PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A North Atlantic right whale has been spotted entangled in rope off New England, worsening an already devastating year for the vanishing animals, federal authorities said.
The right whales number less than 360 and are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The entangled whale was seen Tuesday about 50 miles south of Rhode Island's Block Island, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
The whale has rope coming out of both sides of its mouth and has been far from shore, making it difficult for rescuers to help, NOAA said in a statement.
“Given the long distance from shore, experts were unable to safely travel to the last known location of the whale during daylight to attempt a rescue,” the statement said. “NOAA Fisheries and our partners will monitor this whale and attempt to respond to the entanglement, if possible, as weather and safety conditions allow.”
Several right whales have died this year off Georgia and Massachusetts, and environmental groups fear the species could be headed for extinction. The animal's population fell about 25% from 2010 to 2020.
A whale found dead off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, in January showed evidence of injury from entanglement in fishing gear. Environmental groups have called for stricter rules to protect the whales from entanglement in gear. However, a federal budget package passed in late 2022 included a six-year pause on new federal whale regulations.
“This is another example that entanglements are happening in U.S. waters,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director with environmental group Oceana. “We need stronger protection from entanglements in U.S. waters.”
The whales were once numerous off the East Coast, but they were decimated during the commercial whaling era and have been slow to recover. They have been federally protected for decades.
They migrate every year from calving grounds off Florida and Georgia to feeding grounds off New England and Canada. The journey has become perilous in recent years because their food sources appear to be moving as waters warm. That change causes the whales to stray from protected areas of ocean and become vulnerable to entanglements and collisions, scientists have said.
This story has been corrected to show that the whale population fell about 25% from 2010 to 2020, not 2010 to 2010.
This photo provided by NOAA shows an endangered whale that has been found entangled in fishing gear off the coast of New England. The right whales number less than 360 and they are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear and collisions with ships. The entangled whale was seen about 50 miles south of Block Island, Rhode Island, on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. (NOAA Fisheries via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will cancel $6 billion in student loans for people who attended the Art Institutes, a system of for-profit colleges that closed the last of its campuses in 2023 amid accusations of fraud.
Saying the chain lured students with “pervasive” lies, the Education Department is invoking its power to cancel student loans for borrowers who were misled by their colleges.
“This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
The Education Department will automatically erase loans for 317,000 people who attended any Art Institute campus between Jan. 1, 2004, and Oct. 16, 2017.
In total, the Democratic administration says it has approved the cancellation of almost $160 billion in student loans through a variety of existing programs. Among that total, $28.7 billion has been canceled for those who were cheated by their colleges or went to campuses that suddenly closed.
The department says it's taking action after reviewing evidence from the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Iowa and Pennsylvania, which previously investigated complaints of fraud and sued the for-profit chain.
According to the department's findings, the chain misled students about the success of graduates and about employment partnerships that would help students find jobs.
The chain told prospective students that more than 80% of graduates found jobs in their fields of study, but that was largely based on doctored data, the Education Department said. The true employment rate was below 57%.
Campuses also advertised graduate salaries that were based on fabricated data and included extreme outliers to make averages look better, the department said.
One campus included the annual salary of tennis star Serena Williams to skew the average salary, investigators found. Williams studied fashion at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The chain's tactics led borrowers to borrow high amounts of debt for programs that didn't pay off, the department said.
“The Art Institutes preyed on the hopes of students attempting to better their lives through education,” said Richard Cordray, chief operating officer of the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office. “We cannot replace the time stolen from these students, but we can lift the burden of their debt."
On Wednesday, the Education Department will start emailing borrowers who will get their loans canceled. They won't need to take any action, and payments already made on the loans will be refunded.
At its height, the chain had dozens of campuses across the country, including in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. It was operated for decades by Education Management Corp., which collapsed in 2018 after years of legal trouble.
The company reached a $95.5 million settlement with the Justice Department in 2015 over allegations of illegal recruiting tactics. Soon after, it began closing campuses and later sold the remainder to another company.
The final eight campuses were shuttered last year.
The Biden administration has continued to cancel student loans through several existing programs even as it pursues a wider plan for one-time cancellation. That plan is a follow-up to one that the Supreme Court rejected last year.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE - People walk past the Art Institute of Philadelphia operated by the Education Management Corporation on Nov. 16, 2015, in Philadelphia. The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will cancel $6 billion in student loans for people who attended the Art Institutes, a system of for-profit colleges that closed the last of its campuses in 2023 amid accusations of fraud. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
