Education Dept. Pledges to Overhaul Dysfunctional Disability Review Program
After a ProPublica investigation, the Education Department has promised to overhaul its broken system for forgiving the federal student loans of disabled borrowers.
The Reform for Disabled Borrowers That the Education Dept. Refuses to Adopt
The Education Department has resisted a basic reform to its troubled disability review that its own ombudsman has recommended since 2008 -- shut the program down entirely and rely on Social Security to decide who is eligible.
Education Department Bureaucracy Keeps Disabled Borrowers in Debt
Borrowers who become severely disabled are entitled to get federal student loans forgiven. But the program for deciding whether they qualify is opaque, dysfunctional, and according to government reports, redundant.
Gulf Claims Chief Announces Payment Plan That Assumes Quick Recovery
Gulf spill paymaster Kenneth Feinberg today released a draft of his long-awaited methodology for deciding payments on final claims for damages from the BP oil spill – and has endorsed an optimistic prediction of how quickly the region’s economy will recover that is likely to spark controversy among claimants.
Gulf Claims Czar Makes Mixed Progress on Transparency Pledges
Gulf spill paymaster Kenneth Feinberg has made mixed progress in carrying out his transparency promises.
Where Things Stand: Gulf Oil Spill Claims
One of the central pieces of BP's program to make amends after the Gulf oil spill disaster was a claims system to compensate individuals and businesses that lost money. Although nearly $3 billion has been paid out, there have been chronic delays that have caused frustration and serious economic hardship to claimants.
Executive Order Suspending Fracking Brings Little Change
Gov. David Paterson recently issued an executive order suspending the approval of certain types of gas drilling permits. But his action did little to change the status quo, because the DEC had already stopped issuing such permits.