SVVSD hosts annual art show at Boulder County Fairgrounds 15 Apr 2025, 7:08 pm

St. Vrain Valley Schools is hosting its annual student art show through Sunday at the Boulder County Fairgrounds Exhibition Hall.

The free show includes student art from all grade levels and schools. Mediums featured include ceramics, digital art/photography, drawing, jewelry making, metalwork, mixed media, painting and printmaking.

Viewing hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. An artists’ night open house is from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

View the award winners after the show runs at svvsd.org/artshow.

New survey finds TSA PreCheck membership reduces stress, not time 15 Apr 2025, 7:00 pm

By Mia Taylor, TravelPulse

Most travelers can probably agree that going through airport security screening is an experience that falls somewhere on the fun meter between going to the dentist and paying taxes.

To avoid this less-than-pleasant experience, some 20 million travelers have joined the TSA PreCheck program, according to the latest data from the Transportation Safety Administration.

The program, launched in 2013, promises “shorter wait times of under 10 minutes, greater checkpoint efficiency and improved security.”

However, newly released research from Upgraded Points, a travel and credit card points resource, reveals that despite the promised “under 10 minutes” wait time with TSA PreCheck, many program members experience substantially longer processing timelines.

Based on a survey of 1,517 Americans conducted this year, the research found that TSA PreCheck members are not necessarily speeding through security as the program promises.

More specifically, surveyed PreCheck members said that the average security screening processing time they experience is closer to 36 minutes. And that’s only 7 minutes faster than travelers who do not have PreCheck and reported an average processing time of 43 minutes.

Moreover, the research indicates that saving time is not necessarily the top attraction of TSA PreCheck membership in the eyes of harried travelers.

Instead, it may be the reduced stress associated with passing through security at the airport as a TSA PreCheck member.

The research shows that people with PreCheck say their airport stress levels are cut in half by their membership. These same travelers rate their stress when going through traditional security lines at a 7.4 on a stress scale of 1 to 10. However, the stress levels of surveyed travelers drops to just 3.5 out of 10 when in a TSA PreCheck screening line.

Additionally, when asked which TSA PreCheck member benefits are most important, 38.7% of travelers said the reduction in stress associated with airport screenings was the number one benefit.

Having access to shorter airport screening lines, meanwhile, came in second, with 34.4% of surveyed travelers saying it was the most crucial benefit of TSA PreCheck membership.

“Even if PreCheck isn’t saving a ton of time, travelers still like the peace of mind that comes with it,” Kyle Beierlein, the researcher for Upgraded Points who spearheaded the study, told TravelPulse. “I think it makes people feel like they’re doing everything they can to make getting through security easier.”

Underscoring that point, 94% of PreCheck holders who participated in the Upgraded Points survey said their membership improves the overall airport experience, and 92% percent said the $78 cost of membership is well worth the service.

“Plus, there are real perks like not having to take stuff out of your bag, being able to bring your young children through with you, and not stripping down to bare feet and short sleeves. That definitely helps cut down on stress,” Beierlein continued.

Indeed, about 11.5% of travelers said the ability to keep their shoes on during the airport screening process was the most important value of TSA PreCheck membership, followed by 11.1% who said not having to remove laptops or liquids from carry-on luggage is the top benefit.

Ironically, going through airport security screening without TSA PreCheck is far more stressful for those with the membership. When asked to rate how stressful it is going through airport security without TSA PreCheck (again on a scale of 1 to 10), TSA PreCheck members rated the process a 7.3. However, travelers who are not members of TSA PreCheck said the process of going through security only rates as 5.5 out of 10 on the stress scale.

Time spent at airports: TSA PreCheck vs. nonmembership

Circling back to how TSA PreCheck membership impacts a traveler’s overall time spent at the airport, the research provides a few more data points.

For instance, the researchers found that TSA PreCheck travelers typically arrive at the airport about one hour and 41 minutes before a flight, while those who do not have PreCheck membership generally arrive at the airport one hour and 47 minutes before their scheduled departure.

In other words, having TSA PreCheck membership only shaves about 6 minutes off the amount of time travelers feel they need at the airport before a flight.

And, of course, there’s the initial data point about TSA PreCheck membership only reducing airport screening time by about 7 minutes on average.

There’s likely a variety of factors at play regarding the variance between what TSA promises for PreCheck members (less than 10 minutes to pass through screening) and what many travelers are actually experiencing, Beierlein says.

“First, TSA PreCheck is available at over 200 airports, so smaller, less busy airports are likely bringing the average down,” Beierlein told TravelPulse.

