SAVE Plan Tossed. Trump Admin Sued Over College Race Reporting. Black-Owned Music Royalties

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ordered the termination of the Biden administration's Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan. This plan was designed to offer more affordable repayment options, including $0 monthly payments for some borrowers. As a result, starting July 1st, 2026, federal student loan borrowers will be limited to a tiered standard repayment plan or a new income-driven program called the Repayment Assistance Plan. Approximately 7 billion borrowers currently enrolled in SAVE are now in forbearance and are not required to make payments during ongoing legal challenges.

The US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit has ordered the termination of the saving on a valuable education, also known as the SAFE plan. The Biden administration introduced the SAFE plan as a more affordable option for student loan repayment, providing greater flexibility that allowed some borrowers to make payments as low as $0 per month. According to a recent update from the US Department of Education, beginning July 1st, 2026, federal student loan borrowers will only have two repayment options, a tiered standard repayment plan or a new income driven program called the repayment assistance plan. The education department reports that approximately 7 billion borrowers are currently enrolled in the SAVE plan during the ongoing legal challenges. These borrowers have been placed in forbearance and are not required to make monthly payments.

Seventeen states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging new race, gender, income, and academic performance-based reporting requirements for universities. The 'Admissions and Consumer Transparency' (ACT) survey demands extensive admissions and student data related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, explicitly to ensure schools are not engaging in affirmative action. The lawsuit contends that the data collection places a significant burden on colleges, is costly, and could be used for politically motivated investigations, with non-compliant universities facing government penalties.

17 blue states filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over new race, gender, income, and academic performance-based reporting requirements for universities. The lawsuit challenges the new admissions and consumer transparency supplement, the ACT survey, which requires universities to provide years of admissions and student data related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, all to ensure schools aren't engaging in affirmative action. The lawsuit says the sheer amounts of data sought through the ACT survey would place a considerable burden on colleges. Blue states say the reporting requirements are costly and could be used by the administration for politically motivated investigations. If universities refuse to abide, they will face government penalties.

Family mediator Renard Crowley explains that mediation provides a private, confidential, and less stressful path for families to resolve disputes over parenting (decision-making), co-parenting schedules (visitation), financial support (child support), and divorce, without involving a judge. Unlike court, mediation empowers parents to control the outcome and reach agreements collaboratively. Mediators act as neutral parties, facilitating productive conversations and, if necessary, separating parties into different rooms (virtually or in-person) to manage high emotions. However, mediation is not suitable for cases involving abuse, neglect, or anything detrimental to a child, as mediators are mandated reporters.

Family mediator and conflict resolution specialist Renard Cwley... family mediation is a place where you can allow parents to come together without going to court... this is a process to where both parents are put in a situation where they are in control of the outcome... most common issues are you have you know the court looks at it as you got custody, visitation, child support... we don't call it the typical legal terms custody, visitation or child support. We look at mediation as different terms we use which is for custody we call it decision- making... visitation we call that co-parenting... child support it's called financial support of a child... as a mediator I'm a neutral person which means that I don't take sides. I don't hold any judgment... we can also meet separately... anything pertaining because again the mediation is is about the best interest of the child more importantly and as a mediator if it's anything in regards to abuse neglect or anything detrimental to a child mediation would not be a path forward...

George Monger, CEO of Connect Music, details his AI-powered royalty intelligence platform, Connect Deck, which provides artists with transparency, ownership, and real-time insights into their earnings and audience data. The music industry's complexity often leads to artists struggling to receive their fair share, with billions in 'blackbox money' uncollected. Connect Music aims to simplify this by offering tools and financing that allow artists to maintain copyright ownership, unlike traditional major label deals that often require artists to give up rights to recoup advances. The platform helps artists make smarter career decisions by identifying audience demographics and geographic virality, as demonstrated by an artist who increased streams from 100 million to over a billion by hyper-focusing marketing efforts.

George Monger is the president and CEO of Connect Music, an AI powered royalty intelligence platform, all designed to give artists transparency, ownership, and real-time insight into their earnings and audience data... Mer recently raised $80 million to grow connect music... the music industry perhaps by design is ext is a complex space... there's almost a billion dollars every year of blackbox money, monies that should be collected and paid to those writers and producers... we wanted to build the operating system or the platform that would allow rights holders to focus on the creativity while still having access to the tools that major labels may have and have the financing that you would typically have to give up your copyright ownership... with the artist uh they're able to log in. We get our data directly from our streaming partners. So when when you can recognize that uh your your audience is in Texas, you probably shouldn't be spending marketing money in in California... One example, one of our artists, Don Trip, he started to work with us in 2023. He had just under 100 million streams. And because we hyperfocused in on his audience... he's now at more than a billion streams...

Congressman Al Green and Roland Martin criticize the 'SAVE America Act,' a proposed voter ID bill, as a 'sham' and a 'solution looking for a problem' designed to suppress votes, particularly in Black and low-income communities. They argue that while Democrats may support voter ID in principle, this specific bill imposes unnecessary burdens, such as requiring birth certificates or passports, which many citizens (especially older individuals, those born via midwifery, or women whose names changed after marriage) may not easily possess or afford. The act also bans mail-in voting except in extreme cases. The discussion highlights how Republicans often specify acceptable forms of ID (e.g., gun permits over student IDs) to disenfranchise specific demographics, making it a 'neuvo poll tax' by requiring citizens to purchase new identification to exercise their right to vote.

The Save America Act is trash and has no business being made law... This act would not allow me to vote with this piece of identification... I went in without a driver's license and I said I want to vote and they required me to get a um birth certificate... it is not as easy as some people might think for people to get a birth certificate... your birth certificate may not align with the what you have been identifying yourself with over the years. Women when they marry... their name, the last name won't align with what they have on the birth certificate... it imposes a lot of burdens on people that are unnecessary, especially given that we don't have a large number of people who are alleged to have voted improperly... In Texas, when they passed the law in Austin, they would not, if you were a student at a state university... you could not use your student ID to vote. But if you had a gun permit, you can use that... The Save America Act also bans mailin voting except in uh extreme cases... it is a latest form of some sort of neuvo pole tax when you have to now buy another ID so that you can vote.