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  • Big questions on student loan forgiveness loom in 2023 | CNN Politics

    Big questions on student loan forgiveness loom in 2023 | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Student loan borrowers are starting 2023 with a lot of uncertainty.

    The fate of President Joe Biden’s major student loan forgiveness program lies with the US Supreme Court, and it could be as late as summer before the justices rule on whether the policy can take effect.

    The pandemic-related pause on student loan payments remains in place. But a restart date is up in the air, dependent on when the Supreme Court rules on the forgiveness program.

    Meanwhile, significant changes are coming in July to the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness program that aids government and nonprofit workers. And a new income-driven repayment plan that could lower payments for some federal student loan borrowers is in the works.

    The mired rollout of Biden’s forgiveness program has created confusion for borrowers. Here are some of the big questions surrounding student loans this year:

    In late February, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases concerning Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, which could deliver up to $20,000 of debt relief for millions of low- and middle-income borrowers.

    A decision on whether the program is legal and can move forward is expected by June. Until then, it is on hold and no debt will be discharged under the program.

    Biden’s student loan forgiveness program has faced several legal challenges since the president announced the program in August. The Department of Education received about 26 million applications for debt relief by the time a federal district court judge struck down the program on November 10.

    Lawyers for the Biden administration say that Congress gave the secretary of education “expansive authority to alleviate the hardship that federal student loan recipients may suffer as a result of national emergencies,” like the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a memo from the Department of Justice.

    But litigants argue the Biden administration has overstepped its authority, and other recent Supreme Court decisions have ruled against aggressive executive agency actions. The justices curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to set certain climate change regulations last year, for example, as well as limited the federal government’s power to implement a pandemic-related eviction moratorium in 2021 and mandate Covid-19 vaccinations in 2022.

    For the third consecutive time, federal student loan borrowers begin a new year without having to make payments on their loans thanks to a pandemic-related pause.

    Payments were set to resume in January, but the Biden administration extended the pause after its student loan forgiveness program was halted by federal courts. Officials had told borrowers debt relief would be granted before payments restarted.

    The payment pause will now last until 60 days after litigation over Biden’s student loan forgiveness program is resolved. If the program has not been implemented and the litigation has not been resolved by June 30, payments will resume 60 days after that.

    Borrower balances have effectively been frozen since March 2020, with no payments required on most federal student loans. During this time, interest has stopped adding up and collections on defaulted debt have also been on hold.

    For some borrowers, the pause on payments delivers an even bigger benefit than Biden’s forgiveness program ever could.

    The yearslong pause cost the government $155 billion through the end of 2022, according to an estimate from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

    The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program allows certain government and nonprofit employees to seek federal student loan forgiveness after making 10 years of qualifying payments – but it has been plagued with implementation problems for years.

    A yearlong waiver that expanded eligibility for the PSLF program expired on October 31, but some of those temporary changes will be made permanent starting in July.

    Under the new rules, borrowers will be able to receive credit toward PSLF on payments that are made late, in installments or in a lump sum. Prior rules only counted a payment as eligible if it was made in full within 15 days of its due date.

    Also, time spent in certain periods of deferment or forbearance will count toward PSLF. These periods include deferments for cancer treatment, military service, economic hardship and time served in AmeriCorps and the National Guard.

    Starting in July, borrowers will receive some credit for past payments when they consolidate older loans into federal Direct Loans in order to qualify for the program. Borrowers previously lost all progress toward forgiveness when they consolidated. After July, they will receive a weighted average of existing qualifying payments toward PSLF.

    The new rules will also simplify the criteria to meet the requirement that a borrower be a full-time employee in a public sector job. The new standard will consider full-time employment at 30 hours a week. In particular, the change will help adjunct faculty at public colleges qualify for the program.

    The Biden administration has proposed a new income-driven repayment plan that is intended to make payments more manageable for borrowers, though it’s unclear when it could take effect.

    Several income-driven repayment plans already exist for federal student loan borrowers, but the new proposal could offer more favorable terms.

    The new rule is expected to cap payments at 5% of a borrower’s discretionary income, down from 10% that is offered in most current income-driven plans, as well as reduce the amount of income that is considered discretionary. It would also forgive remaining balances after 10 years of repayment, instead of 20 or 25 years, as well as cover the borrower’s unpaid monthly interest.

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  • Jack Ma Fast Facts | CNN

    Jack Ma Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here’s a look at the life of Jack Ma, co-founder of China’s most successful tech empire and billionaire entrepreneur.

    Birth date: September 10, 1964

    Birth place: Hangzhou, China

    Birth name: Ma Yun

    Father: Ma Laifa

    Mother: Cui Wencai

    Marriage: Zhang Ying (Cathy Zhang)

    Children: Two (some sources say three)

    Education: Hangzhou Teachers College, 1988; Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, M.B.A.

    Ma showed foreign tourists around his hometown as a child to improve his English.

    He was admitted to Hangzhou Teachers College on the third try, after failing the entrance exam twice.

    Owns a vineyard in France.

    Supports the Chinese work practice known as “996.” The number refers to working from 9am to 9pm six days a week.

    Is a member of the Communist Party.

    1988 – Begins teaching English at Hangzhou Teachers College.

    1994 – Ma founds his first company, the Haibo Translation Agency.

    1995 – Ma founds China Pages, an internet directory for Chinese companies.

    1999 – Co-Founds e-commerce company Alibaba Group with 18 others, working out of an apartment in Hangzhou.

    2003 – Founds Taobao, an online retail website.

    2004 – Founds Alipay, an internet payment platform.

    2010 – Co-founds venture-capital firm Yunfeng.

    2011 – An internal investigation into fraud claims takes place at Alibaba. The investigation finds roughly 100 Alibaba salespeople allowed fraudulent entities to be designated as “gold suppliers,” a title reserved for independently verified legitimate sellers. In response to the allegation, David Wei, the chief executive officer, and Elvis Lee, the chief operating officer, resign.

    January 15, 2013 – Ma announces he is stepping down as CEO of Alibaba, but will remain as the company’s executive chairman.

    September 19, 2014 – Alibaba raises $25 billion in a record-shattering IPO on the New York Stock Exchange.

    October 2014 – Establishes Ant Group, a financial technology company.

    December 15, 2014 – Founds the Jack Ma Foundation, a philanthropic organization.

    2017 – Co-founds a private school, the Yungu School, in Hangzhou.

    January 9, 2017 – Ma meets with US President Donald Trump to discuss plans for creating “one million” jobs in the United States through Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform.

    November 11, 2017 – Makes his film screen debut in “Gong Shou Dao,” a kung fu movie.

    September 2019 – Announces he will step down as executive chairman of Alibaba. He is succeeded by CEO Yong Zhang, also known as Daniel Zhang.

    October 24, 2020 – Ma makes a controversial speech in China, calling for reform of the country’s financial regulatory system.

    November 3, 2020 – A planned IPO of Ant Group, Alibaba’s financial affiliate, is blocked at the last minute by Chinese regulators.

    December 24, 2020 – China launches an antitrust investigation into Alibaba. The State Administration for Market Regulation, China’s top market regulator, announces that it will probe alleged monopolistic behavior by Alibaba.

    January 20, 2021 – Ma makes his first public appearance in roughly three months while speaking at the online ceremony of the Rural Teacher Initiative event. Ma hadn’t made a public appearance or social media post since late October, just over a week before a much anticipated stock market listing of Alibaba’s (BABA) financial affiliate, Ant Group, is suspended.

    May 24, 2021 – Citing anonymous sources, the Financial Times reports that Ma will no longer serve as the president of Hupan, the elite business school he created in 2015. The newspaper also reports that Hupan would restructure its education program. The Hangzhou-based school had already dropped the word “university” from its name, following a government clampdown on institutions that are not licensed as universities but were claiming the status.

    December 31, 2022 – Ma surfaces in a live video speech in an annual address to rural teachers, according to the South China Morning Post. It is a rare public appearance following reports that Ma had been living in Tokyo after China’s crackdown on the tech sector.

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  • Suspect in the Idaho college student killings returned home for the holidays weeks after the crime. Here’s what we know about him | CNN

    Suspect in the Idaho college student killings returned home for the holidays weeks after the crime. Here’s what we know about him | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The man arrested in connection with the November killings of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death attended a nearby university in Washington state and traveled across the country in December to spend the holidays with his parents.

    Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on Friday on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder charges issued by the Moscow, Idaho, Police Department and the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, according to the criminal complaint.

    The four slain students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20 – were each stabbed multiple times in the early morning hours of November 13 at an off-campus house in the small college town of Moscow.

    Kohberger was apprehended at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania, where Kohberger went several days before Christmas, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar told CNN. A white Elantra authorities had been looking for in connection with the killings was also at the parents’ house, the attorney added.

    “He was home for the holidays,” LaBar said.

    Kohberger’s father traveled with him from Washington state to Pennsylvania, according to the public defender and a person who claims to have interacted with the father and son earlier in December.

    That person, who asked not to be identified, said they did not know the father and son but engaged in friendly conversation with them at an auto maintenance shop on December 16 in Pennsylvania, while the two were getting their Elantra serviced. (A separate person also confirmed to CNN the father and son did business at the location on December 16.)

    The father told the individual he flew to Washington state and made the cross-country trip with Kohberger, adding his son would be traveling to the west coast alone after the holidays. Police have not indicated the suspect’s father is in any way implicated in the killings. CNN has attempted to contact the father for comment.

    The person described the younger Kohberger as “a little awkward,” but not suspiciously so. The suspect reportedly told the person he wanted to go into the field of behavioral criminal justice and become a professor.

    Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, according to a now-removed university graduate directory, which was seen by CNN earlier Friday.

    Kohberger had finished his first semester as a PhD student in the school’s criminal justice program earlier in December, the university said in a Friday statement.

    Earlier that day, university police assisted authorities in executing search warrants at his office and apartment, both located on the school’s Pullman campus.

    Pullman is about a 15-minute drive from Moscow, where the killings took place.