“But most travelers are going through larger hubs, where wait times would typically be longer,” he added.

What’s more, the number of people who have TSA PreCheck membership is increasing, and as a result, the program’s expedited screening lines are becoming less exclusive, added Beierlein.

There may be another variable at play as well, admitted Beierlein: Both TSA and the travelers who were surveyed for the Upgraded Points research are merely estimating.

“TSA hasn’t said exactly how they calculate their times, and our travelers are going off memory, so there’s room for some fluctuations on both sides,” he explained. “That said, people are pretty clear: they don’t typically get through in under 10 minutes. It usually at least feels about triple that.”

It’s also important to remember that the figure in the survey is merely an average. Some travelers said PreCheck saves them a lot of time, while others said it still takes over an hour to get through screening.

“Overall, the reality is probably somewhere in the middle: at smaller airports, it might still be under 10 minutes, but at bigger ones, especially during busy times, it’s often 30 minutes or more,” said Beierlein.

©2025 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. Visit at travelpulse.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

So your home’s not social-media perfect? How to get over ‘house shame’ and invite people in 15 Apr 2025, 6:59 pm

By LEANNE ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) — Robbie Randolph is a real estate agent and interior designer for the rich, yet even he’s not immune from the anxiety of “house shame.”

That’s the judged, bullied, defeated feeling you can get when Pinterest-perfect syndrome takes over, either in our own minds thanks to social media or fed by the side eye of a friend with impeccable digs.

House shame can make you reluctant to invite people over, and in some cases lead to isolation and despair.

“House shaming is actually how designers kind of get business,” Randolph said. “A client will go over to another home that’s professionally designed and they’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, my house isn’t that nice.’ They then seek out an interior designer.”

Randolph, in Greenville, South Carolina, said interior designers themselves are just as vulnerable. So are exhausted parents with young children, people who just don’t love to clean, those who can’t afford home updates, or folks who really have a lot of books and/or love collectibles.

“I’ll do an Instagram post of an amazing, immaculately decorated house and I go, ‘Wow, my house stinks,’” said Randolph. “And everyone walks into my home and tells me how amazing it is. At the end of the day, I’m still human and I still get trapped by the devil of comparison.”

Remembering one’s humanity in a world where true perfection is elusive goes a long way, he and other experts noted.

The scary side of house shame

Not wanting to entertain at home can simply mean spending time together elsewhere, in restaurants, at the theater or in the homes of others, for instance. But it can also bring on hoarding or other traumatizing behaviors like losing the will to clean.

“I have a friend who refuses to have people over because she’s so ashamed of her house,” Randolph said.

His friend didn’t have the money or the will to fix up the house after her abusive husband moved out.

“I think house shaming is about comparison, but it can also be about a person’s own struggles,” he said.

Speaking of Martha Stewart …

Barbara Fight was a TV producer for Martha Stewart for 12 years before going into home organizing in New York. She said house shame got way worse with the rise of social media and its idealized depictions of homes most people can’t afford or otherwise will never have.

But there are lots of easy, inexpensive ways people can help themselves feel better about their living spaces if they so choose.

The issue is often just too much stuff. She sees a lot of homes with row upon overlapping row of framed photos in ancient (not in a good way) frames. She suggests paring them down to the bare minimum and stashing the rest in a decorative box that can be pulled out for perusal.

Like Randolph, Fight has seen it all: People overloaded with things they’ve inherited from dead relatives. A young woman who wouldn’t bring her fiancé to her parents’ house, “because it’s such a mess.”

Fight suggests: “Take away a third of what’s out.” One client, she said, “had this long, narrow, beautiful table in her living room just filled with stuff. It was the first thing you saw when you walked in. I said to her, ‘It’s going to take me 15 minutes to make this look Instagram-worthy.’ About five pieces stayed on there. About 10 things were thrown out, and we found a different place for the rest.”

Does changing your home feel overwhelming?

Jamila Musayeva is the author of “The Art of Entertaining at Home” and hosts a lifestyle YouTube channel with over 1 million subscribers. She’s also an etiquette coach.

“A home doesn’t have to be perfect to be welcoming,” she said. “It simply has to feel cared for. If you’re worried about how your space might be perceived, start by focusing on what you can control.”

That could mean freshening up an entrance with a lit candle and a small flower arrangement to shift the mood for guests.

“Think ahead about the rooms your guests will actually see. Give those areas some attention rather than overwhelming yourself with the whole house. A clean bathroom with a fresh hand towel, good lighting in the living room and somewhere cozy to sit go much further than expensive décor,” Musayeva said.

