Latest news with #NCAN
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
As Death Threats Continue, Karmelo Anthony Is Forced into Hiding Before Murder Trial
Since being charged with murder, a Texas teen's family has been vocal about threats to their safety. And after weeks of alleged harassment, now it seems drastic steps have been taken ahead of 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony's trial. The teen was accused of the murder of another 17-year-old, Austin Metcalf, during a track meet. Anthony bailed out of jail after Judge Angela Tucker lowered his bond and placed him on house arrest, as we previously reported. Now, Anthony has been removed from his family home in response to growing concerns, according to a Next Generation Action Network (NCAN) news release obtained by the Daily Mail. The move was approved by the courts, and the location of the teen hasn't been shared with the public for obvious reasons. NCAN said in a statement there's been an 'alarming increase in death threats, continued harassment, and physical intimidation targeted at the family's home' since his arrest. The threats reflect growing tensions as the high-profile killing of Metcalf continues to divide the nation. As The Root previously reported, Anthony was arrested after an April 2 altercation between Anthony, Metcalf, and his twin brother, Hunter, during a track meet. According to police, the brothers confronted Anthony about sitting under a tent designated for athletes, and that's when things escalated. Anthony allegedly told Austin, 'Touch me and see what happens.' That's when witnesses say a scuffle ensued, sparking the fatal stabbing. Austin died in his brother's arms as Anthony fled the scene. The 17-year-old claimed self defense to arresting officers. During a press conference held by Anthony's reps, the teen's mother, Kayla Hayes, addressed misinformation concerning her family. 'Whatever you think that happened between Karmelo and the Metcalf boys, my three younger children, my husband and I didn't do anything to deserve to be threatened, harassed and lied about,' she said. Hayes went on to claim 'the lies and the false accusations,' such as the family buying a new lavish home, purchasing new cars and even hiring security, are without merit and have put her family in danger. 'I don't know why we are being targeted and discriminated against before a fair trial,' she continued. 'Our son deserved the same rights under the law that everyone is afforded to.' After Anthony went into hiding, NGAN shared examples of the alleged harassment against the teen's family. This included strangers allegedly loitering near the family home, sending copies of Metcalf's obituary, and going as far as to send fake food delivers to the family's door, Fox 5 reported. A rally also took place this past weekend at Frisco's Kuykendall Stadium, where the stabbing took place. The protest was organized by Protect White Americans, an group founded by Jake Lang who was arrested during the Capitol Insurrection, according to the Guardian. Signs at the rally read 'protect white Americans' and 'stop black violence on white Americans,' the Daily Mail reported. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Daily Mail
21-04-2025
- Daily Mail
Family of teen 'killer' Karmelo Anthony take drastic step to 'ensure his safety'
Alleged teenage killer Karmelo Anthony has been moved into hiding after he and his family were slammed with death threats at their home. Anthony, who stands accused of stabbing and killing 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a track meet in Frisco, Texas on April 2, walked free from jail on April 14 after his bond was reduced from $1 million to $250,000. As ordered by Judge Angela Tucker mandated Anthony, 17, was placed on house arrest. But the alleged murderer has been removed from his family's home to an undisclosed location as they worry for his safety, according to a Next Generation Action Network (NCAN) news release from Monday morning. NCAN, the North Texas civil rights group advocating for Anthony and his family, said the court-approved decision to move him was to 'ensure his immediate safety.' This comes as an 'alarming increase in death threats, continued harassment, and physical intimidation targeted at the family's home' have rolled in over the past few days, the nonprofit group claimed. NGAN shared images of the alleged harassment - including strangers approaching their home and sending them copies of Metcalf's obituary. The family has also received fake food deliveries and been approached by people trying to intimidate them, FOX 5 reported. 'We are sharing images and documentation of the threats the family has faced this past weekend to make the public aware of the dangerous atmosphere that has been created - an atmosphere fueled by organized hate, systemic racism, and intentional misinformation,' NGAN President Dominique Alexander said in the release. NGAN also pointed to a small rally that took place on Saturday at Frisco's Kuykendall Stadium - where Metcalf was killed - as to why Anthony had to be moved. The protest was organized by a group called Protect White Americans, founded by Jake Lang who was arrested during the January 6 riot and is running for a US Senate seat in Florida. Two people were reportedly arrested during the Saturday demonstration, where protesters held signs that read 'protect white Americans' and 'stop black violence on white Americans.' Metcalf's father, Jeff Metcalf, expressed fierce opposition to the protest, saying he does not want his son associated with Lang's movement. 