    Kohberger intends to waive his extradition hearing to Idaho, set for January 3, to expedite his transport to the state, LaBar said, adding his client is “eager to be exonerated” of the charges.

    Kohberger was previously an undergraduate and graduate student at DeSales University, according to a statement on the school’s website. DeSales is a Catholic university in Pennsylvania, according to its official Facebook page.

    He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2020 and earlier this year completed his “graduate studies for the Master of Arts in criminal justice program,” according to a university spokesperson.

    Kohberger’s attorney described his client as “very intelligent,” adding “he understands where we are right now.”

    In a post removed from Reddit after the arrest was made public, a student investigator associated with a DeSales University study named Bryan Kohberger sought participation in a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”

    The post said, “In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience.”

    CNN reached one of the principal investigators of the study, a professor at DeSales University, but they declined to comment on the matter. The university has not responded to comment.

    A spokesperson for Northampton Community College, also in Pennsylvania, confirmed Kohberger was a student there and graduated with an Associate of Arts and Psychology degree in 2018.

    Earlier in December, authorities asked the public for information about a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra they believed was in the “immediate area” of the crime scenes around the time of the killings.

    After an overwhelming number of tips, investigators narrowed their focus to Kohberger by tracing ownership of the Elantra back to him, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

    His DNA also matched DNA recovered at the crime scene, according to the sources, who also explained authorities believed Kohberger left the area and went to Pennsylvania after the crime.

    A surveillance team with the FBI tracked the suspect for several days in the area where he was arrested, the sources added.

    One law enforcement source said Kohberger is believed to have driven across the country to his parents’ house in the Elantra. Authorities had also been surveilling his parents’ house, the source said.

    Authorities kept Kohberger under surveillance while investigators from Moscow’s police department, the Idaho State Police and the FBI worked with prosecutors to develop sufficient probable cause for an arrest warrant.

    The suspect’s family is “very shocked,” LaBar, the attorney, said, adding they are in “awe over everything that’s going on” and believed this was “out of character for Bryan.”

    Authorities still want to hear from people who may be able to shed more light on Kohberger.

    “This is not the end of this investigation, in fact, this is a new beginning,” Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said Friday. “You all now know the name of the person who has been charged with these offenses, please get that information out there, please ask the public, anyone who knows about this individual, to come forward.”

    “Report anything you know about him, to help the investigators, and eventually our office and the court system, understand fully everything there is to know about not only the individual, but what happened and why,” Thompson added.

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  • Authorities tracked the Idaho student killings suspect as he drove cross-country to Pennsylvania, sources say | CNN

    Authorities tracked the Idaho student killings suspect as he drove cross-country to Pennsylvania, sources say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Authorities carefully tracked the man charged in the killings of four Idaho college students as he drove across the country around Christmas and continued surveilling him for several days before finally arresting him Friday, sources tell CNN.

    Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in his home state of Pennsylvania and charged with four counts of murder in the first degree, as well as felony burglary in connection with the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in November, according to Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson.

    Still, investigators have not publicly confirmed the suspect’s motive or whether he knew the victims. The murder weapon has also not been located, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said Friday.

    In the nearly seven weeks since the students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home, investigators have conducted more than 300 interviews and scoured approximately 20,000 tips in their search for the suspect. News of the killings – and the long stretch of time without a suspect or significant developments – have rattled the University of Idaho community and the surrounding town of Moscow, which had not seen a murder in seven years.

    Investigators honed in on Kohberger as the suspect through DNA evidence and by confirming his ownership of a white Hyundai Elantra seen near the crime scene, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

    Kohberger, who authorities say lived just minutes from the scene of the killings, is a PhD student in Washington State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, the school confirmed.

    He drove cross-country in a white Hyundai Elantra and arrived at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania around Christmas, according to a law enforcement source. Authorities were tracking him as he drove and were also surveilling his parents’ house, the source said.

    An FBI surveillance team tracked him for four days before his arrest while law enforcement worked with prosecutors to develop enough probable cause to obtain a warrant, the two law enforcement sources said.

    Genetic genealogy techniques were used to connect Kohberger to unidentified DNA evidence, another source with knowledge of the case tells CNN. The DNA was run through a public database to find potential family member matches, and subsequent investigative work by law enforcement led to him as the suspect, the source said.

    Kohberger was arraigned Friday morning in Pennsylvania and is being held without bail pending his extradition hearing on January 3, records show.

    The suspect has the option to waive extradition and return to Idaho voluntarily. But if he chooses not to, Moscow police will have to initiate extradition proceedings through the governor’s office, which could take some time, Fry said.

    Even with a suspect charged, law enforcement’s work is far from over, prosecutors said.

    Bryan Kohberger

    “This is not the end of this investigation. In fact, this is a new beginning,” Thompson said Friday night.

    Thompson urged people to continue submitting tips, asking anyone with information about the suspect “to come forward, call the tip line, report anything you know about him to help the investigators.”

    Since the killings of the four students – Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 some community members have grown frustrated as investigators have yet to offer a thorough narrative of how the night unfolded. Authorities have released limited details, including the victims’ activities leading up to the attacks and people they have ruled out as suspects.

    Fry told reporters Friday state law limits what information authorities can release before Kohberger makes an initial appearance in Idaho court. The probable cause affidavit – which details the factual basis of Kohberger’s charges – is sealed until the suspect is physically in Latah County, Idaho and has been served with the Idaho arrest warrant, Thompson said.

    Kohberger is a resident of Pullman, Washington, a city just about nine miles from the site of the killings, authorities said. His apartment and office on the Washington State University’s Pullman campus were searched by law enforcement Friday morning, the university confirmed in a statement.

    In June 2022, he finished graduate studies at DeSales University, where he also was an undergraduate, according to a statement on the school’s website. He also got an associate degree from Northampton Community College in 2018, the college confirmed to CNN.

    In a Reddit post removed after Kohberger’s arrest was announced, a student investigator named Bryan Kohberger who was associated with a DeSales University study sought participation in a research project “to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.”

    “In particular, this study seeks to understand the story behind your most recent criminal offense, with an emphasis on your thoughts and feelings throughout your experience,” the post said.

    CNN reached one of the principal investigators of the study, a professor at DeSales University, but they declined to comment on the matter. The university has not responded to requests for comment.

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  • More false claims from George Santos about his work, education and family history emerge | CNN Politics

    More false claims from George Santos about his work, education and family history emerge | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Rep.-elect George Santos made additional false claims over the years about his family history, work history and education in campaign appearances over the years, a review of statements made in two of his campaigns for Congress found.

    CNN’s KFile uncovered more falsehoods from Santos, including claims he was forced to leave a New York City private school when his family’s real estate assets took a downturn and stating he represented Goldman Sachs at a top financial conference where he berated the company for investing in renewables.

    CNN also reviewed more instances of Santos providing additional false history of his family’s background. In one interview, Santos said his mother’s family’s historical Jewish name was “Zabrovsky,” and later appeared to operate a GoFundMe campaign for a pet charity (which he falsely claimed was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit) under that alias. Genealogists CNN previously spoke with found no evidence of Jewish or Ukrainian heritage in his family tree.

    In another, he said his mother, whose family has lived in Brazil since the late 1800s, was a White immigrant from Belgium.

    Santos’ campaign did not respond to CNN’s comment request.

    Since reports first surfaced about his false claims, Santos has made efforts to downplay his fabrications as mere “embellishments.” But the previously unreported claims from Santos illustrate a pattern of fabricating details about his life, often in service of presenting a more compelling or interesting personal narrative. The Nassau County district attorney’s office said Wednesday that it is looking into Santos’ fabrications, though it did not specify the falsehoods it would explore.

    In interviews over the past few days, Santos admitted to lying about parts of his resume, including graduating from college, but he told the New York Post that the misrepresentation of his work history at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup was a “poor choice of words.” There is no record he worked at the top financial institutions in the country, as he had previously claimed.

    Santos also denied that he falsely called himself Jewish, claiming he “never claimed to be Jewish” but jokingly said he was “Jew-ish” to the New York Post. He also falsely claimed that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” and fled Europe to escape Jewish persecution. But CNN found that Santos called himself an “American Jew” and “Latino Jew” on multiple occasions. The Republican Jewish Coalition disinvited Santos from appearing at any of its events because he “misrepresented his heritage.”

    Despite the scandals, the New York Republican, who flipped his Long Island seat, said he will take office in January — spurring calls to resign from Democrats.

    Here are some of the outright falsehoods CNN found:

    In appearances, and in an old campaign biography, Santos claimed his parents sent him to Horace Mann, an elite private school in the Bronx.

    “He began Horace Mann preparatory school in the Bronx, however, did not graduate from Horace Mann due to financial difficulties for his family,” his biography read in 2019 for his first campaign for Congress that Santos lost. “He obtained a GED during his senior year.”

    Santos also made the same claim in an appearance on a YouTube show in 2020.

    “They sent me to a good prep school, which was Horace Mann Prep in the Bronx. And, in my senior year of prep school, unfortunately my parents fell on hard times, which was something that would later become known as the depression of 2008. But we were hit a little earlier on with the overleveraging of real estate. And the market started to implode. Um, and the first thing to go was the prep school. You know, you, you can’t afford a $2,500 tuition at that point, right? So anyway, um, I left school, uh, four months to graduation.”

    But the claim is false, according to the school.

    “We’ve searched the records and there is no evidence that George Santos (or any alias) attended Horace Mann,” Ed Adler, a spokesman for the school, told CNN.

    “Have you ever heard of a Goldman Sachs employee take the stage at the largest private equity conference in the world – SALT, run by Anthony Scaramucci – and berate their employer? Well, I did that,” Santos said on a local podcast this summer. “And I did it in the fashion of renewable energy and global warming. This was the panel I was on. And they’re all talking about solar, wind, and this was back, what, seven years ago now? And I said, you know what, this is a scam. It’s taxpayer money that gets subsidized.”

    The claim is entirely fictional, according to both Goldman Sachs – which has said Santos never worked there – and Scaramucci, who runs the conference.

