For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page CWA members and retirees across District 2-13 participated in a massive community outreach project during the first quarter of 2025 At the District’s Human Rights Meeting in December 2024 CWA staff and volunteers agreed to prepare and distribute toiletry/hygiene kits to those in need across the district footprint CWA District 2-13 Vice President Mike Davis fully supported the project and participated in the delivery of the kits to partner Catholic Charities while in the Pittsburgh area Each local and sector was tasked with preparing 50 kits many participating groups exceeded that amount Kits included items such as shampoo/conditioner  CWA District 2-13 members and retirees participated in a district-wide community outreach program to prepare personal hygiene kits for those in need Pictures above include CWA District 2-13 Vice President Mike Davis (upper right center) with other pictures of CWA volunteers The District delivered hygiene kits to partner Catholic Charities (202) 434-1100 © 2025 Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO, CLC All Rights Reserved | Site Map | Privacy Policy Recent debate in Washington has focused on U.S as they underpin the Trump administration’s proposed “reciprocal tariffs.” Alongside concerns over “unfair” trade practices net external liabilities—$26 trillion (90% of GDP) at the end of 2024—are cited as a justification for imposing tariffs This post explores whether the countries with bilateral trade surpluses vis-à-vis the U.S are the ones that have been accumulating financial claims on the U.S While economists rightly question the usefulness of bilateral trade balances—especially those limited to goods—we examine whether there is any correlation between trade and financial flows at the bilateral level We use the current account balance (which includes goods and transfers) and compare it to net financial flows over the past decade using Bureau of Economic Analysis data the countries (and regions) that have run large current account surpluses vis-à-vis the U.S but also Mexico and countries such as Vietnam and Thailand included in “Other Asia and Pacific” in the chart) have not been the largest investors in the U.S despite modest bilateral current account surpluses What underpins the different dynamics between Europe and China China has diversified its holdings of foreign assets and making loans and foreign direct investment in emerging and developing economies The true allocation of China’s holdings is obscured in U.S Some are reportedly at Euroclear in Belgium and recorded as euro area holdings in U.S But even reallocating estimates of such holdings to China the broad pattern showed by the chart remains unchanged is a major destination of portfolio investment in both bonds and equities with investment funds and institutional investors such as pension funds (plus the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund) playing an important role How can this disconnect between bilateral current account and net financial flows happen in practice China can invest its surplus dollars in European financial assets or in loans to emerging and developing economies that buy goods from Europe European countries can reinvest the proceeds in U.S this evidence on net financial flows also casts doubt on a simplistic interpretation of the U.S current account deficit as arising from China’s desire to buy U.S Mexico and some Asian emerging economies (such as Vietnam) show large trade surpluses with the U.S. but don’t of accumulate net financial claims This is partly because these economies are important nodes at the end of U.S.-directed supply chains—exporting goods to the U.S that have significant content from other countries This means that their total exports exceed substantially the value added produced in the country and hence their proceeds are spent to an important extent on the inputs necessary for such exports Mexico ran an overall trade deficit during the past 10 years while running a bilateral surplus vis-à-vis the U.S we compare the current account (the most comprehensive trade measure) with the balance on goods (used in the Trump administration’s tariff calculations) Our second chart shows the various components of the current account balance of the U.S deficits on the trade balance in goods are offset in part by surpluses on trade in services But it is useful to also consider the balance on investment income and particularly so for the regions with which the U.S earns more investment income from Europe than vice versa even though European residents own more U.S multinationals via low-tax jurisdictions like Ireland and the Netherlands which occurs through trade invoicing strategies and shifts in intellectual property location When adjusting for services and profit shifting shrinks by around 80% compared to the balance on goods Another notable case are the Caribbean countries with which the U.S runs a large investment income surplus (equivalent to about 70% of these economies’ aggregate GDP each year) this arises almost entirely from investment income—and it is again driven by U.S multinationals booking profits in these jurisdictions current account trade balance and net financial flows match as a matter of accounting But that’s not true at the bilateral level Trade deficits have been large vis-à-vis China but European investors have been the source of the largest financial flows to the U.S The author thanks Maury Obstfeld and David Wessel for helpful comments spring break wasn’t about vacationing — it was about rolling up their sleeves and rebuilding lives.  Through the Office of Civic and Community Engagement’s Alternative Spring Break program Centre staff members Erika Sengstack and Jacob Johnson led a group of students that teamed up with Baptists on Mission to restore homes impacted by Hurricane Helene’s floods in Canton The students spent the week assisting with construction and repair tasks such as drywall installation “The optimism these students continued to carry after three days of intense manual labor was incredibly heartwarming.” Sengstack said “I hope they feel inspired to give back to their own communities in new and different ways.” The Canton community was one of many areas severely impacted by the historic 2024 hurricane season and has been on a long road to recovery Some students have experienced the effects of flooding and extreme weather firsthand the trip was a vivid reminder of how climate-related disasters affect local communities.  “This kind of work hits close to home,” Johnson said “My hope is that this trip motivated these students to consider how their future careers could support others when these kinds of disasters inevitably occur.” they also had the chance to meet homeowners and hear firsthand how the storm and ongoing recovery efforts have affected their lives — from delays in government funding and contractor price gouging to temporary housing while waiting for their homes to be rebuilt or replaced especially after hearing about some of the difficulties that these families faced,” said Kylin Jia “We may not have been as efficient as a team of professionals but I was proud of our finished work and the minimal waste we produced.” Experiential learning and community engagement are cornerstones of the Centre Experience and trips like this offer students an important lens through which to understand those values By stepping outside of the classroom and into a community in need these students gained valuable insights not only into disaster relief but also into the power of empathy “I think that the trip has further cemented my belief that using your own hands to serve a community is much more powerful than any form of philanthropy or advocacy,” Jia said “While I do know that these are both essential parts of any volunteer organization I have found that being present at the site of a crisis is the gold standard for service.” This program — and others like it during the 2024–2025 academic year — were made possible by EngageKY’s Volunteer Generation grant 600 West Walnut StreetDanville, KY 40422859.238.5200 Your generosity makes a difference in the lives of our students Privacy Legal Login DETROIT — Mikal Bridges could have won an Oscar for his portrayal of himself Fresh off a victory that propelled the New York Knicks to the second round of the playoffs Eurostepping a ghost and pretending to take off from his right leg The move was a facsimile of what he had pulled off on the court only an hour earlier when he spiked a left-handed slam on Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham had just proclaimed how floored he was by the out-of-nowhere Bridges hadn’t posterized anyone all season like he did to Cunningham on Thursday “I don’t think anyone in New York thought he was gonna pull that off.” What other choice did Bridges have but to lean into the bit intentionally loud enough for Bridges to hear him amid a Thursday night flurry that put the Knicks up double-digits who more commonly halts before arriving at the rim to try smooth The man is not known for attacking the basket New York wing OG Anunoby stuck to Cunningham who whipped a cross-court pass to Pistons veteran Tobias Harris This could have led to an open 3-pointer if not for Bridges He rushed at Harris with a hand in the air spurring the fast break that led to Bridges’ dunk It was the type of sequence the Knicks hoped would become routine when they paired Bridges and Anunoby, a versatile duo they figured could empower them against the NBA’s most dynamic offenses, including the one they will face in Round 2, when they take on the Boston Celtics. During a turbulent Game 6 closeout of the Pistons one in which the Knicks vacillated between superiority and forgetting how to play the sport he shied away from contact while attacking the rim But during six games against the upstart Pistons stayed in front of drivers and pushed up against dribblers when picks came his way “I don’t know if people thought I stopped playing (defense),” Bridges said in a conversation with The Athletic “I know I struggled a little bit this year Comfort entailed meeting the Pistons’ brawn With the Knicks unraveling and down two points with only 40 seconds to go in Game 6 Bridges effectively screened an all-world athlete and defender to get Thompson off All-Star point guard Jalen Brunson When Brunson missed a fadeaway moments later During a six-game series that included six chaotic fourth quarters the one that ended with refs glossing over a foul from Josh Hart on an errant Tim Hardaway Jr With under a minute to go as New York clung onto a fragile Detroit inbounded a pass to Dennis Schröder who went into a pick-and-roll with Hardaway The result was an All-Star squaring up with Bridges stretching out the same limbs that led to his long-armed dunk Duren ventured to the top of the key to set a screen on him What ensued was a change from Bridges’ regular-season approach Instead of stopping short upon the sight of Duren “Staying skinny on those screens?” Brunson deadpanned later invoking Don Rickles and referencing an idiom that refers to defenders sliding through tiny spaces fought around Duren and jabbed the ball loose “Just trying to not get screened,” Bridges said Bridges kept contact more throughout the six Pistons games than he did at any point during the regular season He guarded Cunningham on 85 half-court possessions throughout the series The point guard shot just 6 of 19 on those plays “for sure” agrees that he’s played his best defense of the season over the past six games The uptick comes at a time when the team needs it Battling Boston won’t be the same as guarding the Pistons who regularly rolled out lineups with at least one non-shooter owners of the league’s second-ranked offense during the regular season They take more 3-pointers than any team has And while the Knicks were one of the NBA’s best defenses at restricting long-range attempts during the regular season that did not show in the four matchups with Boston The Celtics’ creators exploited shoddy pick-and-roll coverage and the Knicks allowed 3 after 3 for most of the four games until New York finally kept it close in a late-season match after Boston had already clinched its playoff seeding How the Knicks defend the pick-and-roll will be a key to Game 1 in Boston The Celtics will zero in on the duo even more placing additional pressure on the wings whose purpose it is to insulate them: Anunoby who has a chance to make an All-Defensive Team; Hart who is defending better than he has all season Fred Katz is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic. Follow Fred on Twitter @FredKatz the assertion of a complete African-American cultural Identity I’ve always thought that Love Is the Message The Message Is Death absolutely belonged in Paris with a complex racial and ethnic relationships like you see the United States it's one of the few places in Europe where I think is very similar to the U.S showing the work in the Rotunda is a bit like performing during the Super Bowl halftime show I try to create complex works that don’t lend themselves to simple binary responses like “yes” or “no.” Love Is the Message The Message Is Death refers first to the iconic song Love Is the Message but also to a science fiction short story that deeply moved me when I was young written by James Tiptree Jr.: Love Is the Plan The title is a combination of these two references I was especially committed to capturing the complex relationship that Black Americans have with their American identity I could have even titled the work Love Is the Message the Message Is Hate — that’s how ambivalent this relationship is best illustrates the African-American experience: a complex ball of things that are both magnificent and miserable that can't be disentangled You can’t choose just one aspect — it’s an indivisible whole But I don't really feel like it's a protest work at all it tries to render something of the complexity of what it means to be a Black American in our relationship to not just America given my specific connection to Western artistic practices are the ideas — the perspectives that this relationship makes possible expressivity — all those dimensions take on a different tone when Black people The viewpoint is slightly different: we're both inside of it and outside of it at the same time "I don't really feel like it's a protest work at all Black music has been one of the predominant art forms of the 20th century It’s a deeply rooted product of Western culture you discover remarkable diversity — it’s impossible to reduce it to a single genre What’s fascinating is how Black music — and this is something everyone is aware of — grew out of or evolved from traditional African music So the question of trying to deeply understand black music is just another form of trying to deeply understand blackness but it’s perhaps one of the most powerful tools the Black community has found to express its existential experiences in the West That’s why I believe a true understanding of Black music can also lead to a deeper reading of contemporary artistic practices and Black identity — both the political and existential sense of black being it brings us back to the ancient adage: “Know thyself.” That’s what I try to do through my work People often tell me that my works are about Black people But I don’t try to make work about Black people Sometimes I have a slightly ambivalent relationship about music in my work It’s so powerful… You can lay it over almost anything Sometimes I even feel like when you pair music with an image you tap into a kind of authenticity — even though I don’t really like that word That’s especially true in akingdoncomethas I conceived that video as a response to the idea that some artworks are “strong.” I wanted to say “Let me show you what a truly strong work of art can be.” everywhere in the world and in contemporary societies I sometimes try to explain it this way: after slavery Africans who ended up in the West have always had a complicated relationship with the idea of a separation between body and soul we were never fully allowed to be subjects We’ve been assigned this ambiguous space: of the in between us of being a subject meaning with volition and self-determinacy and an object which supposedly has no volition It’s this tension that shapes a very particular way of seeing and inhabiting the world You can't get much more specific around what specific forces led to the very unique approach and understanding in the way Black people occupy the world Open Monday to Sunday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pmLate opening on Friday until 9:00 pmClosed on Tuesdays and May 1Late opening every first Saturday of the month from 5pm to 9pm Practical information Get the latest news from the Bourse de Commerce West Virginia Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities will host the Connecting Families and Providers: A Pathway to Team-Based Care conference on May 15-16 Day 1 will be a pre-conference for providers It will include in-person active learning during interdisciplinary feeding assessments and personalized learning sessions for family support Attendees will be split into two groups: Group A and Group B These groups are limited to 10 providers each Day 2 will be a day full of interactive webinars for families and providers featuring interactive webinars via Zoom providers and learners are all welcome to join Find more information. For questions about the conference, to request accessibility accommodations, or to discuss dietary restrictions for the pre-conference, please contact Amy Burt at alburt@hsc.wvu.edu or 304-293-4692 Empty seaports and other haunting synecdoches (downward-sloping GDP charts and so on) suggest the specter of trade wars are beginning to batter American commerce How does this affect the lenders underwriting and bolstering trade?  According to Aidan Corbett, CEO of Ireland-based capital platform Wayflyer most e-commerce companies saw the writing on the wall during the first tariff-happy Trump administration Having diversified the markets in which they operate e-commerce players are more hampered by downticks in consumer sentiment and spending than they are affected by protectionism per se.  In the midst of this volatility, Wayflyer announced yesterday that it’s deployed more than $5 billion to over 5,000 small businesses worldwide In a conversation covering growth and diversification strategies Corbett tells Fintech Nexus about debt-related opportunities in the coming years — partially caused by the retreat of bracket bulge banks from SMB lending The following has been edited for length and clarity You’re currently moving beyond e-commerce into new verticals what you’re seeing across the board is that banks are actually not that interested in lending to small businesses at all compared to what they would have done historically whereby they’re looking to see if they can actually lend to less risky assets or what the regulators perceive to be less risky assets and some of it is just more general: Is it actually worth the hassle for them to go and lend to small businesses?  The whole way in which small businesses are actually being funded is going to have to change because the larger banks are not really interested until a company needs $20 million plus It’s easier for them to give us lots of money rather than pursuing those companies individually.  Are they doing that in different spaces too Because obviously e-commerce isn’t the full “small business” umbrella if I were to advance you $100,000 tomorrow for your e-commerce business it would be one of the bulge bracket banks in their structured finance function that will give us between 80 and 85 percent of the money We will have a mezzanine structure that will take on the next 10 to 15 percent and then Wayflyer or a Wayflyer equivalent will commit between five and 10 percent So you will always have a structured finance bank contributing the majority of your money today in the form of a warehouse or in the form of a securitization that they would structure The mezzanine funding typically comes from smaller credit funds that require a higher rate of return and they’re taking more risk as a result we’ve also now expanded into wholesale So if you’re selling physical goods into Walmart and it’s growing faster than our current book So we’ll look to add additional verticals over time but we’re going to go vertical by vertical because we think there’s a huge advantage in having a specific team focus on a specific vertical and you understand the type of product that will suit them.  So for example, our merchant cash advance product that’s very suited for e-commerce would not be suited for a restaurant or a barber shop They would need a totally different structure So you have to tailor the product to the vertical then you’re much more likely to serve the customer with a better offer and to deploy more as well.  Are you seeing macroeconomically induced demand for different kinds of loans It’s more that when you want to launch a new lending product it actually takes more time than you would think you need to align with regulation across 50 states you need to work with banking providers or banking funders to show them how it’s different from the old products and how the underwriting and credit changes We always knew we wanted to launch these new additional products I’ll give you an example: Merchant cash advance works extremely well for companies that are very seasonal because you will take a percentage of daily sales repayments look very different based on what week of the year it is So it perfectly aligns for seasonal business somebody that sells baby products online: A fixed loan works much better because they know exactly how much money you’re taking out every day and every week and the cash flow doesn’t fluctuate as much week to week So that’ll be an example of where we knew a fixed loan product would be better and we just needed to go through all the steps to actually get there So what was the advantage to starting with the “take a cut of a sale” model?  it was really well understood in the industry it’s less regulated: Merchant cash advances are not regulated as loans It’s much easier to expand quickly with that product Is there any interest in pursuing something like an embedded route as a way to boost volumes through these pipes that you’ve built We’ve spent a lot of time looking at embedded We’re probably going to be announcing one or two embedded partnerships later in the year Embedded for us is definitely a channel that we want to grow because it will just allow us access to customers that we won’t get access to primarily in our current channels and it allows us to tap into very large pools of merchants There’s a couple of challenges with embedded So the first challenge with embedded is that your partner needs to understand that the relationship with a customer when you lend to them is very different than when you’re selling a SaaS product you are casting judgment on a founder every three to six months I do not like when somebody casts judgment on me that totally changes the nature of the relationship.  The second thing with embedded — and it’s really important it’s why I think B2B BNPL has struggled — is that you can’t relax the quality of the underwriting too much So one of the advantages with embedded from the consumer’s perspective is there’s less friction you remove a lot of friction to increase your conversion rate but you’re not collecting enough data to be as accurate as if they went to your site directly So you need to find that sweet spot where it’s still minimal friction but you’re gathering enough information and enough data to make sure that the underwriting is still really robust.  That seems pretty unique compared to something like embedded payments or embedded banking you don’t have the judgment casting that you have with lending And I think those products lend themselves better to a pure white label it often works better where the partner can kind of say we don’t think you’re good enough A SaaS company or marketplace doesn’t We recommend that we partner with customers So they make it clear that Wayflyer is the underwriter and the provider This is something that will help you scale We don’t think you qualify for as much as you think you do And most partners on embedded will want that The only ones that are fine eating it are the major brands like eBay and PayPal.  There are some communities that are very easy to access So Shopify sellers are a community that are very easy to access They’re very open about their business because they’re not necessarily trying to build their own branded product or they may be more generic products.  And then the second thing is communities that have a much smaller size so with the average seller being very small you’re much better off using embedded for that because it’s not worth your while pursuing individually somebody who’s doing $50,000 a year in sales.  What sources did you consult to chart out your embedded strategy There are lots of potential embedded partners and we speak to those partners all the time and then work through with them how we think it should work A lot of these partners have taken on an embedded solution that has half worked It’s been on a bit of a learning curve over the last three to four years one of the things that a lot of partners look for is a target and a guaranteed acceptance rate You have to accept 80% of the applicants that come through what you actually need to do is you’ll shrink the applicants that you will put deals in front of So what that actually resulted in was very very few people getting funding because the lenders were so conscious of hitting that 80% target they just reduced their credit box accordingly So there’s been a lot of learning on both sides Do you have any sort of stipulations imposed on you by banks providing the credit They will typically assess our underwriting So because it’s the same underwriting it’s not a major issue for our banks The issues for banks are typically if you dramatically change your underwriting process or you go into a dramatically new vertical.  Do you intend to use embedded to pursue other verticals more quickly I’m thinking back to that branding question — being able to reach gyms through Mindbody There are certain verticals that are very suitable for embedded and they’re typically verticals where you have a lot of small operators with a point-of-sale system I will say right now our business is probably 85% direct, so we can make direct work, but embedded helps access specific pools of customers, potential customers where direct outbound or marketing finds it harder. The one thing to bear in mind with embedded as well is that it’s still in a nascent phase. There’s still a lot to learn on both sides. a16z wrote an article a few years ago “Every Company Will Be A Fintech Company.” It’s not that easy for the reasons we spoke about earlier I think now people realize actually they want to offer the service So there’s definitely a lot of lessons from the last four years but I think it’s going to take off enormously over the next five to 10 years through the right lending partners.  All of those things that feel like small things to iron out actually can make or break the program entirely.  To return to macroeconomics: Have you seen any changes to the kinds of loans that businesses are applying for the vast majority of e-commerce companies saw this coming and at the beginning of his second term he imposed another tariff on China if you are still entirely exposed to China as your supplier location it’s probably because you’re in a vertical where it’s very hard to find another supplier And two example verticals of that are electronics and toys So there are just certain verticals where you just don’t have the alternative sources easily available in Mexico it’s actually very easy to move from one supplier location to another.  And because most of our customers don’t require custom tooling they can probably switch locations within 25 to 45 days So a lot of e-commerce businesses are more robust and more resilient than you would think it actually hasn’t hurt us that much.  What’s more in the focus for us right now is companies maybe pausing on the amount of money that they’re going to draw down They’re more worried probably about the impact on consumer demand The thing that we’re looking at is the amount of money that we deploy What has helped companies like us is that this is happening in April and not happening in August or September because that’s when all the major orders are made before Black Friday and the Christmas period it would actually put a lot more stress on e-commerce companies — The WTKR News 3 Investigative Team continues to look into an ongoing scam where criminals are using victims' phones to steal their banking information The scam is impacting people throughout Hampton Roads — this time Watch related: Scam targeting Navy Federal customers costing victims thousands in Hampton Roads WTKR found two separate recent cases where ODU students were approached by people in cars on 48th Street in Norfolk in December and February Both students reported that a car approached them and asked where the closest bank was then asked to use the student's cell phone Both students reported that money was illegally transferred from their bank accounts Watch related: Virginia Beach couple believes scammers accessed their bank account and sent $15K wire transfer recounted a suspicious incident that happened last year: A car pulled up next to him at 9 p.m and the occupants asked if he knew where a Navy Federal Credit Union was He did not hand over his phone because he felt like the situation seemed questionable "On the pure basis of them pulling up next to me in a car at 9 p.m Watch related: Don't give your phone to strangers — they may be trying to take your money ODU Police Chief Garrett Shelton says fraud is a major problem nationwide and they can get into the phone system and Cash App and transfer money in sometimes less than 30 seconds," said Chief Shelton the Federal Trade Commission reported that consumers lost more than $12.5 billion to overall fraud in 2024 "One of the challenges we have is trying to educate the community," Shelton says "The scams — and the people who are coming up with these scams — are becoming more sophisticated." Shelton warns that financial crimes can have a significant impact and it's very expensive to the nation as a whole," Shelton says The police chief advises students and the community to protect their banking information report any suspicious or criminal behavior and never hand over their phone to a stranger Message Invalid character found in the request target The valid characters are defined in RFC 7230 and RFC 3986 Description The server cannot or will not process the request due to something that is perceived to be a client error (e.g. Note The full stack trace of the root cause is available in the server logs A cornerstone of Wright State University’s mission is service to our communities Wright State faculty and staff did just that by volunteering at several community organizations during We Serve U Day Faculty and staff volunteers visited Crayons to Classrooms the Foodbank and the Dakota Center and tied blankets on campus for Project Linus but you can give energy and time to help out,” said Sasha Beard a tutoring services coordinator who volunteered at the Foodbank We Serve U Day is a day that is approved by the university administration for staff and faculty to volunteer at community nonprofit organizations without using time off “I think it’s wonderful that they are offering staff and employees a chance to volunteer because a lot of employers don’t,” said Beard For a list of upcoming volunteer opportunities, visit the We Serve U website Wright State President Sue Edwards challenged the class of 2025 to dream boldly and embrace their potential for greatness while acting with kindness and integrity. Continue reading → The Board of Trustees approved a balanced university budget plan that supports Wright State’s academic mission and continues investing in student success and career readiness.   Continue reading → Wright State engineering students showcased their technical expertise and creative problem-solving at the annual Senior Design Expo. Continue reading → Nicole Scherzinger, who studied musical theatre and acting at Wright State, is nominated for a Tony Award for her portrayal of Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard.” Continue reading → Mother-daughter graduates Kristina Bringman and Chloë Johnston will celebrate back-to-back commencement ceremonies at Wright State University this weekend. Continue reading → By Diane Swenson April 1, 2025 Elon University's Mid-Level Professionals Institute cohort assisted South Alamance Family Empowerment in converting their Hwy 87 pantry into a grocery-style Choice Pantry providing a dignified shopping experience for families facing food insecurity Members of the 2024-25 cohort of Elon’s Mid-Level Professionals Institute (MLPI) sought a meaningful way to serve the Alamance County community while strengthening their connections with one another The group worked with South Alamance Family Empowerment or SAFE which needed help transforming its Hwy 87 facility into a new “Choice Pantry.” The SAFE Hwy 87 pantry temporarily closed from Feb 23 to March 25 to implement the Choice Pantry model—a grocery-store style approach that provides food assistance to local families experiencing food insecurity MLPI members dedicated an afternoon to unloading a truck filled with food and assembling furniture to prepare the pantry for reopening Beginning March 25, 2025, families will have the empowering opportunity to select groceries based on their personal preferences, using a points-based system reflective of their household size. According to Feeding America Alamance County has a food insecurity rate of 14.3% “This pantry aligns perfectly with our vision of eliminating hunger without the stress or financial burden,” said Todd Spencer “Volunteers like Elon’s MLPI group make it possible for us to offer this kind of dignity and support to the community.” Elon’s MLPI program supports mid-level university staff by providing structured professional development Current MLPI coordinators Lauren Bosselait and TJ Bowie will transition leadership to next year’s coordinators we wanted to come together through service to positively impact our local community,” said John Ring MLPI facilitator and director of engineering outreach “Supporting SAFE’s transition to a Choice Pantry was a meaningful way for us to connect as colleagues while making a tangible difference for Alamance County families.” MLPI volunteers who contributed to the SAFE Choice Pantry project included: Kathy Ziga after putting together an office chair Kathy Ziga and Nita Skillman organizing food John Ring and Stormy Shapiro loading and unloading food for families Mary DeFriest and Kimberly Stapleton assembling desks Monica Glover and Nita Skillman sorting food SAFE Executive Director Tiffanie Jackson and Hwy 87 Manager Racheal Garcia expressed appreciation for Elon’s involvement emphasizing that community partnerships are foundational to SAFE’s success For more information about SAFE and opportunities to volunteer, visit SAFE’s website launched in the 2022-23 academic year alongside the Elon Early Career Institute welcomes Elon staff members with at least five years of higher education experience and significant professional responsibilities Learn more about Elon’s MLPI program Tagged: Director of Employee Relations and Culture Senior Associate Director of Corporate and Employer Relations Electronic Resources Librarian and Associate Librarian Assistant Athletics Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement Special Events and Communications Coordinator Assistant Director of Financial Aid for University Engagement and Partnerships Assistant Director of Marketing Communications for the Love School of Business As the newly appointed president of Limelight Records Spencer hopes to give back to the organization that drew her to Elon University Brandstetter will deliver the “Message of Appreciation” during Elon University’s 135th commencement exercises on May 23 Stephanie Marken '08 arrived at Elon unsure of her path but thanks to hands-on experiences and the guidance of dedicated professors she discovered a passion for public opinion polling that shaped her future Two Elon alumni have been selected for the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program and one senior has been named an honorable mention Get more Elon news delivered to your inbox © 2025 Elon University | All Rights Reserved Tucked away in a dressing room of the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center is the up-and-running Marshalltown High School (MHS) Bobcat Boutique Serving as a place for students to borrow free professional and formal attire the boutique has attracted students looking for prom dresses or suitable clothing for job interviews and music concerts The venture was the idea of a student who wishes to remain anonymous when she discovered that students did not have the means to purchase clothes She went to Student Senate and Spanish teacher Charlotte Santana with her idea “This has been a great experience for me,” Sophomore Kennia Reyes said Santana for the dedication to students and the community Santana made a team to make it possible.” After the MHS Student Senate