Florida college leaders concerned over possible changes to student EASE grants
Private college leaders in Florida are concerned about a House plan that could limit access to the Effective Access to Student Education (EASE) grant.
EASE gives some private school students $3,500 toward tuition.
Under the proposal, schools would have to meet new benchmarks like graduation rates and cost of attendance.
Potentially impacting more than 21,000 students statewide.
'The purpose of EASE was to create access for students to go into our institutions, because the publics can't serve every student in Florida, and they can't produce every degree that Florida needs,' said Independent Colleges & Universities of Florida President Bob Boyd.
The House and Senate will start negotiations on their budget plans starting Wednesday.
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CNN
21 minutes ago
- CNN
Months of planning and dozens of names: Takeaways from the federal complaint against Vance Boelter
Heavily armed and dressed in tactical armor with a silicone mask hiding his face and a police-style badge, Vance Boelter made a convincing police officer – so much so that a real police officer mistook him for a fellow cop. The officer encountered Boelter near the home of an unnamed Minnesota public official, where the real officer was heading to conduct a safety check after news that Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife had been shot. The real officer thought Boelter 'was a law enforcement officer providing protection' for the official, according to court documents. In reality, authorities say, Boelter was the gunman who shot the Hoffmans, critically injuring both, before driving to the public official's home with the intent of shooting them, too. The interaction is just one detail revealed in a 20-page affidavit filed by the FBI. Boelter faces six federal charges including murder, firearms and stalking, and could be eligible for the death penalty, after authorities say he fatally shot one Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and attempted to kill Hoffman and his wife. The document, released on Monday, reveals the trove of evidence authorities say link Boelter to the crimes, including weapons allegedly stashed in his car and video footage from the victims' homes. Boelter 'embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families,' according to the affidavit. Authorities say the attacks were highly planned. Boelter possibly spent months gathering personal information about his targets and other officials, and buying supplies for his attack, they said. Here's more on what we learned about how the attacks unfolded. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Boelter went to the homes of at least four different Minnesota lawmakers, according to the complaint. He had 'the intent to kill them,' Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson said Monday. First, Boelter arrived at Hoffman's home in Champlin, Minnesota, 'dressed to impersonate a law enforcement officer' and driving a black SUV with 'law-enforcement style emergency lights.' Video footage from the state senator's home shows Boelter, with a silicone full head mask obscuring his face, arriving and knocking at the door, shouting, 'This is the police. Open the door,' according to the affidavit. When the Hoffmans opened the door, Boelter said there had been a shooting reported inside the house and asked if they had any guns. He shined a flashlight in the couple's face, 'impairing their view of Boelter.' Then, according to Yvette Hoffman, she realized that Boelter was wearing a mask – and they told him he wasn't a real police officer. Boelter shouted 'this is a robbery.' John Hoffman tried to push him out of the home and Boelter then shot the couple 'repeatedly.' Both victims suffered 'critical' gunshot wounds but survived. The Hoffmans' daughter called 911 around 2 a.m., according to the document. After shooting the Hoffmans, Boelter drove about 12 miles south to the home of another Minnesota elected representative, identified only as 'Public Official 1,' in Maple Grove, Minnesota. At the second public official's home, he followed the same playbook, saying, 'This is the police. Open the door,' surveillance camera video footage shows, according to the complaint. But the public official wasn't home – so Boelter left. By this point, law enforcement had learned about the attack on the Hoffmans and dispatched an officer for a safety check at the home of 'Public Official 2,' in New Hope, Minnesota, according to the complaint. At a Monday news conference, Thompson identified the official as a state senator. At 2:36 a.m., police found a man 'now believed to have been Boelter,' sitting in his black SUV, which 'resembled a squad car,' down the street from the official's home. Thinking Boelter was another officer sent for a safety check, the officer tried to speak with him, but he stared straight ahead and didn't respond. The officer continued to Public Official 2's residence, where 'no signs of distress' were found, and by the time other officers arrived, the SUV had left. At around 3:30 a.m., local law enforcement arrived at state Rep. Melissa Hortman's home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, according to the affidavit. When Brooklyn Park Police officers arrived to do a safety check on the longtime Democratic