Law

President Biden speaks about student debt relief at Central New Mexico Community College Student Resource Center in Albuquerque, N.M., on Nov. 3, 2022. His plan to forgive up to $20,000 of student debt is being challenged at the Supreme Court.

Biden's student loan relief faces its biggest test yet at the Supreme Court

11:29am February 28, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

On Tuesday, the justices will hear expedited arguments in a challenge to the Biden plan brought by six states — Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas and South Carolina.

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Politics & Government

Morning news brief

6:44am February 28, 2023

The Supreme Court will hear challenges to the student loan relief plan. Republicans and Democrats shine a light on the U.S.-China relationship. Critics say Mexico's electoral law attacks democracy.

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Education

Biden's plan for student loan relief faces its biggest test yet at the Supreme Court

5:09am February 28, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday hears arguments over whether the Biden administration exceeded its authority with its student debt forgiveness program.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments next term about whether Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, set up after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from predatory lending practices, is funded constitutionally.

Politics & Government

Supreme Court to hear case that threatens existence of consumer protection agency

6:06pm February 27, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

At issue is how the CFPB is funded: It gets its money from the Federal Reserve, which in turn is funded by bank fees, and not through congressional appropriations.

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If Wyoming bans abortion, hospitals may have an even harder time recruiting doctors

5:33pm February 27, 2023

by Kamila Kudelska

Wyoming has one of America's worst physician shortages, and now some homegrown medical students say they're looking for jobs out of state as state lawmakers are pushing bills criminalizing abortion.

Idaho removed nearly 10,000 people from Medicaid in the pandemic's first years when enrollees couldn't be reached. The episode previews what could occur in other states after April 1, when a COVID-era coverage mandate ends.

Health & Safety

Idaho dropped thousands from Medicaid early in the pandemic. Which state's next?

5:01am February 27, 2023

by Rachana Pradhan

The federal agency that oversees Medicaid suggested Idaho wasn't trying hard enough to reach beneficiaries before letting their coverage lapse. Consumer advocates fear that could happen again.

In this image taken from Pueblo County Sheriff's police body camera provided by attorney Darold Killmer, Richard Ward sits in the backseat of a vehicle as he is questioned by Pueblo County Sheriff's Deputy Charles McWhorter on Feb. 22, 2022.

National

After a deputy shot a man, the man's family sued but the deputy got an award

6:44pm February 26, 2023

by Joe Hernandez

Pueblo County Sheriff's Deputy Charles McWhorter received a Purple Heart award just days before the family of Richard Ward — who McWhorter shot and killed — sued him for wrongful death.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch (left) stands next to Chief Justice John Roberts outside the court in 2017.

Politics & Government

How a Supreme Court justice's paragraph put the Voting Rights Act in more danger

2:29pm February 26, 2023

by Hansi Lo Wang

Justice Neil Gorsuch tacked on a handful of sentences to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, planting the seeds of a legal fight that could further weaken Voting Rights Act protections for people of color.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, seen speaking at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., last March, is one of a dozen state attorneys general arguing for expanded access to an abortion pill that carries extra FDA restrictions.

National

Washington state attorney general says FDA rules on abortion drug are unreasonable

9:14pm February 25, 2023

A coalition of state attorneys general is suing the Food and Drug Administration over its regulation of mifepristone. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

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How courts fail survivors of domestic violence

5:41pm February 25, 2023

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Dr. Judith Herman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who says the courts fail to secure meaningful justice for survivors of domestic violence.