Marian Wang: The government should make the funding for the Pell program an entitlement in the federal budget, shielding it from annual wrangling, and should boost the maximum amount of individual grants, the report says.
About Marian Wang -- Pro Publica
Marian Wang is ProPublica's first reporter-blogger. She previously worked for Mother Jones, where she spearheaded the magazine's social media strategy. Since graduating with honors from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 2007, she worked in Chicago as a freelance investigative reporter and blogger for The Chicago Reporter, Chi-Town Daily News, and ChicagoNow. She now lives in New York. She likes it a lot.
Find Marian on Twitter: @mariancw
Bank Lending Frenzy Left Borrowers Buried in Student Debt
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Marian Wang: Some banks and lenders played fast and loose with student loans, aggressively marketing them to borrowers who couldn’t afford that amount of debt
Student Loan Borrowers Dazed and Confused by Servicer Shuffle
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Marian Wang: The Department of Education has been transferring large batches of federal student loans to new loan-servicing companies — leaving in the lurch some borrowers who are suddenly encountering problems with their loans.
Fight Over Obama’s Recess Appointments Puts Stranglehold on Key Nominees
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Marian Wang: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to block the confirmation of three uncontroversial nominees for key banking regulator positions.
Financial Crisis Prosecutions Too Hard?
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Marian Wang: According to a now-departed Justice Department official who used to be in charge of investigating such matters, the Justice Department has decided that holding top Wall Street executives criminally accountable is too difficult a task.
Pfizer’s Latest Twist on ‘Pay for Delay’
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Marian Wang: Pfizer is adding yet another twist to its efforts to delay generic competitors. As The New York Times reports, the company seems to have struck a deal with certain pharmacy benefit managers to block generic versions of Lipitor.
Rick Perry v. ‘Rick Parry’: Pushing Campaign Finance Frontiers
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Marian Wang: For months, comedian Stephen Colbert has been taking his satire to the field of campaign finance, highlighting how little-known groups can raise and spend unlimited — and sometimes undisclosed — funds on election ads.
Financial Regulation Kills Jobs? Perhaps Not
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Marian Wang: But separate from the jobs created to actually handle new regulation, others have pointed out that regulations can have a long-term, positive effect on overall economic growth by preventing the types of crises that put an industry on life-support.
California’s Dangerous Docs Undisciplined
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Marian Wang: More than 700 doctors in California sanctioned for wrongdoing by hospitals and other health care organizations haven’t faced any disciplinary action from the California medical board.
Is Obama Violating the War Powers Act?
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Marian Wang: Even supporters of the Libya intervention have complained that the administration is flouting the law.
New Food Safety Threat Emerges
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Marian Wang: Also unclear is whether the federal agencies in charge of changing the food safety system will be adequately funded. Republican proposals to cut the FDA’s budget and the USDA’s inspection budget could cut into efforts to update the system.
Automakers’ Bailout and Bankruptcies Shortchanged Accident Victims
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Marian Wang: The U.S. Treasury still holds a stake in Chrysler that it intends to sell, and an Obama administration official has said that the government doesn’t expect to fully recover about $1.9 billion in remaining investments.
Foreclosure Contractors Face New Scrutiny From States
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Marian Wang: Prosecutors in California and Illinois have sent subpoenas to Lender Processing Services, one of the largest firms that processed mortgage documents for the banks.
Congress, Courts Move to Curtail Leaks
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Marian Wang: The move, backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is just the latest in a series of setbacks for those who favor strengthening whistleblower rules to encourage reporting of wrongdoing within government and businesses.
Afghan Attacks Highlight Challenges of Training Afghan Forces
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Marian Wang: The U.S. has spent billions on to train the dysfunctional police force, which has been riddled with high turnover and continued corruption.
Offshore Oil Companies Still Shielded
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Marian Wang: When the Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 men at sea last April and set off the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the tragedy exposed a number of weaknesses—not least of which were decades-old laws that limited the liability of major players.
Budget Cuts Obama’s Transparency Sites
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Marian Wang: Though the budget deal struck by lawmakers over the weekend averted a shutdown of the federal government, it still has open-government advocates worried about a shutdown of another sort: a shutdown in transparency.
U.S.’s Shifting Stance on Arming Rebels
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Marian Wang: As the Obama administration grapples with whether to arm the Libyan rebels, it has several things to consider—not least of which is the question of whether doing so would be legal.
Chamber of Commerce Attacks Anti-Corruption Law
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Marian Wang: Even as anger over governmental corruption has exploded into protests across the Middle East, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been working to weaken the law that bans companies from bribing foreign officials.
Treasury Slow Fixing Foreclosure Prevention Program
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Marian Wang: By the end of last year, the program had given nearly 1.5 million households “a chance” of a mortgage modification through a trial modification. For most, that chance never turned developed into permanent help.
Leaked Cables: Egyptian Government Stokes Fears of Muslim Brotherhood
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Marian Wang: The Muslim Brotherhood, a key opposition group in Egypt’s anti-Mubarak protests, has long argued that the Egyptian government exaggerates the Muslim Brotherhood’s positions and its likelihood of attaining power in democratic elections. As it turns out, American diplomats agree.
State Department Approved Export of U.S.-Made Tear Gas to Egyptian Gov’t
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Marian Wang: The American-made tear gas used to disperse pro-democracy protestors in Egypt earlier this week was sold to the country after government review.
U.S. Aid to Egypt: Where Does the Money Go—And Who Decides How It’s Spent?
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Marian Wang: U.S. foreign assistance to Egypt has averaged just over $2 billion every year since 1979, when Egypt struck a peace treaty with Israel [3] following the Camp David Peace Accords.
With Four Lawmakers Objecting, Senate Ends Practice of Secret Holds to Block Bills
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Marian Wang: The Senate’s new rule won’t prevent Senators from putting a hold on legislation—it’ll just make sure that senators who do so will have their name published in the Congressional Record.
Citizens United Turns 1: Supreme Court Considers Corporate Personhood Again
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Marian Wang: Kagan’s successor as solicitor general, Neal Katyal, has argued that “a corporation itself can no more be embarrassed, harassed, or stigmatized than a stone.”
Bank Errors Cause Damage to Credit, Distress to Homeowners
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Marian Wang: Some consumers have been surprised to see damage to their credit score after requesting information from the banks.
As Coal King Retires to $12 Million, Mine Safety Struggle Goes On
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Marian Wang: It’s probably safe to say that Don Blankenship had something to celebrate with the new year. Last Friday, the CEO of Massey Energy retired, and according to company disclosures [1] he received $2 million that day.
The BP Oil Spill Saga: Where Things Stand Now
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Marian Wang: Many questions remain unanswered about the long-term health and environmental effects of the crude oil and the unprecedented amount of dispersant, chemicals BP used to break down the thick crude. Both BP and the government have committed funding for continued study of these issues.
Foreclosure Paperwork Scandal
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Marian Wang: Though foreclosures continue to speed through courts in some states, in recent months some judges have increasingly questioned banks bringing foreclosure cases in court, forcing them to prove their legal standing to foreclose.
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Sexual Harassment Law Murker Than You Think
Marian Wang: In some cases, a person may be able to show that advances were unwelcome even though he or she didn’t protest or say so at the time. “Consensual” isn’t the same thing as ”welcome,” experts say.