lawmaker, they saw Boelter standing near the front door. He began firing into the house and entered the home. Officers then entered the house and found Hortman's husband 'struck by multiple gunshots' and the representative, who was 'suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.' The family dog was also 'gravely injured.' The Hortmans died from their injuries. Boelter fled the scene on foot, leaving behind his black SUV, in which police found several firearms and notebooks. A Beretta semiautomatic handgun was discovered near the Hortmans' home, as well as a flashlight, tactical body armor vest, and a mask according to the affidavit. Records showed that the Beretta was purchased by Boelter around 2000, according to the affidavit. Boelter had 'extensively planned his stalking, murders, and attempted murders,' reads the affidavit, including assembling the police-style disguise he used and researching his targets. His vehicle was outfitted with 'police-style lights,' which were 'on and flashing' when police arrived at the Hortmans' home. It was also affixed with a fake license plate that read 'Police.' At the suspect's home, officers found a June 9 receipt, which showed the purchase of a flashlight, a tactical rifle case, two types of firearm ammunition, and materials thought to be used to make the fake 'Police' license plate. In one of Boelter's notebooks, officers found the names of three websites for companies that sell realistic face masks, 'similar to the one Boelter wore.' Authorities discovered multiple notebooks, both in Boelter's home and his vehicle, with the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, 'mostly or all Democrats,' according to the complaint. He also included personal information about officials, like their addresses and the names of their family members. Hortman was included in several of the lists, along with details about her home and family, according to the affidavit. Boelter used websites that 'allow users to search for the personal information of others, like home addresses and family member names,' according to the document. Several lawmakers have reported that they were included on the lists, including Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota and US Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan. Five firearms, including 'semi-automatic, assault-style rifles,' were found in an SUV registered to Boelter and his wife, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was found parked outside the Hortmans' home after the gunman fled on foot. There was also a 'large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines.' Inside the SUV, authorities also found 'a medical kit containing wound treatment supplies and several eye masks of the kind that might be worn while sleeping.' After fatally shooting the Hortmans and fleeing on Foot, Boelter returned to a north Minneapolis home where he stayed part time and then, at around 7 a.m. local time, met a person identified as 'Witness 1' in the federal complaint. He agreed to buy an electronic bike and a Buick sedan from the witness. The Buick was later discovered abandoned on the highway, close to where someone reported a sighting of Boelter on an electronic bike to law enforcement. In the hours after the attacks took place, Boelter sent a chilling text message to family members, according to the affidavit. 'Dad went to war last night … I don't wanna say more because I don't wanna implicate anybody,' one text from Boelter to members of his family read, according to the affidavit. Boelter also appeared to acknowledge that his actions were putting his family in danger. 'Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation,' he wrote. 'There's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around.' Boelter's wife consented to a search of their car, the affidavit says, where investigators found two handguns, passports for Boelter's wife and their children and about $10,000 in cash. Officers found a handwritten letter to the FBI in the Buick Boelter bought and abandoned, in which the writer identifies themself as 'Dr. Vance Luther Boelter' and says they are 'the shooter at large in Minnesota.' Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar joins CNN's Dana Bash to react to the stunning assassination of her friend Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Despite the 'voluminous writings' discovered in Boelter's home and car, no clear manifesto has been uncovered, according to Thompson, the acting US attorney. No manifesto is mentioned in the affidavit. 'In his writings, he had many, many notebooks full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts that he took to surveil and locate the home addresses and family members, relationships with these elected officials,' he said. 'But I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him,' he went on. 'Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people. They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it's just way too speculative for anyone that's reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.' A longtime friend, David Carlson, told CNN on Saturday that Boelter was a conservative who was strongly against abortion access but never mentioned particular anger with the lawmakers who were shot. CNN's Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, and Sara Smart contributed to this report.
