here to listen&nbsp;to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral arguments in Board of Ed v. BrownThe high court, with its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">6-3 conservative majority</a>, heard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">arguments</a>&nbsp;on two challenges to the plan, which has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.Arguments were scheduled to last two hours but were likely to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lengthy-arguments-3972cd3bc725431545c47ad6dddf96d2">go much longer</a>. The public could listen in on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">AP youtube channel</a>&nbsp;or on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>.Several conservative justices spent time grilling the Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Elizabeth Prelogar, and suggested that the administration had exceeded its authority with the program.Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to the wide impact and expense of the program, which is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.“If you're talking about this in the abstract, I think most casual observers would say if you're going to give up that much ... money. If you're going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject that's of great controversy, they would think that's something for Congress to act on,” Roberts said.Roberts’ fellow conservative, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, suggested that the administration was using an “old law” to unilaterally implement a debt relief program that Congress had rejected. He said the situation was familiar: "In the wake of Congress not authorizing the action, the executive nonetheless doing a massive new program.”That, he said, “seems problematic.”Kavanaugh noted that the administration was citing the national emergency created by the coronavirus pandemic as authority for the debt relief program. But he argued that some of the “finest moments in the court's history" have been "pushing back against presidential assertions of emergency power.”The administration says that 26 million people have applied to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven under the plan.“I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there,” Biden said on Monday, at an event to mark Black History Month.The president, who once doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, first announced the program in August.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">Legal challenges quickly followed</a>.Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress, as well as conservative legal interests, are lined up against the plan as a clear violation of Biden's executive authority. Democratic-led states and liberal interest groups are backing the Democratic administration in urging the court to allow the plan to take effect.Without it, loan defaults would dramatically increase when the pause on loan payments ends no later than this summer, the administration says. Payments were halted in 2020 as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.The administration says a 2003 law, commonly known as the HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being worse off financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Nebraska and other states that sued say the plan is not necessary to keep the rate of defaults roughly where it was before the pandemic. The 20 million borrowers who have their entire loans erased would get a “windfall” that will leave them better off than they were before the pandemic, the states say.Dozens of borrowers came from across the country to camp out near the court on a soggy Monday evening in hopes of getting a seat for the arguments. Among them was Sinyetta Hill, who said that Biden's plan would erase all but about $500 of the $20,000 or so she has in student loans.“I was 18 when I signed up for college. I didn’t know it was going to be this big of a burden. No student should have to deal with this. No person should have to deal with this,” said Hill, 22, who plans to study law after she graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in May.Biden's plan could meet a frosty reception in the courtroom. The court's conservatives have been skeptical of other Biden initiatives related to the pandemic, including vaccine requirements and pauses on evictions. Those were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, is aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.The national emergency is expected to end May 11, but the administration says the economic consequences will persist, despite historically low unemployment and other signs of economic strength.In addition to the debate over the authority to forgive student debt, the court also will confront whether the states and two individuals whose challenge also is before the justices have the legal right, or standing, to sue.Parties generally have to show that they would suffer financial harm and benefit from a court ruling in their favor. A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">an appellate panel said the case could proceed</a>.Of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">two individuals who sued in Texas</a>, one has student loans that are commercially held and the other is eligible for $10,000 in debt relief, not the $20,000 maximum. They would get nothing if they win their case.A decision is expected by late June.-------WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;has begun hearing arguments in a partisan legal fight over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away or reduce student loans</a>&nbsp;held by millions of Americans<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">Click here to listen</a>&nbsp;to the live oral argument 9a.m.CSTThe high court, with its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">6-3 conservative majority</a>, heard&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">arguments</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday on two challenges to the plan, which has so far been blocked by Republican-appointed judges on lower courts.Arguments were scheduled to last two hours but were likely to go much longer. The public can listen in on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvUGa6q20yk">an outside link</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">the court's website</a>.Twenty-six million people have applied, and 16 million have been approved to have up to $20,000 in federal student loans forgiven, the Biden administration says. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over 30 years.“I’m confident the legal authority to carry that plan is there,” Biden said on Monday, at an event to mark Black History Month.The president, who once doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, first announced the program in August.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">Legal challenges quickly followed</a>.Republican-led states and lawmakers in Congress, as well as conservative legal interests, are lined up against the plan as a clear violation of Biden's executive authority. Democratic-led states and liberal interest groups are backing the Democratic administration in urging the court to allow the plan to take effect.Without it, loan defaults would dramatically increase when the pause on loan payments ends no later than this summer, the administration says. Payments were halted in 2020 as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic.The administration says a 2003 law, commonly known as the HEROES Act, allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being worse off financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Nebraska and other states that sued say the plan is not necessary to keep the rate of defaults roughly where it was before the pandemic. The 20 million borrowers who have their entire loans erased would get a “windfall” that will leave them better off than they were before the pandemic, the states say.Dozens of borrowers came from across the country to camp out near the court on a soggy Monday evening in hopes of getting a seat for the arguments. Among them was Sinyetta Hill, who said that Biden's plan would erase all but about $500 of the $20,000 or so she has in student loans.