Latest news with #BradFreeman
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
5 GA men charged with distributing meth, cocaine following investigation
Multiple people are being held without bond after complaints about drug sales led to their arrests. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman tasked the MCSO Narcotics Unit to investigate the multiple complaints about drug sales in and around the city of Forsyth. Deputies said after a lengthy investigation and several purchases made in the city of Forsyth on Monday and Tuesday, they arrested several people. The MCSO arrested Emory Denby, 50, Rex Williams, 69, Fredrick Zellner, 42, Robert Downs, 48, and John Blake Smith, 54, all of Monroe County. All five were charged with sale and distribution of methamphetamine and or cocaine. They are being held without bond at the Monroe County Jail. TRENDING STORIES: Asian needle ants crawling across US, now found in 20 states, sting cause life-threatening reaction Fake Uber Eats killing suspect in court, victim's family removed from hearing Atlanta woman accused of using stolen IDs, fake prescriptions to get medicine [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State lawmakers float new tax on Mass. colleges as higher ed faces federal firestorm
As a mounting list of executive orders and federal actions has been waged against higher education, some Massachusetts lawmakers aim to tax colleges that prioritize legacy applicants, children of donors and offer early decision. The bill, which was discussed during a hearing at the Joint Committee on Higher Education on Monday, would make those institutions pay a public service fee to fund state institutions based on their endowment size. That would force institutions like Harvard University to contribute over $106 million, Amherst College to contribute $8.6 million, Williams College to contribute $5.6 million and Wellesley College to contribute $4.5 million, among others. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts Amherst wouldn't be taxed because they don't use the admissions practices. During the hearing, Brad Freeman, vice president of government relations for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, raised concerns about the bill, especially given the current challenges higher education is facing. 'As Massachusetts prepares for demographic changes and economic headwinds along with daily chaos... from D.C., it would be harmful to prohibit colleges and universities from utilizing proven admissions processes such as early decision, which allows campuses to begin building out their classes with students who are passionate about joining that community,' Freeman said. 'The banning of this admissions tool, which enrolls students ranging from Pell-eligible students with a hundred percent financial need. To full-pay students would make Massachusetts the only state in the country with such a policy and put to commonwealth our colleges and universities, our students and parents at an enormous disadvantage,' Freeman said. The bill comes at a time where President Donald Trump is threatening to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status, barring the institution from receiving new federal grants and threatening to take away federal funding from many higher education institutions. In a statement to MassLive, Democratic Rep. Simon Cataldo said the admissions practices are wrong regardless of who is president. 'Meaningful admissions reform in higher education must transcend political cycles — ensuring basic principles of fairness and merit remain steadfast priorities, no matter who occupies the White House. The pernicious practices of donor-based, legacy and binding early decision admission were wrong when we first introduced this bill in January 2023, and remain wrong in our current higher education landscape,' Rep. Cataldo said. However, Freeman said the decision to seek early admission is a choice families should make, not legislators. The tax is 'punitive' and ultimately will drive students away rather than attract them to Massachusetts, he said. 'Higher education is facing a crisis in Washington and I urge the committee to not add to the regulatory and financial burden that is ascending on our sector,' he said. In response to Freeman's comments, Sen. Pavel M. Payano, who sponsored the bill, asked Freeman during the hearing how he'd address concerns that early decision might disadvantage students from low-income backgrounds and Black and Brown communities who can't commit without being able to compare financial aid offers. 'It creates, I think, a difficult situation when you see individuals that are getting in — it looks like there [are] seats for individuals that have wealth,' Payano said. Freeman said he has heard from institutions that Pell-eligible students are represented in both early decision and regular decision and that institutions have gone need-blind or are meeting the full need of students from families with a certain income level. For instance, Harvard University announced that it will cover tuition for families that earn $200,000 or less and will cover tuition, food, housing, health insurance and travel costs for families with annual incomes of $100,000 or less. Read more: Why are more Mass. colleges and universities offering tuition-free programs? The legislation has been discussed for a couple of years now. In 2023, Rep. Cataldo and Sen. Payano introduced the bill, entitled 'An Act to advance fairness, integrity, and excellence in higher education admissions.' Both Rep. Cataldo and Sen. Payano filed the bill in anticipation of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, according to past reporting from MassLive. In addition to taxing institutions based on admissions practices, the bill requires colleges and universities to share admissions data, such as the number of legacy students admitted. The information would then be shared publicly to the office of the Attorney General and the state's Department of Higher Education. Other bills were also discussed during the hearing, which focused on eliminating legacy admissions from colleges and universities in Massachusetts. One of those bills is sponsored by Sen. Lydia Edwards and Rep. Michael Moran entitled 'An Act banning legacy preferences in higher education.' The ban would be in both private and public institutions. California, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and Colorado have all banned legacy admissions in part or all of their institutions. Four-year institutions that consider legacy in admissions has plummeted from 49% in 2015 to 24%, according to a report from Education Reform Now. Several students, legislators and organizers spoke to the importance of getting rid of legacy admissions in Massachusetts during the hearing. 'When I talk to my classmates from these very wealthy backgrounds, I find it shocking how many of them knew that Harvard would be their school because of their legacy status,' said Maddie Register, a first year at Harvard. These are 4 of the most impactful cuts to higher ed in Trump's proposed budget MIT sues federal science agency over cuts to 'crucial research' Eastern Mass. college creates new scholarship for laid-off federal workers Town vote paves the way for new uses for closing Western Mass. college Lawsuit against Trump balloons in size as foreign students face rising risks Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee revives intensive probation program after statewide demand
Justice A.A. Birch Building in Nashville, in which a Community Corrections program has operated. (Photo: Brad Freeman, Metropolitan Nashville General Sessions Court) Three years after curtailing an intensive probation program, the Department of Correction is reviving Community Corrections as part of a last-ditch effort to keep offenders out of prison. The state is taking bids from probation programs across Tennessee to resume supervision services to thousands of people on the brink of being sentenced to prison time. Requests for proposals are to be filed by April 14. Department of Correction spokesperson Dorinda Carter declined to say whether the state is taking a new direction, only that probation services contracts were set to expire and bids were re-issued to provide 'alternatives to incarceration.' Gov. Bill Lee's administration — despite orders from lawmakers to keep Community Corrections going because of its effectiveness — practically wrote the program out of existence with a request for proposals that required different guidelines. Vendors would have to offer either day reporting centers, outpatient treatment or a residential facility, and some weren't prepared to make such a shift. Davidson County Community Corrections keeps clients alive Legislators also sent a strong message to correction officials at an August 2023 meeting that they wanted the program to be renewed, instead of shifting all offenders to the state's probation program, which is considered understaffed and less effective. Lawmakers enacted the program in 1985 as a last-ditch effort to keep people who didn't qualify for regular probation out of prison. Republican Sen. Ed Jackson of Jackson has been working for three years to renew the program to allow Madison County's Community Corrections to start serving probationers again. 'Ever since they did away with it in several counties across the state, every one of them has said we really need it back. It's been effective, it's been good for us, keeps some people out of jail, lets them stay out and work, be supervised locally instead of going to a correctional facility,' Jackson said. The program cost $13.8 million when in full swing in 2022. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