Where the memories are made

Wendy Trunz, co-owner of the Long Island home organizing company Jane’s Addiction Organization, said she grew up in the smallest house in her family’s circle of friends and family. Now, with a husband and two kids, she lives in the smallest house among her neighbors and loved ones.

“My mom’s door was always open. Their table always had an extra seat. You just knocked and came in, and my mom just believed the more the merrier, this is where the memories are made and don’t mind the mess. And there’s something great about that,” she said.

Trunz notes that along with social media, the COVID pandemic contributed to house shame by sending millions of people home.

“Even now, five years later, we’re going in and people are still not eating at their dining room tables and not having people over,” she said. “Their husband is still sitting there working and it’s covered with stuff. We come in and clear that table and they call us in tears because for the first time they ate as a family around their dining room table again and not at the counter. It’s amazing. It’s amazing.”

Trunz had a easy solution for a client who had a stuffed front hall closet and felt she couldn’t accommodate the coats of guests.

“We just bought them a rolling rack, as if it’s a fancy thing. Nobody’s going to open the closet,” she said.

And if someone does house-shame you, there’s another easy solution, she said. One of her best friends is a teacher who invited teacher friends over for a meal and made her favorite tuna fish, choosing to focus on the magic of gathering rather than the toil of preparation.

“And one person in the group kept pointing out the fact that she only had one bathroom, and how did she live like that. I asked my friend, ‘What are you going to do about that?’ And she said, ‘You just decide not to have that person over.’ It can be that simple.”

Grant Magdanz, who uses Instagram to chronicle Los Angeles life living with his grandmother, has racked up about half a million likes for a video he posted last September showing off their decades-old furniture, mismatched cups and cluttered dining table.

“Not everyone’s life is themed, curated and made for social media,” a scroll on the video said. “In fact, most people’s aren’t. And we’re happy all the same.”

Records show Gene Hackman’s wife researched symptoms of illness in days before her death 15 Apr 2025, 6:57 pm

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Authorities on Tuesday released a lengthy investigation report detailing some of the last emails and internet searches done by Gene Hackman’s wife in the days before her death, indicating that she was scouring the internet for information on flu-like symptoms and breathing techniques.

Betsy Arakawa died in February of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — a rare, rodent-borne disease that can led to a range of symptoms that include flu-like illness, headaches, dizziness and severe respiratory distress, investigators have said. Gene Hackman is believed to have died about a week later of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

The partially mummified remains of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were found in their Santa Fe home on Feb. 26, when maintenance and security workers showed up at the home and alerted police.

According to the report released Tuesday, a review of the open bookmarks on Arakawa’s computer Feb. 8 and the morning of Feb. 12 indicated she was actively researching medical conditions related to COVID-19 and flu-like symptoms. The searches included questions about whether COVID could cause dizziness or nosebleeds.

She also had mentioned in an email to her masseuse that Hackman had woken up Feb. 11 with flu or cold-like symptoms but that a COVID test was negative and she would have to reschedule her appointment for the next day “out of an abundance of caution.”

Arakawa’s last search was the morning of Feb. 12 for a health care provider in Santa Fe.

Investigators also reviewed a call history to the Hackmans’ home phone along with voicemails and security footage from stores that Arakawa had visited on Feb. 11.

Authorities also are expected to release more redacted police body camera footage from inside the home as sheriff’s deputies and investigators tried to piece together what had happened to the couple. The written report describes them going through rooms of the home and finding nothing out of the ordinary and no signs of forced entry.

The materials were being released as the result of a recent court order that mandated any depictions of the deceased couple would have to be blocked from view. All photos, video and documents from the investigation had been restricted from release by an earlier, temporary court order.

The Hackman estate and family members had sought to keep the records sealed to protect the family’s constitutional right to privacy.

A report obtained from the New Mexico Department of Health showed an environmental assessment of the Hackman property found rodent feces in several outbuildings but not inside the living quarters. A live rodent, dead rodent and a rodent nest were found in three detached garages.

Nestled among the piñon and juniper hills overlooking Santa Fe, the Hackman home is not unlike others in area as mice are common within the surrounding landscape.

One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs were found alive. A state veterinary lab tied the dog’s death to dehydration and starvation.

An attorney for the estate, Kurt Sommer, argued during a hearing last month that the couple had taken great pains to stay out of the public light during their lifetimes and that the right to control the use of their names and likenesses should extend to their estate in death.

Estate representative Julia Peters also emphasized the possibly shocking nature of photographs and video in the investigation and the potential for their dissemination by media.

The Associated Press, CBS News and CBS Studios intervened in the matter, saying in court filings that they would not disseminate images of the couple’s bodies and would blur images to obscure them from other records.