“I was 18 when I signed up for college. I didn’t know it was going to be this big of a burden. No student should have to deal with this. No person should have to deal with this,” said Hill, 22, who plans to study law after she graduates from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in May.Biden's plan could meet a frosty reception in the courtroom. The court's conservatives have been skeptical of other Biden initiatives related to the pandemic, including vaccine requirements and pauses on evictions. Those were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, is aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.The national emergency is expected to end May 11, but the administration says the economic consequences will persist, despite historically low unemployment and other signs of economic strength.In addition to the debate over the authority to forgive student debt, the court also will confront whether the states and two individuals whose challenge also is before the justices have the legal right, or standing, to sue.Parties generally have to show that they would suffer financial harm and benefit from a court ruling in their favor. A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">an appellate panel said the case could proceed</a>.Of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">two individuals who sued in Texas</a>, one has student loans that are commercially held and the other is eligible for $10,000 in debt relief, not the $20,000 maximum. They would get nothing if they win their case.A decision is expected by late June.--------WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;will hear arguments Tuesday over President Joe Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">student debt relief plan</a>, which impacts millions of borrowers who could see their loans wiped away or reduced.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx">Click here to listen</a> to the live oral argument 9a.m.CSTSo far, Republican-appointed judges have kept the Democratic president's plan from going into effect, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-clarence-thomas-scotus-9c248eeea0e8d8e24445ca95a74ec0dc">it remains to be seen how the court, dominated 6-3 by conservatives, will respond</a>. The justices have scheduled two hours of arguments in the case Tuesday, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lengthy-arguments-3972cd3bc725431545c47ad6dddf96d2">it will probably go longer</a>. The public can listen in on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/">court’s website</a>&nbsp;beginning at 10 a.m. EST.Where things stand ahead of the hearing as well as what to expect:HOW DOES THE FORGIVENESS PLAN WORK?The debt forgiveness plan announced in August would cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income per year. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.College students qualify if their loans were disbursed before July 1. The plan makes 43 million borrowers eligible for some debt forgiveness, with 20 million who could have their debt erased entirely, according to the Biden administration.The White House says 26 million people have applied for debt relief, and 16 million people had already had their relief approved. The Congressional Budget Office has said the program will cost about $400 billion over the next three decades.HOW DID THE ISSUE WIND UP AT THE SUPREME COURT?The Supreme Court is hearing two challenges to the plan. One involves six Republican-led states that sued. The other involves a lawsuit filed by two students.A lower court dismissed the lawsuit involving the following states: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina. The court said the states could not challenge the program because they weren't harmed by it. But a panel of three federal appeals court judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit — all of them appointed by Republican presidents — put the program&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-business-education-st-louis-student-loans-cf8136bfc75bd70839e9326cabbbf029">on hold during an appeal</a>. The Supreme Court then&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-student-loan-cancellation-79f7530363c7f15166d8c9cda3a6cddb">agreed to weigh in</a>.The students' case involves Myra Brown, who is ineligible for debt relief because her loans are commercially held, and Alexander Taylor, who is eligible for just $10,000 and not the full $20,000 because he didn’t receive a Pell grant. They say that the Biden administration didn't go through the proper process in enacting the plan, among other things.Texas-based U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of President Donald Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-texas-education-donald-trump-student-loans-f2e944d85e95792089fa1e2fb9858287">sided with the students</a>&nbsp;and ruled to block the program.&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.368635/gov.uscourts.txnd.368635.37.0.pdf">Pittman ruled</a>&nbsp;that the Biden administration did not have clear authorization from Congress to implement the program. A federal appeals court left Pittman's ruling in place, and the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case along with the states' challenge.HOW DID BIDEN GET TO CANCEL THE DEBT?To cancel student loan debt, the Biden administration relied on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, commonly known as the HEROES Act. Originally enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, the law was initially intended to keep service members from being worse off financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now extended, it allows the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans as necessary in connection with a national emergency.Trump, a Republican, declared the COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-health-83b0c8e168548fd453b0c177dd1f203a">a national emergency</a>&nbsp;in March 2020, but Biden recently announced that designation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-covid-public-health-2a80b547f6d55706a6986debc343b9fe">will end May 11</a>. The Biden administration has said that the end to the national emergency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-california-state-government-delaware-new-mexico-covid-743899ad1dcbeb5d88f37f98513035c5">doesn't change the legal argument for student loan debt cancellation</a>&nbsp;because the pandemic affected millions of student borrowers who might have fallen behind on their loans during the emergency.WHAT ARE THE JUSTICES LIKELY TO ASK ABOUT?Expect the justices to be focused on several big issues. The first one is whether the states and the two borrowers have the right to sue over the plan in the first place, a legal concept called “standing.” If they don't, that clears the way for the Biden administration to go ahead with it. To prove they have standing, the states and borrowers will have to show in part that they're financially harmed by the plan.Beyond standing, the justices will also be asking whether the HEROES Act gives the Biden administration the power to enact the plan and how it went about doing so.WHEN WILL BORROWERS KNOW THE OUTCOME?It will likely be months before borrowers learn the outcome of the case, but there's a deadline of sorts. The court generally issues all of its decisions by the end of June before going on a summer break.Whether or not the debt gets cancelled, the case's resolution will bring changes. While federal student loan payments are currently paused, that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-government-and-politics-f524c55faae26c2066b6795a9d29bc8d">will end 60 days after the case is resolved</a>. And if the case hasn't been resolved by June 30, payments will start 60 days after that.___

