Washington
States and cities challenge Trump policy overhauling public service loan forgiveness
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 20 Democrat-led states are challenging a new Trump administration policy designed to block nonprofit and government workers from a student loan cancellation program if federal officials determine their employer has a “substantial illegal purpose.”
The policy is aimed primarily at organizations that work with immigrants and transgender youth.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in Massachusetts, the states argue the Trump administration overstepped its authority when it added new eligibility rules for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The overhaul will worsen job shortages and create instability in state workforces, the suit said.
The legal challenge is being led by New York, Massachusetts, California and Colorado. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the rule is “a political loyalty test disguised as a regulation,” adding that it’s “unjust and unlawful to cut off loan forgiveness for hardworking Americans based on ideology.”
A separate coalition of cities, nonprofits and labor organizations also filed a legal challenge in Massachusetts on Monday. That suit was brought by Boston; Chicago; Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Francisco; Santa Clara, California; and the National Council of Nonprofits.
Responding to the lawsuits, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said it’s unconscionable that the plaintiffs are standing up for criminal activity.
“This is a commonsense reform that will stop taxpayer dollars from subsidizing organizations involved in terrorism, child trafficking, and transgender procedures that are doing irreversible harm to children,” Kent said in a statement. “The final rule is crystal clear: the Department will enforce it neutrally, without consideration of the employer’s mission, ideology, or the population they serve.”
Another lawsuit challenging the rule is expected to be filed Tuesday on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights advocacy organization, the American Immigration Council and The Door, a legal group. They’re being represented by the groups Student Defense and Public Citizen.
Congress created the program in 2007 to steer more graduates into lower-paying public sector jobs. It promises to forgive their federal student loans after they make payments for 10 years while working in government jobs or for many nonprofits. More than 1 million Americans have had their loans canceled through the program, including teachers, firefighters, nurses and public defenders.
Under the new policy finalized last week, employers can be removed if they engage in activities including the trafficking or “chemical castration” of children, illegal immigration and supporting terrorist groups. “Chemical castration” is defined as using hormone therapy or drugs that delay puberty — gender-affirming care common for transgender children or teens.
The education secretary gets the final say in determining whether a group’s work has an illegal purpose, weighing whether the “preponderance of the evidence” leans against them.
In their lawsuit, the states argue that entire state governments, hospitals, schools and nonprofits could unilaterally be ruled ineligible by the secretary. They say Congress granted the benefit to all government workers, with no room for the Education Department to add limits.
The states also object to the department’s reliance on the phrase “substantial illegal purpose,” saying it’s an “overbroad and impermissibly vague term” that is aimed “at chilling activities that are disfavored by this Administration.”
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the policy unlawful and forbid the Education Department from enforcing it.
Colorado
Judge rejects plea deal for funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 bodies
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Monday rejected the plea agreement of a funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building after family members of the deceased argued that the agreement’s 15- to 20-year sentence was too lenient.
“The sentence negotiated by the parties does not adequately account for the harms that these crimes have caused,” said State District Judge Eric Bentley, describing his rare decision to forego an agreement made by the prosecution and defense for funeral home owner Carie Hallford.
Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of dumping the bodies between 2019 and 2023 in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, and giving families fake ashes.
Jon and Carie Hallford both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year, and Bentley has now rejected both of their plea agreements after family members said the sentence wasn’t enough, with one describing it Monday as a “slap in the face.”
Several asked for just under 200 years in prison for Carie Hallford, which includes tallying a year for each body discovered.
“We are not asking for revenge, we are asking for acknowledgment, for the court to see each victim as the human being that they were,” said Derrick Johnson, whose mother was part of the grim toll.
After the judge’s decision, Carie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea and a trial has been set for next year. Similarly, Jon Hallford previously withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial.
After the discovery of the bodies, families learned that their relatives’ remains weren’t in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with nearly 190 other bodies.
“It’s not just the 191 victims; each of them has extended family who are deeply impacted by this, then there’s the 1,000 or so who will never know what became of their loved one’s bodies,” said Bentley, referencing previous customers of Return to Nature who now question the fate of their relatives’ remains.
Both Hallfords have also admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never did.
Officials said the two spent lavishly, buying a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency.
After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.
States and cities challenge Trump policy overhauling public service loan forgiveness
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 20 Democrat-led states are challenging a new Trump administration policy designed to block nonprofit and government workers from a student loan cancellation program if federal officials determine their employer has a “substantial illegal purpose.”