    Scaramucci told CNN in a message there is not only no record of him appearing on a panel, but no record of him even attending the conference.

    In an appearance on a Fox News digital show in February, Santos said his maternal grandparents changed their Jewish last name from Zabrovsky – a claim for which there is no evidence and records contradict.

    “We don’t carry the Ukrainian last name. For a lot of people who are descendants of World War II refugees or survivors of the Holocaust, a lot of names and paperwork were changed in the name of survival. So I don’t carry the family last name that would’ve been Zabrovsky. I carry my mother’s maiden name which is the Dutch side of the family.”

    Megan Smolenyak, an author and professional genealogist who helped research Santos’ family tree at CNN’s request, previously told CNN, “There’s no sign of Jewish and/or Ukrainian heritage and no indication of name changes along the way.”

    Santos deleted his former private Facebook account last week, but CNN’s KFile reviewed records indicating he used the alias of “Anthony Zabrovsky” for fundraising for a pet charity. The GoFundMe page under that alias no longer exists. CNN reached out to GoFundMe but did not receive a response.

    In one radio appearance from December 2020, Santos falsely claimed that his mother “fled socialism” in Europe and moved to the United States.

    “My father fled socialism in Brazil. My mother fled socialism in Europe, and they came here and built a family. And today they can be proud to have a son who is a well accomplished businessman, who is now running for United States Congress. That’s something that wasn’t in the cards for my family,” Santos said.

    He also claimed in another interview from 2020 that he “grew up with a White Caucasian mother, an immigrant from Belgium.”

    But Santos’ mother was born in Brazil, according to genealogical records.

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  • West Point kicks off process to remove Confederate monuments on campus | CNN Politics

    West Point kicks off process to remove Confederate monuments on campus | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The US Military Academy will begin removing Confederate monuments from its campus, including a portrait of Robert E. Lee that shows him wearing a Confederate uniform.

    The academy will undergo a “multi-phased process” during the holiday break to remove all 13 identified references and installations honoring the Confederacy, the academy’s superintendent, Lt. Gen. Steve Gilland, wrote in a letter to the West Point community last week.

    That includes the portrait of Lee from the library, a stone bust of Lee from the campus’ Reconciliation Plaza and a “bronze triptych” at the entrance to Bartlett Hall.

    “We will conduct these actions with dignity and respect,” he wrote. “In the case of those items that were class gifts (specifically, Honor Plaza and Reconciliation Plaza), we will continue to work closely with those classes throughout this process.”

    The changes at West Point were approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in October and are part of a larger set of recommendations proposed by the Naming Commission, which was mandated by Congress last year in the National Defense Authorization Act.

    “The Commission’s thorough and historically informed work has put the Department on a path to meet Congressional intent – and to remove from U.S. military facilities all names, symbols, displays, monuments, and paraphernalia that honor or commemorate the Confederacy,” Austin wrote in a memo approving the recommendations.

    “The Commission has chosen names that echo with honor, patriotism, and history – names that will inspire generations of Service members to defend our democracy and our Constitution.”

    This commission garnered national attention in 2020 when former President Donald Trump threatened to veto any NDAA bill that sought to strip Confederate names from military bases or other landmarks. Trump followed through on his pledge, ultimately vetoing the NDAA and sending it back to Congress, where members voted to override his veto.

    West Point plans additional changes to be implemented in early spring 2023: A quote from Robert E. Lee at Honor Plaza will be replaced, and stone markers at Reconciliation Plaza will be modified “with appropriate language and images that comply with the Commission’s recommendations, while still conveying the Plaza’s central message of reconciliation.”

    Also, West Point’s Memorialization, History, and Museum Committee will propose new names for streets, buildings and areas at the academy named for those who served in the Confederacy.

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  • Taliban use water cannon on women protesting education order in Afghanistan | CNN

    Taliban use water cannon on women protesting education order in Afghanistan | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A group of women took to the streets in the city of Herat in Afghanistan on Saturday, protesting against a Taliban order this week suspending all female students from attending university in the country.

    Video footage circulating on social media showed Taliban officials using a water cannon to disperse the female protesters.

    Girls could be seen running from the water cannon and chanting “cowards” at officials.

    The Taliban’s announcement this week that it was suspending university education for female students was its latest step in an ongoing clampdown on the freedoms of Afghan women.

    The move came despite the group promising when it returned to power last year that it would honor women’s rights.

    It follows a similar move in March this year that barred girls from returning to secondary schools.

    Male students in universities across the country have responded to the latest education ban by boycotting their exams in protest.

    “Education is the duty of men and women,” read a statement from the Mirwais Nika Institute of Higher Education in Kandahar issued Saturday. “It is the fundamental right and secret of the country’s development and self-reliance.”

    Students had first asked Taliban officials to reverse the ban but “no positive response” was given, the school said – adding that “dissatisfaction and unhappiness” fueled the boycott.

    One university official told CNN that the students’ decision to boycott their admissions exams would lead to classes being put on hold.

    The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 in a lightning takeover following the withdrawal of US troops, having previously ruled the country from 1996 until 2001 – when the US-led invasion forced the group from power.

    Under its previous period of rule the group was notorious for its treatment of women as second-class citizens.

    After seizing power last year, the group made numerous promises that it would protect the rights of women and girls.

    But activists say the Taliban have reneged on their word and are steadily chipping away at women’s freedoms once again.

    On Saturday, the group ordered all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country to stop female employees from attending work. Non-compliance would result in the revoking of NGO licenses, an official ministry notice read.

    A spokesman told CNN the move was due to the non-observation of Islamic dress rules and other laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate.

    Afghan women can no longer work in most sectors.

    Their travel rights have also been severely restricted and access to public spaces significantly curtailed. Women are also required to fully cover themselves in public – including their faces.

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  • The Taliban pledged to honor women’s rights in Afghanistan. Here’s how it eroded them instead | CNN

    The Taliban pledged to honor women’s rights in Afghanistan. Here’s how it eroded them instead | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    When the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 in a lightning takeover following the withdrawal of US troops, the radical Islamist group appeared keen to distance itself from its earlier period of rule in the 1990s, presenting itself as more moderate and committed to the internal peace process.

    Among its new commitments, the Taliban pledged to honor women’s rights within the norms of “Islamic law.”

    The group’s spokesman Suhail Shaheen said at the time that women would be allowed to continue their education up to university – a break from the strict restrictions under the Taliban regime that ruled between 1996 and 2001.

    The promises of a softer approach were met with skepticism, both within the country and abroad. Over a million Afghans have reportedly fled since the Taliban retook power.

    Sixteen months on, the Taliban appear to have reneged on their word. Women and girls are facing blanket bans on education after a series of decrees steadily eroded their rights in almost all aspects of life and upended the gains they had fought tirelessly for over the past two decades.

    Just days after retaking power, the Taliban reinstated the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice as a public morality watchdog tasked with enforcing the Taliban’s version of Islamic law. The ministry has since been central to the systematic chipping away of women’s rights in the country.

    Here are some of the ways women’s rights have been eroded:

    The Taliban announced on September 12, 2021, that women could attend universities with gender-segregated classrooms while wearing compulsory hijabs. But in March 2022, the government barred girls from attending secondary school. Girls’ secondary schools were set to resume on March 23, 2021, after months-long closures imposed after the Taliban takeover. The group ordered them shut just hours after they were due to reopen. The move devastated many students and their families, who described to CNN their dashed dreams of becoming doctors, teachers or engineers.

    In its latest step in the clampdown on women’s education, the Taliban on Tuesday suspended university education for all female students. A letter published by the education ministry said the decision was made in a cabinet meeting and the order would go into effect immediately.

    Women’s access to public spaces has been significantly curtailed under the Taliban.

    On November 10, women were banned from entering all parks in Kabul. Women had previously been allowed to visit parks three days a week, and men on the remaining four. The new rules mean that women are no longer allowed to do so, even if accompanied by male relatives.

    The same day, a Taliban official in Kabul announced that women would be barred from using gyms across the country. A spokesperson from the ministry of virtue said the ban was being introduced due to people ignoring segregation orders and women not wearing the hijab.

    Women in Afghanistan can no longer work in most sectors. The Taliban ordered working women to stay at home after their seizure of power in August 2021, saying they were not safe in the presence of the group’s soldiers.

    Women’s right to travel within Afghanistan and abroad has also been restricted.

    Late last year, it was announced that women would require a male escort to travel long distances within the country. Any woman traveling further than 75 kilometers (46 miles) was required to be accompanied by a male chaperone. Mohammad Sadiq Hakif Mahajer, spokesman for the virtue ministry, told CNN at the time that the new law was meant to prevent women from coming to any harm or “disturbance.”

    The new rules also called on drivers not to allow women who weren’t wearing the hijab into their cars.

    And in March, Afghanistan’s airlines were ordered to stop women from boarding flights unless accompanied by a male chaperone, Reuters reported.

    This summer, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered women to fully cover themselves, including their faces, in public. The decree suggested that women should stay at home where possible, as this was the “best option to observe the sharia hijab.”

    Prior to the order, hijabs were only mandatory for women studying at university and girls studying at secondary school. This was mandated in the immediate aftermath of the Taliban’s return to power, when the new government said female students, lecturers and women in employment must wear hijabs in accordance with the group’s interpretation of sharia law.

    Taliban authorities have also ordered female television journalists to cover their faces while presenting.

    A member of the Taliban replaces a sign of the Department for Women's Affairs with one of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at a government building in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October 2021.

    Since sweeping back to power, the Taliban has abolished the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, a key body to promote women’s rights through law. In its place, the new regime set up the notorious Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which has become instrumental in curtailing the rights of women.

    It has also rolled back the Elimination of Violence against Women Law, signed in 2009 to protect women from abuses – including forced marriage, leaving them without recourse to justice, according to the UN.

    Over the past year, the Taliban’s restrictions on women have increased international concern and are likely to further isolate the country on the world stage.

    Commenting after the decision to ban women from university, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the move will “further alienate the Taliban from the international community and deny them the legitimacy they desire.”