🎤Student loan forgiveness gets its day before the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is giving all federal agencies 30 days to wipe&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-canada-justin-trudeau-china-b10829a5503776fe9439ceb3d3835996">TikTok</a>&nbsp;off all government devices, as the Chinese-owned social media app comes under increasing scrutiny in Washington over security concerns.

The Office of Management and Budget calls the guidance, issued Monday, a “critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.” Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place; the guidance calls on the rest of the federal government to follow suit within 30 days.

The White House already does not allow TikTok on its devices.

“The Biden-Harris Administration has invested heavily in defending our nation’s digital infrastructure and curbing foreign adversaries’ access to Americans’ data,” said Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer. “This guidance is part of the Administration’s ongoing commitment to securing our digital infrastructure and protecting the American people’s security and privacy.”

The guidance was first reported by Reuters.

Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in December as part of a sweeping government funding package. The legislation does allow for TikTok use in certain cases, including for national security, law enforcement and research purposes.

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said Monday: “The ban of TikTok on federal devices passed in December without any deliberation, and unfortunately that approach has served as a blueprint for other world governments. These bans are little more than political theater."

House Republicans are expected to move forward Tuesday with a bill that would give Biden the power to ban TikTok nationwide. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Mike McCaul, looks to circumvent the challenges the administration would face in court if it moved forward with sanctions against the social media company.

If passed, the proposal would allow the administration to ban not only TikTok but any software applications that threaten national security. McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the app, saying it is being used by the Chinese Communist Party to “manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”

“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone,” the Texas Republican said in a statement Monday.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., his counterpart in the Senate, did not shut down the idea of the chamber taking up a proposal that would empower Biden to take action against TikTok, saying it was “certainly something to consider.”