The policy is aimed primarily at organizations that work with immigrants and transgender youth.
In the lawsuit filed Monday in Massachusetts, the states argue the Trump administration overstepped its authority when it added new eligibility rules for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The overhaul will worsen job shortages and create instability in state workforces, the suit said.
The legal challenge is being led by New York, Massachusetts, California and Colorado. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the rule is “a political loyalty test disguised as a regulation,” adding that it’s “unjust and unlawful to cut off loan forgiveness for hardworking Americans based on ideology.”
A separate coalition of cities, nonprofits and labor organizations also filed a legal challenge in Massachusetts on Monday. That suit was brought by Boston; Chicago; Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Francisco; Santa Clara, California; and the National Council of Nonprofits.
Responding to the lawsuits, Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said it’s unconscionable that the plaintiffs are standing up for criminal activity.
“This is a commonsense reform that will stop taxpayer dollars from subsidizing organizations involved in terrorism, child trafficking, and transgender procedures that are doing irreversible harm to children,” Kent said in a statement. “The final rule is crystal clear: the Department will enforce it neutrally, without consideration of the employer’s mission, ideology, or the population they serve.”
Another lawsuit challenging the rule is expected to be filed Tuesday on behalf of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights advocacy organization, the American Immigration Council and The Door, a legal group. They’re being represented by the groups Student Defense and Public Citizen.
Congress created the program in 2007 to steer more graduates into lower-paying public sector jobs. It promises to forgive their federal student loans after they make payments for 10 years while working in government jobs or for many nonprofits. More than 1 million Americans have had their loans canceled through the program, including teachers, firefighters, nurses and public defenders.
Under the new policy finalized last week, employers can be removed if they engage in activities including the trafficking or “chemical castration” of children, illegal immigration and supporting terrorist groups. “Chemical castration” is defined as using hormone therapy or drugs that delay puberty — gender-affirming care common for transgender children or teens.
The education secretary gets the final say in determining whether a group’s work has an illegal purpose, weighing whether the “preponderance of the evidence” leans against them.
In their lawsuit, the states argue that entire state governments, hospitals, schools and nonprofits could unilaterally be ruled ineligible by the secretary. They say Congress granted the benefit to all government workers, with no room for the Education Department to add limits.
The states also object to the department’s reliance on the phrase “substantial illegal purpose,” saying it’s an “overbroad and impermissibly vague term” that is aimed “at chilling activities that are disfavored by this Administration.”
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to declare the policy unlawful and forbid the Education Department from enforcing it.
Colorado
Judge rejects plea deal for funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 bodies
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado judge on Monday rejected the plea agreement of a funeral home owner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies in a bug-infested building after family members of the deceased argued that the agreement’s 15- to 20-year sentence was too lenient.
“The sentence negotiated by the parties does not adequately account for the harms that these crimes have caused,” said State District Judge Eric Bentley, describing his rare decision to forego an agreement made by the prosecution and defense for funeral home owner Carie Hallford.
Carie Hallford and her husband, Jon Hallford, owned Return to Nature Funeral Home and are accused of dumping the bodies between 2019 and 2023 in a building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver, and giving families fake ashes.
Jon and Carie Hallford both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse last year, and Bentley has now rejected both of their plea agreements after family members said the sentence wasn’t enough, with one describing it Monday as a “slap in the face.”
Several asked for just under 200 years in prison for Carie Hallford, which includes tallying a year for each body discovered.
“We are not asking for revenge, we are asking for acknowledgment, for the court to see each victim as the human being that they were,” said Derrick Johnson, whose mother was part of the grim toll.
After the judge’s decision, Carie Hallford withdrew her guilty plea and a trial has been set for next year. Similarly, Jon Hallford previously withdrew his guilty plea and is scheduled for trial.
After the discovery of the bodies, families learned that their relatives’ remains weren’t in the urn or the ashes they ceremonially spread, but instead were languishing with nearly 190 other bodies.
“It’s not just the 191 victims; each of them has extended family who are deeply impacted by this, then there’s the 1,000 or so who will never know what became of their loved one’s bodies,” said Bentley, referencing previous customers of Return to Nature who now question the fate of their relatives’ remains.
Both Hallfords have also admitted in federal court to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never did.
Officials said the two spent lavishly, buying a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry and cryptocurrency.
After pleading guilty in federal court, Jon Hallford was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Carie Hallford’s sentencing in the federal case is scheduled for December.
