Florida

Florida Republican, Democrat team up to tackle student loan debt as Biden-Harris forgiveness bids derail

Published

2 hours ago

September 8, 2024

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Florida Republican, Democrat team up to tackle student loan debt as Biden-Harris forgiveness bids derail

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A seemingly unlikely duo is pushing for Congress to do something about ballooning college debt that’s plaguing millions of Americans.

Reps. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., introduced a bill to cap federal student loan interest at 3% this week, and Luna told Fox News Digital that she’s already gearing up to lobby Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for a House-wide vote.

“I actually fully anticipate having that conversation in person when we return next week,” Luna said.

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Reps. Anna Paulina Luna and Jared Moskowitz are engaged in serious bipartisan talks to get a bill to limit federal student loan debt interest. (Getty Images)

She wants Johnson to fast-track the bill under a procedure known as “suspension of the rules,” which allows legislation to bypass the normal committee process in exchange for raising the threshold for passage from a simple majority to two-thirds – which both Luna and Moskowitz anticipated the bill would see.

“I think this would pass if you put this to the floor. In fact, if you bypass committee, I think this would probably get two-thirds. I mean, I think it would pass overwhelmingly,” Moskowitz told Fox News Digital.

Luna similarly said, “I think it would be really hard for any member to vote against it.”

She also suggested creating a discharge petition for the bill – a measure that would force a piece of legislation up for a vote if the petition got a majority of House lawmakers’ signatures.

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Discharge petitions rarely, if ever, succeed in forcing a House-wide vote themselves, but Luna said that just the creation of one could be enough to pressure leadership into action.

“I talk to people that are just like, ‘I am literally paying off loans from 15, 20 years ago, and because the interest rate is so high, we’re not even able to make a dent,” Luna said. “It’s turning Americans into indentured servants.”

President Biden has tried to implement broad student loan forgiveness multiple times. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

It comes after the Biden-Harris administration’s multiple attempts at mass student loan forgiveness keep getting blocked by GOP-led states and even the conservative-leaning Supreme Court. President Biden has managed to implement more narrowly targeted forgiveness measures, however.

And while Luna and Moskowitz’s opinions on Biden’s initiative differ, both said they have heard people on both sides of the aisle express a need for reform to the student debt system.

“Quite frankly, we both, we both were working on this issue in a silo, and then in a conversation one day, we both brought it up,” Moskowitz said of how their partnership on the issue came about.

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“Everybody knows it’s a problem. . . . Let’s start here, where we have some common ground, where people who can’t afford an education can go get a loan, but they won’t be saddled with debt for the rest of their lives.”

Both also dismissed concerns about giving each other’s side a win during the hyper-partisan environment of an election year.

“I can’t be concerned about that, because at the end of the day, if we’re going to make progress for the American family, I’m not interested in this credit nonsense,” Moskowitz said. “If I’m out there criticizing Republicans who wanted to deny Joe Biden a win on something, I can’t then partake in that behavior myself, right?”

Dunster House on Harvard University campus

Both lawmakers said college and university debt is a bipartisan issue. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Luna said, “Ultimately, we as a country will take a win.”

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“I know that we’re in an election year, and I will say that I wish, and I hope that [Democrats] will look at this legislation not like it’s being drawn from, and passed by, the Republican body, but that, you know, it’s something that would be a net positive,” she said.

At of the end of 2023, roughly 43 million Americans shared the burden of some $1.6 trillion student loan debt in the country, according to federal data.

Nearly 95% of that debt is in federal loans, according to the Education Data Initiative, which also cited the average federal student loan interest rate as 5.99%.

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Florida

A Florida high school football player died after collapsing during a game

Published

9 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Press Room

A Florida high school football player died after collapsing during a game

Chance Gainer, an 18-year-old student at Port St. Joe High School in Florida, died on Friday after collapsing on the field.

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Kolbie Jones

A high school football player from the Florida panhandle died after collapsing during an away game on Friday, school officials said.

Chance Gainer, a senior at Port St. Joe High School, fell to the ground just before halftime during a game at Liberty County High School in Bristol, Fla., Port St. Joe principal Sissy Godwin confirmed to NPR on Saturday.

Gainer was pronounced dead shortly after he was taken to an area hospital, she said. He’d just celebrated his 18th birthday last month.

Gulf District Schools Superintendent Jim Norton said in a statement that Gainer’s death was a “tragic loss.”

A football, helmet and other football gear are shown on a field.

“He was a remarkable athlete, a beloved teammate, and an overall exceptional young man who loved Jesus,” Norton said.

He described Gainer as quiet “but exuded captivating warmth and genuineness that drew people to him.”

Principal Godwin said of Gainer, “You may not have heard Chance in the crowd, but you could see his smile from across the room.”

School staff, friends and clergy from the small, tight-knit community gathered at the high school after his death to support Gainer’s family, who joined them, the school statement said.

“We want the Gainer family to feel that they are not alone in this heartbreaking moment,” Norton said in the statement.

It’s the latest tragedy in a string of recent deaths of young football players. At least seven other athletes in middle school and high school programs died last month, at practices, games or after practice and many under hot weather conditions. Two of the deaths involved head injuries.

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Florida

7-Foot Alligator Bites 84-Year-Old Woman Walking Her Dog in Florida: 'She's Lucky She Didn't Lose Her Life'

Published

16 hours ago

September 7, 2024

Press Room

7-Foot Alligator Bites 84-Year-Old Woman Walking Her Dog in Florida: 'She's Lucky She Didn't Lose Her Life'

An 84-year-old woman was reportedly hospitalized after an alligator attacked her while she was walking her dog in Florida.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the woman was walking her dog in a neighborhood in the North Fort Myers area around 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5, when the incident happened, according to NBC News, WINK News and the Fort Meyers News-Press.

The FWC, Lee County Sheriff’s Office and EMS responded to the scene, and the woman was transported to a local hospital, according to NBC and WINK News. Her condition was unknown as of Friday, per NBC News.

FWC spokesperson Bradley Johnson told NBC News that a 7-foot, 3-inch alligator bit the woman on her right leg, describing her injuries as “significant.” He also said she sustained injuries to her arms and a wrist.

Johnson added that her dog was uninjured in the incident.

After a nuisance alligator trapper found the animal, it was “humanely euthanized” due to public safety, Johnson explained.

The FWC did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Mark Burlingham, who lived in the neighborhood and called 911, told the Fort Meyers News-Press that he had been alerted to the incident by a loud noise: “I was outside, and I heard someone screaming.” When he found her, he thought he saw her bones through the gash.

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In a separate interview with WINK News, Burlingham recalled, “I ran down there … and she was laying on the ground with her dog, and [she] said that the alligator came up to get the dog. She pulled the dog out of the way and the gator got her leg and arm and hand.”

“He was a thick gator,” Burlingham added. “She’s lucky she didn’t lose her life.”

According to the FWC, serious injuries caused by alligators are rare. In its latest report on alligator bites, it noted that there were 11 alligator bites in 2022 and only nine the year prior. There also hasn’t been a death due to an alligator bite since 2019, per the FWC.

The FWC recommends that Florida residents “keep a safe distance away” if they see an alligator, never feed an alligator and keep “pets on a leash and away from the water’s edge” as they “resemble alligators’ natural prey.” FWC also noted that alligators were the most active between “dusk and dawn.”

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