Oberwetter said: “We hope that when it comes to addressing national security concerns about TikTok beyond government devices, Congress will explore solutions that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans.”

TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., remains extremely popular and is used by two-thirds of teens in the U.S. But there is increasing concern that Beijing could obtain control of American user data that the app has obtained.

The company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-d33e58c76bb3c13297c72816ef4e6231">has been dismissive of the ban</a>&nbsp;for federal devices and has noted that it is developing security and data privacy plans as part of the Biden administration’s ongoing national security review.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mobile-apps-canada-government-united-states-justin-trudeau-43b27a80a1c2bf3b55e5ccf2ce573684">Canada</a>&nbsp;also announced Monday that it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-united-states-government-privacy-business-29a52f0eee4177f6c2a596d12459feec">European Union’s executive branch</a>&nbsp;said last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is giving all federal agencies 30 days to wipe&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-canada-justin-trudeau-china-b10829a5503776fe9439ceb3d3835996">TikTok</a>&nbsp;off all government devices, as the Chinese-owned social media app comes under increasing scrutiny in Washington over security concerns.The Office of Management and Budget calls the guidance, issued Monday, a “critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.” Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place; the guidance calls on the rest of the federal government to follow suit within 30 days.The White House already does not allow TikTok on its devices.“The Biden-Harris Administration has invested heavily in defending our nation’s digital infrastructure and curbing foreign adversaries’ access to Americans’ data,” said Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer. “This guidance is part of the Administration’s ongoing commitment to securing our digital infrastructure and protecting the American people’s security and privacy.”The guidance was first reported by Reuters.Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in December as part of a sweeping government funding package. The legislation does allow for TikTok use in certain cases, including for national security, law enforcement and research purposes.TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said Monday: “The ban of TikTok on federal devices passed in December without any deliberation, and unfortunately that approach has served as a blueprint for other world governments. These bans are little more than political theater."House Republicans are expected to move forward Tuesday with a bill that would give Biden the power to ban TikTok nationwide. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Mike McCaul, looks to circumvent the challenges the administration would face in court if it moved forward with sanctions against the social media company.If passed, the proposal would allow the administration to ban not only TikTok but any software applications that threaten national security. McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the app, saying it is being used by the Chinese Communist Party to “manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone,” the Texas Republican said in a statement Monday.Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., his counterpart in the Senate, did not shut down the idea of the chamber taking up a proposal that would empower Biden to take action against TikTok, saying it was “certainly something to consider.”Oberwetter said: “We hope that when it comes to addressing national security concerns about TikTok beyond government devices, Congress will explore solutions that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans.”TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., remains extremely popular and is used by two-thirds of teens in the U.S. But there is increasing concern that Beijing could obtain control of American user data that the app has obtained.The company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-d33e58c76bb3c13297c72816ef4e6231">has been dismissive of the ban</a>&nbsp;for federal devices and has noted that it is developing security and data privacy plans as part of the Biden administration’s ongoing national security review.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mobile-apps-canada-government-united-states-justin-trudeau-43b27a80a1c2bf3b55e5ccf2ce573684">Canada</a>&nbsp;also announced Monday that it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-politics-united-states-government-privacy-business-29a52f0eee4177f6c2a596d12459feec">European Union’s executive branch</a>&nbsp;said last week it has temporarily banned TikTok from phones used by employees as a cybersecurity measure.

White House: No more TikTok on gov't devices within 30 days

FALLS CITY —
 Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol Tech Crimes Unit have 
arrested a Falls City man after a child exploitation investigation.

In
 July 2022, NSP received information regarding a child exploitation 
incident. Following an investigation, Matthew J. Timothy,
 36, was arrested by NSP Monday morning for possession and distribution of
 child pornography.&nbsp; 

Timothy was lodged in Richardson County jail. The 
investigation remains ongoing.