'It is both heartbreaking and infuriating to see the depths of hate and bigotry still alive and well in our society,' Alexander said in the press release. 'No family should have to live under siege simply because they are demanding their constitutional rights. 'We will not be silent, and we will not back down. We are committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect this family and to ensure that justice is pursued without intimidation or fear.' Anthony's mother, Kayla Hayes, spoke about the fear her family has been experiencing at a Thursday press conference. 'My 13-year-old daughter is afraid to sleep in her own bedroom because she's fearful about what may happen to her.,' Hayes tearfully said. She also claimed she and her family have 'not received a dime' of the more than half a million raised for her son's legal fund. Jeff was kicked out of the press conference after he refused to leave on his own accord. 'My character's been assassinated. Or they've tried to assassinate my character,' the grieving father told the New York Post. NGAN has also posted a series of videos on social media 'exposing the racists and white supremacists' sending threatening messages to the group for representing Anthony. But Anthony's relatives and advocacy team are not the only ones dealing with harassment. Metcalf's father Jeff was swatted by vicious pranksters the same day he was booted out of the press conference. Officers responded to a fabricated report of a shooting at an address that turned out to be Jeff's home. He told WFAA that no one was at home when police arrived. He got to the scene five minutes later. Swatting involves people calling in fake threats to the authorities just to scare their victim by having police bust down their doors. There have been two reported cases of people dying as a result of swatting incidents. Police also said individuals swatted the home of Meghan Metcalf, Austin's mother, on the night of April 8. Local cops say a confrontation between Austin and Karmelo broke out during a high school track meet when Metcalf called out Anthony, who did not attend the same school as him, for sitting under his team's tent. Metcalf demanded Anthony leave and the argument escalated when Anthony pulled out a knife and stabbed the junior from Memorial High School in the chest, leaving him to bleed out in his twin brother Hunter's arms. Anthony allegedly admitted to the stabbing, per police, but his lawyer indicated he will claim he acted in self-defense.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FAFSA has struggled for years. Then Trump cut the Education Department in half
(The Hill) — Families and students are growing nervous about the fate of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) amid President Donald Trump's massive cuts to the Department of Education and his plans to do away with it entirely. FAFSA has had a rough couple of years, starting with a clumsy rollout of revamped forms during the Biden administration that led to a drop in college aid applications. But even amid a need to rebuild trust with parents and applicants, the Trump administration has halved the Department of Education, and the agency has seen multiple high-level retirements, including the chief operating officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid this week. As of March 17, the Education Department marked more than 8 million completed FAFSA forms so far, an increase of 50 percent from those submitted by the same time last year. 'We have concerns that when students and families hear that the Department of Education is being dismantled or shutting down […] they might hear and we have concerns that they take that to mean that there won't be a FAFSA, that there won't be a Pell Grant, that as the department goes away, Federal Student Aid goes away,' said Kim Cook, chief executive officer of the National College Attainment Network (NCAN). 'We've been working very hard with our members and the message to our students that even if there is disruption or change, Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, Pell Grants continue,' Cook added. Education Department, DOJ partnering in Title IX investigations Students technically have until June 30 to complete the FAFSA forms, and schools are processing the forms they have received so far from the Education Department. But many high schoolers receive college acceptance letters in early spring and have to make a decision on where to go to by May 1. NCAN, which tracks completed FAFSA applications by high school seniors, says that while completions for the 2025-2026 school year are ahead of where they were a year ago, they are still lagging behind the 2023-2024 FAFSA cycle. Around 42 percent of current high school seniors had completed the applications through March 21, significantly better than last year but behind the class of 2023 at this point. Last year's FAFSA cycle turned into chaos as the Biden administration attempted to simplify the forms, which determine an individual's student aid needs and ability to get a Pell Grant. While a reformed FAFSA application was celebrated, the rollout was shaky. The opening of the applications was months behind, and once it was up, glitches prevented many from completing the forms in a timely fashion. 