Politico
26 minutes ago
- Politico
Senate Republicans cool to Finance Committee's tax plan
Senate GOP leaders are facing early pushback over a key plank of their 'big, beautiful bill' just hours after rolling it out, underscoring the work that remains to bring the legislation to the floor next week. Signs of discontent within the Republican Conference came as Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo privately briefed his colleagues Monday night on his portion of the megabill central to enacting key elements of President Donald Trump's domestic agenda. Crapo's committee is responsible for some of the most politically consequential components of the party-line package, including changes to Medicaid, the fate of clean-energy energy tax credits and the state-and-local tax deduction that is important to high-tax state House Republicans. The briefing Monday was designed to explain the panel's rationale, answer questions and alleviate any anxieties. But immediate reaction from lawmakers across the ideological spectrum upon that meeting's conclusion indicated leadership has a ways to go — especially as Republicans still hope to meet their self-imposed July Fourth deadline for clearing the larger bill for Trump's signature. 'We're not doing anything to significantly alter the course of the financial future of this country,' Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters Monday evening, adding that the current Senate Finance proposal 'does not meet the moment' and that he would vote no if it came to the floor as is. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has drawn public red lines over any overhauls to Medicaid resulting in potential losses in benefits, described himself as 'alarmed' by the committee's new plan, which would go further than the House bill on making changes to the health care safety net program. 'This needs a lot of work. It's really concerning and I'm really surprised by it. … I'd be really interested to see what the president thinks of it,' said Hawley, who has previously said that Trump personally told him the bill should not cut Medicaid benefits. Senate Republicans agreed to nothing in the Monday night meeting, according to attendees, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Crapo both emphasizing that Republicans were engaged in an ongoing negotiation — both among themselves and with their House counterparts, who passed their version of the megabill last month. Thune afterward summed up his message to the conference as: 'We gotta get this done.' Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), in describing Crapo and Thune's messaging at the briefing, said, 'They're really patient. They are listening to everyone's ideas. And they're still working on it — it's still a work in progress.' Crapo's bill would, among other things, scale back some of Trump's campaign promises on creating new tax breaks for tips and overtime. He is also seeking to soften the House-passed bill's endowment tax hike and include a smaller increase on the Child Tax Credit. Senators also pitched Crapo and Thune at the Monday meeting on their own ideas about what they still want to see in the bill. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of leadership, said the meeting 'wasn't hostile' but lawmakers told Crapo and Thune, 'I've got questions.'' Lankford added, 'Some people were like, 'I want to go even more.' … But somebody else would step up and say, 'that's already farther than I want to be able to go.'' Thune wants to put the bill on the floor next week, when he can only lose three GOP senators and still ensure the measure's passage. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is widely expected to vote 'no.' And based on the early reaction to both the tax portion of the megabill, Thune still has work to do to shore up his whip count elsewhere, too. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who shares Johnson's concerns about spending too much and not reducing the deficit enough, said he also doesn't believe the emerging Senate megabill framework goes far enough on Medicaid. Scott suggested that lawmakers should reconsider attaching a provision to the bill that would scale back the 90 percent of Medicaid expansion costs covered by the federal government. This policy change would yield major savings to offset the legislation's heavy price tag, but was deemed too politically toxic to follow through on in the House. 'The only way this is going to get fixed is — we've got to say the 90-10 match doesn't make any sense,' Scott said after the closed-door meeting. Elsewhere in the conference, Hawley and other Senate Republicans are squeamish about the Senate Finance plan to draw down the provider tax and how that would impact funding for rural hospitals. Many states use this tax to help fund their Medicaid programs. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine largely declined to comment as she left the meeting, but asked if she still had concerns about the provider tax, she said: 'Yes, I do.' And while she credited leadership with consulting closely with her as they drafted the Finance draft text, conceded they didn't heed her on every demand: 'Sometimes yes, sometimes no.' The Senate Finance Committee text released Monday also would soften the House version's phaseout of Biden-era clean-energy tax credits, where members of the House Freedom Caucus won eleventh-hour concessions from leadership to pursue more aggressive rollbacks of the green incentives. The Senate panel's proposed language would constitute its own concession to some purple-state and moderate Republicans who have warned that the House bill would undercut businesses that have already made investments based on certainty around the climate law subsidies. But GOP leadership's attempts to find a middle ground sparked public pushback from Sen. Mike Lee, with the Utah Republican writing on X, 'Extending these subsidies beyond the Trump administration effectively makes them permanent Who else did *not* vote for that?' Complicating matters: It's not just Senate Republicans who are crying foul over details of the Senate Finance proposal. House Republicans are warning, too, that the committee's initial draft text that put the SALT dedication cap at $10,000 is a nonstarter in their chamber, where Speaker Mike Johnson cut a deal to raise it to $40,000. Republicans tried to mollify their House counterparts Monday by noting that their initial offer was just a stand-in as they continue discussing a different cap all sides could live with. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) said that he had also been in touch that very day with Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who panned the Senate proposal as 'dead on arrival.' 'That was just a placeholder,' Mullin said. 'I talked to Mike about it. We understand.' House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.), in a social media post late Monday, offered congratulations to Crapo on his chamber's opening bid. 'We've worked closely together for months to reach agreement on key provisions, while understanding the work that remains to be done to achieve consensus between both chambers of Congress and get this bill on the President's desk,' said the House's chief tax writer. 'We will thread that needle to respect the needs of both bodies in the days ahead. Benjamin Guggenheim contributed to this report.