    US Ambassador Robert Wood, the alternate representative for special political affairs, echoed this sentiment, telling a United Nations Security Council briefing that the “Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, especially the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls.”

    The restrictive new measures could stir further unrest within the country. In the wake of the ban on university education, women on Thursday took to the streets of Kabul to protest the decision. The Taliban arrested five women taking part in the protest, according to the BBC.

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  • Some universities are now restricting TikTok access on campus | CNN Business

    Some universities are now restricting TikTok access on campus | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    A small but growing number of universities are now blocking access to TikTok on school-owned devices or WiFi networks, in the latest sign of a widening crackdown on the popular short-form video app.

    The University of Oklahoma and Auburn University in Alabama have each said they will restrict student and faculty access to TikTok, in order to comply with recent moves from the governors in their respective states to ban TikTok on government-issued devices. The 26 universities and colleges in the University System of Georgia are also reportedly taking a similar step.

    “In compliance with the Governor’s Executive Order 2022-33, effective immediately, no university employee or student shall access the TikTok application or website on University-owned or operated devices, including OU wired and wireless networks,” the University of Oklahoma said in an email this week.

    According to the email, the school will also require that university-administered TikTok accounts be deleted and “alternate social media platforms utilized in their place.”

    More than a dozen states, including Maryland, South Dakota and Texas, have announced bans in recent weeks of TikTok for state employees on government-issued devices. The bans come as a growing number of lawmakers continue to scrutinize TikTok over possible national security concerns due to its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance.

    The criticism ramped up earlier this year after a Buzzfeed News report said some US user data has been repeatedly accessed from China, and cited one employee who allegedly said, “Everything is seen in China.” TikTok, for its part, has confirmed US user data can be accessed by some employees in China.

    “We’re disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok,” Jamal Brown, a spokesperson for TikTok, said in a statement provided to CNN on Thursday.

    “We’re especially sorry to see the unintended consequences of these rushed policies beginning to impact universities’ ability to share information, recruit students, and build communities around athletic teams, student groups, campus publications, and more,” Brown added.

    Auburn University in Alabama started restricting access to TikTok on school-owned devices or Wi-Fi networks last week, in accordance with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s recent executive order for state-owned networks and devices to block access to and from the TikTok social media application.

    But an Auburn University spokesperson told CNN the decision is “not a ban on campus.” TikTok users will still be able to access the app on personal devices via their own mobile data.

    Last week, a trio of lawmakers led by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a bill that aims to ban TikTok from operating in the United States. In a statement announcing the proposed legislation, Rubio accused TikTok of collecting data to “manipulate feeds” and blasted the app as a “CCP [Chinese Communist Party]-puppet company.”

    TikTok has been negotiating for years with the US government on a potential deal that addresses national security concerns and lets the app continue serving US customers. It has also taken steps to isolate US user data from other parts of its business.

    In addition, TikTok faces scrutiny over it’s powerful algorithm which may lead users, and especially its youngest users, down concerning rabbit holes, including directing them to potentially harmful subject matter such as content around suicide and eating disorders.

    TikTok has made a number of announcements in recent years in an effort to ease concerns, including publishing tools to help users customize content recommendations, rolling out parental controls to give users more options to restrict what their children can see on the app, and pledging more transparency related to its content moderation systems for researchers.

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  • Former Harvard fencing coach and Maryland businessman are both acquitted of bribery charges | CNN

    Former Harvard fencing coach and Maryland businessman are both acquitted of bribery charges | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A former Harvard fencing coach and a Maryland businessman were both acquitted of conspiring to get the businessman’s two sons admitted to Harvard in exchange for more than $1.5 million in bribes, authorities announced Wednesday.

    Former fencing coach Peter Brand, 67, and businessman Jack Zhao, 61, were acquitted of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and federal programs bribery – more than two years after they were indicted, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.

    Brand’s attorney said the verdict exonerates his client.

    “We are very grateful to the jury for their service and careful consideration of the evidence,” Attorney Douglas Brooks said. “Today’s verdict exonerates Peter Brand who is 100% innocent.”

    Attorney Bill Weinreb, who represents Zhao, told CNN, “We are grateful to the jury for their service and for doing justice in this case.”

    Brand was Harvard’s men’s and women’s fencing coach from 1999 until 2019, when Harvard University fired him, months after he was accused of selling his home to Zhao, whose son was actively looking to apply to the school.

    The sale of the Needham, Massachusetts, home in 2016 particularly drew investigators attention because Zhao bought it for almost twice what a tax document said it was worth.

    The purchase of the home was among $1.5 million in payments scrutinized by prosecutors in the case, including a large payment to Brand’s charitable foundation and college tuition payments for Brand’s son.

    Zhao has two sons who are fencers and were admitted to Harvard. He denied the bribery allegations and his attorney has called his children academic and fencing stars who got into Harvard on their own merit.

    After the two men were acquitted, a spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts told CNN in a statement that they fundamentally disagreed with but respected the verdict.

    “This case was prosecuted for the millions of high school seniors and their families who engage in the stressful and humbling exercise of applying to college every year. That process is supposed to be a meritocracy,” the US Attorney’s Office statement read. “The instant case exposed such profound levels of privilege, entitlement and wealth abusing the college admissions process that something had to be done. And I am proud that we did.”

    The case against Brand and Zhao came amid a sprawling college admissions scam, first revealed in March 2019, in which rich parents of college applicants used their wealth to cheat on standardized tests, bribe sports coaches and lie about the payments.

    “Our trial team worked tirelessly and tried an excellent case. Their efforts were not in vain,” US Attorney’s Office said. “This case and all of the college admissions prosecutions have led to significant reforms at colleges and universities across the country aimed at curtailing the ability of those with means and access to flagrantly ignore the rules that apply to everyone else.”

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  • Purdue University Northwest faculty demand chancellor resign after racist remarks | CNN

    Purdue University Northwest faculty demand chancellor resign after racist remarks | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Faculty Senate Executive Committee at Purdue University Northwest (PNW) released a letter demanding Chancellor Thomas L. Keon resign after making an offensive statement during a commencement ceremony earlier this month, the committee tells CNN.

    A video posted to PNW’s official YouTube page shows Keon taking the podium on December 10 following a speech from a commencement speaker and then uttering some apparently made-up words. As the crowd laughed, he said “that’s sort of my Asian version of his….” seemingly referring to the prior speaker.

    On December 14 Keon made a public apology posted to PNW’s Twitter page. “I made a comment that was offensive and insensitive. I am truly sorry for my unplanned, off-the-cuff response to another speaker,” Keon said “I assure you I did not intend to be hurtful, and my comments do not reflect my personal or our institutional values.”

    On December 16 though, the university’s Faculty Senate Executive Committee came to a unanimous decision demanding Keon’s resignation after a discussion.

    According to Dave Nalbone, who’s a psychology professor at the university and the Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the committee sent the chancellor a letter that same day demanding he resign from his post.

    “We asked him then, and later, for a response to our demand for his resignation; to date, we have heard nothing from him,” Nalbone said in a statement to CNN.

    In the letter that was delivered to Keon the committee noted that Keon made offensive statements that insulted the Asian American and Pacific Islander community and caused national and international outrage.

    The committee also wrote that Keon’s behavior does “does not reflect the diversity and inclusiveness that Purdue faculty, staff, and students value.”

    The committee plans to follow through with a no-confidence vote and results should be in by Tuesday night, Nalbone said. The outcome of the vote doesn’t necessarily have immediate repercussions. Unless he decides to resign, the only people with removal power would be the board of trustees or president, Nalbone said.

    CNN has reached out to Chancellor Keon and Purdue’s Board of Trustees for comment.

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  • Here’s what’s in the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill | CNN Politics

    Here’s what’s in the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Senate leaders unveiled a $1.7 trillion year-long federal government funding bill early Tuesday morning.

    The legislation includes $772.5 billion for non-defense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding, according to a bill summary from Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

    The sweeping package includes roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, boosts in spending for disaster aid, college access, child care, mental health and food assistance, more support for the military and veterans and additional funds for the US Capitol Police, according to Leahy’s summary and one from Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    However, the bill, which runs more than 4,000 pages, left out several measures that some lawmakers had fought to include. An expansion of the child tax credit, as well as multiple other corporate and individual tax breaks, did not make it into the final bill. Neither did legislation to allow cannabis companies to bank their cash reserves – known as the Safe Banking Act. Also, there was also no final resolution on where the new FBI headquarters will be located.

    The spending bill is the product of lengthy negotiations between top congressional Democrats and Republicans. Lawmakers reached a “bipartisan, bicameral framework” last week following a dispute between the two parties over how much money should be spent on non-defense domestic priorities. They worked through the weekend to craft the legislation.

    The Senate is expected to vote first to approve the deal this week and then send it to the House for approval before government funding runs out on December 23. The bill would keep the government operating through September, the end of the fiscal year.

    Congress originally passed a continuing resolution on September 30 to temporarily fund the government in fiscal year 2023, which began October 1.

    More aid for Ukraine: The spending bill would provide roughly $45 billion to help support Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia’s attack.

    About $9 billion of the funding would go to Ukraine’s military to pay for a variety of things including training, weapons, logistics support and salaries. Nearly $12 billion would be used to replenish US stocks of equipment sent to Ukraine through presidential drawdown authority.

    Also, it would provide $13 billion for economic support to the Ukrainian government.

    Other funds would address humanitarian and infrastructure needs, as well as support European Command operations.

    Emergency disaster assistance: The bill would appropriate more than $38 billion in emergency funding to help Americans in the west and southeast affected by recent natural disasters, including tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding and wildfires. It would aid farmers, provide economic development assistance for communities, repair and reconstruct federal facilities and direct money to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, among other initiatives.

    Overhaul of the electoral vote counting law: A provision in the legislation aims at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election, in a direct response to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

    The changes would overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which then-President Donald Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election.