NSPFALLS CITY —
 Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol Tech Crimes Unit have 
arrested a Falls City man after a child exploitation investigation.In
 July 2022, NSP received information regarding a child exploitation 
incident. Following an investigation, Matthew J. Timothy,
 36, was arrested by NSP Monday morning for possession and distribution of
 child pornography.&nbsp; Timothy was lodged in Richardson County jail. The 
investigation remains ongoing.

Nebraska man arrested in child exploitation investigation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;won't have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">college loan forgiveness plan</a>.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-gun-politics-gay-rights-marriage-b9062feb4f80c49de088c36b0f17aa7c">Justice Clarence Thomas</a>&nbsp;was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation's highest court when he paid off the last of his debt from his time at Yale Law School.

Thomas, the court's longest-serving justice and staunchest conservative, has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a240_d18e.pdf">skeptical of other Biden administration initiatives</a>. And when the Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday involving&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/student-loans">President Joe Biden's debt relief plan</a>&nbsp;that would wipe away up to $20,000 in outstanding student loans, Thomas is not likely to be a vote in the administration's favor.

But the justices' own experiences can be relevant in how they approach a case, and alone among them, Thomas has written about the role student loans played in his financial struggles.

A fellow law school student even suggested Thomas declare bankruptcy after graduating “to get out from under the crushing weight of all my student loans," the justice wrote in his best-selling 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son." He rejected the idea.

It’s not clear that any of the other justices borrowed money to attend college or law school or have done so for their children’s educations. Some justices grew up in relative wealth. Others reported they had scholarships to pay their way to some of the country's most expensive private institutions.

Of the seven justices on the court who are parents, four have signaled through their investments that they don't want their own children to be saddled with onerous college debt, and have piled money into tax-free college savings accounts that might limit any need for loans.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch have the most on hand, at least $600,000 and at least $300,000, respectively, according to annual disclosure reports the justices filed in 2022. Each has two children.

Justices Amy Coney Barrett, who has seven children, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has two, also have invested money in college-savings accounts, in which any earnings or growth is tax free if spent on education.

None of the justices would comment for this story, a court spokeswoman said.

Thomas wrote vividly about his past money woes in his up-from-poverty story, recounting how a bank once foreclosed on one of his loans because repayment and delinquency notices were sent to his grandparents’ house in Savannah, Georgia, instead of Thomas’ home at the time in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Thomas was able to take out another loan to repay the bank only because his mentor, John Danforth, then-Missouri attorney general and later a U.S. senator, vouched for him.

Thomas noted that he signed up for a tuition postponement program at Yale in which a group of students jointly paid for their outstanding loans according to their financial ability, with those earning the most paying the most.

At the time, Thomas' first wife, Kathy, was pregnant. “I didn't know what else to do, so I signed on the dotted line, and spent the next two decades paying off the money I borrowed during my last two years at Yale,” Thomas wrote.

When he was first nominated to be a federal judge in 1989, Thomas reported $10,000 in outstanding student loans, according to a news report at the time. The Biden administration has picked the same number as the amount of debt relief most borrowers would get under its plan.

Personal experience can shape the justices' questions in the courtroom and affect their private conversations about a case, even if it doesn't figure in the outcome.

“It is helpful to have people with life experiences that are varied just because it enriches the conversation,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?322339-1/ceremony-honor-supreme-court-justices&amp;start=5657&amp;transcriptQuery=experience">Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said</a>. Sotomayor, like Thomas, also grew up poor. She got a full scholarship to Princeton as an undergraduate, she has said, and went on to Yale for law school, as Thomas did.

Keeping people from avoiding the kinds of difficult choices Thomas faced is a key part of the administration's argument for loan forgiveness.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-506/251435/20230104222942852_22-506tsUnitedStates.pdf">The administration says</a>&nbsp;that without additional help, many borrowers will fall behind on their payments once a hold in place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago is lifted, no later than this summer.

Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income. Recipients of&nbsp;<a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a>, who tend to have fewer financial resources, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

The White House says 26 million people already have applied and 16 million have been approved for relief. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over the next three decades.

The legal fight could turn on any of several elements, including whether the Republican-led states and individuals suing over the plan have legal standing to go to court and whether Biden has the authority under federal law for so extensive a loan forgiveness program.