'The Department has been extraordinarily transparent on FAFSA, unlike the previous Administration who left hundreds of thousands of students in the dark when the form was down for months,' a spokesperson for the department said. At the end, colleges last year had to move back their decision days past May 1 due to the delay, and the number of completed applications did not reach that of previous years. 'We're cautiously optimistic that the work that was done through the summer and through the fall to get FAFSA in a good place for the launch of this year's application stays in place and is appropriately staffed,' Cook said. There was an outage to the FAFSA site after the department laid off half its workforce, although the federal agency said it was the result of a firewall misconfiguration put into the system in November that conflicted with a new update. The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that its moves against the Education Department will not harm its congressionally mandated policies. 'I want to assure you that continuity of operations for Federal Student Aid (FSA) is both a statutory and critical function of the Department. Accordingly, no employees working on core functions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or student loan servicing were impacted by the RIF,' Acting Under Secretary James Bergeron said in a stakeholder letter March 14. Karen McCarthy, vice president for public policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said there were no FAFSA employees terminated as part of the Trump layoffs but that some at the FSA offices who help the process for giving out student aid were let go. 'While they may not have directly impacted the FAFSA team, there may be other offices, other departments within federal student aid that do some FAFSA support work, and those teams have been impacted,' McCarthy said. GOP senators back crackdown on foreign students Reports have emerged that dozens of staffers in FSA's technology services had to be rehired after the mass layoffs. 'They seem to understand the importance of the FAFSA being open and available, and we saw during the layoffs that no employees that work directly on the FAFSA team were let go, but we do still have concerns in that we're not quite sure that everybody within the administration has a full understanding, yet, since they're so new, about all of the pieces to the FAFSA and the infrastructure that supports the FAFSA,' McCarthy said. Senate Democrats have opened an investigation into reports the Department of Government Efficiency is looking to replace some contract workers for the Education Department with AI chatbots. The idea would be for AI chatbots to take over call centers that field thousands of questions a day, including from families and students about FAFSA. Advocates say it is important for students, families and financial officers to have full transparency of what's going on when announcements are made by the president that other programs such as student loans and initiatives for students with disabilities are getting moved to other parts of the federal government. 'This disruption and uncertainty piece, it's sort of a theme here […] we know that there were massive reductions in force at the Department of Education, but we don't know where, which departments, who, what the thinking was behind that,' Cook said. 'So, the more that we can understand what they are, we can react, and the more that we understand what they are, we can tell students and families,' she added. 'For example, whether this happened to FAFSA staffing, we're really not in a place where we can say that with clarity or certainty now, because it hasn't been so transparent.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FAFSA had been struggling for years. Then Trump cut the Education Department in half
Families and students are growing nervous about the fate of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) amid President Trump's massive cuts to the Department of Education and his plans to do away with it entirely. FAFSA has had a rough few years, starting with a clumsy rollout of revamped forms during the Biden administration that led to a drop in the college aid applications. But even amid a need to rebuild trust with parents and applicants, the Trump administration has halved the Department of Education, and the agency has seen multiple high-level retirements, including the retirement this week of the chief operating officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid. As of March 17, the Education Department marked more than 8 million completed FAFSA forms, an increase of 50 percent from those submitted by the same time last year. 'We have concerns that when students and families hear that the Department of Education is being dismantled or shutting down … they might hear, and we have concerns that they take that to mean that there won't be a FAFSA, that there won't be a Pell Grant, that as the department goes away, Federal Student Aid goes away,' said Kim Cook, chief executive officer of the National College Attainment Network (NCAN). 