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Ginormous New ‘Index’ Shares Data From 100 Million Science Papers For Free
There’s a vast amount of research out there, with the volume growing rapidly with each passing day. But there’s a problem. Not only is a lot of the existing literature hidden behind a paywall, but it can also be difficult to parse and make sense of in a comprehensive, logical way. What’s really needed is a super-smart version of Google just for academic papers. Enter the General Index, a new database of some 107.2 million journal articles, totaling 38 terabytes of data in its uncompressed form. It spans more than 355 billion rows of text, each featuring a key word or phrase plucked from a published paper. “This is…
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Alabama education chief wants $800 million more for teachers and students in 2023 budget
Want more state education news? Sign up for The Alabama Education Lab’s free, weekly newsletter, Ed Chat. Alabama education officials have big plans for the 2022-23 school year, judging by the more than $800 million increase they’ll request when the legislative session starts in January. “The amount of [state] money we think is going to be available this year is going to be phenomenal,” Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey told board members during a presentation of the proposed ask. The education trust fund, which pays for schools, is expected to grow 16% year over year. The current fiscal year, which determines how much money lawmakers will have to distribute, ends Sept.…
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More Than a Million Student-Loan Holders to Get Relief
The Biden administration is suspending collections on defaulted student loans held by more than one million borrowers, the latest in a flurry of moves to offer relief to adults struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. The move extends relief to 1.14 million students who borrowed under an older loan program known as the Federal Family Education Loan Program, and then defaulted on those loans. This group hadn’t been covered by prior coronavirus-related adjustments to collections and payment requirements. FFEL loans are guaranteed by the federal government but held by private lenders. Some defaulted loans were purchased by the Education Department during the financial crisis more than a decade…
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Minimum wage hike to $15 an hour by 2025 would result in 1.4 million unemployed, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says
The White House’s proposal would raise the minimum wage from its current level, $7.25, to $15 with increases of approximately $1.50 every year for five years. On one hand, the CBO estimated that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would cost 1.4 million jobs and increase the deficit by $54 billion over 10 years. But it also estimated the policy would lift 900,000 people out of poverty and raise income for 17 million people — about 1 in 10 workers. Another 10 million who have wages just above that amount could potentially see increases, as well, the CBO reported. The net pay going to the country’s…
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Lawmakers approve $633 million in federal grants for K-12 education, rental assistance
A panel of Nevada lawmakers has approved allocating more than half a billion dollars through federal aid earmarked for rental assistance and K-12 school expenses. Members of the Interim Finance Committee met Monday to approve allocation of more than $633 million in federal aid dollars, including $124 million in rent assistance and nearly $500 million for public, private and charter schools to help address costs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee typically meets between legislative sessions, but serves as the primary body to accept federal dollars coming into the state. All of the proposed areas and grants for funding were approved unanimously by the committee. Democratic legislative leaders touted…
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Government report says $15 minimum wage would cost 1.4 million jobs
WASHINGTON – A new government report offers fresh ammunition for both sides of the debate over raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. The report, released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, concluded that boosting the minimum wage to $15 per hour would raise income for millions of Americans and lift 900,000 people out of poverty. But by 2025, when the hourly rate would hit $15 under a proposal before Congress, some 1.4 million fewer Americans would be working, the report concludes. That is because higher wages would increase the cost of producing goods and services and, in response, many employers would reduce their workforce or hire…
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State orders Utah charter school to pay back $3 million in misspent special education funds
Utah Board of Education approves amount, but American Preparatory Academy administrators say they’ll appeal. (Photo courtesy of American Preparatory Academy) Pictured is American Preparatory Academy in Draper. | Feb. 8, 2021, 1:00 p.m. A Utah charter school has been ordered to pay back nearly $3 million in special education funding that state auditors say was not actually spent on services for students with disabilities. After months of reviewing the ledgers at American Preparatory Academy, the accounting team at the Utah Board of Education reported that it was unable to find any system that showed the money was “being properly expended.” And the board voted last week to accept the team’s…
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