    The legislation would clarify the vice president’s role while overseeing the certification of the electoral result to be completely ceremonial. It also would create a set of stipulations designed to make it harder for there to be any confusion over the accurate slate of electors from each state.

    Higher maximum Pell grant awards: The bill would increase the maximum Pell grant award by $500 to $7,395 for the coming school year. This would be the largest boost since the 2009-2010 school year. About 7 million students, many from lower-income families, receive Pell grants every year to help them afford college.

    Increased support for the military and veterans: The package would fund a 4.6% pay raise for troops and a 22.4% increase in support for Veteran Administration medical care, which provides health services for 7.3 million veterans.

    It would include nearly $53 billion to address higher inflation and $2.7 billion – a 25% increase – to support critical services and housing assistance for veterans and their families.

    The bill also would allocate $5 billion for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund, which provides additional funding to implement the landmark PACT Act that expands eligibility for health care services and benefits to veterans with conditions related to toxic exposure during their service.

    Beefing up nutrition assistance: The legislation would establish a permanent nationwide Summer EBT program, starting in the summer of 2024, according to Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger advocacy group. It would provide families whose children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meal with a $40 grocery benefit per child per month, indexed to inflation.

    It would also change the rules governing summer meals programs in rural areas. Children would be able to take home or receive delivery of up to 10 days worth of meals, rather than have to consume the food at a specific site and time.

    The bill would also help families who have had their food stamp benefits stolen since October 1 through what’s known as “SNAP skimming.” It would provide them with retroactive federal reimbursement of the funds, which criminals steal by attaching devices to point-of-sale machines or PIN pads to get card numbers and other information from electronic benefits transfer cards.

    More money for child care: The legislation would provide $8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a 30% increase in funding. The grant gives financial assistance to low-income families to afford child care.

    Also, Head Start would receive nearly $12 billion, an 8.6% boost. The program helps young children from low-income families prepare for school.

    Help to pay utility bills: The bill would provide $5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Combined with the $1 billion contained in the earlier continuing resolution, this would be the largest regular appropriation for the program, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Home heating and cooling costs – and the applications for federal aid in paying the bills – have soared this year.

    Enhance retirement savings: The bill contains new retirement rules that could make it easier for Americans to accumulate retirement savings – and less costly to withdraw them. Among other things, the provisions would allow penalty-free withdrawals for some emergency expenses, let employers offer matching retirement contributions for a worker’s student loan payments and increase how much older workers may save in employer retirement plans.

    More support for the environment: The package would provide an additional $576 million for the Environmental Protection Agency, bringing its funding up to $10.1 billion. It would increase support for enforcement and compliance, as well as clean air, water and toxic chemical programs, after years of flat funding.

    It also would boost funding for the National Park Service by 6.4%, restoring 500 of the 3,000 staff positions lost over the past decade. This would be intended to help the agency handle substantial increases in visitation.

    Plus, the legislation would provide an additional 14% in funding for wildland firefighting.

    Additional funding for the US Capitol Police: The bill would provide an additional $132 million for the Capitol Police for a total of nearly $735 million. It would allow the department to hire up to 137 sworn officers and 123 support and civilian personnel, bringing the force to a projected level of 2,126 sworn officers and 567 civilians.

    It would also give $2 million to provide off-campus security for lawmakers in response to evolving and growing threats.

    Investments in homelessness prevention and affordable housing: The legislation would provide $3.6 billion for homeless assistance grants, a 13% increase. It would serve more than 1 million people experiencing homelessness.

    The package also would funnel nearly $6.4 billion to the Community Development Block Grant formula program and related local economic and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate income areas and people, an increase of almost $1.6 billion.

    Plus, it would provide $1.5 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which would lead to the construction of nearly 10,000 new rental and homebuyer units and maintain the record investment from the last fiscal year.

    Increased health care funding: The package would provide more money for National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The funds are intended to speed the development of new therapies, diagnostics and preventive measures, beef up public health activities and strengthen the nation’s biosecurity by accelerating development of medical countermeasures for pandemic threats and fortifying stockpiles and supply chains for drugs, masks and other supplies.

    More resources for children’s mental health and for substance abuse: The bill would provide more funds to increase access to mental health services for children and schools. It also would invest more money to address the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder.

    Tiktok ban from federal devices: The legislation would ban TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app, from federal government devices.

    Some lawmakers have raised bipartisan concerns that China’s national security laws could force TikTok – or its parent, ByteDance – to hand over the personal data of its US users. Recently, a wave of states led by Republican governors have introduced state-level restrictions on the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.

    Enhanced child tax credit: A coalition of Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates pushed hard to extend at least one provision of the enhanced child tax credit, which was in effect last year thanks to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Their priority was to make the credit more refundable so more of the lowest-income families can qualify. Nearly 19 million kids won’t receive the full $2,000 benefit this year because their parents earn too little, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate.

    New cannabis banking rules: Lawmakers considered including a provision in the spending bill that would make it easier for licensed cannabis businesses to accept credit cards – but it was left out of the legislation. Known as the Safe Banking Act, which previously passed the House, the provision would prohibit federal regulators from taking punitive measures against banks for providing services to legitimate cannabis businesses.

    Even though 47 states have legalized some form of marijuana, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level. That means financial institutions providing banking services to cannabis businesses are subject to criminal prosecution – leaving many legal growers and sellers locked out of the banking system.

    FBI headquarters: There was also no final resolution on where the new FBI headquarters will be located, a major point of contention as lawmakers from Maryland – namely House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer – pushed to bring the law enforcement agency into their state. In a deal worked through by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the General Services Administration would be required to conduct “separate and detailed consultations” with Maryland and Virginia representatives about potential sites in each of the states, according to a Senate Democratic aide.

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  • State documents appear to indicate Uvalde Sheriff Nolasco has not completed active shooter training | CNN

    State documents appear to indicate Uvalde Sheriff Nolasco has not completed active shooter training | CNN

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    Uvalde, Texas
    CNN
     — 

    Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco does not appear to have completed an active shooter training course, according to documents CNN obtained Monday from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the regulatory agency for peace officers in Texas.

    The information comes on the heels of a contentious Uvalde County Commission meeting, during which Richard Carter, an attorney with expertise in police actions, presented the results of an independent review – which the county hired him to conduct – of the Sheriff’s Office policies at the time of the Robb Elementary School massacre.

    According to Carter, the sheriff’s office did not have an active shooter policy on May 24, when a teenaged gunman with a semi-automatic rifle stormed the school and killed 19 students and two teachers.

    Active shooter training is not required by county or state rules for people who aren’t school-based law enforcement officers. And an active shooter response policy is not required by Texas law of law enforcement agencies, according to the report.

    County commissioners met behind closed doors for more than 90 minutes to review the report and meet with victims’ family members. Community members called for Nolasco’s ouster at the meeting following CNN’s reporting last week about his failure to mount a response at the school and his failure to share critical information about the shooter.

    Nolasco was one of the senior law enforcement officials on the scene of the massacre.

    After the meeting, Carter also appeared to indicate Nolasco hadn’t received active shooter training.

    “He has not taken the course that his officers – all but three of his officers – have. He plans on doing that in the immediate future,” Carter said. “What I understood was, he wanted to make sure that all of his people that might go out were trained,” before he received his own training.

    In an email to CNN that included Nolasco’s records, law enforcement commission spokesperson Gretchen Grigsby said that “active shooter training is only required for school-based law enforcement officers as part of a one-time certification,” but she expected the topic would be a subject of discussion during the next legislative session.

    CNN has reached out to Nolasco about the contents of the report but has not received a response.

    CNN has also reached back out to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to clarify the contents of Nolasco’s training history, and has not received a response.

    The conclusion of Carter’s review comes after months of reporting by CNN about the law enforcement response to the shooting, including that Nolasco had vital information about the shooter that was not shared as the incident unfolded. It was just the latest revelation of senior law enforcement officers not taking command or following protocol to stop an active shooter and get swift treatment to victims.

    Carter’s inquiry, which was conducted over about two months, dealt strictly with the sheriff’s office’s policies, he said Monday.

    The office has since adopted an active shooter policy, Carter said during the public portion of Monday’s meeting.

    But at the time of the shooting – the worst at a K-12 school in the US in nearly a decade – its handbook only defined “active shooter,” Carter said. And while there were “portions that dealt with critical incidences and how officers would respond,” it did not constitute an active shooter policy, he added.

    Whether the sheriff’s office had an active shooter policy, however, is “no excuse for what happened” the day of the shooting, one community member said in a public comment portion of the meeting Monday.

    “Our officers in Uvalde County, including the city, school, and county, don’t live under a rock,” Diana Olvedo-Karau said. “Active shooter incidents happen across our nation all too often… so to step back and give the impression that because there was no policy there’s no accountability, is unacceptable, inexcusable, and shameful.”

    Carter did not examine the actions of the agency’s personnel on the scene of the shooting, he said, which, along with the broader law enforcement response, have been highly scrutinized.

    The grandmother of shooting victim Amerie Jo Garza said she was in “total shock” the Sheriff’s Office didn’t have an active shooter policy in place.

    “I could not believe that with all the mass shootings that have taken place, just in Texas alone, that there was no policy in place. It was a total shock,” Berlinda Irene Arreola said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.

    Arreola said it was difficult seeing Mariano Pargas, acting Uvalde police chief on the day of the shooting, at the meeting.

    “It was very hard, and It was very sad,” she said of Pargas, who has since resigned but is still a county commissioner.

    Arreola said that she believes he had plenty of time to take control of the incident but that “instead he ran in the other direction.”

    “So, seeing him for the first time was very, very hurtful,” she said.

    Arreola said the upcoming holidays are going to be a difficult time for her family without Amerie.

    “My son and my daughter-in-law just can’t keep it together to be able to enjoy the holidays. So it’s going to be different, definitely different this year and very sad. Very sad,” she said.

    In the months since the shooting, criticism of law enforcement’s response has focused on its failure to follow the main tenets of post-Columbine policies to immediately take down an active shooter. Instead, acting on the early and erroneous assessment that the gunman was barricaded, as opposed to an active shooter with his victims surrounding him inside two adjoining classrooms, police waited 77 minutes before confronting him.

