If your degree doesn’t pay enough, you can’t borrow. Federal loans cut for low-wage programs

College students pursuing majors, advanced degrees or certifications in fields that consistently earn low incomes will no longer be able to take out federal loans to pay for their schooling under new Trump administration rules.

Many of the degree programs that educate social workers, artists, teacher aides and especially certification programs for barbers and nail technicians are likely to fail a new federal litmus test: Will they make more money upon graduation than if they never enrolled in the first place?

The new federal rule, finalized this month by the Education Department, comes amid a national crisis in student loan defaults — and is part of a larger effort to ensure a college degree or professional certification serves as an avenue for economic advancement rather than a debt trap.

It has also provoked debate over whether the mission of higher education — and help paying for it — should be tied to a paycheck after graduation. But unlike other aspects of the administration’s education actions, the new policy has relatively broad support, with some student advocates saying it should be tougher.

—Los Angeles Times

Miami-Dade leaders say state’s anti-DEI law is so confusing they may have to sue

MIAMI — Miami-Dade County may go to court over Florida’s new anti-DEI law, which bars local funding of groups or services tied to gender, race or sexual orientation.

County leaders say the legislation is sweeping enough to make Miami-Dade rethink countless spending decisions, from staffing the current Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board to awarding a tourism grant to a gay pride parade to sponsoring a festival celebrating Haitian Americans.

“I think it’s important to get some clarification,” County Commissioner Vicki Lopez, a former Republican member of the Florida House, said Tuesday before the board authorized Miami-Dade lawyers to explore legal action against the state law. “Oftentimes, the only way to do that is to go to the courts.”

Lopez’s resolution falls far short of any kind of court action against Senate Bill 1134, which doesn’t take effect until Jan. 1. Formally titled Official Actions of Local Governments, the law targets practices known as DEI — which stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and generally refers to a focus on helping minority groups.

—Miami Herald

Some birds defy overall plunge in bird numbers

LOS ANGELES — Bird multitudes are slipping away on a global scale, but a new study offers hope for how we can be better neighbors to feathered friends.

Researchers at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo knew, like everyone else in the bird world, that 3 billion birds have been lost in the last half century, but they wanted to know more about why. So they looked at changes in air pollution, light pollution, summer heat and eight other environmental and demographic conditions that affect birds.

To their surprise, they found some species are doing well in some places with bad air or bright nights, thanks to what nature put in the birds’ survival toolkit.

“Our study shows pretty convincingly that we are losing birds in some places, but we’re also gaining birds at local populations in other areas, so it’s not dire across the board.” said Clinton Francis, a Cal Poly biological sciences professor and co-author on the new study published in Current Biology.

—Los Angeles Times

Trump ordered by judge to reveal financial records in BBC defamation

LONDON — Donald Trump has suffered a setback in his $10-billion defamation case against the BBC after a judge ruled the U.S. president must turn over financial records sought by the broadcaster.

The U.S. leader’s legal team had attempted to block the move, claiming it was “premature, improper, and especially burdensome.”

Trump is seeking substantial damages in a Florida court over the editing of a "Panorama" documentary from 2024 about the U.S. Capitol riots.

Ruling on the disclosure dispute, Judge Enjolique Lett granted the request by BBC lawyers for information from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, which holds the president’s business interests and assets and is managed by his eldest son. However, the judge’s decision can be appealed against.

—dpa