Nebraska and other states challenging the program argue that far from falling behind, 20 million borrowers would get a "windfall” because their entire student debt would be erased, Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers wrote in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-506/253353/20230127155912043_2023.01.27%20-%20Respondents%20Brief%20FINAL.pdf">states' main Supreme Court brief</a>.

Which of those arguments resonate with the court may become clear on Tuesday.

When she was dean of Harvard Law School, Justice Elena Kagan showed her own concern about the high cost of law school, especially for students who were considering lower-paying jobs.

<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/18law.html">Kagan established a program</a>&nbsp;that would allow students to attend their final year tuition-free if they agreed to a five-year commitment to work in the public sector. While that program no longer exists, Harvard offers grants to students for public service work.

At the time the program was created,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1206040364238/">Kagan said she wanted students</a>&nbsp;to be able to go to work where they “can make the biggest difference, but that isn’t the case now.” Instead, she said: “They often go to work where they don’t want to work because of the debt burden.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673377040107.png" alt="Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income." />
 <figcaption>Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;won't have far to look if it wants a personal take on the “crushing weight” of student debt that underlies the Biden administration’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-biden-plan-d9c8e18774a744187c9af634bf4eb728">college loan forgiveness plan</a>.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-gun-politics-gay-rights-marriage-b9062feb4f80c49de088c36b0f17aa7c">Justice Clarence Thomas</a>&nbsp;was in his mid-40s and in his third year on the nation's highest court when he paid off the last of his debt from his time at Yale Law School.Thomas, the court's longest-serving justice and staunchest conservative, has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21a240_d18e.pdf">skeptical of other Biden administration initiatives</a>. And when the Supreme Court hears arguments Tuesday involving&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/student-loans">President Joe Biden's debt relief plan</a>&nbsp;that would wipe away up to $20,000 in outstanding student loans, Thomas is not likely to be a vote in the administration's favor.But the justices' own experiences can be relevant in how they approach a case, and alone among them, Thomas has written about the role student loans played in his financial struggles.A fellow law school student even suggested Thomas declare bankruptcy after graduating “to get out from under the crushing weight of all my student loans," the justice wrote in his best-selling 2007 memoir, “My Grandfather’s Son." He rejected the idea.It’s not clear that any of the other justices borrowed money to attend college or law school or have done so for their children’s educations. Some justices grew up in relative wealth. Others reported they had scholarships to pay their way to some of the country's most expensive private institutions.Of the seven justices on the court who are parents, four have signaled through their investments that they don't want their own children to be saddled with onerous college debt, and have piled money into tax-free college savings accounts that might limit any need for loans.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Neil Gorsuch have the most on hand, at least $600,000 and at least $300,000, respectively, according to annual disclosure reports the justices filed in 2022. Each has two children.Justices Amy Coney Barrett, who has seven children, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has two, also have invested money in college-savings accounts, in which any earnings or growth is tax free if spent on education.None of the justices would comment for this story, a court spokeswoman said.Thomas wrote vividly about his past money woes in his up-from-poverty story, recounting how a bank once foreclosed on one of his loans because repayment and delinquency notices were sent to his grandparents’ house in Savannah, Georgia, instead of Thomas’ home at the time in Jefferson City, Missouri.Thomas was able to take out another loan to repay the bank only because his mentor, John Danforth, then-Missouri attorney general and later a U.S. senator, vouched for him.Thomas noted that he signed up for a tuition postponement program at Yale in which a group of students jointly paid for their outstanding loans according to their financial ability, with those earning the most paying the most.At the time, Thomas' first wife, Kathy, was pregnant. “I didn't know what else to do, so I signed on the dotted line, and spent the next two decades paying off the money I borrowed during my last two years at Yale,” Thomas wrote.When he was first nominated to be a federal judge in 1989, Thomas reported $10,000 in outstanding student loans, according to a news report at the time. The Biden administration has picked the same number as the amount of debt relief most borrowers would get under its plan.Personal experience can shape the justices' questions in the courtroom and affect their private conversations about a case, even if it doesn't figure in the outcome.“It is helpful to have people with life experiences that are varied just because it enriches the conversation,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?322339-1/ceremony-honor-supreme-court-justices&amp;start=5657&amp;transcriptQuery=experience">Justice Sonia Sotomayor has said</a>. Sotomayor, like Thomas, also grew up poor. She got a full scholarship to Princeton as an undergraduate, she has said, and went on to Yale for law school, as Thomas did.Keeping people from avoiding the kinds of difficult choices Thomas faced is a key part of the administration's argument for loan forgiveness.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-506/251435/20230104222942852_22-506tsUnitedStates.pdf">The administration says</a>&nbsp;that without additional help, many borrowers will fall behind on their payments once a hold in place since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago is lifted, no later than this summer.Under a plan announced in August but so far blocked by federal courts, $10,000 in federal loans would be canceled for people making less than $125,000 or for households with less than $250,000 in income. Recipients of&nbsp;<a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a>, who tend to have fewer financial resources, would get an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.The White House says 26 million people already have applied and 16 million have been approved for relief. The program is estimated to cost $400 billion over the next three decades.The legal fight could turn on any of several elements, including whether the Republican-led states and individuals suing over the plan have legal standing to go to court and whether Biden has the authority under federal law for so extensive a loan forgiveness program.Nebraska and other states challenging the program argue that far from falling behind, 20 million borrowers would get a "windfall” because their entire student debt would be erased, Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers wrote in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/22/22-506/253353/20230127155912043_2023.01.27%20-%20Respondents%20Brief%20FINAL.pdf">states' main Supreme Court brief</a>.Which of those arguments resonate with the court may become clear on Tuesday.When she was dean of Harvard Law School, Justice Elena Kagan showed her own concern about the high cost of law school, especially for students who were considering lower-paying jobs.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/18law.html">Kagan established a program</a>&nbsp;that would allow students to attend their final year tuition-free if they agreed to a five-year commitment to work in the public sector. While that program no longer exists, Harvard offers grants to students for public service work.At the time the program was created,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1206040364238/">Kagan said she wanted students</a>&nbsp;to be able to go to work where they “can make the biggest difference, but that isn’t the case now.” Instead, she said: “They often go to work where they don’t want to work because of the debt burden.”