decided to move forward with the idea they used $2,500 to begin and buy the clothing — dresses Student Senate Sponsor David Santana said they went to second-hand stores to purchase the clothing and accessories it was $100 to $200 per dress,” he said “We went to stores like the Salvation Army and they had dresses for $5.99 That’s how we got so many dresses.” formal dresses are a frequently requested item Freshman Alina Santana said they still have prom dresses available “We usually have people come in and pick out dresses during their study hall or whenever we have free time,” she said “When they come in for their appointment they can see what the personal shopper picked out for them.” Alina Santana said the boutique uses the available resources to lend the clothes to students in need “So they’re not excluded from prom or job interviews or homecoming,” she said “They get the same opportunity as everybody else does.” there were situations in which people needed clothes Prior to having appointment forms prepared those people were given the chance to get what they needed One student in particular needed attire for a job interview the student did not have anything to wear for an interview at one of the grocery stores in Marshalltown “He got everything and he did get the job.” David Santana pointed out one of the benefits of the boutique is students do not have to travel to Ames Ankeny or anywhere else in order to buy their clothing They don’t have to travel or money to buy – it’s right here.” students are asked to fill out an appointment form “Filling out the appointment form helps us manage what has already been picked out,” Alina Santana said There are flyers placed around the high school with QR codes to scan for the form Included in the form are questions to break down what the student is looking for a Bobcat Boutique personal shopper picks out options based on what the requesting student needs Then the student can choose from the specific options presented to them Freshman Eden Rodriguez serves as a Bobcat Boutique personal shopper She has encountered a few times in which they did not have the items a student was looking for There is no firm determination as to how long an item can be borrowed as it depends on the event the clothing is needed for Alina Santana added if an item is not returned that person will not be able to borrow from the Bobcat Boutique again if there is a need for someone to utilize the boutique during the summer months “We have the key to open the door 365 [days a year.]” Alina Santana said they are taking donations They will accept donations from anyone — students A goal is to eventually make the boutique available to Miller Middle School and Lenihan Intermediate Elementary students “It’s been really helpful for the community,” she said “We’ve each gotten quite a few appointments and people seem really happy after they get what they need because they don’t have the resources at home A lot of parents are really happy their children can get this stuff A lot of people have been happy to donate because it’s a good cause it brings out a positive side of the community.” Marshalltown Community School District Director of Communications Abby Koch said the boutique also had support from the Arts+Culture Alliance and it has been a positive for the high school “This initiative poses the question to students at MHS ‘What does Embrace the Lead mean to you?'” she said Seeing the students work together on an idea that they felt passionate about within the student body is phenomenal to see They really honed in on what Embrace the Lead means to them and surveyed those they care about deeply.” Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext the trial in the lawsuit filed by Shyla Wolf against former .. LLC | https://www.timesrepublican.com | 135 West Main Street and Mary Gibbs Jones Endowed Chair in Biotechnology collaborated with researchers and pediatric neurosurgeons at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to develop a new way to profile brain cancers in children paving the way for improved diagnostics and treatments Brain cancer is the second most common cancer in children after leukemia due to the fact that brain tumors are diverse resistant to treatments and often hard to access surgically Forsthuber co-authored an article entitled “The T cell receptor landscape of childhood brain tumors” that was recently published in Science Translational Medicine The article describes the researchers using a diagnostic platform that could classify brain tumors based on the body’s cancer-fighting immune response which is complementary to traditional microscopic and genetic cancer cell analyses establishes a new method to adapt cancer therapies to each patient’s unique immune response and harnesses the success of immunotherapies that revolutionized the treatment of childhood leukemias “This collaborative research effort has yielded a potential breakthrough in the fight against pediatric brain cancer a devastating disease that profoundly affects children and their families,” said Forsthuber the lead author on this project and a former doctoral student at UTSA who trained in my lab The project incorporated our expertise in T cell immunology to provide fundamental new insights that could pave the way for innovative immunotherapies that will more effectively target these challenging tumors.” The significant reduction of deaths from leukemia over recent decades is due in part to the enormous success of immune-based therapies which harness the body’s intrinsic protective mechanisms by expanding the pool of cancer-fighting white blood cells called T cells T cells are precisely tuned to recognize molecules on the surface of cancer cells and use them as signals to attack and clear out tumor cells while leaving healthy cells intact When T cells find a target on the tumor cell surface they become activated and start rapidly doubling their numbers in a process called clonal expansion a research training program funded by the NIH that prepares its members for doctoral programs in the behavioral and biomedical sciences the researchers profiled nearly 1,000 pediatric brain tumor samples which were collected through the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) a medical research consortium of 37 medical centers across the nation and globally “Understanding how the repertoire of immune cells fits with the diverse landscape of brain cancer types can help us find new therapies in the future,” said Raphael research assistant professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Adapted by Ryan Schoensee from the March 19, 2025 press release “Classifying Childhood Brain Cancers by Immune Response May Improve Diagnostics and Treatments” published by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Join the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments Celebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business College of Education and Human Development Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College Celebrate the graduates from the College for Health College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences Submit an Event The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery As an institution of access and excellence UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas To be a premier public research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery Lend a Hand in Leland is a community-wide day of service initiative aimed at fostering collaboration and volunteerism within our beloved Town We're dedicated to bringing together a diverse group of individuals and organizations to make a positive impact in our community through various volunteer projects and activities Thank you to everyone who participated in our March event and to AARP and We Live Here for partnering with us to host four meaningful projects!  Save the date for our next Lend a Hand in Leland event: October 4 We are now accepting project proposals from organizations for our next event Please complete the form linked below to be considered for the October Lend a Hand in Leland.  Lend a Hand in Leland strives to foster a strong sense of community ownership and pride by connecting residents with local volunteer opportunities through collective days of service We aim to empower individuals to make a positive impact enriching the fabric of our Town and enhancing the quality of life for all.  If you'd like to learn more about Lend a Hand in Leland or how to get you or your organization involved, please email us at lendahand@townofleland.com.  Online graduate programs in business make significant strides Public policy professor volunteers with South Coastal Counties Legal Services on probate cases for over two decades Four groups place in the top 15 of international challenges Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Justice to speak on May 16 ceremony Associate professor to be celebrated by Massachusetts Bar Association on June 5 and Construction Management at Roger Williams University Initiative combines University’s commitment to blue economy innovation and Town’s planning efforts Annual brunch celebrates how scholarships foster meaningful connections between donors and recipients—bonds that often extend far beyond financial support © 2025 Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts Log in Inside the push to ease dollar debt and boost local lending; EBRD to lend more thanks to rule change; and the key to unlocking $1.3 trillion in climate finance Emerging markets are feeling the pinch of borrowing in foreign currencies When governments or companies in Ghana or Sri Lanka take out loans in U.S dollars or euros but earn revenue in cedis or rupees it sets up a mismatch that can quickly become a crisis when local currencies depreciate — a scenario playing out repeatedly amid rising global volatility Multilateral development banks and development finance institutions have long favored foreign currency lending, in part because it reduces their own financial risk. But that approach shifts the burden onto borrowers — many of whom are now struggling to repay debts not because of poor project performance or even poor policies but because of currency shocks beyond their control The challenges have led to growing momentum around expanding local currency lending as a way to strengthen financial resilience, promote investment, and reduce vulnerability to global crises. The question now is how to make that work — and who bears the cost? Why it matters: Currency mismatch is a chronic issue in development finance. When debt is in dollars but income is in local currency, devaluation can quickly make repayment unaffordable. It’s the “original sin” in infrastructure investment, Erik Berglof, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s chief economist This problem has amplified recent defaults in several African countries and is increasingly viewed as a structural barrier to sustainable development finance Local currency lending is seen as part of the solution — but scaling it up involves complex trade-offs between cost Where things stand: MDBs generally don’t take on currency risk they fully hedge — or insure — against currency risk passing the cost to borrowers through higher interest rates That makes local currency loans more expensive and in some cases less attractive according to Bonizzi and his co-author Annina Kaltenbrunner That’s in part because many MDBs are restricted by internal rules of risk frameworks that prohibit or discourage them from holding currency exposure on their balance sheets But there is pressure for MDBs to find ways to solve these challenges, and there has been a focus on local currency both by the Group of 20 largest and emerging economies under Brazil’s leadership and in the World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab • Reduce hedging costs by supporting and expanding mechanisms like TCX which provides currency swaps and takes on currency risk on behalf of MDBs and DFIs Changing MDB rules to allow them to work with more partners for local hedging is also an option as are donor-funded subsidies to offset high hedging costs either by offering some concessional local currency loans or by changing their risk models to take into account the advantages of hedging the currency risk • New funding models can also play a role. Delta, a new initiative being developed by AIIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development aims to build in-country liquidity pools that MDBs can tap for local currency loans It would be co-owned by MDBs and have some donor funding to help it absorb losses including better funding local development banks can help reduce the reliance on foreign currency borrowing Read: Inside the push to ease dollar debt and boost local lending Not yet a Devex Pro member? We offer a 15-day free trial Try it today to access the event and all our exclusive offerings EBRD will soon be able to lend and invest more using its existing funding It’s the latest in a movement among MDBs to stretch their balance sheets driven in large part by growing demand from their shareholders a statutory constraint prevented the bank from making loans and guarantees that go beyond the total of the bank’s capital and reserves in order to ensure financial stability which means EBRD can use its capital more flexibly and starting in June the bank expects to invest about €2.7 billion more per year without impacting its credit rating or capital strength we’ve been keen to remove the statutory constraint because we see it as a kind of out-of-date way of risk managing our portfolio and placing a limitation on the lending that the bank can do,” Shaun Brown the director of capital and liquidity planning at EBRD the bank will rely on its own internal risk assessment policies to measure how much shareholder capital or funds it needs against the loans it gives out Brown said that part of the reason it has taken almost a decade for EBRD to make the move is partly because other banks weren’t making the move. “If you’re taking that kind of unilateral step, there could be a nervousness to do that,” he says. But it seems that moves in recent years by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to stretch their balance sheets helped pave the way Director, Corporate Programs of the Chief Economist/Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge ManagementAfrican Development BankCôte d’Ivoire Find more jobs → At the United Nations’ COP29 climate summit global leaders set an ambitious new target to mobilize $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2035 including $300 billion for lower-income countries The “Baku to Belém Roadmap” lays out how to get there — but the success of this plan hinges on unlocking private capital at scale In a recent opinion piece for Devex, Wendy Walford of Legal & General and Erich Cripton of CDPQ — both co-leads of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance policy track — argue that asset owners are not only well-positioned but highly motivated to deliver already had $555 billion in climate solution exposure by the end of 2023 But persistent regulatory and policy barriers continue to limit their ability to deploy capital where it's most needed — especially in low- and middle-income countries facing severe financing gaps the road map must create an enabling environment for private finance: clear policies and stronger alignment with national climate goals Opinion: The public-private key to unlocking $1.3 trillion in climate finance Argentina secures $42 billion from the IMF, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank as it lifts currency controls. [Al Jazeera] U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war spawns a debt market squeeze in Africa. [Bloomberg] Saudi Arabia plans to pay off Syria’s World Bank debts, sources say. [Reuters] Boom and bust: How Sierra Leone lost faith in foreign aid. [The Dial] Jesse Chase-Lubitz contributed to this edition of Devex Invested A social enterprise, we connect and inform over 1.3 million development, health, humanitarian, and sustainability professionals through news, business intelligence, and funding & career opportunities so you can do more good for more people. We invite you to join us. A service trip is meaningful for two groups of students Duke student groups recently traveled to Western North Carolina to help with Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. With the hurricane leaving an estimated $60 billion in damages the students emphasized the importance of  helping our North Carolina neighbors many students said they were “feeling powerless … about this happening to our neighbors and not knowing what to do,” said Rebecca Ezersky “When the opportunity arose for a hands-on project to have a tangible impact In late February, Ezersky and a group of seven students went to Asheville to work with Nechama, a Jewish emergency disaster response organization, to repair damage to an apartment building by adding insulation and putting up new drywall. Henderson County emergency management planner Victoria Cortes stopped by to meet with the group and talk about disaster recovery efforts in the area Ezersky was impressed with the students’ openness to do new things “I was nervous to pick up a power tool,” she said spent their spring break helping with recovery efforts in the town of Swannanoa and installed insulation and vapor barriers at a mobile home park They worked with other volunteers through the nonprofits Lutheran Disaster Resources Carolina and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) "Western North Carolina was clearly devastated just by looking at the destruction all around us,” said junior Luke Flyer “But that doesn't mean that there was any lack of hope The group was led by Rev. Bruce Puckett, assistant dean of the chapel, and  Rev. Amanda Highben, pastor for the Duke Lutherans campus ministry. Chapel Dean Luke Powery joined for part of the week and wrote about the experience.  