'We've been working very hard with our members and the message to our students that even if there is disruption or change, Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, Pell Grants continue,' Cook added. Students technically have until June 30 to complete the FAFSA forms, and schools are processing the forms they have received so far from the Education Department. But many high schoolers receive college acceptance letters in early spring and have to make a decision on where to go by May 1. NCAN, which tracks completed FAFSA applications by high school seniors, says that while completions for the 2025-2026 school year are ahead of where they were a year ago, they are still lagging behind the 2023-2024 FAFSA cycle. Around 42 percent of current high school seniors completed the applications through March 21, significantly better than last year but behind the class of 2023 at this point. Last year's FAFSA cycle turned into chaos as the Biden administration attempted to simplify the forms, which determine an individual's student aid needs and ability to get a Pell Grant. While a reformed FAFSA application was celebrated, the rollout was shaky. The opening of the application was months behind, and once it was up, glitches prevented many from completing the forms in a timely fashion. 'The Department has been extraordinarily transparent on FAFSA unlike the previous Administration who left hundreds of thousands of students in the dark when the form was down for months,' a spokesperson for the department said. Colleges last year had to move back their decision days past May 1 due to the delay, and the number of completed applications did not reach that of previous years. 'We're cautiously optimistic that the work that was done through the summer and through the fall to get FAFSA in a good place for the launch of this year's application stays in place and is appropriately staffed,' Cook said. There was an outage to the FAFSA site after the department laid off half its workforce, although the federal agency said it was the result of a firewall misconfiguration put into the system in November that conflicted with a new update. The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that its moves against the Education Department will not compromise its congressionally mandated policies. 'I want to assure you that continuity of operations for Federal Student Aid (FSA) is both a statutory and critical function of the Department. Accordingly, no employees working on core functions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or student loan servicing were impacted by the RIF,' acting Education Under Secretary James Bergeron said in a stakeholder letter March 14. Karen McCarthy, vice president for public policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said there were no FAFSA employees terminated as part of the Trump layoffs but that some at the student aid offices who help the process for giving out student aid were let go. 'While they may not have directly impacted the FAFSA team, there may be other offices, other departments within federal student aid that do some FAFSA support work, and those teams have been impacted,' McCarthy said. Reports have emerged that dozens of staffers in Federal Student Aid's technology services had to be rehired after the mass layoffs. 'They seem to understand the importance of the FAFSA being open and available, and we saw during the layoffs that no employees that work directly on the FAFSA team were let go, but we do still have concerns in that we're not quite sure that everybody within the administration has a full understanding, yet, since they're so new, about all of the pieces to the FAFSA and the infrastructure that supports the FAFSA,' McCarthy said. Senate Democrats have opened an investigation into reports the Department of Government Efficiency is looking to replace some contract workers for the Education Department with artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots. The idea would be for AI chatbots to take over call centers that field thousands of questions a day, including from families and students about FAFSA. Advocates say it is important for students, families and financial officers to have full transparency of what's going on when announcements are made by the president that other programs such as student loans and initiatives for students with disabilities are getting moved to other parts of the federal government. 'This disruption and uncertainty piece, it's sort of a theme here. … We know that there were massive reductions in force at the Department of Education, but we don't know where, which departments, who, what the thinking was behind that,' Cook said. 'So, the more that we can understand what they are, we can react, and the more that we understand what they are, we can tell students and families,' she added. 'For example, whether this happened to FAFSA staffing, we're really not in a place where we can say that with clarity or certainty now, because it hasn't been so transparent.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
06-04-2025
- Business
- The Hill
FAFSA has struggled for years. Then Trump cut the Education Department in half
