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Federal inquiry traces payments from Gaetz to women; a new Florida-Puerto Rico partnership poised to transform higher-ed landscape; MT joins Tribes to target Canadian mining pollution; Heart health plummets in rural SD and nationwide; CO working families would pay more under Trump tax proposals.

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Transgender rights in Congress, a historic win for Utah's youngest elected official, scrutiny of Democratic Party leadership, and the economic impact of Trump's tax proposals highlight America's shifting political and social landscape.

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The CDC has a new plan to improve the health of rural Americans, updated data could better prepare folks for flash floods like those that devastated Appalachia, and Native American Tribes could play a key role in the nation's energy future.

Critics to DeVos During WA Visit: Policies Only Serve Wealthiest

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Friday, October 13, 2017   

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Protestors plan to greet Education Secretary Betsy DeVos in Bellevue today, where she is scheduled to speak at an annual fundraiser for the Washington Policy Center, a free-market think tank.

The center says it invited DeVos to speak because she's one of the nation's top policy leaders and because of her support for charter schools and the so-called "school choice" movement.

But Carl Livingston, a political science professor at Seattle Central College who will be speaking to protestors, says that policy tips the scales toward the country's wealthiest families.

"It disserves most of the students by setting up charter schools and the privatization of education generally, which will do a good job of serving those with more money and income and means, but not do a good job of serving the average student," he says.

Multiple groups are coming together to protest the DeVos visit starting at 5 P.M., including the American Federation of Teachers of Washington.

AFT points out that DeVos has opposed efforts to overhaul student-loan servicing, scaled back investigations in her department's Civil Rights Office, and supports cuts to federal student loans in the Trump administration's budget. Her critics say all those moves hurt higher education.

Livingston also has concerns about DeVos's pick for the National Assessment Governing Board, a nonpartisan group that administers a national assessment of the country's education system. He says this is yet another instance of the secretary bringing in business people to oversee policies in education.

"Some of them are steeped in experience in business, but not really in education," he adds. "They're really principled business people that are promoting a conservative agenda."

Livingston adds that the protests won't only be about Devos's visit. He says people also are coming together to express concern that equal opportunity for students of all backgrounds is under attack.


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