    Much of the initial criticism focused on Uvalde School Police Chief Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, who had said he never considered himself in charge the day of the shooting. He was ultimately fired in August.

    In the months since the shooting, however, it’s become clear the failures that day went far beyond the scope of the small school police force. According to a preliminary report by a Texas House of Representatives investigative committee, 376 officers from local, state and federal agencies were on the scene of the massacre.

    Pargas, who remains an elected county commissioner, resigned from the police department after CNN reported he knew children needed rescuing and did not organize help.

    Separately, a Texas Ranger and a state police captain are under review for their actions or inaction the day of the shooting, and a state police sergeant was terminated. Another officer who quit the state police force and took a job with the Uvalde school district was also fired after CNN reported she was under investigation for her actions during the shooting.

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  • 71 years after starting college, a 90-year-old woman is graduating | CNN

    71 years after starting college, a 90-year-old woman is graduating | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A 90-year-old woman will finally walk across the stage and receive her diploma, 71 years after she first enrolled in college.

    Joyce DeFauw, then Joyce Viola Kane, started her freshman year at Northern Illinois University in 1951 with a plan to graduate with a degree in home economics.

    But those plans changed when DeFauw met a special man at church who stole her heart, she told CNN Thursday.

    “I went to school for three and a half years, but decided to leave after I met him.” DeFauw said.

    The special man was Don Freeman Sr. The two got married in 1955, and had three children together before Freeman passed away, leaving her widowed for about five years.

    DeFauw eventually got remarried to her late second husband, Roy DeFauw. Together they had six children, including two sets of twins.

    Throughout the years her family grew, and she now has 17 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

    Flash forward to 2019 when DeFauw showed interest in the college education she left behind.

    “I guess I mentioned I was upset that I didn’t finish school and my children encouraged me to go back,” she said, so she enrolled back at Northern Illinois and began taking classes.

    Jenna Dooley, one of DeFauw’s 17 grandchildren and an alumnus of NIU, told CNN it was more about the ‘why not’ versus the ‘why’, when DeFauw decided to go back.

    Dooley said when she was growing up she’d visit her grandmother in her farmhouse where DeFauw would always be baking or cooking.

    DeFauw used to be a Sunday school teacher as well. “She’s always had that love of teaching and learning,” Dooley said.

    “When we made calls to the school about a previous enrollment, they were shocked to hear we were asking about a student from the 50s,” Dooley said.

    But this time around, things were much different for DeFauw.

    Instead of walking to campus to attend class, she did so behind a computer screen from her retirement home.

    “It was my first computer,” DeFauw said, “My children had to teach me how to use it.”

    Joyce DeFauw's senior photograph from 1955, left, and the when she visited campus in August 2022.

    Dooley added her uncle Don, DeFauw’s oldest son, helped set up the computer, get a camera for the computer and taught her how to navigate her school email.

    When the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, she was thankful for the computer, Dooley said. “It worked out really well that she was already set up online,” She added.

    She was on her own during that time and could have no visitors, Dooley said. “At times she’d get frustrated, but I kept reminding her that this was all a part of the process.” She added.

    “At times I wanted to quit, but I didn’t.” DeFauw said. She said she had plenty of encouragement from family, friends and the school.

    Director of Bachelor General Studies, Judy Santacaterina, was a huge help for DeFauw. Dooley said she took on the role of helping her grandmother get her degree and the entire family is grateful for Santacaterina.

    DeFauw took one class each semester, including during the summer. “She’s very organized,” Dooley said, “She has a routine. She wanted to keep taking classes so she wouldn’t fall out of that routine.”

    Now, three years later, she’ll put on the cap and gown and receive a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the university this weekend.

    DeFauw is thankful she had the opportunity to get to go back to school and get her degree. “It’s nice to finish something you started,” she said.

    Her piece of advice to those who may be in a similar situation: “Don’t give up,” she said, “I know it can be difficult, but everything in life has its ups and downs.”

    “She has a gift of learning and teaching, so to be able to celebrate this with joy is the icing on the cake.” Dooley said.

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  • Deion Sanders has decided to stop coaching at a historically Black college. Here’s why people are so upset | CNN

    Deion Sanders has decided to stop coaching at a historically Black college. Here’s why people are so upset | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    College football fans and HBCU alumni are still coming to terms with Deion Sanders announcing his departure from Jackson State University for his new head coaching gig at the University of Colorado.

    The move struck a chord, especially among alumni of the Mississippi college, with some calling Sanders a “sell out” for leaving the historically Black JSU for the predominantly white CU.

    Others are angry about him selling the dream of changing the athletic culture at historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, across the US and leaving after only three years.

    While some were hopeful about everything Sanders said he could accomplish for JSU and other HBCUs, they “failed to realize this history of segregation, the history of integration and the history of the way TV contracts work really put these schools behind the 8-ball, so to speak,” said Louis Moore, a history professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

    It’s complicated, but the anger, confusion and disappointment about Sanders’ move stem from a culture of loyalty and reverence for history that’s unique to HBCUs, experts told CNN. But Coach Prime’s exit also highlights a decades long discussion about equity in collegiate athletics.

    Here’s a look into the conversation that fueled this week’s debate:

    Sanders had been coaching the JSU Tigers the past three seasons, compiling a 26-5 record and most recently winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship over Southern University.

    The school took a chance on Sanders, who had no collegiate coaching experience. He’d previously been the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian School, a private school near Dallas.

    What he did bring was exposure, to both Jackson State and HBCUs overall.

    “I could be an assistant in any college, or a head coach in any college, but at such a time as this, God called me to Jackson State and me to these men,” Sanders said in 2020 when it was announced he’d be the new JSU head coach.

    Sanders also promised to the change the HBCU landscape, in essence becoming a savior of HBCU athletics and putting these schools on the map.

    He did that, sort of. Since his arrival, JSU was featured on ESPN’s “First Take” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” The school was showcased at the 2021 NBA All-Star Game, and even featured in a Pepsi ad. Sanders also donated half his salary to complete renovations to the school’s football stadium, according to CNN affiliate WLBT-TV.

    All of this in the span of three years gave many hope he was in it for the long run. That, obviously, was not the case.

    “You weren’t going to bring this attention to all these other schools in the time period he was there. If he was really going to accomplish that, that’s a 10-year program, at least,” sports journalist Bomani Jones, a Clark Atlanta University alumnus, told CNN’s Don Lemon this week.

    Additionally, what Sanders didn’t take into consideration was the culture of loyalty at HBCUs.

    “There is an assumption that HBCUs breed this loyalty, definitely among it’s alumni, definitely among athletes and supposedly among coaches and Deion Sanders demystified that,” said Billy Hawkins, a professor at the University of Houston and the author of “The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions.”

    Two HBCU coaches known for their long tenures include Eddie Robinson, Grambling State University’s head football coach between the 1940s and 1990s, and Jake Gaither who led Florida A&M’s program from 1945 to 1969, according to the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

    But, it’s problematic to expect coaches to stay for such a long time, Hawkins said.

    “When you look at HBCUs, they’re probably the only institutions that had that type of institutional memory in athletic coaching even (predominantly white institutions) have only had maybe a few that have hung around 10, 15, 20 years,” he said.

    Sanders arrival and departure from Jackson State speaks to many issues of history and equity.

    HBCUs were created for Black Americans who were barred from attending predominantly white institutions, or PWIs. Officials at these institutions initially did not even want sports programs because Black athletes rarely went professional in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hawkins said.

    Despite this, football was introduced at HBCUs in the 1890s, according to the nonprofit African American Registry. It wasn’t until after World War II that the golden age of Black college football began and HBCUs were producing more talent per capita than just about any other school in the country, said Derrick E. White, a history professor at the University of Kentucky and half of “The Black Athlete” podcast.

    “These schools (had) tiny budgets, but because of segregation were able to produce this wealth of talent,” White said.

    Between 1961 and 2002, Jackson State had 94 players drafted into the NFL. The school had 11 players drafted in 1968, breaking a then Mississippi state record, according its website.

    Integration in the late 1960s and early 1970s ended the golden age.

    “HBCUs used to be seen as the mecca of Black intellectual ability, now with the drain that took place or the migration of Blacks to PWIs – both as students and as athletes – there is that perception that they’re less than,” Hawkins said. “Along with this absence of resources, there is also notion and ideology of intellectual inferiority and I think that spills over into athletics as well, thus they don’t necessarily receive the same types of sponsorships and endorsements because there’s this assumption there’s an inferior performance.”

    A 1984 Supreme Court ruling widened the gap between HBCUs and their counterparts even more. The ruling said the NCAA could no longer control whose games aired on television. Conferences – like the SEC, ACC and Big 10 – were now able to negotiate with TV networks directly.

    “All small colleges get shut out of this TV funding model because people on ABC don’t want to see Dartmouth or Grambling,” White said, adding that smaller Division I schools learned to depend on donors who had millions to pour into their college programs.

    And historically, because of a lack of generational wealth among many Black families in the US, HBCUs don’t have that wealthy donor base.

    So, combine a history of segregation, a loss of resources to integration and lack of equity getting multimillion dollar TV deals, and HBCUs get left behind financially and athletically.

    Then comes Sanders, who talked about rebuilding the JSU brand, bringing in recruits and amplifying HBCUs to the mainstream.

    “He sold the big dream. Now if you paid any attention, you knew the dream he was selling wasn’t possible – it was not an achievable one that he had – but he sold it and he got people to believe it, then he chucked the deuce and left,” Jones, the sports journalist, told CNN’s Don Lemon.

    Sanders move out west also highlights another issue in college sports, a lack of Black head coaches in big league schools. His move is definitely progress for Black coaches in college football.

    Sanders is one of three HBCU coaches to go to a PWI, experts say, and the first to go to a Power 5 school. A Black head coach has also never won a Football Bowl Subdivision – the top tier of Division I – national championship.