Duke Today is produced jointly by University Communications and Marketing and the Office of Communication Services (OCS) Articles are produced by staff and faculty across the university and health system to comprise a one-stop-shop for news from around Duke Geoffrey Mock of University Communications is the editor of the 'News' edition Leanora Minai of OCS is the editor of the 'Working@Duke' edition Local muralist Mindi Yarbrough has teamed up with art students from Wheeling Park High School to add a new mural to Wheeling Heritage Trail and there’re so many beautiful pieces of artwork that give our city so much character,” explained Karin Butyn Ohio County Schools Director of Public Relations “I wanted to see our public school system and our state have the opportunity to adorn the walls as well “We have such amazing artists in our community and our schools I started researching on how to bring the concept to life.” with an official unveiling expected later this month With a connection through Wheeling Heritage Butyn met Yarbrough last spring to discuss the concept and connected her with two art teachers at WPHS “They brought so much personality to the mural–creating a concept that highlights and celebrates famous local and greater West Virginia authors and even more hidden gems that invite the community to look a little closer I also want to thank the staff and teachers at Wheeling Park High School for putting in all the work to secure the grants and funding to make this happen and caring about the arts in our community,” Yarbrough said Butyn secured grant funding through the West Virginia Arts and Culture Committee the Wheeling Arts and Culture Commission and Expand Energy to fund the project and Freeman let the students develop their ideas The draft for the mural touches on the arts and curriculum available in the Ohio County school system while focusing on various state authors and concepts — including fan-favorite Mothman The concept for the mural was recently approved by both the Ohio County Board of Education and the city of Wheeling “I’m proud to help bring this mural project to life–not just as a vibrant addition to the community but as a meaningful way to engage young people in the creative process,” Yarbrough said it’s incredibly rewarding to guide students as they explore their own voices and see how their ideas can transform a space Public art like this shows them that their creativity and their voices matter–and that it can make a lasting impact.” Monroe County’s recent Delinquent Land Tax Sale resulted in a record-breaking $937,416.07 in total sales for 31 .. WEIRTON — A man wanted by Weirton police for allegedly stealing a vehicle and firearm earlier this year was .. | https://www.theintelligencer.net | 1500 Main Street Arts & Humanities By Janelle Bates | October 07 The arrival of autumn brings a light-hearted comedy to Utah State University Eastern The theater department is performing “Lend Me a Tenor” by Ken Ludwig 12 in the Black Box Theater in the Central Instruction Building on the USU Eastern campus The comedy “Lend Me a Tenor” by Ken Ludwig The world-famous Italian tenor Tito Mirelli is set to perform the starring role of the Italian opera “Pagliacci.” As the management and staff of the Cleveland Opera Companyprepare for the opera setbacks and catastrophes create a comedic disaster The characters must find a way to make sure their heavily anticipated production is a success “I feel that production will be a must-see,” says Cooper Innes student and council member of the Elmo Club “It is a high-energy farce filled with mistaken identities outrageous misunderstandings and nonstop laughter It has been a blast on set and so hilarious.” began teaching at USU Eastern in fall of 2024 She has been involved in theater for over 20 years script analysis and film for over 10 years Her passion for theater has taken her all around the United States and internationally to Germany Scotland and Iceland to work professionally with many theater companies and artists While this is her director’s debut at Eastern Her goals for this first production were to get to know the students her department and to learn how all the elements would come together during a production DuVall says this play is a good challenge for her because the content is outside of her typical voice and style I attempt to allow all productions to be a reflection of our modern world with more diversity and inclusion,” DuVall says there are elements of good writing and characterization that eclipse time.” “She has encouraged everyone in the cast to be more grounded and connected to our characters,” Innes said It is very different from the way Corey Ewan Chelsea has made us all grow and learn from each other.” DuVall hopes to announce the theater department’s spring show at the opening of “Lend Me a Tenor.” “I think everyone should come and see this show,” Innes said “We are doing this show a little differently then we usually do so come and have a great laugh.” Tickets are available at the door or online at https://usu-eastern-events.mybigcommerce.com/theatre Comments and questions regarding this article may be directed to the contact person listed on this page 20 surgeries and countless hours of struggle and perseverance Sarah Frei graduated with a bachelor's in Elementary Education The new $7.6 million cultural facility will provide opportunity for engagement with NEHMA's collection of modern and contemporary American art UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY HEALTH & WELLNESS Nintendo Switch users can now lend their digital games to a mate thanks to the new GameShare feature – find out how it works below: Ahead of the launch of the Switch 2 Nintendo confirmed a massive update to how digital games would work fans could buy games via the online Nintendo Switch store but they would be locked to the original console The new Virtual Game Card system allows users to “load” and “eject” their digital games in the same way they can with physical cartridges If you want to transfer a Virtual Game Card from one Switch to another users just need an active internet connection and for their two consoles to be physically close to one another choose the game from your digital library on the new console and the Switch will “eject” the Virtual Game Card from the existing console automatically Switch users can also now lend their Virtual Game Cards to other gamers. Games can be borrowed for up to 14 days before they need to be returned and they can only be transferred using local wireless connection, so you’ll need to be in the same room as someone to borrow their game. They’ll also need to be added to your Family Group, which can store up to eight names and can be accessed here The owner of the original game can request the title back at any time Nintendo hasn’t confirmed how the feature will work for the Switch 2 but it’s likely it’ll use a very similar system In other news, Pokémon Pocket’s latest update has added a load of new cards as part of the Celestial Guardians expansion – and one has completely changed multiplayer battles The world’s defining voice in music and pop culture: breaking what’s new and what’s next since 1952 American “Lend-Lease” support sent to the USSR not only tipped the scales in Eastern Europe but enabled the victory on the Russian Front Top Photo: A Lend-Lease M4A2 (76) W Sherman in Soviet service in the 64th Guards Tank Regiment There is little doubt that the Soviet Union took on the lion’s share of fighting the German Wehrmacht during World War II It is estimated that the Red Army inflicted about 70 percent of the battle deaths the Wehrmacht suffered Losing some 25 million people in the four-year slog the USSR and the Red Army conducted combat operations on an unprecedented scale over an area roughly half the size of the United States Every Soviet citizen was drawn into the conflict as large segments of the communist country were overrun and occupied by German forces In defending “Mother Russia,” this catastrophic event still reverberates in areas comprising the former Soviet Union and is remembered as the “The Great Patriotic War.”  Fighting on the Eastern Front was of an unimaginable scale with the Soviet victory coming from a great sacrifice on the part of its civilians and the sheer weight of the Red Army Missing from those accounts typically is any acknowledgment of an American role in the Soviet achievement after V-E Day and continuing into the Cold War many Soviet historians downplayed the importance of the Western powers’ contribution in the conflict.  Absent in much of the Soviet history books were the military offensives in the Mediterranean and over the skies of occupied territories Similarly dismissed were the large quantities of material aid from America’s “arsenal of democracy” that helped keep the Soviets in the fight Starting as early as October 1941 until July 1945 and equipment made/produced in the United States was sent to the USSR While the Red Army certainly did help “strip the gears” of the German war machine in combat Congress ended the embargo of military equipment establishing a new policy called “Cash and Carry.” This allowed for the sale of military hardware and equipment to friendly nations was running out of cash to purchase American equipment FDR took the existing policy of “Cash and Carry” a step further with the introduction of the “Lend-Lease Act” on December 17 This new policy removed the initial “Cash and Carry” requirement and deferred payment Roosevelt explained that if your neighbor’s house is on fire you don’t open negotiations to sell him your hosepipe; you lend it to him and he returns it afterwards and pays for any damage done to it and was continued annually until July 1945 Signing of the Lend-Lease agreement in 1941 (US Navy Heritage and History Command Photo) the act eventually expanded to other countries facing aggression After the Germans initiated Operation Barbarossa in June 1941 the act was then applied to the Soviet Union stipulations applying to the Soviet Union were different from other countries receiving Lend-Lease aid the Red Army could receive up to $1 billion dollars' worth of goods and equipment without having to pay interest the Soviet state would not have to begin repayment until five years after the end of the war When the United States finally entered the war with Roosevelt emphasizing that weapons and supplies from America’s arsenal of democracy were crucial to the efforts of Great Britain Assisting the Soviet war effort American Lend-Lease eventually transferred over $11 billion dollars of goods to Soviet Russia—roughly the equivalent of $250 billion today and 2.7 million tons of petroleum products While a significant effort on the part of the United States official Soviet history claims that only 12 percent of airplanes and 2 percent of artillery pieces from Lend-Lease were used in the fight chairman of Soviet State Planning Committee (Gosplan) reported that Lend-Lease amounted to only 4 percent of Red Army material production This statement was readily repeated by Soviet apparatchiks during the Cold War despite an unclear definition of just what “material production” they were actually referring to British and American Lend-Lease supplies transferred to the Soviet Union during World War II An American M3 "Stuart" Tank being loaded onto a railroad car en-route to Russia in the Middle East his statistics appear to reflect only deliveries made in 1941–43 his numbers did not include 1944–45 delivery figures When considering how much Lend-Lease support was delivered and what percentage it reflected overall Soviet production Given the paranoid nature of the Soviet government and its officials trustworthy or verified production figures during the Stalin era are hard to acquire Any numbers related to this topic have questionable fidelity or accuracy the 4 percent figure probably reflects the political environment following VE Day with Soviet leadership was loath to give any significant credit to the Western powers even if the 4 percent figure has some basis in fact Lend-Lease provided critical supplies and equipment at times when the USSR was at a tipping point Such supplies not only enabled ailing Soviet industrial and agricultural efforts During the early months of the German invasion the Red Army conducted a strategic withdrawal and defended Moscow without assistance from the West While winter weather and other factors helped stall the Wehrmacht in December 1941 the Red Army conducted these defensive operations with its own organic forces and equipment the USSR also displaced much of its industrial capacity safely east of the Urals Soviet production numbers dropped appreciably during this period Lend-Lease helped fill the gap between the time factories moved east and the production of new equipment once the industrial base was reestablished Even if American equipment was only 4 percent of the Soviet industrial capacity this stop-gap support came at a crucial time in the war While the USSR did not receive significant support from Lend-Lease until 1943 shipments in 1942 were both welcomed and timely Soviet Premier Josef Stalin considered the American Lend-Lease aid already received to have been decisive Lend-lease shipments from the United States to the U.S.S.R as American production capacity was ramping up the Soviets were still reeling from the initial German offensive Concerned the Soviets might still capitulate Roosevelt made the USSR the top priority for Lend-Lease deliveries aid to the Soviet Union constituted about 23 percent of the total Lend-Lease program To facilitate a quicker response to Soviet requests the president removed the requirement for the Communist state to justify its equipment or raw material requests these requests were honored with no quid pro quo required on the Soviet part such accounting was still required by other nations receiving American Lend-Lease support Underscoring the Soviet priority set by FDR deliveries of equipment often competed with American concerns Some argued that aid to the USSR undercut support for American armed forces and its ability to equip its own military Much of the Lend-Lease materials sent to the USSR came in the form of raw materials (aluminum these materials along with specialized tools sets and machinery enabled Soviet industry to build required equipment faster Instead of just sending the Red Army completed end items from the United States Lend-Lease allowed the USSR to increase its domestic production of armaments and associated machinery American aluminum alone accounted for 42 percent of Soviet supplies of the metal Lend-Lease also provided aviation fuel that equaled over 50 percent of what the USSR produced during the war the United States shipped to the Soviet Union a Ford tire factory so they could produce tires for military vehicles the timely delivery of both materials and machines allowed the newly displaced Soviet industry to recover quicker than it might have without such support with Lend-Lease a major factor in providing productive capacity Such support would not be included in Voznesky’s dubious 4 percent figure these same shipments included equipment that was also used to rebuild the Soviet Union after the conflict ended Certain Lend-Lease equipment sets relieved bottlenecks or filled significant gaps within the Soviet production base allowing factories to focus on other wartime requirements Transportation exemplified one of these bottle necks or gaps American transportation assets became readily available to move newly built equipment to the front movement of equipment and supplies from the factory to the foxhole was a significant logistical hurdle Ural-based industries did not have to build as many trucks Americans provided almost 2,000 locomotives along with 11,000 railcars to help ship goods and equipment from factories to the front M3A1 Stuart tank and a piece of A-20 bomber hull Stuarts were shipped to the Soviet Union from the start of polar convoys in 1942 till April 1943 National Archives and Records Administration the Americans delivered over 400,000 trucks and other vehicles to the USSR Soviet factories produced less than 200,000 Given the size and scope of the challenges in the vast Russian steppe trucks were key in moving various classes of supply and labor over hundreds of miles even Premier Nikita Khrushchev reported that the USSR was dependent on Western vehicles for its tactical advances in Stalingrad and Berlin So prevalent were American designs that they remained part of Red Army equipment sets for years after the war Even versions of the famous “Katyusha” rocket launchers used by the Red Army were often placed upon American-built Studebaker US6 2.5-ton trucks The American vehicle became the standard mount for the 1,800 BM-13N Katyusha models produced Soviet soldiers were so impressed with the quality and performance of American vehicles that the term “Studebaker” became synonymous with excellence “After Stalin’s death it seemed that all our artillery was mounted on American equipment.” perhaps the most important contribution of Lend-Lease was agricultural Stalin’s domestic policies resulted in food shortages across the USSR with an estimated five million people dying from starvation and Soviet food stocks were insufficient even before the 1941 Nazi invasion Such shortages were exacerbated as the Wehrmacht occupied the most productive Soviet farmlands in Ukraine and the northern Caucasus These occupied areas previously produced or housed 38 percent of the grain many of the horses used in farming were commandeered for military use while tractor production was reconverted for armored or tracked vehicles farmhands and manual labor became scarce as the nation mobilized its population to either fill its military ranks or employ workers in war-related industries Reflecting the occupation and its effects on Soviet agriculture grain production fell from 95 million tons in 1940 to 29 million in 1942 all elements of Russian agriculture suffered with potato production falling from 75 million tons to 23 million tons and meat declining from a prewar figure of 4.7 million tons to 1.8 million Preparing canned pork (Russian: "svinaia tushonka") for lend-lease shipment to the USSR at the Kroger grocery and baking company the prewar food shortages continued and remained endemic among Soviet populations official government figures claim that food consumption dropped 35 to 40 percent during the conflict and by 1943 food was so scarce that in some areas civilians reportedly ate grass Sustenance was certainly a critical concern in keeping the USSR in the fight from 1942–43 food was the top Soviet priority for Lend-Lease deliveries Underscoring its importance while helping to stave off famine a full quarter of Lend-Lease tonnage sent to the USSR throughout the war was food While most of the American 4.4 million tons provided subsistence went to the Red Army it allowed for domestic production to feed civilian populations American produce alone accounted for 17 percent of Red Army calories along with half the fats consumed by uniformed personnel Adding protein to the Red Army diet was Hormel Foods which provided its signature tin-packed SPAM canned pork and ham products the USSR’s food crises abated some as occupied territories were liberated but still required the planting season to fully reap the bounty the Red Army and the USSR were at critical point regarding sustenance Even Khrushchev quipped that “without SPAM we should not have been able to feed our army.” While Soviet historians downplay the Lend-Lease effort perhaps the most telling indication regarding the importance of American assistance came from the USSR’s own senior leadership Stalin reportedly said: “The most important things in this war are machines … The United States is a country of machines Without the machines we received through lend-lease Stalin acknowledged that Lend-Lease already had a decisive impact on the Soviet Union’s survival Massive aid would then enable Soviet counteroffensives Khrushchev credited the trucks and equipment received after Stalingrad with enabling the Soviet mechanized offensives of 1944 and 1945 observing: “Our losses would have been colossal because we would have had no maneuverability.” A company of American-supplied M3 Lee Lend-Lease tanks advances to the frontline of the 6th Guards Army during the Battle of Kursk The tanks belong to the 193rd Separate Tank Regiment Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation  While the victory over the Axis was indeed an international effort in the center of struggle was the bounty produced not only in American factories but in the fields of its farms and ranches the foundation for victory on the Eastern Front had much of its roots in the United States Such sentiment was echoed by Khrushchev declaring in his memoirs: “If the United States had not helped us we would not have won the war,” continuing that “we shouldn't boast that we vanquished the Germans all by ourselves.” Applebaum, Annie. “How Stalin hid the Ukraine Famine from the Rest of the World.” The Atlantic Monthly, October 13, 2017. Available at:  https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/red-famine-anne-applebaum-ukraine-soviet-union/542610/ 1941-1945: A Social and Economic History of World War II Coalson, Robert. “‘We would have lost”: Did U.S. Lend Lease Aid Tip the Balance in the Soviet Fight Against Nazi Germany?”, Radio Free Europe, May 7, 2020. Available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/did-us-lend-lease-aid-tip-the-balance-in-soviet-fight-against-nazi-germany/30599486.html When Titans Clashes: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler “Lend-Lease to Russia and the Origins of the Cold War 1944-1945.” The Journal of American History “Lend Lease and the Soviet War Effort.” Journal of Contemporary History “Soviet Food Supply and Allied Aid in the War “Lend-Lease: Its Origin and Development: Part 1.” Bulletin of International News US Embassy and Consulates in Italy. “American sent gear to the USSR help win World War II.” Available at: https://it.usembassy.gov/america-sent-gear-to-the-ussr-to-help-win-world-war-ii/ US State Department. “Lend Lease and Military Aid to the US Allies During WW II.” Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations - Office of the Historian (state.gov)  is the Samuel Zemurray Stone Senior Historian at the Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy Copy MLA Citation Copy APA Citation Copy Chicago Style Citation The concept of genocide has fundamentally altered international law transforming the way we understand mass violence in the modern world.  Whether it played the role of the “Black Cat,” “Mad Cat,” or “Dumbo,” the PBY Catalina proved itself as one of the most instrumental amphibious planes as it struck fear in the Axis and provided hope for the Allies Regarded as the “most beautiful woman in the world,” Hedy Lamarr was not only a famous Hollywood actress who sold millions in war bonds during World War II Her creations included a frequency-hopping radio communications device for Allied torpedoes during the war including ghettos and other sites of incarceration from imprisoning "enemies of the state" to serving as way stations in larger deportation schemes to murdering people in gas chambers.  the remains of Private First Class John Henry Newstrom a US Marine killed during the Battle of Peleliu in 1944 have been identified and will be returned home thanks to a joint recovery effort by the US and Japanese governments In her first My Day column after Franklin D Eleanor Roosevelt reflects on the sorrow following his passing and urges the world to unite in building a lasting Controlling the Ryukyu Islands would allow the Americans to finally sever Japan from its South Asian empire.  Each tattoo inked on the skin of those who lived through World War II tells a unique story reflecting both personal experiences and collective history View Campus Map This website uses cookies to understand how you use the website and to improve your experience. 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To learn more about our use of cookies and how to manage your browser cookie settings, please review our Privacy Notice Members of UNE's Maine Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) program participated in the Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD) annual conference in Washington The event brought together over 1,100 attendees from various sectors of the disability community themed “Stronger Together: Creating a More Inclusive World,” focused on collaboration to advance rights and opportunities for people with disabilities and students from 52 LEND programs nationwide and representatives from University Centers on Excellence in Developmental Disability and Self-advocates Becoming Empowered Key participants from UNE’s Maine LEND program included Eileen Ricci, PT, D.P.T., M.S., PCS, LEND program director, who participated in the annual director's meeting, and Jessica Molloy, M.Ed., LEND training director, who presented a poster titled “Six Ways to Improve Self-Advocacy Competency Skills.” provides interprofessional training to health care and service professionals including graduate and doctoral students across the University Its mission is to support the health and community participation of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families Trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that drive effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare Enabling tax and accounting professionals and businesses of all sizes drive productivity With workflows optimized by technology and guided by deep domain expertise and protect their businesses and their client’s businesses Enterprise software to drive financial and sustainability performance Our solutions for regulated financial departments and institutions help customers meet their obligations to external regulators We specialize in unifying and optimizing processes to deliver a real-time and accurate view of your financial position Enabling organizations to ensure adherence with ever-changing regulatory obligations General Counsel offices and corporate legal departments with data-driven decision-making tools We streamline legal and regulatory research and workflows to drive value to organizations the fair lending environment has undergone much uncertainty and upheaval at the federal and state levels While the administration discusses consolidation of federal banking regulatorsi the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) continues prioritizing fair lending risk assessmentsii and examination of banks' lending compliance programs some industry pundits have noted that states are expected to tighten their consumer protection laws and other experts to make sense of it all and discuss what will likely occur over the next year Our annual CRA & Fair Lending Colloquiumiii session on fair lending enforcement trends and emerging risks covered many topics including redlining enforcement and risk management opportunities and risks associated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and possible changes to the regulatory landscape Based on what we heard at the fall Colloquium coupled with recent uncertainty from the new administration we highlight five key topics financial institutions should consider as well as Wolters Kluwer’s suggested response but that does not mean financial institutions can afford to let their guard down now is the time to double down on strengthening their risk and compliance operations Despite signs that the new administration will favor supervisory policy over aggressive enforcement of consumer fair lending and Unfair financial institutions must continue to comply with existing fair lending regulations final rules for automated valuation requirementsiv (AVMs) which require mortgage originators to remain compliant with nondiscrimination laws are scheduled to be effective on October 1 timelines for standing requirements like the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) remain unchanged the three prudential regulators announced their intent to rescind the 2023 Final Rule that they initially issued to modernize CRA regulations; however this change should affirm the need for banks to ensure their compliance with the legacy rule remains strong and on-point within today’s economic environment As one of our panelists said at Orlando’s Colloquium financial institutions should stay the course allowing organizations to maintain compliance no matter what happens while setting themselves up for when “the pendulum swings back the other way.” We will likely see fewer redlining enforcement actions at the federal level in 2025 that will not necessarily make things easier for financial institutions as state regulators are expected to “fill the void” and become more activev in enforcing fair lending and other consumer protection laws organizations must continue to take steps to prevent redlining and minimize their regulatory risk Panelists’ recommendations included: financial institutions should review their product and service offerings to ensure that UDAAP and related standards for fair and responsible banking are met Lenders should document these efforts to ensure compliance with state and local regulations and maintain a record they can easily share with regulators panelists agreed that non-bank lenders will continue to be under heightened scrutiny to ensure their lending practices align with fair lending laws Much of that sentiment at the time was due to a court ruling against a non-bank lender which reaffirmed that discouraging prospective applicants from applying for credit violates the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) the CFPB signalled a change in the agency’s views on the circumstances of that case when it announced plans to reverse the settlementviii  and reimburse the civil money penalty This does not eliminate the added risk management concerns for other non-bank lenders who should remain vigilant and carefully manage their fair lending risk Less scrutiny from the federal government means that they could encounter more frequent examinations and enforcement actions from state regulators as well as increased scrutiny of marketing programs by community groups and private parties Any language or imagery perceived as discouraging minority groups from applying for loans will trigger regulatory action Non-bank lenders must enhance their compliance frameworks and internal monitoring processes to mitigate these risks Organizations should adopt a dynamic risk management approachix where risk is continually and proactively evaluated Lenders can augment the strategy with an internal risk and control matrixx to monitor regulatory changes that could impact them No discussion of fair lending is complete without assessing the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning Panelists in November 2024 agreed that integrating these technologies into lending practices introduces both opportunities and risks “Is AI going to be a tool that can benefit customers and reduce discretion or will it embed existing discretion?" AI can significantly streamline lending decisions and improve efficiency - but it also has the potential to work against regulatory compliance if not correctly implemented and not periodically monitored Poorly designed AI models can reinforce limiting patterns by relying on narrowly focused training data leading to unintentional but systemic differences in lending outcomes and putting financial institutions at risk of non-compliance with federal Financial institutions must establish robust governance frameworks and fair lending testing protocols to mitigate these risks Regular testing should include detection and monitoring for potential negative impacts across different borrower groups Institutions should also document their AI decision-making processes to ensure transparency and accountability If lenders discover their AI-driven lending models are disproportionately affecting certain groups These can be alternative algorithms or data inputs that achieve the same business goals while minimizing partiality Implementing these safeguards will be critical as regulators focus on AI-powered lending decisions panelists touched on how consumer complaints drive fair lending investigations Regulatory agencies are increasingly using complaints as a risk indicator and early warning system A pattern or high volume of complaints related to loan denials or other unsavory practices can raise concerns and trigger investigations Implementing a structured complaint management system is critical to protecting the organization and maintaining compliance Financial institutions should actively log and monitor consumer complaints and maintain proper records and documentation of complaints They can use the feedback to improve their customer service experiences and be ready should they receive an inquiry from a regulator a proactive review committee could be established to review all customer inquiries to ensure that minor issues or inconveniences do not escalate into larger concerns with fair lending implications Organizations should also engage in proactive communication with regulators to discuss complaints in “real time” rather than waiting until examinations Regulators view effective complaint management as a strong indicator of risk mitigation and corporate governance Engaging with them early and often is a good faith sign that the financial institution takes consumer complaints seriously Despite indications that regulations will soften under the Trump administration most fair lending requirements will likely remain in effect financial institutions must practice and refine fair lending best practices to minimize risks Everyone agreed that now is not the time to cut risk management corners Remaining vigilant and steadfastly committed to managing compliance are the keys to growing a business while staying within regulatory requirements Join the discussion. Mark your calendars for the next CRA & Fair Lending Colloquium, November 16 – 19, 2025. © 2025 Wolters Kluwer N.V. and/or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Jan Harvey and Gavin Jones Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01) introduced the Stopping Abuse and Fraud in Electronic (SAFE) Lending Act The SAFE Lending Act safeguards consumers from deceptive and predatory practices that strip hard-earned wages from working families by cracking down on some of the worst abuses stemming from the payday lending industry the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reversed course on national rules protecting consumers from payday loan predators Without strong CFPB protections at a national level state laws protecting consumers are even more critical “Payday lenders take advantage of working families by trapping them in a seemingly endless cycle of debt,” said Congresswoman Jayapal “I’m proud to lead this legislation with Senator Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici that would protect consumers across the country by closing loopholes and putting an end to these predatory lending practices Congress has a responsibly to protect hardworking people from bad actors and that’s exactly what we will accomplish with our SAFE Lending Act.” “Predatory payday lenders trap hardworking Americans in an inescapable vortex of debt,” said Senator Merkley “Before we kicked payday lenders out of Oregon they preyed on families in my blue-collar neighborhood As Trump and Musk scheme to undermine the agency that protects consumers from scammers we’re taking on the shady companies directly It’s time to break this cycle of endless debt for families across America.” “No one should be stuck in a cycle of debt during times of financial distress,” said Congresswoman Bonamici “The SAFE Lending Act will put an end to the unscrupulous practices predatory payday lenders use to take advantage of people who are financially vulnerable.” the SAFE Lending Act is co-sponsored by U.S The SAFE Lending Act is supported by Americans for Financial Reform National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) and National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders “Many individuals who take out online payday loans are already living paycheck to paycheck and may be one junk fee away from a never-ending debt trap,” said Christine Chen Zinner senior policy counsel at the Americans for Financial Reform “The SAFE Lending Act simply makes sure that these risky online payday loans are compliant with state law “Oregonians deserve a financial system that creates opportunities for them to succeed loophole lenders use deceptive practices to work around our state laws and exploit consumers including through unauthorized bank account withdrawals and overdraft fees on prepaid cards The SAFE Lending Act is needed to enforce transparency and keep consumers in control of their money,” said Chris Coughlin Policy Director for Oregon Consumer Justice “The Act looks to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide strong federal lending regulation—it is essential that the CFPB be unimpeded in its critical mission of protecting consumers from predatory lending practices that could otherwise go unregulated.” “Most people understand the costs of payday loans,” said Adam Rust director of financial services for the Consumer Federation of America “but fewer may be aware of how abusive debt collection practices and data-harvesting online lead generators add to the problems By preventing robo-debiting of accounts and outlawing lead generators that sell loan applications to the highest bidder the SAFE Lending Act will throttle business tactics that strip wealth and expose private financial information.” A one-page summary of the SAFE Lending Act can be found by clicking here Full text of the bill can be found by clicking here Browse Departments & Services All News American Magazine Media Relations University Communications & Marketing Back to top an army of enthusiastic volunteers will be working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that the festivities in honor of AU’s 16th leader go off without a hitch Meet a few of them here, learn why they were compelled to volunteer—and then sign up to join them. “American University has become a home for me A big part of my role as director of the Spirit and Traditions Board is welcoming people and making AU feel like home for other AU Eagles—including President Alger I am excited to help with President Alger’s inauguration because we are officially welcoming him to the AU community.”  “I believe involvement is at the core of the college experience I started my journey at AU in 2020—a time when involvement was almost impossible that I realized how much I missed out 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while also connecting with faculty and staff across the university.” “A presidential inauguration is an important moment in the life of a community an inauguration is a moment to reflect: Where do we want to go as community As a faculty member and a past chair of the Faculty Senate I wanted to be part of this moment in our collective life.” and chair of The Civic Life Steering Committee Join the AU community at inauguration. Sign up to attend and volunteer at events. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world ColumnistJPMorgan Wants to Lend Companies MoneyAlso Adderall causes insider trading pig butchering a bank and the executive vice chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald is also a DJ with the highest credit ratings and hence the lowest yields are almost always referred to as “high-grade” rather than “low-yield” is politely dubbed “high-yield” rather than “low-grade” the yield on supposedly high-yield bonds has not been all that high This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Frothy holidays” Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents Why what you’ve read about the trade deficit hurting growth is wrong A martini doesn’t just steady the nerves after a rollercoaster week Fund managers smell an opportunity to get even bigger A truce is still possible, but no one wants to be first to pick up the phone There has been a lot of discussion in the market about sourcing gold the gold lease rate and borrowing gold from ETFs I thought it would be worth breaking down some details on one specific area of the market which is often misunderstood: the US-listed physically-backed gold ETFs (gold ETFs) market and related lending activities Let me be crystal clear and upfront—gold ETFs do not lend their gold This includes SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), iShares Gold Trust (IAU), SPDR Gold Mini Shares Trust (GLDM)1 and all the additional US listed gold ETFs.2 nor is it permitted under the regulatory approval granted to each product I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cringed hearing a market professional mischaracterize the market by saying that they borrow gold from gold ETFs or that a gold ETF lends its gold Nothing could be further from the truth.  There are three key distinctions that provide assurance the underlying assets are never lent: Additionally, if an ETF engages in securities lending, there are required disclosures informing investors that the fund may lend the underlying assets and of the associated risks.3 By contrast, US-listed physically-backed gold ETFs have no such disclosures, and the publicly filed agreements governing the trusts do not allow for securities lending by the trusts.4 Now that we are clear that US-listed physically-backed gold ETFs do not lend any gold let's discuss what is possible once a gold ETF becomes established As a gold ETF becomes well-adopted into the market it often becomes a key component of the capital markets ecosystem around the asset it represents and are regularly available for borrowing and lending in the securities finance markets Here’s how it works: Traders and speculators often borrow shares of such a gold ETF through standard securities lending relationships and do not involve the London gold lease market Those looking to access bullion short will use the securities finance market to borrow shares of the gold ETF For the borrower to access a short gold position they need to either short that gold ETF (which carries risk) or redeem the shares for physical gold which can then be sold in the London market these transactions are conducted between owners of the gold ETF the custody bank that maintains a “lending program” for the client who owns the gold ETF and those who are borrowing the shares When it is time for this independent lending transaction to close out the borrower of the gold ETF will either buy shares in the secondary market to cover their borrow or unwind by purchasing gold in the OTC market they will submit that gold to create gold ETF shares and use those new shares to close out the borrow the borrowing and unwinding of the trade will result in a healthy level of activity in both the primary market (OTC London bullion market) and the secondary market (listed exchange volume in the US) Any imbalance again gets handled by creation or redemption with approved authorized participants This type of activity illustrates how gold ETFs add liquidity to the overall gold market ecosystem Increased trading volumes and the participation of more market participants lead to tighter bid-offer spreads reducing costs for investors and improving market efficiency these ETFs make gold a more mainstream investment instrument by eliminating the challenges of trading physical gold or questions about gold type or authenticity To summarize: US-listed physically-backed gold ETFs their role in the secondary market indirectly contributes to the overall liquidity and sophistication of the gold market making gold a more accessible and appealing investment option 2Gold ETF: Stock, Holdings and Flows | World Gold Council. Helping you stay informed about the gold industry’s latest news and updates we would like to hear from professional investors like yourself We value your opinion - The World Gold Council would like to contact professional investors like yourself to participate in focus groups surveys and share your feedback on the World Gold Council website experience Metrics details The large indicated associations between aerosols and cloud radiative effects imply large negative radiative forcing cooling incurred by the aerosols’ effects on clouds The alternative explanation is aerosol-meteorology co-variability we examine whether aerosols are the primary driver of aerosol-cloud co-variability constituting susceptibility of the cloud properties to aerosols It is done by domains affected by volcanic aerosols where the aerosol-meteorology co-variability is expected to be minimized We hypothesize that volcanic aerosols would reduce aerosol-meteorology co-variability under similar meteorology thus diminishing aerosol-cloud co-variability our findings in both volcanic and non-volcanic regions across the global oceans indicate a consistent pattern of aerosol-cloud co-variability This does not prove definitively a causal link between aerosols and cloud properties but mininimizes the probability that meteorological co-variability is a major cause where R19 established correlations between variability in cloud fraction (Cf) liquid water path (LWP) and cloud radiative effect (CRE) with changes in cloud drop concentrations (Nd) Despite the significant susceptibility of Cf and CRE in R19 it did not provide a comprehensive cause-and-effect understanding of ACI A major objective of this study is to replicate the analytical approach of R19 particularly in scenarios where the aerosols are known to be decoupled from meteorological variability These events include sequences of volcanic eruptions in the Southwest Pacific during the summer of 2018 including volcanoes in Vanuatu and Galapagos Islands the Holuhraun fissure eruption in Iceland in 2014 and the eruption of Mt Kilauea in Hawaii in 2018 These events were chosen to ensure the inclusion of a large range of meteorological conditions and cloud regimes Our study focuses on clarifying the preponderance of volcanic aerosols as the primary driver of aerosol variability in regions influenced by volcanic activities to non-volcanic regions where the co-varying influence of meteorology is likely to be more important Therefore the observed associations of cloud properties and Nd within the volcanic aerosol-dominated regions can be compared to volcano-free areas under similar meteorological conditions elsewhere over global oceans Further investigations validate the similar susceptibilities of predicted and observed cloud properties to aerosols across various regions with varying levels of volcanic and non-volcanic aerosol variability reinforcing the importance of aerosol perturbations to cloud properties and associated aerosol cloud-mediated forcing our approach introduced aerosol properties (SC) to capture volcano-affected domains and demonstrated the domination of volcanic aerosols The presented data indicates the average Nd-core values corresponding to scenes within each SC bin The relationships between Nd-core and SC remained relatively consistent under different meteorological factors primarily drive changes in aerosol concentration Panels A–D correspond to the southwest Pacific volcanoes while Panels E–H correspond to the east Pacific volcanoes The data are for all scenes which have an average SC ≥ 10−8.6 kg/kg box The values are the mean values for each bin Bins of Nd-core and CGT are shown only if they contain at least 50 scenes “N” at the upper right corner represents the total number of scenes The error bars represent the standard error The probability density functions (PDFs) and mean values of LTS (A) The aerosol-perturbed scenario tends to have a large increase in Nd-core, albedo, Cf, and associated negative CRE, as well as a decrease in re, with LWP remaining relatively consistent. This analysis calculated the relative change of cloud properties due to aerosol perturbations (Supplementary Table S1) accounting for the background cloud conditions Volcanic activities reveal independent aerosol effects on clouds which exhibit a large degree of meteorological independence cloud-aerosol connections might differ in unperturbed aerosol conditions due to covarying meteorological conditions potentially obscuring part of the aerosol impact on clouds The co-variability of cloud properties with aerosols arises from two sources One is the effects of ACI on cloud properties and the other is the effects of meteorological cloud-controlling factors that co-vary with the aerosols To investigate the dominant factors driving cloud responses we compared the susceptibilities of cloud properties to aerosol perturbations in regions influenced by volcanic emissions with that of volcano-free global areas We ensured similar distribution patterns of meteorological conditions in both cases This approach enables us to analyze different aerosol effects (both volcanic and non-volcanic) on clouds under similar meteorological conditions for both cumulus and stratocumulus clouds Filtered global ocean data from 2014 which was under similar meteorological conditions with scenes of southwest (A) and east (B) volcanic clusters Panels A–D show the filtered data with similar meteorological conditions to the southwest volcanic cluster Panels E–H show the same for the east volcanic cluster Solid dark bars represent the susceptibilities calculated by observed cloud properties and radiative effect Also presented are susceptibilities calculated based on predicted cloud properties by the volcanic data (faint bars) and based on global data filtered for meteorological conditions in the volcanic areas (hollow bars) We also quantified the correlation between meteorological factors and Nd-core. We aim to verify the degree to which Nd-core can be effectively predicted only through meteorological parameters, as presented in Supplementary Table S5 Our findings reveal R2 ranging from 0.42 to 0.90 The explained Nd variability by meteorological conditions for the volcanic aerosols is lower than that for the non-volcanic aerosols This difference underscores the substantial contribution of volcanic aerosols to the overall aerosol variability Given that most volcanic areas are more than several hours downwind from the volcanoes the slow adjustment process has sufficient time to occur and induces similar relationships between the aerosol and cloud properties as in non-volcanic aerosols The generally slower rate of aerosol scavenging affects the aerosols and Nd-core but apparently not the relationships between Nd-core and the other cloud properties are similar both within and outside volcanic plumes the biases effectively cancel out when comparing susceptibilities within and outside the plumes indicate that aerosol plays a dominant role in the co-variability of aerosol and cloud properties within a fixed meteorological background contradicting the alternative explanations attributing the correlations to simultaneous changes in aerosols and cloud properties driven by meteorology Suppose that a co-variability of meteorological with aerosols and cloud properties explains part of the indicated susceptibility but the aerosols also affect cloud properties adding volcanic aerosols that do not correlate with meteorology but affect cloud properties will modify the indicated susceptibility under similar meteorological conditions Our finding that susceptibilities within and outside volcanic plumes are similar suggests two potential explanations meteorological co-variability did not contribute to the indicated susceptibility This implies the effect of aerosols on the indicated susceptibility The lack of indication for indicated susceptibility is caused by meteorological co-variability and lack of other alternative explanations we are left with the aerosols affect cloud properties as the likely explanation our findings underscore the primary driver of aerosols in driving aerosol-cloud co-variability revealing large susceptibilities of cloud properties to aerosols Although the causal relationship between aerosols and cloud properties remains unproven these results leave limited scope for alternative measurable interpretations A causal relationship would imply a greater RFaci than reported in the 6th IPCC Assessment Report The study is performed over the Southwest Pacific between 40°S and 10°N The study area was divided into two volcanic clusters The southwest volcanic cluster lies near Vanuatu while the east volcanic cluster is near South America This methodology enabled us to quantify the cloud response to corresponding aerosol perturbations All derived cloud properties were averaged to support subsequent analyses Daily average SST was derived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) High-Resolution SST data The red horizontal bars are the medians, and the blue dots are the means. The horizontal broken blue line represents Nd-core = 50 cm−3, which is the value of the selection SC = 10−8.6 kg/kg. The map shows the spatial distribution of SC under the influence of volcanic eruptions in the Southwest Pacific in June The colors over the ocean represent average concentrations of SC Climate change 2013: the physical science basis: Working Group I contribution to the Fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press Water vapour affects both rain and aerosol optical depth Opportunistic Experiments to Constrain Aerosol Effective Radiative Forcing Bounding global aerosol radiative forcing of climate change Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds Observational evidence of strong forcing from aerosol effect on low cloud coverage IPCC Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Cambridge University Press Satellite observations of the impact of weak volcanic activity on marine clouds macrophysical and radiative signatures of volcanic aerosols in trade wind cumulus observed by the A-Train Strong constraints on aerosol–cloud interactions from volcanic eruptions Volcano and ship tracks indicate excessive aerosol‐induced cloud water increases in a climate model Observations of a substantial cloud-aerosol indirect effect during the 2014-2015 Bárðarbunga-Veiðivötn fissure eruption in Iceland Observational evidence for aerosol invigoration in shallow cumulus downstream of Mount Kilauea Recent progress in cloud physics and associated radiative effects in China from 2016 to 2022 Under what conditions can we trust retrieved cloud drop concentrations in broken marine stratocumulus Satellite retrieval of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations in marine stratocumulus by using clouds as CCN chambers Validation of satellite-retrieved CCN based on a cruise campaign over the polluted Northwestern Pacific ocean Robust susceptibility of cloud cover and radiative effects to biases in retrieved droplet concentrations Quantifying gas emissions associated with the 2018 rift eruption of Kīlauea Volcano using ground-based DOAS measurements Effect of volcanic emissions on clouds during the 2008 and 2018 Kilauea degassing events The Dependence of Ship-Polluted Marine Cloud Properties and Radiative Forcing on Background Drop Concentrations Machine learning reveals climate forcing from aerosols is dominated by increased cloud cover Effects of varying aerosol regimes on low-level Arctic stratus Weak average liquid-cloud-water response to anthropogenic aerosols Co-variability drives the inverted-V sensitivity between liquid water path and droplet concentrations Marine boundary layer clouds at the heart of tropical cloud feedback uncertainties in climate models The 2018 rift eruption and summit collapse of Kīlauea Volcano Magma reservoir failure and the onset of caldera collapse at Kīlauea Volcano in 2018 and air quality impacts of volcanic sulfur dioxide from the 2014-2015 flood lava eruption at Bárðarbunga (Iceland) Convection and climate: What have we learned from simple models and simplified settings From aerosol-limited to invigoration of warm convective clouds Observational Quantification of Aerosol Invigoration for Deep Convective Cloud Lifecycle Properties Based on Geostationary Satellite Strong aerosol effects on cloud amount based on long‐term satellite observations over the East Coast of the United States Hidden large aerosol‐driven cloud cover effect over high‐latitude ocean Long-term relationships between summer clouds and aerosols over mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere The invigoration of deep convective clouds over the Atlantic: aerosol effect Nonlinearity of the cloud response postpones climate penalty of mitigating air pollution in polluted regions Analysis of polarimetric satellite measurements suggests stronger cooling due to aerosol-cloud interactions Frontiers in Satellite‐Based Estimates of Cloud‐Mediated Aerosol Forcing Unveiling aerosol-cloud interactions-Part 2: Minimising the effects of aerosol swelling and wet scavenging in ECHAM6-HAM2 for comparison to satellite data Understanding the drivers of marine liquid-water cloud occurrence and properties with global observations using neural networks Instantaneous linkages between clouds and large-scale meteorology over the Southern Ocean in observations and a climate model On the characteristics of aerosol indirect effect based on dynamic regimes in global climate models Aerosol cloud-mediated radiative forcing: highly uncertain and opposite effects from shallow and deep clouds In: Climate science for serving society: Research Combining satellite data and models to estimate cloud radiative effect at the surface and in the atmosphere Updated observations of clouds by MODIS for global model assessment Quantifying cloud base updraft speeds of marine stratocumulus from cloud top radiative cooling The global aerosol-cloud first indirect effect estimated using MODIS Extensive closed cell marine stratocumulus downwind of Europe—A large aerosol cloud mediated radiative effect or forcing Microphysical process rates and global aerosol–cloud interactions Better calibration of cloud parameterizations and subgrid effects increases the fidelity of the E3SM Atmosphere Model version 1 Putting the clouds back in aerosol–cloud interactions On the representation of aerosol activation and its influence on model-derived estimates of the aerosol indirect effect A long-term study of aerosol–cloud interactions and their radiative effect at the Southern Great Plains using ground-based measurements Quantifying variations in shortwave aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions using local meteorology and cloud state constraints Linking large-scale circulation patterns to low-cloud properties Download references National Natural Science Foundation of China 42075093 National Natural Science Foundation of China 42201344 National Natural Science Foundation of China 42322109 China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project 2022M722446 State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences & Institute for Climate and Global Change Research School of Resource and Environmental Science Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping The authors declare no competing interests Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00974-5 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to 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Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York; Editing by Rod Nickel DONATE NOW TO HELP PROTECT STUDENT BORROWER RIGHTS For the latest on the Sweet v. McMahon (formerly Sweet v. Cardona and Sweet v. DeVos) litigation, as well as relevant upcoming dates and case documents, please visit our case page.  