Supreme Court set to hear case on student loan debt relief

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first combination test for flu and C<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">OVID-19</a>&nbsp;that can be used at home, giving consumers an easy way to determine if a runny nose is caused by either disease.

The Lucira COVID-19 &amp; Flu Home test, which can be purchased without a prescription, uses self-collected nasal swab samples and delivers results in about 30 minutes, the agency said.

While at-home COVID tests are readily available, this is the first home test for influenza A and B, commonly known as the flu. The test was granted an emergency use authorization, which facilitates the availability of “medical countermeasures” during public health emergencies.

Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, called the authorization “a major milestone in bringing greater consumer access to diagnostic tests that can be performed entirely at home.”

The agency said the test is for individuals “with signs and symptoms consistent with a respiratory tract infection” and said it can be used on children as young as 2, with adults collecting the samples.

It recommends that tests be reported to healthcare providers and cautions that there is a risk of false positive and negative results. “Individuals who test negative and continue to experience symptoms of fever, cough and-or shortness of breath may still have a respiratory infection and should seek follow-up care with their healthcare provider,” the agency said.

Citing the impact of COVID and RSV, another respiratory infection, the FDA said it “recognizes the benefits that home testing can provide” and would work to increase the number of tests available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1677419539318.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first combination test for flu and C<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">OVID-19</a>&nbsp;that can be used at home, giving consumers an easy way to determine if a runny nose is caused by either disease.The Lucira COVID-19 &amp; Flu Home test, which can be purchased without a prescription, uses self-collected nasal swab samples and delivers results in about 30 minutes, the agency said.While at-home COVID tests are readily available, this is the first home test for influenza A and B, commonly known as the flu. The test was granted an emergency use authorization, which facilitates the availability of “medical countermeasures” during public health emergencies.Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, called the authorization “a major milestone in bringing greater consumer access to diagnostic tests that can be performed entirely at home.”The agency said the test is for individuals “with signs and symptoms consistent with a respiratory tract infection” and said it can be used on children as young as 2, with adults collecting the samples.It recommends that tests be reported to healthcare providers and cautions that there is a risk of false positive and negative results. “Individuals who test negative and continue to experience symptoms of fever, cough and-or shortness of breath may still have a respiratory infection and should seek follow-up care with their healthcare provider,” the agency said.Citing the impact of COVID and RSV, another respiratory infection, the FDA said it “recognizes the benefits that home testing can provide” and would work to increase the number of tests available.