    “They don’t get a chance,” said Moore, the Grand Valley State professor and other half of “The Black Athlete” podcast.

    Recent years have seen a resurgence of interest in HBCUs from the election of Vice President Kamala Harris, a Howard University alumna, to companies increasing recruitment among HBCU students and Ralph Lauren collaborating with Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in Atlanta. The New York Times even reported the current climate has led elite Black students to choose HBCUs over elite PWIs.

    Sanders was part of this resurgence and played his part, bringing even more eyes to these schools.

    “Nobody was talking about HBCUs,” said Shannon Sharpe, a Hall of Famer and HBCU alumnus, on his Fox show “Undisputed.”

    “They’re on television and that’s because of him,” Sharpe said of Sanders. “He gave you the blueprint, now follow the blueprint.”

    Part of that blueprint, experts said, is HBCUs not needing to imitate PWIs, but instead remembering the product that makes them unique to their fan base.

    “At HBCUs, the entire experience is a cultural expression,” Hawkins said, referring to the marching bands and their electrifying halftime shows that make football games a combination of music and sports.

    The schools also offer a space for Black students where they don’t have to represent the entire race, said White, the University of Kentucky professor. Remembering these elements about what makes the experience unique will help Jackson State move forward after Sanders.

    “It’s gonna take a visionary administrator, not just an athletic director, … to wed to the academic mission, the cultural mission and the athletic mission to really propel not just the individual school forward, but all Black schools.”

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  • A Virginia superintendent is fired after a state report into handling of sexual assaults at school is issued | CNN

    A Virginia superintendent is fired after a state report into handling of sexual assaults at school is issued | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Virginia school superintendent was fired Tuesday, a day after a report from the state accused him of lying about a sexual assault involving a student in May 2021.

    The special grand jury report, conducted by the office of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, also criticized former school superintendent Dr. Scott Ziegler and other school officials for mishandling the investigation of an October sexual assault allegedly by the same student that year.

    The superintendent said of the May sexual assault “to my knowledge we don’t have any records of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” at a June 2021 school board meeting, according to the report. At the time, Ziegler said he misunderstood the question.

    The Loudoun County Public School Board voted unanimously to fire Ziegler Tuesday night, but provided no reason for the firing, school spokesman Wayde Byard told CNN.

    “The Special Grand Jury’s report contains important recommendations and information,” Miyares said in a statement to CNN Wednesday. “I’m glad to see that the school board is taking the report seriously, and hope it results in positive change for the LCPS community.”

    CNN has attempted to reach Ziegler for comment. Byard would not comment further regarding allegations into LCPS mishandling of the sexual assault cases outlined in the special grand jury report.

    A teenage student had been arrested for sexual battery and abduction of another student at a Loudoun County public school in October 2021, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office said, according to the report.

    The teenager also allegedly sexually assaulted another student in May 2021, according to the report. In that assault, the grand jury report alleged that the sexual assault occurred in a women’s bathroom while the perpetrator was wearing a skirt.

    “National outrage focused on Loudoun County because the student was labeled as gender fluid, LCPS had recently passed a transgender policy to conform with the Virginia Department of Education’s model policy,” said the report.

    CNN could not find evidence substantiating that the student identified as transgender or gender-fluid.

    The 2021 Virginia Department of Education’s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools outlined that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms and staff should use the personal pronouns that were most consistent with their gender identity.

    In 2022, under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the Department of Education replaced the policy with an updated one stating that students should use bathrooms according to his or her sex.

    On his first day in office on January 15, Youngkin passed an executive order authorizing an investigation of Loudoun County Public Schools by the Attorney General. Youngkin had mentioned the sexual assault cases at Loudoun schools several times while campaigning for governor.

    “The special grand jury’s report on the horrific sexual assaults in Loudoun has exposed wrongdoing, prompted disciplinary actions, & provided families with the truth. I will continue to empower parents & push for accountability on behalf of our students,” Youngkin tweeted Wednesday.

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  • Idaho authorities continue to investigate whether one of the slain university students had a stalker, police say | CNN

    Idaho authorities continue to investigate whether one of the slain university students had a stalker, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three weeks after four Idaho college students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus house, Moscow police said they are still looking into the possibility that one of the victims had a stalker.

    Police outlined a situation in October when a man appeared to be following Kaylee Goncalves, one of the victims, outside a local business, according to a news release from the department. Police said this was an isolated incident, and the man and an associate were trying to meet women at the business, which police said was corroborated through additional investigation. It was not an ongoing pattern of stalking. There is currently no evidence tying the two men to the killings, the release said.

    Last month, investigators looked “extensively” into hundreds of pieces of information about Goncalves having a stalker, but “have not been able to verify or identify a stalker,” police said.

    Police are still asking for tips from the public on information regarding a possible stalker.

    “Investigators continue looking into information about Kaylee having a stalker. Information about a potential stalker or unusual occurrences should go through the Tip Line,” according to the release.

    Goncalves, 21, along with roommates Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20; as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, who did not live in the house, were found dead November 13. Police initially said the slayings took place after 1:45 a.m., but no one called 911 until noon that same day. In the updated release Monday, police said the surviving roommates called friends to the home because they believed one of the victims had passed out and was not waking up. This prompted someone, using one of the surviving roommates’ cell phones, to call 911 for an unconscious person. Police arrived and found all four victims whose cause and manner of death was ruled four days later to be homicide by stabbing, the release said.

    A coroner determined the four victims were each stabbed multiple times and were likely asleep when the attacks began, police have said. Local, state and federal investigators have all been working to find a suspect. They are starting to receive forensic testing results from the crime scene, Moscow police spokesperson Rachael Doniger told CNN last week.

    On Saturday, Moscow police said they’ve received more than 2,000 email tips, phone tips and more than 1,000 submissions to an FBI link. The killings have unnerved the town of Moscow, with its 26,000 residents, because it had not recorded a murder since 2015.

    At this point in the investigation, police have not identified a suspect or found the murder weapon, believed to be a knife. Police have also not released the names of the surviving roommates who were said to have been in the home at the time of the killings. CNN did not report their names until they were publicly identified during a memorial service Sunday when a pastor read letters written by the two roommates – identified as Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke.

    In the letters that were read aloud Sunday, Mortensen and Funke wrote how much they would miss the victims and what they meant to them as both roommates and friends.

    “My life was greatly impacted to have known these four beautiful people,” the pastor read in Mortensen’s letter. “My people who changed my life in so many ways and made me so happy. I know it will be hard to not have the four of them in our lives, but I know Xana, Ethan, Maddie and Kaylee would want us to live life and be happy and they would want us to celebrate their lives.”

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  • As the University of Idaho homicide investigation enters a critical stage, police must protect information ‘at all costs,’ experts say | CNN

    As the University of Idaho homicide investigation enters a critical stage, police must protect information ‘at all costs,’ experts say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The investigation into the murders of four University of Idaho students is entering a critical stage in its third week, as police are starting to receive forensic testing results from the crime scene, law enforcement experts tell CNN.

    Dozens of local, state and federal investigators have yet to identify a suspect or find the murder weapon used in the attack last month in Moscow.

    The public, as well as the victims’ family members, have criticized police for releasing little information, in what at times has been a confusing narrative.

    But the complex nature of a high-level homicide investigation involves utmost discretion from police, experts say, because any premature hint to the public about a suspect or the various leads police are following can cause it to fall apart.

    “What police have been reluctant to do in this case is to say they have a suspect, even though they have had suspects who have risen and fallen in various levels of importance, because that’s the nature of the beast,” said John Miller, CNN chief law enforcement analyst and former deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the New York Police Department.

    “Police having no suspects is factually incorrect,” Miller said. “Police have had a number of suspects they’ve looked at, but they have no suspect they’re willing to name. You don’t name them unless you have a purpose for that. That’s not unusual.”

    The victims – Ethan Chapin, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Madison Mogen, 21 – were found stabbed on the second and third floors of their shared off-campus home on November 13, according to authorities.

    The quadruple murder has upended the town of 26,000 residents, which had not recorded a single murder since 2015, and challenged a police department which has not benefited from the experience of investigating many homicides, let alone under the pressure of a national audience, Miller says.

    The Moscow Police Department is leading the investigation with assistance from the Idaho State Police, the Latah County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, which has assigned more than 40 agents to the case across the United States.

    “They have really coordinated this into over 100 people that are operating as one team,” Miller said of the homicide investigation.

    The FBI plays three important roles in the Idaho investigation, according to Miller.

    The first involves its behavioral science unit, which is highly valuable for cases with an unknown offender because it narrows the scope of offender characteristics.

    The second is its advanced technology, such as its Combined DNA Indexing System, which allows law enforcement officials and crime labs to share and search through thousands of DNA profiles.

    Lastly, the FBI has 56 field offices in major cities throughout the country, which can expand the reach and capability of the investigation.

    “The FBI brings a lot to this, as well as experience in a range of cases that would be beyond what a small town typically would have,” Miller said.

    Every homicide investigation begins with the scene of the crime, which allows investigators only one chance to record and collect forensic evidence for processing, which includes toxicology reports on the victims, hair, fibers, blood and DNA, law enforcement experts say.

    “That one chance with the crime scene is where a lot of opportunities can be made or lost,” Miller said.

    Extensive evidence has been collected over the course of the investigation, including 113 pieces of physical evidence, about 4,000 photos of the crime scene and several 3D scans of the home, Moscow police said Thursday.

    “To protect the investigation’s integrity, specific results will not be released,” police said.

    Latah County Coroner Cathy Mabbutt told CNN she saw “lots of blood on the wall” when she arrived at the scene and police said “some” of the victims had defensive wounds.

    Chances are “pretty high” a suspect could have cut themselves during the attack, so police are looking carefully at blood evidence, says Joe Giacalone, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and retired NYPD sergeant who directed the agency’s Homicide School and Cold Case Squad.

    Lab results from the scene can be returned to investigators fairly quickly, but in this case investigators are dealing with mixtures of DNA, which can take longer, he says.