Bourbon-plumped currants enhance the flavor of hot cross buns for Easter 15 Apr 2025, 6:52 pm

By CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL

Hot cross buns are an Easter specialty with a light, enriched crumb that’s studded with currants and flavored with a gentle mix of warm spices and a hint of citrus. While some versions are drizzled with icing, we prefer a traditional semi-sweet, flour-based “cross” etched across the top.

This recipe from our book “ Milk Street Bakes ” mostly sticks to tradition but amps up the flavor. We enrich the dough with tangy buttermilk instead of regular milk, along with orange zest and a little Lyle’s Golden Syrup for its bittersweet caramel notes. Lyle’s Golden Syrup is an amber-hued sweetener common to the U.K.; mild clover honey works equally well if you can’t find the iconic green can of syrup.

We plump the currants in bourbon, which enhances the flavors in the spice mix, then use the currant-flavored bourbon to make a shiny glaze.

The work is spread over a couple days so the buns can be baked and served for breakfast or brunch. If you wish to bake the buns the same day, after shaping them, let them rise at room temperature until just shy of doubled, about an hour. Halfway into rising, heat the oven and prepare the egg wash and piping mixture. Once doubled, brush the buns with egg wash and pipe on the crosses, then bake and glaze as directed. Store extra buns in an airtight container up to three days; rewarm wrapped in foil in a 300°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Don’t heat the buttermilk to bring it to room temperature. Buttermilk curdles easily; it’s best to let it stand at room temperature. And don’t forget to pat the currants dry after draining their soaking liquid. Additional moisture can make the rather sticky dough difficult to handle when shaping.

Hot Cross Buns

Start to finish: 13 hours (1¼ hours active), plus cooling

Makes 12 buns

Ingredients:

For the dough:

93 grams (⅔ cup) dried currants

⅓ cup bourbon

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

3 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup (see headnote) or honey

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

411 grams (3 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting

2¼ teaspoons instant yeast

¾ teaspoon table salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

57 grams (4 tablespoons) salted butter, cut into 4 pieces, room temperature

For the egg wash and piping mixture:

1 large egg

34 grams (¼ cup) bread flour

For the glaze:

Bourbon, as needed

2 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup or honey

Instructions:

To make the dough, in a small microwave-safe bowl, stir the currants and bourbon. Microwave, uncovered, on high until warm, about 30 seconds, stirring once. Stir again, then set aside until plump, about 15 minutes. Drain in a fine-mesh strainer set over a small bowl; reserve the liquid. Turn the currants onto a paper towel-lined plate and pat dry; set aside.

In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or small bowl, whisk the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolk, golden syrup and orange zest. In a stand mixer with the dough hook, mix the flour, yeast, salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg on low until combined, about 20 seconds. With the mixer running, add the buttermilk mixture; mix until a shaggy dough forms, about 45 seconds. Increase to medium-low and knead until sticky and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes; if the dough climbs up the hook, occasionally push it off.

With the mixer running on medium-low, add the butter 1 piece at a time, mixing until almost fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape the bowl as needed. Knead on medium-low until shiny and once again elastic, 3 to 5 minutes. Scrape the dough off the hook. With the mixer running on medium-low, add the currants in 2 batches. Knead until distributed throughout the dough, 1 to 2 minutes. Detach the bowl from the mixer and use a silicone spatula to scrape the bowl and gather the dough at the center. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1½ hours.

Meanwhile, mist a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or baking dish with cooking spray. Line the pan with a 12-by-16-inch piece of parchment positioned so the excess overhangs the pan’s long sides. Mist the parchment with cooking spray; set aside.

When the dough has doubled, lightly flour the counter and turn the dough out onto it. Divide into 12 portions, each about 77 grams (2½ ounces). Form each into a taut ball by rolling it against the counter in a circular motion under a cupped hand. Place seam-side down in the prepared pan, arranging them in 3 rows of 4. Mist a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and drape over the pan, then cover loosely with a kitchen towel. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.

About 2 hours before you are ready to bake, remove the buns from the refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature, covered, until almost doubled, 1½ to 2 hours.

About 1 hour into rising, in a small bowl, beat the egg for the wash until well combined; set aside. In another small bowl, combine the flour and 2½ tablespoons water; whisk until smooth. The mixture should form a thick paste that falls slowly from the whisk and mounds on itself in the bowl; if too thick, whisk in more water a few drops at a time. Transfer to a quart-size, zip-close bag. Press out the air and push the mixture to one corner; twist the bag to keep the batter contained in the corner; set aside. Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position.

