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U.S. Senate Democrats say the Trump administration plan to transfer student loan management from the Education Department to the Treasury Department will add unneeded bureaucracy. (Photo illustration by Catherine Lane/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats this week blasted the Trump administration’s attempts to  shift management of federal student loans from the Education Department to the Treasury Department, saying it would contribute to dysfunction in the student loan system. In a Wednesday  letter , the ranking members of five Senate panels — the committees covering banking, finance, education, federal spending and the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Education Department — called on Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “immediately” rescind the interagency agreement announced in March. The letter is part of Democrats’ efforts to stop President Donald Trump and his administration from outsourcing Education D...

Attorney General Pam Bondi listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a lunch with the Kennedy Center board members in the East Room of the White House on March 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving the Department of Justice and will be replaced for now by President Donald Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, the president announced Thursday. “Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country,” the president wrote on social media. Bondi will depart for an “important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future,” Trump added. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, “a very talented and respected Legal Mind,” will move up in an acting role, he said. Bondi’s exit follows the departure earlier this year of another ...

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, speaking to senators at the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee meeting on April 1, 2026, about the fiscal year 2027 Education Trust Fund budget in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. An Alabama House committee passed legislation he sponsored to more severely punishes people who commit real estate fraud. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved legislation to make real estate fraud a felony offense. SB 292 , sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, directs the Alabama Securities Commission to adopt rules to process complaints of alleged real estate fraud and establishes felony charges for people who fraudulently sell real estate. “I think the people need this,” Orr told the committee. “I think it will certainly make our body look good for the public.” GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE The measure passed with no discussion. The bill also authorizes the Commission to investigate c...

Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, walks off the speaker's dais in the Alabama House of Representatives on March 31, 2026, at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The Legislature on Wednesday sent a bill changing the makeup of the Public Service Commission to Gov. Kay Ivey, despite Butler's protest. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill that would effectively put the state’s public utility regulation board under the control of the governor. Passage of HB 475 , sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, came over Butler’s objections to major Senate changes to the bill that removed provisions that would have required regular hearings in which utilities would be required to justify rate increases. In a highly unusual move, the Alabama House defeated Butler’s motion to send the bill to a conference committee for further negotiations and concurred in Senate changes on a 72-26 vote, with Butler voting against the mo...

A voter drops off a ballot in a drop box at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Democrats and other opponents of President Donald Trump’s executive order clamping down on mail ballots prepared Wednesday to challenge the directive, signaling the start of another fight between states and the White House over elections. The order , which would create a national list of voting-age American citizens and directs the U.S. Postal Service to place limits on mail-in ballots, constitutes an extraordinary and illegal attempt by Trump to intervene in the voting process, election experts said. “The executive order is unconstitutional and I think it is very likely that it will be struck down,” Colorado Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in an interview. She said her state would join litigation against the order. Several Democratic election officials issued similar stateme...

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, speaking to senators at the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee meeting on April 1, 2026, about the fiscal year 2027 Education Trust Fund budget in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The committee approved the $10.5 billion budget with minor changes and a vote on it is expected on Thursday. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a $10.5 billion Education Trust Fund budget for fiscal year 2027 that largely reflects Gov. Kay Ivey’s proposed budget from earlier this year. The budget , about $570 million higher (5.7%) than the current budget, includes pay raises for teachers and less money for a health insurance program for education employees than Ivey proposed.  Although the total is the same as the House passed on March 14 , funds were redirected to different programs, according to Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, chair of the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee.  GE...