CNN
30 minutes ago
- CNN
Months of planning and dozens of names: Takeaways from the federal complaint against Vance Boelter
Heavily armed and dressed in tactical armor with a silicone mask hiding his face and a police-style badge, Vance Boelter made a convincing police officer – so much so that a real police officer mistook him for a fellow cop. The officer encountered Boelter near the home of an unnamed Minnesota public official, where the real officer was heading to conduct a safety check after news that Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife had been shot. The real officer thought Boelter 'was a law enforcement officer providing protection' for the official, according to court documents. In reality, authorities say, Boelter was the gunman who shot the Hoffmans, critically injuring both, before driving to the public official's home with the intent of shooting them, too. The interaction is just one detail revealed in a 20-page affidavit filed by the FBI. Boelter faces six federal charges including murder, firearms and stalking, and could be eligible for the death penalty, after authorities say he fatally shot one Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and attempted to kill Hoffman and his wife. The document, released on Monday, reveals the trove of evidence authorities say link Boelter to the crimes, including weapons allegedly stashed in his car and video footage from the victims' homes. Boelter 'embarked on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families,' according to the affidavit. Authorities say the attacks were highly planned. Boelter possibly spent months gathering personal information about his targets and other officials, and buying supplies for his attack, they said. Here's more on what we learned about how the attacks unfolded. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Boelter went to the homes of at least four different Minnesota lawmakers, according to the complaint. He had 'the intent to kill them,' Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson said Monday. First, Boelter arrived at Hoffman's home in Champlin, Minnesota, 'dressed to impersonate a law enforcement officer' and driving a black SUV with 'law-enforcement style emergency lights.' Video footage from the state senator's home shows Boelter, with a silicone full head mask obscuring his face, arriving and knocking at the door, shouting, 'This is the police. Open the door,' according to the affidavit. When the Hoffmans opened the door, Boelter said there had been a shooting reported inside the house and asked if they had any guns. He shined a flashlight in the couple's face, 'impairing their view of Boelter.' Then, according to Yvette Hoffman, she realized that Boelter was wearing a mask – and they told him he wasn't a real police officer. Boelter shouted 'this is a robbery.' John Hoffman tried to push him out of the home and Boelter then shot the couple 'repeatedly.' Both victims suffered 'critical' gunshot wounds but survived. The Hoffmans' daughter called 911 around 2 a.m., according to the document. After shooting the Hoffmans, Boelter drove about 12 miles south to the home of another Minnesota elected representative, identified only as 'Public Official 1,' in Maple Grove, Minnesota. At the second public official's home, he followed the same playbook, saying, 'This is the police. Open the door,' surveillance camera video footage shows, according to the complaint. But the public official wasn't home – so Boelter left. By this point, law enforcement had learned about the attack on the Hoffmans and dispatched an officer for a safety check at the home of 'Public Official 2,' in New Hope, Minnesota, according to the complaint. At a Monday news conference, Thompson identified the official as a state senator. At 2:36 a.m., police found a man 'now believed to have been Boelter,' sitting in his black SUV, which 'resembled a squad car,' down the street from the official's home. Thinking Boelter was another officer sent for a safety check, the officer tried to speak with him, but he stared straight ahead and didn't respond. The officer continued to Public Official 2's residence, where 'no signs of distress' were found, and by the time other officers arrived, the SUV had left. At around 3:30 a.m., local law enforcement arrived at state Rep. Melissa Hortman's home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, according to the affidavit. When Brooklyn Park Police officers arrived to do a safety check on the longtime Democratic lawmaker, they saw Boelter standing near the front door. He began firing into the house and entered the home. Officers then entered the house and found Hortman's husband 'struck by multiple gunshots' and the representative, who was 'suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.' The family dog was also 'gravely injured.' The Hortmans died from their injuries. Boelter fled the scene on foot, leaving behind his black SUV, in which police found several firearms and notebooks. A Beretta semiautomatic