The Republican ex-congressman who now works as the chief lobbyist for the troubled for-profit college industry has ushered in the new year with an email asking for-profit college owners to finance a legal brief aimed at limiting the legal risk of companies in fraud cases.  The amount that Steve Gunderson, CEO of the industry trade
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Last week, at a critical point in the Paris negotiations on global climate change, Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the United States would commit $800 million annually to help developing nations adapt to a warming climate and move to cleaner energy.  $800 million doubled the prior U.S. pledge, and the announcement may have
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After settling multiple law enforcement investigations this month on absurdly favorable terms, troubled for-profit college company Education Management Corp. (EDMC) may be on the verge of getting a sweetheart deal from Congress — a deal that could compound the harms that the company already has caused to students and taxpayers. A provision in the highway bill
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Might I humbly suggest we embrace right-wing spindoctor turned corporate think tanker Marc Morano’s latest project Climate Hustle as a welcome escape from reality? It could be the start a whole new genre of film called climate change escapism. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but instead of my expected rant about how Marc Morano and
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On Tuesday, a federal jury in Miami convicted Alejandro Amor, the owner of shut-down FastTrain College, of theft and conspiracy. Amor gained notoriety when it was disclosed that FastTrain, a for-profit college, used strippers to recruit students, but the offense for which he now faces a long prison sentence was enrolling, and cashing federal financial aid checks for, some
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A Colorado state trial court has rejected nearly every aspect of a motion by a former for-profit college company to dismiss a fraud lawsuit brought by the Colorado attorney general.  In a November 17 opinion, Judge Ross B.H. Buchanan denied most of the arguments put forth by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education, which operates the
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At a press conference this morning, the Justice Department, the Department of Education, and a group of state attorneys general announced what Attorney General Loretta Lynch called a “landmark settlement” of fraud charges against for-profit college company Education Management Corporation (EDMC).  The company will pay $95.5 million — the largest False Claims Act settlement ever
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Starting on November 30 and lasting until December 11, the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), i.e. the annual meeting of all countries that want to take action for the climate, will meet in Le Bourget, France. They are meeting to try and agree to a global legally binding climate treaty to keep global warming below
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