October 7, 2019

Juul Deploying Big Tobacco Playbook to Preempt Local Control

In a new white paper by Local Solutions Support Center (LSSC) and Illumination Investigations, Evan Vorpahl and Lisa Graves document how Juul has flooded statehouses with lobbyists to advance T-21 legislation – bills to raise the purchase age of tobacco to 21, but that include poison pill measures preempting local governments from further regulating tobacco
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September 17, 2019

Warren Probes Private Equity Owners of For-Profit Colleges

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), joined by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), has written to six U.S. private equity firms regarding their investments in for-profit colleges. In light of growing evidence that private equity-owned for-profit colleges are some of the worst actors in an industry rife with bad behavior, Warren and Pocan have asked the firms to
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September 10, 2019

Warren, Colleagues Ask Collapsed For-Profit ECA Not To Sell Student Debt to Collectors

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rep. Bobby Scott (R-VA), and other members of Congress have written to the collapsed for-profit college chain Education Corporation of America (ECA) and its court-appointed receiver asking that ECA not sell its outstanding student loan debt to a financial firm that would seek to collect payments from former students. The letter,
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September 9, 2019

Falwell, Trump’s Favorite College President, Pioneered the Scam Non-Profit College

When the head of fraudulent Trump University became President of the United States, he quickly anointed Jerry Falwell, Jr., as his favorite college president. The Liberty University head had endorsed Trump for the White House in January 2016. In return, at least according to Falwell, president-elect Trump offered to make Falwell his Secretary of Education.
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August 2, 2019

For-Profit College Where Top DeVos Aide Worked Is Paying $30 Million to Settle FTC Deception Probe

The giant for-profit college company Career Education Corporation (CEC) says it has agreed to pay $30 million to resolve a Federal Trade Commission investigation into whether it engaged in deceptive marketing to prospective students. The $30 million, which CEC says includes “restitution,” presumably for students, is a pittance compared to the billions of dollars —
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June 13, 2019

Betsy DeVos, Meet Ralph from Comcast

Ralph, a Comcast technician, just spent two hours at my house working really hard and fixing my cable after another Comcast tech yesterday broke it while trying to upgrade my services. When he was done, Ralph promised to come back on his own time to make further upgrades on the wires. He’s an intelligent, diligent
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May 29, 2019

Mueller’s Cop-Out

Robert Mueller’s statement this morning was exactly what I thought it would be: Mueller stuck precisely to the words of his report; made clear that if Congress forces his testimony, he will stick to the words of the report; implied there was a path forward with Congress, but didn’t say “impeachment”; praised his staff; but
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April 3, 2019

State Colleges Seduced By For-Profit, Online Education

As Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education works this morning to outsource more and more taxpayer-funded student aid to predatory for-profit online education companies, Wall Street investors see a new gold rush. Seeking to avoid the stigma and regulatory requirements of openly running a for-profit college, they are finding willing partners in another taxpayer-funded sector: state
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