The Education Department announced Monday that it had canceled student loans for more than 150,000 borrowers, bringing the tally of Americans whose loans were forgiven under President Joe Biden to more than 5 million.

The Biden administration reached the milestone even though many of its more ambitious plans to overhaul the nation’s system for administering student debt faltered over the past two years, forcing the administration to slowly but steadily process applications for relief through established channels created by Congress.

The latest cancellations were most likely the administration’s final round of relief. They covered borrowers who have worked in public service for at least 10 years, students who had applied after being defrauded or misled by their school, and some students with disabilities.

With Monday’s authorization and 27 previous ones, the Biden administration has canceled more than $183 billion in outstanding student loans.

“Since Day 1 of my administration, I promised to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I’m proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history,” Biden said in a statement.

Despite Carter honor, Trump raises club flags

U.S. flags at President-elect Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club are back to flying at full height.

Flags are supposed to fly at half-staff through the end of January out of respect for former President Jimmy Carter, who died on Dec. 29. A large flag on Trump’s property in Palm Beach was initially lowered to half-staff according to protocol but has since been raised in the days after Carter was buried Thursday in his hometown of Plains, Ga.

Both President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, directed that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the date of Carter’s death — or through Jan. 28.

Trump has expressed annoyance that flags will be at half-staff on Jan. 20 when he takes the oath of office for his second term. A spokesperson for Trump on Monday did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Village People among Trump entertainment

Country music star Carrie Underwood will perform “America the Beautiful” at Donald Trump’s inauguration next week and the 1970s hitmakers Village People will perform at two inaugural events.

Underwood, who launched her career on “American Idol,” is to perform shortly before Trump takes the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, according to a copy of the inaugural program provided to the Associated Press on Monday.

“I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the Inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event,” Underwood said in a statement Monday. “I am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future.”

American disco group the Village People made a name for themselves in the late-70s for their chant-along dance-pop hits and their colorful on-stage personas. Their best known hit, “Y.M.C.A.,” is widely considered a gay anthem — and became a staple of Trump’s rallies in the last election, along with their hit “Macho Man.”

Melania Trump plans full-time presence

Melania Trump, the former and incoming first lady, said in an interview broadcast Monday that she planned to live and work full time in the White House during Donald Trump’s second term, addressing speculation about whether she would be a regular presence in Washington.

Melania Trump told “Fox and Friends” that she would travel as needed to New York, her longtime home where she stayed regularly during her husband’s first term, and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which has become his official state of residence.

“When I need to be in New York, I will be in New York,” she said. “When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife.”

She offered some hints about her likely role in the second Trump White House. She said she would continue her “Be Best” campaign, a program targeting youth mental health issues and social media use, and said she was still hiring staff members for her office.

Musk to use office in White House complex

Elon Musk is expected to use office space in the White House complex as he launches the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to slash government spending in the Trump administration, according to two people briefed on the plans.

The space will be in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House. The location could allow Musk, who owns companies with billions of dollars in contracts with the government, to continue to have significant access to President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office.

Musk donated hundreds of millions to help Trump win the 2024 election and has been a regular by his side since then, often using one of the cottages available for rent on Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago.

Health experts malign RFK Jr.’s nomination

A new national coalition of health professionals and scientists, mobilizing to oppose Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the United States’ next health secretary, released a public letter Monday warning that his “unfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.”

The coalition, calling itself “Defend Public Health,” includes faculty members from some of the United States’ leading academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Harvard. Its leaders said they had gathered 700 signatures on the public letter and had generated 3,500 individual letters urging senators to reject Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Mr. Kennedy is unqualified to lead the nation’s health department with a budget of over $1.6 trillion and over 80,000 employees,” the public letter states. “He has little to no relevant administrative, policy or health experience or expertise that would prepare him to oversee the work of critical public health agencies.”

Lebanon P.M. selection angers Hezbollah

Lebanon’s new president has asked prominent diplomat and jurist Nawaf Salam to form the country’s new government after Salam was named prime minister by a large number of legislators Monday. The move apparently angered the Hezbollah group and its allies.

Salam is currently serving as the head of the International Court of Justice and his nomination was made by Western-backed groups as well as independents in the Lebanese parliament. Salam has the support of Saudi Arabia and Western countries as well. Hezbollah legislators abstained from naming any candidate for the prime minister’s post.

Salam’s nomination is seen by many as a glimpse of hope after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that left 4,000 people dead.

High court sidesteps climate lawsuit case

In a decision widely seen as benefiting climate activists, the Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a challenge to a lawsuit filed by Honolulu against oil companies over their role in global warming.

The Honolulu case is one of the most prominent among two dozen similar suits brought by state and local governments that argue oil companies engaged in a decades-long cover-up about climate change in a quest for profit, and should have to pay for the consequences.

If the Supreme Court had chosen to review Honolulu’s lawsuit, experts said, the energy companies likely would have moved to pause the other cases immediately. And an eventual decision by the conservative high court could have later doomed the cases. Now, however, the lawsuits will be able to proceed in state courts.

High court sides with land conservationists

The Supreme Court on Monday turned back a push by the state of Utah to wrest control of vast areas of public land from the federal government, marking a small victory for land conservation advocates who worry that similar efforts may escalate in a Republican-controlled Washington.

The high court refused to let the GOP-controlled state file a lawsuit seeking to bring the land and its resources under state control. The decision came in a brief order in which the court did not explain its reasoning, as is typical. It marks the latest roadblock for states in a running feud with the U.S. government over who should control huge swaths of the West and the enormous oil and gas, timber, and other resources they contain.

Utah’s top state leaders said they have not ruled out taking their lawsuit to a lower court.

New Manhattan toll cuts traffic by 7.5%

A new toll on drivers entering the core of Manhattan brought modest but measurable traffic reductions to New York City’s heavily gridlocked streets in its first week of operation, according to preliminary data released Monday by the state’s transit authority.

Known as “congestion pricing,” the first-in-the-nation program launched on Jan. 5, collecting $9 from most passenger cars entering the city below Central Park during peak hours and higher fees on trucks and other vehicles. In the days since, total traffic in the tolling zone has dropped by 7.5% — or roughly 43,000 cars per day — compared to the equivalent period last year, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said.

“Just look out the window: there is less traffic, quieter streets, and we think everyone has seen it,” said Juliette Michaelson, the MTA deputy chief of policy and external relations.

Blue Origin planning to retry rocket launch

Blue Origin will try again to launch its massive new rocket as early as Tuesday after calling off the debut launch because of ice buildup in critical plumbing.

The 320-foot New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn Monday in Florida with a prototype satellite. But ice formed in a purge line for a unit powering some of the rocket’s hydraulic systems and launch controllers ran out of time to clear it.

Founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin said Tuesday’s poor weather forecast could cause more delay.

The test flight already had been delayed by rough seas that posed a risk to the company’s plan to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic.

— News service reports