CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, September 2, 2022
CHN Staff,
September 2, 2022
The back-to-school edition. Kids are returning to classrooms, but we find students, teachers, and schools themselves in a pandemic-related crisis. For students, the damage that has been done became more apparent than ever this past Thursday, September 1, when new data revealed just how big a hit students took academically during the pandemic’s first two years. New test results from the National Assessment for Educational Progress, often called the “nation’s report card,” showed students of all income levels and ethnicities on average fared much worse in early 2022 than they did in early 2020, just before the pandemic. But students from families with low incomes and Black and Hispanic students fared even worse.
Biden’s student debt relief is a big deal
CHN Staff,
September 1, 2022
We’re told that higher education is one of the best ways to overcome poverty. But for many indebted borrowers, it’s been just the opposite. Since 1980, the cost of college has increased at nearly 9 times the rate of paychecks. If you’re poor and don’t join the military, land a full scholarship, or gain a mysterious wealthy benefactor, you have one option: borrowing against your future prospects.
An historic action: Advocates applaud Biden announcement on student debt relief
David Elliot,
August 26, 2022
Many human needs advocates are applauding President Biden’s decision this week to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt – an executive order that would completely wipe out student debt for 20 million Americans. Biden’s order appears carefully tailored to target those who need the most help. His action would provide up to $10,000 in relief for all holders of student debt, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Only individuals who earn less than $125,000 or couples earning less than $250,000 a year would qualify for either level of loan forgiveness.
For long COVID patients waiting for help from Congress: ‘It’s been silence – crickets’
David Elliot,
August 23, 2022
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, it seems, is having trouble getting his colleagues to listen to him. The Virginia Democrat first contracted COVID-19 in March 2020, part of the first major wave of Americans to get the virus. Now, almost two and a half years later, he continues to exhibit symptoms. In his case, he suffers from nerve sensitivity, or a feeling “as if every nerve ending in my body has had five cups of coffee,” as he told Politico.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, August 19, 2022
CHN Staff,
August 19, 2022
The health care savings edition. The pandemic’s flames rage on, with nearly 100,000 new cases in the U.S. every day and nearly 500 deaths. But there is good news to report. President Biden this week signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which will lower prescription drug and other health care costs for millions of Americans. The legislation covers other things of tremendous consequence – the most significant U.S. response to climate change ever and making corporations pay more of their fair share with a 15 percent corporate tax rate, for example. But the health care provisions contained in the bill are historic too.
