Small business group files suit over Biden student loan plan
A small business advocacy group has filed a new lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s efforts to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. The suit, filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation, argues the Biden administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program. It also argues the program is arbitrary, benefiting some borrowers, but not others. It’s one of a handful of lawsuits filed by conservative business groups, attorneys, and Republican lawmakers in recent weeks as the Biden administration tries to push forward with its plan to cancel billions in debt before November’s midterm elections.
Los Angeles Council president resigns after racist remarks
The president of the Los Angeles City Council stepped down from her powerful leadership role Monday after a leaked audio recording revealed racist and disparaging remarks that she had made about the Black child of a white fellow council member and about Indigenous immigrants in the city’s Koreatown neighborhood. “I take responsibility for what I said, and there are no excuses for those comments,” Nury Martinez, the council president, said in a statement Monday announcing that she would resign from the leadership role but not from the council. “As a mother, I know better, and I am sorry. I am truly ashamed.”
GOP makes push to weaken Democrats’ grip on Texas border
Texas Democrats are embarking on another October blitz in pursuit of flipping America’s big red state. But Republicans are making an aggressive play to win races along Texas’ mostly Hispanic southern border in November’s midterms. The rare sight of contested races on the Texas border has widened cracks in an important Democratic stronghold after former President Donald Trump’s significant gains with Hispanic voters in the 2020 election. Republican Rep. Maya Flores’ victory in a special election this year reflected the shifting ground. She is running against Democrat Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
28 dead as Julia drenches Central America with rainfall
Former hurricane Julia has dissipated, but is drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with rain after reemerging in the Pacific. Julia is believed to have directly or indirectly caused the deaths of 28 people. Julia hit Nicaragua’s central Caribbean coast as a hurricane on Sunday and survived the passage over Nicaragua’s mountainous terrain, becoming a tropical storm before it dissipated Monday. Its winds had dipped to 35 mph by Monday morning, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Fourteen people died in Guatemala, four in Honduras, nine in El Salvador and one in Nicaragua.
NKorea says it is building underwater nuclear weapons silos
North Korea broke its silence on a recent flurry of missile tests Monday as its state media reported that the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had overseen the test launches of nuclear-capable short-range ballistic missiles, including one fired from an underwater silo. The report was the first time that North Korea claimed it was building such silos, suggesting that it’s developing technology that would make its missiles harder to detect and intercept. North Korean news media also published photos that purported to show a missile rising from the waters of a reservoir. The North has launched 12 ballistic missiles in seven weapons tests in the past two weeks.
Airbus and Air France go on trial over 2009 Rio-Paris crash
Airbus and Air France went on trial Monday over their role in the 2009 crash of a Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board, a hard-won step for the families of victims to bring the two aviation giants to court. Prosecutors have charged Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, and Air France, the main French airline, with involuntary manslaughter. But the legal pursuit has been marked by years of repeated denials from the companies that they were criminally responsible. Representatives of the companies expressed condolences for the crash, which investigators said occurred after pilots responded inadequately to iced-over airspeed sensors.
Protests in Iran over woman’s death reach key oil industry
Workers at refineries crucial for Iran’s oil and natural gas production have protested over the death of a 22-year-old woman. That’s according to online videos posted Monday. The demonstrations at Abadan and Asaluyeh mark the first time the unrest surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini threatened Iran’s oil and gas industry. While it remains unclear if other workers will follow, the protests come as demonstrations rage on in cities, towns and villages across Iran. Early Monday, the sound of apparent gunshots and explosions echoed through the streets of a city in western Iran. Activists say security forces reportedly killed one man in a nearby village.
By wire sources