We understand that recent actions by the current administration have raised a lot of uncertainty around the Department of Education The situation with the Department seems to be changing every day and we understand the stress this is causing the Department’s obligations under the settlement which is a legally binding contract overseen by the court PPSL will use the settlement agreement's enforcement provisions to ensure that the Department complies with all its obligations Full Settlement Relief consists of (i) discharge of the outstanding loans that were the subject of your borrower defense application (ii) refunds of any amounts you paid to the federal government toward those loans and (iii) deletion of the credit tradeline associated with those loans from your credit report Depending on the type of loan you had, it is possible that not all your payments were made “to the federal government” – even if your loans were called “federal student loans.” For more information about refund eligibility, please see “I am a Class Member with FFEL(P) loans, how does this affect my relief?” below Please note that this notice may have been sent to an email you no longer have access to or been routed to your spam folder and/or junk folder you have access to for an email from noreply@studentaid.gov The email might have one of the following subject lines ·      Approval of Your Borrower Defense Case Under Exhibit C of the Sweet v Cardona [or McMahon] Settlement: Borrower Defense Notice to Revise and Resubmit Cardona [or McMahon] Settlement: Borrower Defense Notice of Approval Cardona [or McMahon] Settlement Post-Class Applicant Borrower Defense Notice If you are unable to locate a notice/decision after searching for it, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org borrower defense application number (if available) and a description of the decision or notice that you believe you are missing If you are in the automatic relief group, you should have already received Full Settlement Relief. If you have NOT received Full Settlement Relief, please email the FSA Ombudsman at sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org, and let us know what relief you are missing The FSA Ombudsman has been designated as the official point of contact at the Department of Education for Class Members to direct questions about the status of their relief please include your full name (and any other name or email address you might have used at the time you applied) and your borrower defense application number (if available) We are unable to answer individual questions about refund amounts owed to Class Members Your refund might be disbursed via multiple checks and/or direct deposits. Before emailing sweet@ed.gov about missing refunds please check your bank records for deposits from the U.S Your refund checks will not necessarily have anything written on them that refers to the Sweet case They might simply appear as checks from the U.S The timing of your relief will depend on when you submitted your borrower defense application Please see the descriptions below for a relief timeline: Decision group members in group 1 (people who applied for borrower defense on or before December 31, 2017) whose applications were approved should have received Full Settlement Relief by December 20, 2024. If you were approved but have NOT received Full Settlement Relief, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org explaining which type(s) of relief (discharge and your borrower defense application number if you have it If you submitted your borrower defense application on or before December 31, 2017, but have not received a decision (either an approval or a revise and resubmit notice), please fill out this form and we will raise your issue with the Department of Education Decision group members in group 2 (people who applied for borrower defense between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018) whose applications were approved should have received Full Settlement Reliefby January 28, 2025. If you were approved but have NOT received Full Settlement Relief, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org If you submitted your borrower defense application between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018, but you have not received a decision (either an approval or a revise and resubmit notice), please fill out this form and we will raise your issue with the Department of Education Decision group members in group 3 (people who applied for borrower defense between January 1 2019) whose applications were approved should receive Full Settlement Relief by July 28 Please be patient as the distribution of relief for this group is currently in process If you submitted your borrower defense application between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2019, but you have not received a decision (either an approval or a revise and resubmit notice), please fill out this form and we will raise your issue with the Department of Education Decision group members in group 4 (people who applied for borrower defense between January 1 2020) should have received a decision on your application by January 28 you should receive your Full Settlement Relief within one year of the date when you received your approval decision If you submitted your borrower defense application between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020, but you have not received a decision (either an approval or a revise and resubmit notice), please fill out this form and we will raise your issue with the Department of Education Decision group members in group 5 (people who applied for borrower defense between January 1 2022) should receive a decision on your application by July 28 you should receive your Full Settlement Relief within one year of the date when you receive your approval decision If you do not receive a decision (either an approval or a revise and resubmit notice) by July 28, 2025, please fill out this form and we will raise your issue with the Department of Education please do not fill out this form before the decision deadline of July 28 If you are a Post-Class Applicant (you applied for borrower defense after June 22, 2022, but before November 16, 2022), you should have received notice from the Department of Education confirming your status as a Post-Class Applicant. If you are a Post-Class Applicant and have not yet received a notice from the Department confirming your post-class status, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org stating that you would like to confirm your status All Post-Class Applicants should receive a decision on their application by January 28 you should receive your settlement relief within one year of the date when you receive your approval notice If you do not receive a decision by January 28 you are entitled to Full Settlement Relief.  If you are a Post-Class Applicant whose borrower defense application relates to loans from one of the following schools you might receive relief through the Department of Education’s group discharge process: ·      ITT Technical Institute ·      Corinthian Colleges (Everest ·      Westwood College ·      Art Institutes ·      Marinello School of Beauty ·      Ashford University ·      Schools owned by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE) (CollegeAmerica ·      Drake College of Business ·      Lincoln Technical Institute campuses in Lowell or Somerville ·      Minnesota School of Business/Globe University (Criminal Justice programs)  Please see the Department of Education’s website here to learn more about group discharges If you are a Post-Class Applicant who applied for borrower defense with respect to one of the schools listed above, but you have not yet received notice that you are approved for group discharge relief, please email info@ppsl.org and tell us about your situation If you submitted borrower defense applications related to multiple schools, your applications may be in different groups. For instance, if you submitted two applications in January 2021, with one relating to an Exhibit C school and the other relating to a non-Exhibit C school your first application would be in the automatic relief group and your second application would be in the decision group If you submitted more than one borrower defense application at different times your applications may be in different groups if you submitted an application relating to an Exhibit C school in January 2021 and another application relating to a different Exhibit C school in August 2022 your first application would be in the automatic relief group and your second application would be in the post-class There are two types of FFEL(P) loans: some are held by the government Loans held by private bank lenders are known as “commercially held FFELs.”  FFEL and FFELP loans are considered “federal student loans” for purposes of the settlement if you are entitled to relief through the settlement any FFEL and FFELP loans that were the subject of your BD claim(s) will be discharged If you consolidated FFEL loans from multiple schools into one or more FFEL consolidation loans only the portion of the consolidation loan(s) that relates to the school(s) covered by your borrower defense application will be discharged If your FFEL or FFELP loans were commercially held and you made payments on those loans then you will NOT be entitled to a refund of those payments Although both are considered “federal loans” because they were authorized by federal law payments that you made on commercially held FFEL or FFELP loans were made to bank lenders such payments will not be included in any refund you receive under the Sweet settlement because the Department of Education does not have the legal authority to refund payments made to commercial lenders if you consolidated your FFEL or FFELP loans into Direct Consolidation Loans then any payments you made on the Direct Consolidation Loans will be eligible for a refund If you are a Class Member and you consolidated Sweet-eligible and non-Sweet-eligible loans together into one or more Direct Consolidation Loans the entire balance of your “mixed” Direct Consolidation Loan(s) will be discharged and you will be refunded all payments you made on that loan(s) If this refund amount is less than the sum of all payments you made to the Department of Education toward your Sweet-eligible loans including payments you made on Sweet-eligible Direct Loans or Department-held FFEL loans before consolidating you will be able to claim additional refunds through an administrative process We will notify eligible Class Members directly if and when they are able to submit requests for further refund calculations For information about FFEL consolidation loans, please see “I am a Class Member with FFEL(P) loans, how does this affect my relief?” above The settlement defines the class as “all individuals who had a borrower defense application pending as of June 22 the Department of Education agreed to rescind all borrower defense denials that it issued between December 2019 and October 2020 If you received a form denial notice during that time period the Department will treat your original application as if it had never been denied and you will be a member of the class The settlement divides the class—all individuals who had a borrower defense application pending as of June 22 The first group is the automatic relief group. You are a member of this group if you are a Class Member who submitted a borrower defense application relating to a school or schools on this list (often referred to as the “Exhibit C” list) then you are entitled to the following relief: (i) discharge of the outstanding loans that were the subject of your application (ii) refunds of any amounts you previously paid to the federal government toward those loans (iii) deletion of the credit tradeline associated with those loans from your credit report (“Full Settlement Relief”).  The second group is the decision group. You are a member of this group if you are a Class Member who submitted a borrower defense application relating to a school or schools not on the Exhibit C list you will receive an individual decision on your entitlement to settlement relief according to a set timeline If the Department of Education fails to issue a decision within the timeline you will receive Full Settlement Relief within one year of the missed deadline The Department of Education will use a “streamlined” procedure to evaluate applications of Class Members in the decision group This means that the Department will accept all allegations in the application as true; will not require further supporting evidence; will not require proof of reliance; and will not apply any statute of limitations If you are in the decision group and you are determined to be eligible for relief you will receive Full Settlement Relief (the same benefits as members of the automatic relief group) You will receive this relief within one year of the date you receive your approval decision. If you have not received relief within one year of the date of your approval including a reference to your original borrower defense application number the Department of Education will have six months to either grant relief or issue a final denial notice your notice will convert to a final denial upon the expiration of the six-month resubmission window You will not receive a notice of the conversion to denial you have the right to challenge that denial in federal court.    If you submitted a borrower defense application related to a Corinthian Colleges school, please see the Corinthian question below. If you applied for borrower defense after June 22 2022 (the date of final approval of the settlement) then you are not a member of the class as defined in the settlement agreement The settlement provides certain benefits to Post-Class Applicants Post-Class Applicants will receive decisions on their applications by January 28 If the Department of Education fails to provide any Post-Class Applicant with a decision during that time period then they will receive Full Settlement Relief (the same relief as if they were a Class Member in the decision group who did not receive a timely decision).  Post-Class Applicants will receive individual decisions on their applications regardless of whether they borrowed money to attend a school on the Exhibit C list you will not receive automatic relief if you applied for borrower defense after June 22 Post-Class Applicants also will not have their applications reviewed under the “streamlined” procedures applicable to Class Members in the decision group.  Post-Class Applicants will have the credit tradelines for their discharged loans deleted from their credit reports if their borrower defense applications are approved Post-Class Applicants will not automatically get refunds if their applications are approved but they might get refunds depending on their individual circumstances the Department of Education applies a statute of limitations to decide whether a successful borrower defense applicant will get a refund along with discharge The Department agreed that the limitations period would not apply to Class Members but it will apply to Post-Class Applicants Whether a Post-Class Applicant gets a refund will therefore depend on the facts in their application.  Post-Class Applicants who attended certain schools may be eligible for relief through the Department of Education’s group discharge process. For more information, see “I am a Post-Class Applicant, what does this mean for me?” If you applied for borrower defense after November 16 then you are not affected by the Sweet settlement Your application will be decided by the Department of Education according to the applicable regulations You can apply for borrower defense even if you are currently enrolled in the school you would be applying for Borrower defense can apply to any federal student loan that has already been disbursed In order to get settlement relief relating to Parent Plus loans a parent must have applied for borrower defense separately from their child (the student) during the applicable settlement time frames even if the student is already included in the class.   