First at-home test for COVID and flu authorized by FDA

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/victims-of-55-million-fraud-urged-to-contact-federal-officials-after-florida-man-pleads-guilty/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

A Florida man pleaded guilty 
Friday for his part in an investment fraud scheme that defrauded more 
than 10,000 victims nationwide of over $55 million.

Some of those victims may be from Nebraska, and federal officials are asking potential victims to contact them.

Michael Glaspie, 72, of Palm City, Florida, faces up to 20 years in 
prison after marketing a fraudulent investment opportunity under the 
names “CoinDeal” or “Coin Deal.”

Also involved in the scheme was Neil Suresh Chandran of Las Vegas, who was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-technology-companies-arrested-alleged-45-million-investment-fraud-scheme-involving-over">indicted by a federal grand jury in Nebraska</a> in June for three counts of wire fraud and two counts of engaging in criminal monetary transactions.

All potential victims of the fraud are encouraged to visit the webpage <a target="_blank" href="https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=6be10ed2-347a3629-6be62a37-ac1f6b0176a2-337630a830c1c360&amp;q=1&amp;e=b4f9b5da-e820-4c96-983e-44d8dde2714f&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Flnks.gd%2Fl%2FeyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMzAyMjMuNzIxNTU1OTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5qdXN0aWNlLmdvdi9jcmltaW5hbC12bnMvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy12LWNoYW5kcmFuP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1nb3ZkZWxpdmVyeSJ9.1MLOPE0BEYG1EM1XHgCdp_wHpTLnM3zjVOLHW_7lhCM%2Fs%2F859432685%2Fbr%2F155026046532-l">https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/united-states-v-chandran</a> to obtain more information about their rights.

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/victims-of-55-million-fraud-urged-to-contact-federal-officials-after-florida-man-pleads-guilty/">Nebraska Examiner</a>A Florida man pleaded guilty 
Friday for his part in an investment fraud scheme that defrauded more 
than 10,000 victims nationwide of over $55 million.Some of those victims may be from Nebraska, and federal officials are asking potential victims to contact them.Michael Glaspie, 72, of Palm City, Florida, faces up to 20 years in 
prison after marketing a fraudulent investment opportunity under the 
names “CoinDeal” or “Coin Deal.”Also involved in the scheme was Neil Suresh Chandran of Las Vegas, who was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-technology-companies-arrested-alleged-45-million-investment-fraud-scheme-involving-over">indicted by a federal grand jury in Nebraska</a> in June for three counts of wire fraud and two counts of engaging in criminal monetary transactions.All potential victims of the fraud are encouraged to visit the webpage <a target="_blank" href="https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=6be10ed2-347a3629-6be62a37-ac1f6b0176a2-337630a830c1c360&amp;q=1&amp;e=b4f9b5da-e820-4c96-983e-44d8dde2714f&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Flnks.gd%2Fl%2FeyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMzAyMjMuNzIxNTU1OTEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5qdXN0aWNlLmdvdi9jcmltaW5hbC12bnMvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy12LWNoYW5kcmFuP3V0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1nb3ZkZWxpdmVyeSJ9.1MLOPE0BEYG1EM1XHgCdp_wHpTLnM3zjVOLHW_7lhCM%2Fs%2F859432685%2Fbr%2F155026046532-l">https://www.justice.gov/criminal-vns/united-states-v-chandran</a> to obtain more information about their rights.The FBI office in Omaha was among a handful of FBI offices that participated in the investigation.