Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Thursday, July 11, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we’ve got some very important stories to share with you today, and here’s what’s going on.
A few states want the U.S. Supreme Court to stop President Joe Biden’s student loan repayment program, the DOJ will weigh in on Georgia’s absentee ballot law, and a disaster is declared in Colorado. Also, the House agrees with the State Department condemning the Chinese Communist Party, and the IRS issues another critical warning.
States File Emergency Supreme Court Petition to Stop Biden’s Student Loan Repayment Plan
Three states are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Biden administration from implementing the final pieces of its federal student loan repayment program.In an emergency application filed last Friday, South Carolina, Texas, and Alaska petitioned the high court to block the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan from taking effect, after a key part of the program was allowed to proceed.
The program is designed to make student loan payments more affordable and help low-income borrowers pay their loans off more quickly, in part by using a new repayment formula, which was set to take effect on July 1. The formula aimed to cut monthly payments on undergraduate loans from 10 percent of the borrower’s discretionary income to 5 percent.
The emergency injunction was filed in response to a decision made by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with the Department of Education (DOE) in lifting a lower court’s injunction, allowing for the lower monthly payments and a few other aspects of the plan to move ahead.
However, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said that the Supreme Court had already ruled in a 2023 case that the Biden administration does not have the authority to waive hundreds of billions of dollars in student loan repayments and that the current provisions were just a way to get around that decision.
So you know, millions of Americans have enrolled in the SAVE plan since last fall, and the DOE has already implemented some of the offers ahead of schedule, including debt cancellation for borrowers who originally took out $12,000 or less in student loans and have made at least 10 years of monthly payments.
While the legal challenges to the SAVE plan play out in court, the Biden administration says it’ll continue to fight for “this long-overdue relief.”
DOJ Confirms It Will Intervene in Lawsuit Targeting Georgia Mail Ballot Deadline
The DOJ confirmed earlier this week that it will intervene in a lawsuit that challenges a Georgia deadline for absentee ballot applications and whether or not it’s legal under the Voting Rights Act.Back in 2023, a group of theater workers challenged a provision of Georgia state law, SB 202, which requires that a voter apply for an absentee ballot at least 11 days before a presidential election.
Their lawsuit claims that Section 202 of the federal Voting Rights Act sets the cut-off date for voters to apply for absentee ballots in presidential elections at seven days before the election, arguing that the Georgia law violates federal law, which is why they’re asking the court to block the law’s enforcement.
The DOJ’s filing didn’t argue the case, but instead put the court on notice that it would submit a brief regarding the constitutionality and interpretation of Section 202 of the Voting Rights Act by July 22.
Republican state officials are defending the 11-day cutoff deadline, saying that the group of theater workers lacks the right to sue under the Voting Rights Act.
You should know that earlier this year, the DOJ filed a statement expressing interest in the theater worker lawsuit and it also argued that private parties can file lawsuits to enforce the section of the Voting Rights Act, which provides a “general remedy for private plaintiffs to redress violations of federal rights committed by state actors.”
Interesting to note that this week’s legal challenge comes just four months ahead of the presidential election, and in a state that pollsters label a battleground state.
Colorado Governor Declares Disaster Emergency Over Bird Flu Outbreak
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has just issued an emergency disaster declaration in his state over an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu in Weld County, which is an hour-and-a-half drive northeast of Denver. The declaration, which specifically references one commercial poultry facility, means that Colorado can use its emergency powers to “take all necessary and appropriate state actions to assist with response, recovery, and mitigation efforts.”As of this week, the Colorado Department of Agriculture has confirmed that nearly 1.8 million chickens were impacted by the bird flu, which is also described as highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Last week, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that a dairy farm worker was infected with the H5N1 bird flu and had direct exposure to cattle infected with the virus, but it’s not clear if that worker had been exposed to the infected chickens in Weld County. You should know that his only symptom was conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye, and his case was described as mild.
Moving forward, officials say the risk of bird flu infections for Colorado residents remains low because the virus is spread primarily among animals. However, they do advise you not to touch sick or dead animals, but wear protective gear if you do have contact with potentially infected animals, including eye protection, gloves, and an N95 respirator mask.
So far in 2024, three other dairy workers have been infected with the H5N1 virus, with one case in Texas back in April and two cases in Michigan this past May.
House Lawmaker Applauds State Department for Addressing Organ Harvesting in China
A senior lawmaker on the House Foreign Affairs Committee welcomed the decision by the State Department to add the issue of China’s practice of forced organ harvesting into its annual report last month.Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) chaired a congressional hearing this week on the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report. It called out China’s communist regime for its crimes targeting certain individuals.
The report stated that the regime appears to seek out specific ethnic, linguistic, or religious minorities, often without any explanation for their detention or arrests.
Many victims of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) forced organ harvesting are Falun Gong adherents, according to an independent people’s tribunal in London, which concluded that the communist regime had been forcibly harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience for years, with Falun Gong practitioners as the “principal source” of organs.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that was introduced to the Chinese public back in 1992, and it encourages followers to live by moral teachings that are based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
Its popularity was deemed a threat by the Chinese Communist Party, which has used all means at its disposal, including its legal, judicial, and military apparatus, and social and state-run media to advance propaganda and disinformation in order to crush the group.
Interesting to note that a 2022 study published in the American Journal of Transplantation found that 348 medical professionals or researchers had been involved in sustaining the CCP’s lucrative organ transplant industry.
Just last month, the House approved the bipartisan Falun Gong Protection Act on a voice vote. The legislation would require the United States to impose sanctions on foreign individuals who “are knowingly responsible for, are complicit in, or have engaged in” the CCP’s practice of forced organ harvesting.
IRS Warns Tax Professionals of New and Evolving Scams Involving AI, Phishing Attacks
The agency is warning tax professionals to be on guard about “new and evolving schemes” that use phishing emails and artificial intelligence (AI) to steal sensitive information.These types of scams involve criminals who are able to use AI to gain access to Social Security numbers, birth dates, and banking information from tax preparers. The scammers are then able to produce fake IRS letters that are emailed to the unsuspecting clients of those tax professionals.
Criminals are also posing as new clients through phishing emails that trick tax professionals into sharing sensitive data. Here’s how it works: the impostors pretend to be real taxpayers asking for help with their taxes. They’ll send a malicious attachment or include a link to a site in the email that allows them to collect sensitive information, like the tax professional’s email and password, or gain access to a practitioner’s client data. You should know that this type of scam becomes more popular the closer we get to the tax season.
Also, be very aware of social media scams, which are becoming more and more popular. These kinds of scams display inaccurate or misleading tax information on social media platforms regarding tax credits where the criminals promise to wipe out a tax debt.
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel says the criminals have really upped their game by now targeting the tax professionals in order to get the valuable information they need to file authentic-looking tax returns.
You can’t be careful enough.
Now, just a reminder that because we are in the throes of summer and the heat can really take a toll on you, please try to keep cool. Use air conditioning or a fan, wear light and loose-fitting clothing, and take cool showers when you can—it really does help. Also, stay hydrated: Keep drinking water even before you feel thirsty, especially if you’ll be outdoors, walking, working, or exercising. And one more thing: make sure you have plenty of coolant in your car’s radiator so you don’t overheat and get stranded.
Looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Thursday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
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And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very “notable” quote.
It was American retired gymnast Mary Lou Retton who said: “Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.”
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Mary Lou Retton won a gold medal, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. An extremely talented gymnast.
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
Thanks for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your day and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow for the Friday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief. Have a superb day today, and bye for now.