    “When you have several donors with the DNA, then it becomes a problem trying to separate those two or three or four. That could be part of the issue … toxicology reports can sometimes take a couple of weeks to come back,” Giacalone added.

    The next stage in a homicide investigation is looking at the behavioral aspects of the crime. Two agents with the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Unit were assigned to the case to assess the scene and go over evidence to learn about the suspect or suspects’ behavior, based on the way they carried out the crime, Miller says.

    “Understanding the victimology in a mystery can be very important, because it can lead you to motivation, it can lead you to enemies and it can lead you to friends,” he said.

    Investigators will learn every detail about the four victims, their relationships with each other and the various people in their lives, Miller says. This includes cell phone records and internet records, he says, as well as video surveillance from every camera surrounding the crime scene.

    “When you do an extensive video canvass, you may get a picture of a person, a shadowy figure, and then if you have a sense of direction, you can string your way down all the other cameras in that direction to see if that image reappears,” Miller said.

    At this stage, investigators rely on the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, which collects and analyzes information about violent crimes in the United States.

    The program can match a suspect’s DNA found at the scene with that of a person who is already in the system. It also scans all crimes across the country to determine if the way the attack was carried out mirrors a previous one, pointing to the same perpetrator, Miller says.

    “You always start with people who are close to the victims, whether it’s love, money or drugs,” Giacalone told CNN. “That’s generally the first step that you take because most of us are victimized by someone we know. We have to ask things like, who would benefit from having this person or in this case, a group, killed?”

    In an effort to locate the weapon – believed to be a fixed-blade knife – detectives contacted local businesses to see if a similar knife had been purchased recently.

    “It’s highly unlikely, although not impossible, that a first-time offender is going to come prepared with a tactical knife and murder multiple people, even in the face of resistance, and that this is going to be their first encounter with violent crime or the use of a knife,” Miller said.

    One aspect of a homicide investigation is to “keep the media happy,” according to Giacalone.

    “Today in the social media, true crime, community-driven world in these cases, the demand for information is so great that sometimes police departments kind of fill in that blank air and say something just for the sake of saying something, and then realizing that it’s either not 100% true, or it’s misleading,” he said.

    It’s critical for police to protect their information at “all costs” and they always know more than what they release to the public. Otherwise, it could cause the suspect to go on the run, he says.

    The media gathers as Moscow Police Chief James Fry speaks during a news conference.

    Miller said it’s “not fair” to investigators for the public or media to criticize them for not releasing enough information about the case.

    But, ultimately, the department has a moral obligation to share some information with families who are suffering in uncertainty, Miller says, but they must be judicious about what they share.

    “If you tell them we have a suspect and we’re close to an arrest but that doesn’t come together, then everybody is disappointed or thinks you messed it up or worse, goes out and figures out who the suspect is and tries to take action on their own,” he said.

    Investigators rely on the trove of physical and scientific evidence, information from the public and national data on violent crimes to cultivate possible leads, Miller says.

    Public tips, photos and videos of the night the students died, including more than 260 digital media submissions people have submitted through an FBI form, are being analyzed, police say. Authorities have processed more than 1,000 tips and conducted at least 150 interviews to advance the case.

    “Any one of those tips can be the missing link,” Miller said. “It can either be the connective tissue to a lead you already had but were missing a piece, or it can become the brand new lead that solves the case.”

    Every tip must be recorded in a searchable database so investigators can go back to them as they learn new details over the course of the investigation, Miller says. While 95% to 99% of public tips may provide no value, one or several might crack the entire case, he adds.

    “Police in this case could be nowhere tonight, having washed out another suspect, and tomorrow morning they could be making an arrest,” Miller said of the Idaho investigation. “Or, for the suspect they’re working on today, it might take them another month from now to put together enough evidence to have probable cause. That’s just something they won’t be able to reveal until it happens.”

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  • Deion Sanders hired as the next head coach for University of Colorado football | CNN

    Deion Sanders hired as the next head coach for University of Colorado football | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Coach Prime is officially heading to Boulder, Colorado.

    Football legend Deion Sanders has been named the new University of Colorado football head coach, the school announced Saturday.

    Sanders will be leaving Jackson State University, where he coached the Tigers for the past three seasons, compiling a record of 26-5 – including going undefeated this season. The Tigers won the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championship earlier Saturday, defeating Southern University 43-24. 

    “There were a number of highly qualified and impressive candidates interested in becoming the next head football coach at Colorado, but none of them had the pedigree, the knowledge and the ability to connect with student-athletes like Deion Sanders,” Colorado athletic director Rick George said in a statement.

    “Not only will Coach Prime energize our fanbase, I’m confident that he will lead our program back to national prominence while leading a team of high quality and high character.”

    Sanders was drafted as a first-rounder in 1989 by the Atlanta Falcons out of Florida State and played in the league for 14 seasons with several franchises. He won two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. 

    Sanders also played for five different Major League Baseball teams in 11 years. He is the first athlete to have competed in a Super Bowl and a World Series. 

    In October, Colorado fired Karl Dorrell after an 0-5 start and an 8-15 overall record in three years as head coach. Interim head coach Mike Sanford went 1-6 as the Buffaloes finished the season with the worst record in the Pac-12 Conference. 

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  • Authorities say they’ve received thousands of tips regarding 4 slain University of Idaho students | CNN

    Authorities say they’ve received thousands of tips regarding 4 slain University of Idaho students | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Authorities investigating the killings of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death last month say they have received thousands of tips from the public.

    In a Saturday update, the Moscow Police Department said it has received more than 2,640 emails to a tip web address, more than 2,770 phone tips and more than 1,000 submissions to an FBI link.

    Investigators have collected more than 110 pieces of physical evidence and roughly 4,000 crime scene photos.

    But the case remains unsolved. Police have not located the murder weapon nor identified a suspect.

    “To assist with the ongoing investigation, any odd or out-of-the-ordinary events that took place should be reported,” Moscow police said Saturday. “Your information, whether you believe it is significant or not, might be the piece of the puzzle that helps investigators solve these murders.”

    Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kernolde’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, were likely stabbed multiple times in their sleep just days before Thanksgiving break, police said.

    Their horrific deaths have since rattled Moscow, a college town of some 25,000 people which hasn’t recorded a single murder since 2015, and the nation.

    In an attempt to clear up false information that’s been spreading about the case, Moscow police this week debunked several theories.

    “There is speculation, without factual backing, stoking community fears and spreading false facts,” the Moscow Police Department said in a news release Friday.

    None of the victims in the quadruple homicide were tied and gagged, refuting online reports. A report of a “skinned” dog weeks before the killings is not connected to the case, according to police, and deceased animals left on a resident’s property elsewhere were determined to be wildlife activity.

    Additionally, police noted the students’ killings are not related to two other stabbing incidents in neighboring states Washington and Oregon – in 1999 and 2021, respectively – which may “share similarities,” but “there does not appear to be any evidence to support the cases are related,” according to the release.

    Police also reassured the public that a September incident which involved an argument between a group of people walking on the University of Idaho bike path and a cyclist, who displayed a folding knife, is not connected to the students’ killings.

    “The individual involved turned himself in, and charges were referred to the Moscow City Attorney’s Office,” police said.

    And although police have said they don’t know who carried out the killings, they have released information eliminating some people as suspects, most recently a person listed on the lease of the residence where the killings happened, police said Friday.

    “They have spoken to this individual and confirmed they moved out prior to the start of the school year and was not present at the time of the incident. Detectives do not believe this person has any involvement in the murders,” Moscow police said.

    Police also ruled out the two surviving roommates who were in house at the time of the killings and other people inside the house when the 911 call was made. The person who made the 911 call alerting authorities to the home after the killings has not been identified.

    Goncalves and Mogen, two of the victims, were driven home by someone after the pair purchased food from a truck hours before they were killed – authorities have ruled out the driver as a suspect.

    Additionally, a man seen in surveillance video from a food truck visited by Goncalves and Mogen, and another man the pair called “numerous times” in the hours before their deaths, were also ruled out as suspects by police.

    It remains unclear how close authorities are to releasing information about a potential suspect or suspects. “Only vetted information that does not hinder the investigation will be released to the public,” Moscow police noted Friday.

    But some details released by authorities since the start of the investigation have required further clarification.

    This week, Moscow police noted and backtracked comments from the Latah County prosecutor that said, “the suspect(s) specifically looked at this residence” and “that one or more of the occupants were undoubtedly targeted.”

    Moscow police called that a “miscommunication,” and added: “Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted.”

    On Thursday, Moscow police attempted to clarify the key conflicting information, once and for all.

    “We remain consistent in our belief that this was a targeted attack, but investigators have not concluded if the target was the residence or if it was the occupants,” police said.

    Authorities have also needed to clarify other information, including initially saying on November 15 that detectives believed the attacks were “isolated” and “targeted” and that the community was not under imminent threat. The following day, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said police were not definitive in concluding the public was not at risk.

    Police tape on November 30 surrounds the residence where four University of Idaho students were killed in Moscow, Idaho.

    Detectives have received testing and analysis of the crime scene evidence from Idaho State Police Forensic Services, and they will continue to receive the results of additional tests, according to police.

    “To protect the investigation’s integrity, specific results will not be released,” police said.

    Detectives also collected the contents of three dumpsters on the street where the house is located and seized five nearby vehicles to be processed for evidence, according to police.

    As for the murder weapon – believed to be a fixed-blade knife – detectives contacted local businesses regarding knife purchases in the days leading up to the killings.

    Multiple agencies and law enforcement personnel are investigating the homicides. More than 30 employees including detectives, patrol officers and support staff from the Moscow Police Department are working on the case, police said Friday in the news release.

    The FBI has devoted 22 investigators in Moscow, 20 agents through the country and two investigators from the agency’s Behavior Analysis Unit, police said.

    Plus, there are 20 Idaho State Police investigators assigned to Moscow, and an additional 15 uniformed troopers are patrolling the community. Forensic services and a mobile crime scene team from the state police are also working the case.

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