handgun was discovered near the Hortmans' home, as well as a flashlight, tactical body armor vest, and a mask according to the affidavit. Records showed that the Beretta was purchased by Boelter around 2000, according to the affidavit. Boelter had 'extensively planned his stalking, murders, and attempted murders,' reads the affidavit, including assembling the police-style disguise he used and researching his targets. His vehicle was outfitted with 'police-style lights,' which were 'on and flashing' when police arrived at the Hortmans' home. It was also affixed with a fake license plate that read 'Police.' At the suspect's home, officers found a June 9 receipt, which showed the purchase of a flashlight, a tactical rifle case, two types of firearm ammunition, and materials thought to be used to make the fake 'Police' license plate. In one of Boelter's notebooks, officers found the names of three websites for companies that sell realistic face masks, 'similar to the one Boelter wore.' Authorities discovered multiple notebooks, both in Boelter's home and his vehicle, with the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials, 'mostly or all Democrats,' according to the complaint. He also included personal information about officials, like their addresses and the names of their family members. Hortman was included in several of the lists, along with details about her home and family, according to the affidavit. Boelter used websites that 'allow users to search for the personal information of others, like home addresses and family member names,' according to the document. Several lawmakers have reported that they were included on the lists, including Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota and US Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan. Five firearms, including 'semi-automatic, assault-style rifles,' were found in an SUV registered to Boelter and his wife, according to the affidavit. The vehicle was found parked outside the Hortmans' home after the gunman fled on foot. There was also a 'large quantity of ammunition organized into loaded magazines.' Inside the SUV, authorities also found 'a medical kit containing wound treatment supplies and several eye masks of the kind that might be worn while sleeping.' After fatally shooting the Hortmans and fleeing on Foot, Boelter returned to a north Minneapolis home where he stayed part time and then, at around 7 a.m. local time, met a person identified as 'Witness 1' in the federal complaint. He agreed to buy an electronic bike and a Buick sedan from the witness. The Buick was later discovered abandoned on the highway, close to where someone reported a sighting of Boelter on an electronic bike to law enforcement. In the hours after the attacks took place, Boelter sent a chilling text message to family members, according to the affidavit. 'Dad went to war last night … I don't wanna say more because I don't wanna implicate anybody,' one text from Boelter to members of his family read, according to the affidavit. Boelter also appeared to acknowledge that his actions were putting his family in danger. 'Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation,' he wrote. 'There's gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don't want you guys around.' Boelter's wife consented to a search of their car, the affidavit says, where investigators found two handguns, passports for Boelter's wife and their children and about $10,000 in cash. Officers found a handwritten letter to the FBI in the Buick Boelter bought and abandoned, in which the writer identifies themself as 'Dr. Vance Luther Boelter' and says they are 'the shooter at large in Minnesota.' Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar joins CNN's Dana Bash to react to the stunning assassination of her friend Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. Despite the 'voluminous writings' discovered in Boelter's home and car, no clear manifesto has been uncovered, according to Thompson, the acting US attorney. No manifesto is mentioned in the affidavit. 'In his writings, he had many, many notebooks full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts that he took to surveil and locate the home addresses and family members, relationships with these elected officials,' he said. 'But I have not seen anything involving some sort of political screed or manifesto that would clearly identify what motivated him,' he went on. 'Obviously, his primary motive was to go out and murder people. They were all elected officials. They were all Democrats. Beyond that, I think it's just way too speculative for anyone that's reviewed these materials to know and to say what was motivating him in terms of ideology or specific issues.' A longtime friend, David Carlson, told CNN on Saturday that Boelter was a conservative who was strongly against abortion access but never mentioned particular anger with the lawmakers who were shot. CNN's Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, and Sara Smart contributed to this report.
