
Columbia agrees to pay $200 million fine to settle Trump admin dispute
Why it matters: The agreement will see Columbia's federal funding restored.
The administration had pulled about $400 million in federal grants and contracts from the university in March, citing the school's alleged "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
The agreement also calls for the college to pay an additional $21 million to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Zoom in: Under the agreement, "a vast majority" of the federal grants that were terminated or paused in March "will be reinstated and Columbia's access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored," per a post on the school's site.
"Importantly, it safeguards our independence, a critical condition for academic excellence and scholarly exploration, work that is vital to the public interest," said Columbia University's acting president, Claire Shipman in a statement.
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Forbes
a few seconds ago
- Forbes
What's Next For Ether Prices?
Market observers highlighted multiple developments that traders should monitor. getty Ether has been trading within a relatively modest range recently, fluctuating between $3,300 and $3,800 in August following a big month where notable government developments helped boost regulatory clarity for the crypto space. Going forward, what major developments do ether investors need to monitor in order to keep up with this digital currency and make well-informed trades? When asked this very question, market observers highlighted a wide range of variables, ranging from Federal Reserve speculation to the rising incidence of so-called 'whales,' major investors who accumulate significant amounts of the digital currency. One analyst emphasized the importance of speculation surrounding the appointment of a new Fed chair, which could result in a reduction in the benchmark federal funds rate, which could in turn place downward pressure on broader borrowing costs. Fed Chair Jerome Powell currently holds the top role, but President Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned the possibility of replacing him. Markets seem to already be pricing in the possibility of such a development. Pierce Crosby, managing partner of strategy consulting firm Merchant Seven, spoke to these developments. 'Most notably, everyone's watching President Trump's next moves regarding the Federal Reserve chair,' he stated via email. 'There is a lot of contemplation as to what a 'short-term appointment' might look like for the market, and there are a LOT of potential outcomes here,' Crosby added. 'The market does not want the federal reserve to become politicized, but there is a lot of talk around this,' he continued. 'The understanding generally is that a political appointment near-term would be a bullish signal for the market, but even if it might be more short-term bullish, the longer-term implications are that a weaker dollar may improve cryptocurrency performance as a hedge against dollar deterioration,' Crosby noted. Another analyst emphasized the key role that the proliferation of stablecoins could play in impacting the price of ether. He made this statement shortly after Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act) into law. This piece of legislation has provided some regulatory clarity for stablecoins, and could help them achieve a broader presence in the financial system. Austin King, the cofounder of Omni Network, commented on this situation, stating that through email that in the 'shorter term,' 'The biggest thing that traders are watching currently is progress around stablecoins being deployed on Ethereum." 'Many have priced in the announcements that many of the largest banks in the U.S. plan to launch stablecoins, but it will be the actual deployment that pushes $ETH to new highs,' he emphasized. King predicted that in the long-term, these digital currencies, which peg their value to a hard asset like the U.S. dollar, will be the single greatest determinant of ether's future price fluctuations. 'Stablecoins are the number one most important trend to watch when it comes to Ethereum's price movements,' he claimed. 'Standing as the most decentralized network, it is one of the number one places the world's leading institutions are eyeing launching their upcoming stablecoins.' 'Ethereum's growth from 30 cents to over $3,000 in its first 10 years was driven by grassroots developer adoption,' King noted. 'In the next 10 years, it will be the deployment of large scale financial products by the world's leading banks that will push Ethereum to new highs,' he predicted. A handful of analysts cited technical improvements as being bullish for ether prices. George Kailas, CEO of spoke to the upcoming Fusaka upgrade, the hard fork which is scheduled to take place later this year, noting via email that 'the blob increase and its effect on lowering gas costs would be huge for Ether as well as the security expansions in the upgrade.' Douro Labs CEO Mike Cahill also offered input in this particular area, stating that 'On the infrastructure side, Ethereum is nearing a critical point in its rollup roadmap.' 'If Layer 2s continue to drive down costs while maintaining composability, we'll see a renaissance of DeFi innovation that could increase network activity and valuation,' he continued. 'But institutional adoption isn't guaranteed. It will depend on credible, reliable data infrastructure, predictable costs, and compliance-friendly rails—all areas that the Ethereum ecosystem is rapidly improving,' Cahill noted. 'Traders should keep an eye on ETF flows, rollup throughput, and real-world asset integrations as key signals for what's next,' he asserted. Kailas also emphasized the key role that major investors, or whales, could play in ether's price movements going forward, noting that it is a key development he is monitoring closely. 'Nine new whale wallets accumulated over 628,600 ETH worth $2+ billion between late July and early August 2025,' he stated, adding that 'looks like we may be seeing some volatility now but we can expect some appreciation by November.' 'Galaxy also made a $300M purchase recently and Data from onchain analytics firm Glassnode highlights a notable surge in the number of Ethereum mega whale addresses—wallets holding over 10,000 ETH,' Kailas pointed out. 'Since early July, more than 200 new addresses have joined this elite category,' he noted. One market observer offered input that involved technical analysis, which observes an asset's price history in order to get a better sense of where it might go next. He pointed out that recently, both bitcoin and ether have been fluctuating 'in ranges which form lopsided pennants.' The chart below helps illustrate these price movements for ether: Ether prices following a pennant formation Tim Enneking 'Unfortunately, whether both pennants are broken to the up- or down-side probably depends more in the near-term on fiat equity markets than on events within the cryptosphere,' he wrote via comments emailed on August 5. 'Should equity markets correct (which more and more Wall Street pundits are predicting), ETH will follow, at least in the short term,' stated Enneking. 'Paradoxically, recent significant drops in tradfi have seen a much more rapid rebound in digital assets (which, after all, have little inherent correlation to fiat markets) than in those same tradfi assets,' he added. 'Should those pundits be proven wrong, ETH and BTC price trends will almost certainly break the pennants to the upside and we'll see new ATHs.' He followed up the next day, emphasizing that his previous prediction, that ether would more likely move to the upside in the near future, came to pass.