Families and students are growing nervous about the fate of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) amid President Trump's massive cuts to the Department of Education and his plans to do away with it entirely. FAFSA has had a rough couple of years, starting with a clumsy rollout of revamped forms during the Biden administration that led to a drop in the college aid applications. But even amid a need to rebuild trust with parents and applicants, the Trump administration has halved the Department of Education, and the agency has seen multiple high-level retirements including this week the chief operating officer for the Office of Federal Student Aid. As of March 17, the Education Department marked more than 8 million completed FAFSA forms so far, an increase of 50 percent from those submitted by the same time last year. 'We have concerns that when students and families hear that the Department of Education is being dismantled or shutting down […] they might hear and we have concerns that they take that to mean that there won't be a FAFSA, that there won't be a Pell Grant, that as the department goes away, Federal Student Aid goes away,' said Kim Cook, chief executive officer of the National College Attainment Network (NCAN). 'We've been working very hard with our members and the message to our students that even if there is disruption or change, Federal Student Aid, FAFSA, Pell Grants continue,' Cook added. Students technically have until June 30 to complete the FAFSA forms, and schools are processing the forms they have received so far from the Education Department. But many high schoolers receive college acceptance letters in early spring and have to make a decision on where to go to by May 1. NCAN, which tracks completed FAFSA applications by high school seniors, says that while completions for the 2025-2026 school year are ahead of where they were a year ago, they are still lagging behind the 2023-2024 FAFSA cycle. Around 42 percent of current high school seniors had completed the applications through March 21, significantly better than last year but behind the class of 2023 at this point. Last year's FAFSA cycle turned into chaos as the Biden administration attempted to simplify the forms, which determine an individual's student aid needs and ability to get a Pell Grant. While a reformed FAFSA application was celebrated, the rollout was shaky. The opening of the applications was months behind and once it was up, glitches prevented many from completing the forms in a timely fashion. 'The Department has been extraordinarily transparent on FAFSA unlike the previous Administration who left hundreds of thousands of students in the dark when the form was down for months,' a spokesperson for the department said. At the end, colleges last year had to move back their decision days past May 1 due to the delay and the number of completed applications did not reach that of previous years. 'We're cautiously optimistic that the work that was done through the summer and through the fall to get FAFSA in a good place for the launch of this year's application stays in place and is appropriately staffed,' Cook said. There was an outage to the FAFSA site after the department laid off half its workforce, although the federal agency said it was the result of a firewall misconfiguration put into the system in November that conflicted with a new update. The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted that its moves against the Education Department will not harm its congressionally mandated policies. 'I want to assure you that continuity of operations for Federal Student Aid (FSA) is both a statutory and critical function of the Department. Accordingly, no employees working on core functions of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or student loan servicing were impacted by the RIF,' Acting Under Secretary James Bergeron said in a stakeholder letter March 14. Karen McCarthy, vice president for public policy and federal relations for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said there were no FAFSA employees terminated as part of the Trump layoffs but that some at the FSA offices who help the process for giving out student aid were let go. 'While they may not have directly impacted the FAFSA team, there may be other offices, other departments within federal student aid that do some FAFSA support work, and those teams have been impacted,' McCarthy said. Reports have emerged that dozens of staffers in FSA's technology services had to be rehired after the mass layoffs. 'They seem to understand the importance of the FAFSA being open and available, and we saw during the layoffs that no employees that work directly on the FAFSA team were let go, but we do still have concerns in that we're not quite sure that everybody within the administration has a full understanding, yet, since they're so new, about all of the pieces to the FAFSA and the infrastructure that supports the FAFSA,' McCarthy said. Senate Democrats have opened an investigation into reports the Department of Government Efficiency is looking to replace some contract workers for the Education Department with AI chatbots. The idea would be for AI chatbots to take over call centers that field thousands of questions a day, including from families and students about FAFSA. Advocates say it is important for students, families and financial officers to have full transparency of what's going on when announcements are made by the president that other programs such as student loans and initiatives for students with disabilities are getting moved to other parts of the federal government. 'This disruption and uncertainty piece, it's sort of a theme here […] we know that there were massive reductions in force at the Department of Education, but we don't know where, which departments, who, what the thinking was behind that,' Cook said. 'So, the more that we can understand what they are, we can react, and the more that we understand what they are, we can tell students and families,' she added. 'For example, whether this happened to FAFSA staffing, we're really not in a place where we can say that with clarity or certainty now, because it hasn't been so transparent.'
