Virus notes: May 13, 2020; The Meanness of Missy Betsy

MERCED (BLJ) – The Merced County Public Health Department on May 13 reported 180 cases (7 new)  and four dead (one new). Probably due to a combination of lax attention to masks and new testing stations.

California reported 71,141 cases (1,426 new) and 2,934 (132 new).

The United States reported 1,421,061 cases (21,156 new) and 84,763 deaths (1,744 new).

The global report for May 13 is 4,347,015 (84,964 new) and 297,197 deaths (5,236 new).

 

And to top of the grim report of the day, the amoral knuckleheads in the White House have “edited” the CARES Act to exclude half a million California community college students from receiving aid during the pandemic.

This is mean and stupid. The stupid aspect is that it just helps the virus spread throughout the whole community, not just the lower income community their meanness is aiming at. The administration at its despicable worst. – blj

 

5-13-20

Los Angeles Times

California community colleges sue U.S. for denying COVID-19 funds to undocumented students, others

By Nina Agrawal

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-13/california-community...

California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley and the system’s board of governors filed suit this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against the Department of Education and Secretary Betsy DeVos over eligibility restrictions placed on the use of federal aid money for students, arguing that the restrictions are unconstitutional.

“The Department of Education ignored the intent of the CARES Act to give local colleges discretion to aid students most affected by the pandemic, and instead has arbitrarily excluded as many as 800,000 community college students,” California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said in a statement.

The CARES Act, approved by Congress March 27, set aside $14 billion for higher education relief. At least half of the money must go directly to students in the form of emergency grants.

Subsequent guidance put out by the Department of Education states that only students who are eligible to receive federal financial aid qualify for the assistance. That leaves out large numbers of undocumented students, including those with work permits through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program; students without high school diplomas; students enrolled in non-credit programs; and students who fail to maintain satisfactory academic progress.

At the California Community Colleges, more than 500,000 of the 1.5 million students enrolled in the spring semester are ineligible because they fall into one of those categories, including about 70,000 undocumented students, the chancellor’s office said. Another 275,000 are likely ineligible because they never filled out an application for federal financial aid. Many low-income students at California community colleges don’t fill out the application because they receive a tuition fee waiver through the state. ..

 

 

 

Tags: