The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday unveiled proposed new regulations that officials said would make it easier to afford student loans payments.

The changes would revamp how federal income-driven repayment plans work by, in part, raising income thresholds so more borrowers are eligible for $0 monthly payments.

“For more Americans to realize the benefits of higher education we must make paying student loans more affordable,” said U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona during a call with reporters. “We’re making a new promise to today’s borrowers and to generations to come: Your student loan repayments will be affordable.”

About 8 million people are currently enrolled in one of the federal income-based repayment plans, and the pending updates could attract more participants, officials said.

Under the proposed new rules, single borrowers who earn less than about $30,600 a year and any borrower in a family of four who makes less than about $62,400 would not need to make any monthly loan payments. The thresholds would vary by family size.

Additionally, borrowers with higher incomes would save at least $1,000 a year compared to their existing income-driven repayment plans, officials estimated. Those who borrowed money to pay for undergraduate studies would see payments cut in half from 10% of their discretionary income to 5%.

The new rules would stop unpaid interest from accumulating and shorten the timeframe that those with smaller loans must be in repayment before they qualify to have any remaining balances forgiven.

Jury selected, Proud Boys trial set to start

A jury has been chosen for the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the far-right extremist group charged with plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power by attacking the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election.

Jurors are expected to hear attorneys’ opening statements in Washington’s federal court on Wednesday after the panel is sworn in, defense attorney Carmen Hernandez said. It’s one of the most serious cases to emerge from the deadly insurrection that halted Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

Ukrainian troops to train in U.S.

Ukrainian troops are heading to the United States soon for training on the Patriot missile system, defense officials said Tuesday, in what would be a rare case of Ukrainian troops receiving training on American soil.

The training will take place in Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Fort Sill is where U.S. troops undergo their own training in how to operate and maintain the Patriot system, which is the United States’ most advanced ground-based air defense system.

Most of the training on American weapons systems for Ukraine has taken place in Germany, but in the case of the Patriot system, Pentagon officials had already indicated that they were considering training the Ukrainians in the United States.

Calif. Democrat to seek Feinstein Senate seat

Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California said Tuesday she will seek the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a fellow Democrat and the oldest member of the chamber.

Porter is a progressive Democrat who was first elected to Congress in 2018 and won a tight race for reelection to her newly redrawn Southern California district in November.

“To win these fights, it’s time for new leadership in the U.S. Senate,” she said.

Feinstein, 89, has for several years faced questions about her health and whether she will seek another term. She has not announced whether she will seek reelection in 2024, though she is widely expected to retire.

Ex-Trump exec gets 5-month sentence

Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s convicted chief financial officer, was sentenced to five months in jail on Tuesday for scheming to dodge taxes at former President Donald Trump’s company.

Weisselberg, 75, appeared before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to learn his fate. The judge declined a request from his lawyer to bring down the agreed-upon sentence.

Merchan called out Weisselberg for his greed “at a time when so many Americans work so hard in the hopes that they may one day be able to benefit from their contributions.”

The veteran sentry of the Trump Organization’s coffers has worked for the Trump family since his hiring by Trump’s father, Fred, in Brooklyn in the early 1970s to work as a bookkeeper. He described himself in a 2015 deposition as Trump’s “eyes and ears” from a financial standpoint.

In pleading guilty last August and in his testimony at the trial, Weisselberg admitted to receiving more than $1.7 million in off-the-books perks over 15 years while heading the Trump Organization finances, on top of his $450,000 salary and hefty bonuses.

Democrats seek House ethics probe of Santos

The House Ethics Committee was asked Tuesday to investigate Rep. George Santos, the newly-elected Republican from New York who has admitted to lying about his job experience, college education and even family heritage, and now faces questions about his campaign financial disclosures.

In a letter to the Ethics Committee, Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, both of New York, said Santos also failed to file “timely, accurate and complete” financial disclosure reports as required by law. They said the reports Santos did file are “sparse and perplexing.” They asked the panel to investigate and “take appropriate action as soon as possible.”

Some Democratic leaders said Santos should be expelled from the House.

A spokesperson for Santos did not respond to a request for comment.

Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday the situation is being “handled internally” by Republicans.

Biden, Trudeau talk regional concerns

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday pledged to promote prosperity for people throughout the hemisphere as they opened wide-ranging talks about the fragile security situation in Haiti, North American trade, political unrest in Brazil and more on the sidelines of the North American Leaders Summit.

Biden and Trudeau met one-on-one before a three-way meeting with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the Mexico City summit.

Biden told Trudeau, “What we should be doing, and we are doing, is demonstrating the unlimited economic potential that we have when we work together in the hemisphere, and to help the entire hemisphere.”

All three world leaders were to discuss migration, trade and climate change as they look to mend tensions that have divided the continent.

Weinstein seeks overturn of conviction

Fresh off a second rape conviction, Harvey Weinstein asked New York’s highest court Tuesday to overturn his first one, arguing that the judge in his 2020 case betrayed his right to a fair trial by “succumbing to the pressure” of the #MeToo movement.

Weinstein’s lawyers are asking the state’s Court of Appeals to dismiss the disgraced movie mogul’s rape conviction and to order a new trial on a single count of criminal sexual act. The rape charge, they said, involves alleged conduct outside the statute of limitations and couldn’t be retried.

Weinstein, 70, was convicted in a Manhattan court in February 2020 of a criminal sex act on a TV and film production assistant in 2006, and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Subdued Golden Globes return to TV

The Golden Globes returned to the air Tuesday with a red carpet flush with celebrities and comedian Jerrod Carmichael as a hesitant emcee.

Carmichael kicked off the 80th Golden Globes from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., with little of the fanfare that usually opens such ceremonies. He plunged straight into the issues that drove the Globes off television and led much of the entertainment industry to boycott the sponsoring Hollywood Foreign Press Association after the group was revealed to have no Black members.

Stars and studios boycotted last year’s ceremony, which NBC opted not to televise, saying the Hollywood Foreign Press Association needed time to make “meaningful reform.”

Under mounting pressure, the HFPA pledged to reform, diversified its membership and changed some of the ways it operates. It now has 96 members, including six Black members, along with 103 nonmember voters.

NBC reworked its deal with the HFPA, putting the awards on a one-year contract and moving the show to Tuesday from its regular Sunday night spot.

New Navajo Nation leader sworn in

Buu Nygren was sworn in Tuesday as the next president of the vast Navajo Nation, a job that will test his ability to make good on promises to deliver water, electricity and broadband to tens of thousands of residents who don’t have it.

Nygren beat out incumbent President Jonathan Nez in the tribe’s general election by about 3,500 votes. The office heavily intersects with the federal government, as do other tribes that receive federal funding for services like housing, health care, education and public safety.

Nygren stood in front of a wall made of woven Navajo blankets as he addressed the crowd in his native language of Diné. He went on to say his administration’s mission will be to bring basic services, better roads and improved public safety to the Navajo Nation.

— From news services