Politico
a few seconds ago
- Politico
How California missed its chance to protect solar funding from Trump
With no official EPA announcement on the Solar for All funding out yet, the CPUC is taking a diplomatic stance. 'The CPUC is actively implementing Solar for All under a stakeholder-driven, EPA-approved workplan,' said agency spokesperson Terrie Prosper. California has about 217 megawatts of capacity of community solar installed or in the pipeline — far less than leading states like Florida (3,873 MW) or New York (2,110 MW). And while other states also haven't spent all their Solar for All awards, some are much further along than California. Illinois, for example, has spent $11 million of its $156 million, according to U.S. spending data analyzed by the firm Atlas Public Policy. California has spent $100,641, according to Atlas' figures. 'California, rather than being a leader in this clean energy aspect, has been a laggard,' said Derek Chernow, western regional director of the Coalition for Community Solar Access, a group of solar developers. California officials have defended the state against other federal provocations on renewable energy, including by suing over lost EV charging funding, proposing a plan to replace lost EV tax credits with state dollars, and weighing fast-tracked permits for renewable energy projects cut off from federal incentives. It's unclear whether the state wants to go to bat for community solar. Asked whether California would sue once the Trump administration terminates the grants, a spokesperson for Attorney General Rob Bonta said the office does not comment on legal strategy. But the episode illustrates how California's window of opportunity is narrowing to get renewable energy projects reliant on federal funding off the ground before the Trump administration quashes them. A bill sponsored by the community solar industry that would have had CPUC redo the tariff and speed up the program failed in the Assembly Appropriations Committee in May. Assemblymember Chris Ward, the author of AB 1260, said he hopes to bring it back next year. 'I've always said that a successful program shouldn't rely on one-time federal funding to survive,' Ward said in a statement. Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO's California Climate newsletter.


Politico
a few seconds ago
- Politico
The California solar initiative that never was
With help from Alex Nieves THROWING SHADE: The Trump administration wants to cancel community solar. In California, the technology never even got off the ground. Almost none of the $250 million that California received from the Inflation Reduction Act's Solar for All program, which the Trump administration is making plans to terminate as soon as this week, has made it out the door yet. Solar companies fear they're on the cusp of losing their best shot at setting up a thriving program in the state for so-called community solar. The dream is to give renters and electricity customers who can't afford to put panels on their rooftops the chance to draw from nearby mid-sized solar installations. But it hasn't gone far in California. 'It's really tragic,' said Joe Henri, senior vice president of policy at community solar developer Dimension Energy. 'California's very elaborate plans are really in jeopardy.' Advocates like Henri aren't just blaming the feds, though. Rather, they're placing a big share of the responsibility at the feet of the California Public Utilities Commission. The EPA announced in April 2024 that it was giving the state a $250 million award. To date, the CPUC, which is responsible for the grant, has distributed next to nothing. The agency set up a tariff structure for community solar programs in May 2024, and said it would use the Solar for All funding to augment the payments, which advocates said would be too stingy to incentivize projects. But that wasn't the end. In that decision, the agency asked utilities and community choice aggregators to file a slew of additional advisory paperwork. The back and forth between the CPUC and interest groups continued on from there. In April 2025, a year after the original EPA award announcement, Administrative Law Judge Valerie Kao put out a notice asking interest groups for more feedback, including how to prudently spend the Solar for All funding before its use-it-or-lose-it deadline of April 2029. State agencies remain in an 'administrative and planning phase,' according to the CPUC website. 'The PUC's slow-walking of this process has likely squandered $250 million in federal support,' said Matthew Freedman, a staff attorney with The Utility Reform Network. 'As of today, we have no program, no development, federal tax credits that are about to sunset, and now an announcement that Solar for All funding is going to be pulled by the Trump administration.' With no official EPA announcement on the Solar for All funding out yet, the CPUC is taking a diplomatic stance. 'The CPUC is actively implementing Solar for All under a stakeholder-driven, EPA-approved workplan,' said agency spokesperson Terrie Prosper. 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