Author Archive
Student Loan Program Changes Could Help Forgive Your Debt
By SHANNON DOYLE Reprinted with permission from LSS Financial Counseling Sense and Centsibility Blog If you are paying off student loans, you probably have noticed recent headlines about making student loan forgiveness possible for more borrowers. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is making (temporary) fixes, officially called a waiver, to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Here’s your guide to understanding the DOE’s changes and navigating the system so you can get your payments counted towards forgiveness. If these changes affect you, it’s crucial that you take action as soon as possible. The waiver will end on October 31, 2022. What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? College graduates working for government agencies and non-profits are typically paid much less than their counterparts in private industry, yet they need the same level of education. Congress passed legislation in 2007 creating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness [...]
New Council Brings New Hope for Environmental Justice in East Phillips
By STEVE SANDBERG East Phillips Cultural Center gymnasium gathering, where community members gathered on Saturday, December 18th to lift up their ongoing work to bring community-led development to the Roof Depot site. As Minneapolis residents waited to see what change would result from the November 2021 election, 75 to 100 community members gathered on Saturday, December 18th at the East Phillips Cultural Center gymnasium to lift up their ongoing work to bring community led development to the 7.6 acre Roof Depot site in the East Phillips neighborhood. Led by EPNI staffer Joe Vital, the meeting highlighted EPNI’s work to save the 230,000 square foot Roof Depot building for aquaponic farming, affordable housing, solar development, and a youth-led coffee shop, event center, and bicycle repair and assembly facility. Local BIPOC businesses displaced in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd are also supporting this community led effort. The meeting featured appearances of [...]
First Black Police Chief in Minneapolis Leaves Much Undone
By DWIGHT HOBBES This commentary first appeared on the Minnesota Reformer, https://minnesotareformer.com It is difficult to countenance Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s betrayal of the Black citizens who greatly helped put him in that job. Indeed, before he assumed the position in 2017, it would’ve been unthinkable. But, well, here you have it. Rondo, as he’s informally known, did nothing concrete about the department’s occupying-army treatment of a population desperately in need of a strong ally, beyond mandating body cams. His ordering fewer marijuana stops is laudable but not much more than politically correct. And he hardly deserves a pat on the back for the no-brainer of firing Derek Chauvin and his accomplices, taking a bow by testifying in court. At length, however, he sided with the enemy, then, with the announcement that he’s retiring next month, he blithely went on about his business. When Arradondo’s name came up for consideration, the [...]
