The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Student loan payments suspended
Trump lets borrowers suspend federal student loan payments
A week after promising to waive interest on federal student loans, the Trump administration Friday said Americans contending with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic can opt to suspend their payments altogether.
“These are anxious times, particularly for students and families whose educations, careers and lives have been disrupted,” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a statement. “Right now, everyone should be focused on staying safe and healthy, not worrying about their student loan balance growing.”
For at least 60 days, the 42 million Americans holding $1.5 trillion in federal student debt can ask their loan servicer to temporarily postpone their payments. Anyone more than 31 days behind on their bill as of March 13, or who becomes that delinquent, will have their payments automatically suspended.
Member of Pence’s staff tests positive for virus
The White House says a member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff has tested positive for coronavirus.
Pence’s spokeswoman Katie Miller said Friday that the staff member, who is not being identified, did not have “close contact” to either the vice president or President Donald Trump.
Miller said contact tracing, or contacting everyone the individual has been in contact with, is being conducted in accordance with guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Illinois and New York order lockdowns
Illinois and New York state joined California on Friday in ordering all residents to stay in their homes unless they have vital reasons to go out, restricting the movement of more than 70 million Americans in the most sweeping measures taken yet in the U.S. to contain the coronavirus.
The governors of the three states acted in a bid to fend off the kind of onslaught that has caused the health system in southern Europe to buckle. The lockdowns encompass the three biggest cities in America — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — as well as No. 8 San Diego and No. 14 San Francisco.
Administration waives k-12 testing requirement
The Trump administration Friday moved to waive federal requirements for standardized tests for students in kindergarten through 12th grade in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The president said his administration is waiving federal requirements for standardized tests for k-12 students because the coronavirus pandemic has forced most schools in the country to close for an indefinite period during annual testing season.
Virus prompts U.S. and Mexico to restrict border travel
Mexico and the U.S. announced Friday they would prohibit all “nonessential” travel across their shared border as part of efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Both countries and Canada also agreed to immediately turn back anyone trying to cross their borders illegally, with U.S. officials saying the unchecked entry of people from around the world poses a potential health risk because of the rapidly spreading virus.
Florida bans on-site restaurant dining
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned all on-site dining at restaurants statewide Friday and the Seminole Tribe closed its casinos, the latest virus-related closures affecting a state that is heavily dependent on tourism and consumer spending to pay its bills.
The governor’s order allows restaurants to still provide takeout and delivery. He had already closed the state’s bars to on-site sales. He also banned all nonemergency medical and dental procedures to preserve face masks and other disposable protective gear. Those supplies are used by doctors and nurses but are in short supply.
Some cities a nd counties statewide had already banned beach-going and set restrictions on bars and restaurants, including Miami-Dade County, the state’s most populous.