and you applied for borrower defense to repayment of a Parent Plus loan on or before June 22 If you applied for borrower defense for a Parent Plus loan after June 22 you are a Post-Class Applicant.  If you applied for borrower defense for a Parent Plus loan after November 16 your application will be decided according to applicable regulations Parent borrowers can and should apply for borrower defense if they have not already, even though the time has passed to receive any benefit related to the settlement. Parent borrowers can apply for borrower defense here. For an informational guide on applying for borrower defense, click here parents should specify that they are applying in relation to the loan they took out for the school that the student attended and they should detail the school misconduct that the student experienced the parent should also mention that in their application if the Department of Education garnished from your wages and/or took from your income tax refunds in connection with the loans that were the subject of your borrower defense application We are aware that there have been delays for many borrowers in receiving refunds for past tax and wage garnishments We are working with the Department to ensure that this relief gets delivered No, to receive Sweet relief, you must have submitted a borrower defense application for each school for which you were requesting a discharge. You can still submit a borrower defense application for the other Exhibit C school(s) you attended but that application will be decided under the applicable regulations The Department of Education will hold Class Members in forbearance or stopped collection status and will reimburse you for any accrual of interest until you receive your settlement relief or where applicable for members of the decision group until a decision denying settlement relief becomes final this should happen automatically; for commercially held FFEL loans you may have to notify your servicer that you are eligible for an administrative forbearance based on borrower defense.    If your servicer places you back into repayment status, or if your servicer refuses to honor your request for borrower defense forbearance, please contact sweet@ed.gov right away, with a copy to info@ppsl.org If you are a Post-Class Applicant or if you applied for borrower defense after November 16 you can still ask your servicer to place your loans in Borrower Defense forbearance until you receive a decision interest will still accrue on your loans while your Borrower Defense application is pending Whether you receive a refund of that interest upon resolution of your Borrower Defense application will depend on the applicable regulations.    Borrower Defense forbearance will not apply to federal student loans that were not covered by your Borrower Defense application If you have loans from another school that weren’t the subject of your application neither the Sweet case nor applying for Borrower Defense in relation to your federal loans will impact any private loans you may have from the school for which you applied for Borrower Defense While servicers should know about Sweet relief and Borrower Defense forbearance, sometimes servicer representatives do not have the appropriate or accurate information. If this happens, reach out to sweet@ed.gov and your servicer’s Ombudsman’s office if you received a notice from the Department of Education about this settlement that is the most accurate statement regarding your Sweet relief.     If you are a Class Member (in the automatic relief or decision group) you will not owe any interest on your Direct or FFEL loans for the period between final approval and the date you receive your discharge or final decision you may see interest appear on your account This is due to internal Department of Education processes Any interest that appears during this time will ultimately be removed even if If you are a Post-Class Applicant who elects to remain in a Borrower Defense forbearance interest will accrue on your loans while you await a decision If your Borrower Defense application is ultimately approved You can see whether you have a Direct Consolidation Loan or FFEL Consolidation Loan by logging into your account with Federal Student Aid or your federal loan servicer any FFEL and FFELP loans that were the subject of your Borrower Defense claim(s) will be discharged only the portion of the consolidation loan(s) that relates to the school(s) covered by your Borrower Defense application will be discharged If your FFEL or FFELP loans are commercially held and you made payments on those loans then you will not be entitled to a refund of those payments because the Department of Education does not have the legal authority to refund payments made to commercial lenders.  However if you consolidated your FFEL or FFELP loans into Direct Loans then any payments made on the Direct Loans will be eligible for a refund If you are currently having problems with your servicer related to billing on a Direct or FFEL Consolidation Loan that includes Sweet-eligible loans, please email sweet@ed.gov  with a copy to info@ppsl.org If you previously consolidated your federal student loans into a private consolidation loan – for example or CommonBond – then you will receive some settlement relief in certain circumstances.  If you refinanced Direct Loan(s) or government-held FFEL loan(s) with a private refinancer AFTER you applied for Borrower Defense with respect to those loans then you WILL get a refund of the amount paid to the government by the refinancer you will still owe your private lender any outstanding balance that you have with that lender and the refinanced loan will continue to appear on your credit report until it is paid off (The Department of Education does not have the legal authority to discharge loans that are currently held by a private lender even if those loans were originated as federal loans.) If you refinanced with a private lender BEFORE you applied for Borrower Defense then you will not receive settlement relief For a more detailed view of your federal student loans and grants, you can download your National Student Loan Data Systems profile which contains your federal loan and grant history, including information on federal loan type (i.e., Direct, Perkins, or FFEL). This profile does NOT include private loans. Please find instructions on how to download it here If you previously consolidated your federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan or a FFEL Consolidation Loan (which allow you to combine multiple federal loans into one) then you will still get the settlement relief to which you would otherwise be entitled if you hadn’t consolidated You can see whether you have a Direct Consolidation Loan or FFEL Consolidation Loan by logging into your account with Federal Student Aid or your federal loan servicer.  you might not be eligible for a refund of payments you made on those loans (see details regarding FFEL(P) loans above) If you are currently having problems with your servicer related to billing on a Direct or FFEL Consolidation Loan that includes Sweet-eligible loans, please contact sweet@ed.gov with a description of the problem or CommonBond – then you will receive some settlement relief in certain circumstances.  If you refinanced Direct Loan(s) or government-held FFEL loan(s) with a private refinancer AFTER you applied for borrower defense with respect to those loans and the refinanced loan will continue to appear on your credit report unless and until it is paid off even if those loans were originated as federal loans.) If you refinanced with a private lender BEFORE you applied for borrower defense First, you do not have to consolidate any of your loans to receive Sweet relief. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, it could be a scam If you want or need to consolidate your current federal loans for another reason (such as enrollment in an income-driven repayment plan or Public Service Loan Forgiveness) you can consolidate into a federal Direct Consolidation Loan If you are a Class Member or a Post-Class Applicant federal consolidation will not have a negative effect for the relief you are eligible under the Sweet settlement Consolidating any federal loans into a private loan (with a lender such as SoFi, Earnest, or CommonBond or, for example, a private loan with Navient) couldwaive certain rights you have with respect to your federal loans. The National Consumer Law Center warns “It is dangerous to consolidate federal loans into a private consolidation loan you lose the rights you have under the federal loan program including rights to cancel or reduce your loan payments Private lenders may even offer you bonuses if you agree to consolidate with them but this may not be the right choice for you you cannot get credit toward PSLF if you are in Borrower-Defense-related administrative forbearance If you want to keep making qualifying payments toward PSLF, you can opt out of administrative forbearance by contacting your loan servicer and telling them that you want to resume payments under a qualifying PSLF payment plan. Please be aware, however, that as of March 2025, servicers currently are not processing income-driven repayment applications. you should receive a refund of any amounts paid to the Department of Education toward Direct or Direct Consolidation loans including a refund of prior qualifying PSLF payments this does not include refunds of payments on commercially held FFEL loans.) On June 1, 2022 – shortly before the parties in the Sweet case reached a settlement – the Department announced that it would cancel all outstanding loans related to Corinthian schools including for people who had not already applied for borrower defense.   Class Members who applied for Borrower Defense for their Corinthian-related loans will receive the same relief as other Class Members in the automatic relief group (full discharge refunds of payment to the Department of Education and deletion of the credit tradeline(s)).   If you are a Class Member who applied for Borrower Defense for a Corinthian school, and you have not received Full Settlement Relief yet, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org, and let us know what relief you are missing.  If you are a Class Member who attended one of these schools before Corinthian ownership your application will be placed into the decision group and you will receive a decision within the applicable time frame.   If you are a Post-Class Applicant who attended Everest, Heald, or Wyotech, but you have not yet received a discharge of your Corinthian loans, we want to hear from you. Please visit our Get Help page If you are a Class Member who applied for Borrower Defense for Drake College of Business you would have been included in a Decision Group because that school was not listed on Exhibit C You should now receive relief through the group discharge process If you are a Post-Class Applicant and you are eligible for group discharge for one or more of the schools listed above you should receive relief through the Department of Education’s group discharge process for your school and will not have to wait for a decision on your Borrower Defense application If you are a Post-Class Applicant who has not yet received a discharge for any school where the Department announced a group discharge, we are interested in hearing from you. Please visit our Get Help page Some Class Members may currently be receiving assistance from SNAP/Food Stamps If you are getting public assistance and you receive a refund you should be aware that the refund may impact your eligibility for benefits Eligibility is different depending on the type of benefits you receive Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 all student loan discharges are federally tax-free until December 31 That includes discharges under the Sweet settlement if your loans are discharged after January 1 there may be federal income tax implications and you should consult with a tax advisor unless Congress extends the tax exemption beyond 2025.   If you are a Post-Class Applicant and you receive student loan cancellation after January 1 your discharge should still be federally tax-free under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Procedure 2015-57 which provides that the IRS will not assert that federal student loans discharged under the Borrower Defense to repayment process qualify as recognizable gross income you should consult with a tax advisor.   State income tax policies with respect to student loan discharges may vary If you have questions about state income taxes we recommend that you seek out resources from your state of residence and contact a tax advisor.  The Sweet settlement does not reinstate GI benefits applied to attend the school that was the subject of your borrower defense application The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has information on the restoration of benefits after school closure, or if a school is disapproved for GI Bill benefits, here The Sweet settlement itself does not have a specific provision for Pell eligibility restoration Class Members and Post-Class Applicants who receive settlement relief may be eligible for full or partial restoration of Pell eligibility under a new law that went into effect on July 1 which is part of the FAFSA Simplification Act restores Pell eligibility for any period in which a student received a federal student loan that was later discharged under the Secretary of Education’s authority to “compromise or release” a loan obligation—a legal provision which forms the basis for settlement relief To ensure that you continue to receive timely information about the settlement, please update your contact information in your Federal Student Aid (FSA) profile Log in to your account and navigate to the “Settings” page under your email address This is how the Department of Education will determine where to send you information and any potential refunds visit the FSA’s help center page on this matter You should also make sure to keep your servicer up to date regarding your contact information this FSA webpage explains and helps you identify your servicer PPSL is aware of the problems with the Borrower Defense application website, and we have raised this concern with the Department of Education. If you had trouble with the online Borrower Defense application and it affected your ability to qualify for class or post-class membership, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org with a description of what happened and copies of any evidence you might have saved (e.g. PPSL is aware of this issue, and we have raised it with the Department of Education. If you applied for Borrower Defense but have had trouble tracking your application, or have experienced errors in the Department’s record-keeping, please email sweet@ed.gov, with a copy to info@ppsl.org. The class is represented by the non-profit legal services organization, The Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL). To contact PPSL, you should complete the form in the Get Help Tab at the top of the webpage. If you cannot fill out the form, you may email info@ppsl.org due to the high volume of communications we receive all communications are reviewed but we are not always able to respond.   This website is neither a solicitation nor an offer to represent you concerning any legal problem The information conveyed on this website is not legal advice and is not intended to and does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and our law firm or any attorney with our firm and faxes do not create an attorney-client relationship and you should not send any confidential information to us unless and until you and our firm enter into a formal agreement establishing an attorney-client relationship Do you believe you've been a victim of unlawful or abusive practices by an individual or financial service provider Submit a Complaint At the Office of Financial Technology Innovation (OFTI) we help FinTech businesses grow and develop in ways that are both responsible and responsive Learn More about OFTI Public participation is critical to the development of the laws and regulations that guide this work For questions, interview requests with a DFPI expert, or to receive our Press Releases, Members of the media can reach us at [email protected] Serve Californians by effectively overseeing financial service providers; enforcing laws and regulations; promoting innovation and fair and honest business practices; enhancing consumer awareness; and protecting consumers by preventing potential marketplace risks Download this press release (PDF) SACRAMENTO – Today, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) announced a consent order with SALT Lending LLC (SALT) to resolve the DFPI’s investigation into SALT’s crypto-backed lending program the DFPI secured approximately $162,800 in borrower refunds and $137,500 in penalties as well as stringent underwriting requirements SALT contracted for 342 loans with 151 California residents “Lenders have a responsibility to accurately represent the terms of loans extended to borrowers Loans backed by crypto assets are no exception,” said Commissioner Clothilde V provides crypto-asset-related financial services to retail and institutional customers in the United States SALT began to offer consumer and commercial loans to California residents These loans include crypto and fiat money loans with crypto collateral borrowers provide crypto assets as collateral and receive loans in crypto assets or fiat money SALT failed to maintain the required net worth of at least $25,000 SALT will send email notices to eligible California borrowers with their refund amount and instructions on how to receive it SALT will send email notices to California borrowers with active loans that include information for closing their loans Notices will be emailed no later than January 22 The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) protects consumers, regulates financial services, and fosters responsible innovation. The DFPI protects consumers by establishing and enforcing financial regulations that promote transparency and accountability. We empower all Californians to access a fair and equitable financial marketplace through education and preventing potential risks, fraud, and abuse. Learn more at dfpi.ca.gov The DFPI expects any person offering securities, lender, or other financial services provider that operates in California to comply with our financial laws. Consumers may submit a complaint with the DFPI online (dfpi.ca.gov/submit-a-complaint) or call toll-free at (866) 275-2677 For questions, interview requests with a DFPI expert, or to receive our press releases, members of the media can reach us at [email protected] Subscribe