When the buns have doubled, brush them with egg wash (you will not need to use all of the egg). With the piping mixture still pushed to the corner of the bag, use scissors to snip off ⅛ to ¼ inch from the tip of the bag. Pipe a continuous line across the center of each row of buns, then pipe a continuous line down the center of each column of buns, creating a cross on the center of each bun. Bake until the buns are deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze. Measure the bourbon reserved from soaking the currants, then supplement with additional bourbon to total 3 tablespoons. In a small saucepan, combine the bourbon and syrup. Simmer over medium, stirring, until lightly syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, about 2 minutes; set aside off heat.

When the buns are done, set the pan on a wire rack and immediately brush with the glaze. Cool for 10 minutes. Using the parchment sling, lift the buns from the pan and set directly on the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

US judge to question Trump officials’ refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia 15 Apr 2025, 6:47 pm

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN and BEN FINLEY

A federal judge in Maryland is expected to question the Trump administration Tuesday about its continued refusal to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison, even after the Supreme Court ordered his return to the U.S.

The 4 p.m. hearing in a U.S. District Court comes a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country. The president of El Salvador also said Monday that he would not return Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”

Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.

A U.S. immigration judge had shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. He also was given a federal permit to work in the United States, according to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.

But the Trump administration expelled Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month anyway. Administration officials later described the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisted that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 in the U.S.

Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations, according to court records. The accusation stems from 2019, when Maryland police arrested Abrego Garcia while he was looking for work as a day laborer outside a Home Depot.

The allegation was based on Abergo Garcia wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and the word of a criminal informant who worked with police in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, court records state.

Abergo Garcia’s attorneys have pointed out the criminal informant alleged he was a member of MS-13 in Long Island, New York, where Abrego Garcia has never lived.

The allegation was enough for a U.S. immigration judge to keep Abrego Garcia in jail as his immigration case proceeded in 2019, court records state. And a board of appeals backed that judge’s decision.

But the U.S. immigration court ultimately released Abrego Garcia from custody once he was granted protected status from being deported back to El Salvador, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered the Trump administration in early April to bring Abrego Garcia back. And the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Thursday that the U.S. government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release.

But the White House has balked at trying to broker his return, arguing the courts can’t intrude on the president’s diplomacy powers.

Tuesday’s hearing could include strong words from Xinis. She had lambasted a lawyer for the Trump administration at a court hearing on Friday when the attorney couldn’t explain what, if anything, the administration has done to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return.

Xinis ordered the U.S. on Friday to provide daily status updates on plans to return Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration responded Saturday that he was alive in the notorious El Salvador prison. But it has only doubled down on its decision not to tell a federal court whether it has any plans to repatriate Abrego Garcia.

In its filing to the judge on Monday, the Trump administration repeated the statement made by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.

“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” Bukele said.

In a filing with the U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers cited Thursday’s order from the Supreme Court to facilitate his return.

“To give any meaning to the Supreme Court’s order, the Government should at least be required to request the release of Abrego Garcia,” the attorneys wrote. “To date, the Government has not done so.”

The attorneys also rejected the idea that the U.S. lacks the authority to retrieve him. They noted that the U.S. is paying El Salvador to hold prisoners, including Abrego Garcia, and “can exercise those same contractual rights to request their release.”

Bukele struck a deal under which the U.S. will pay about $6 million for El Salvador to imprison Venezuelan immigrants for a year. Trump has said openly that he would also favor El Salvador taking custody of American citizens who have committed violent crimes, which is likely illegal.

A fifth of Americans are on Medicaid. Some of them have no idea 15 Apr 2025, 6:30 pm

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

Some Americans who rely on Medicaid to pay for their health care don’t realize their insurance is funded by that very program, which congressional Republicans are looking to shrink.

One reason is that state programs aren’t always called “Medicaid.” Many states have rebranded their programs with consumer-friendly names such as SoonerCare in Oklahoma, Apple Health in Washington, Medi-Cal in California or TennCare in Tennessee.

And nearly all states now use private insurance companies such as UnitedHealth or Blue Cross Blue Shield to run their Medicaid programs. That means Medicaid enrollees may hold an insurance card and paperwork with the name of a commercial insurance company.

“We toss around terms like ‘Medicaid,’ but we see so many of our patients not having [insurance cards or] anything that describes or uses the word ‘Medicaid,’” said Dr. Adam Brown, a Washington, D.C.-based emergency physician and founder of a health care strategy firm.

“People oftentimes do not realize either that they have it, or know the value of what it does.”

Medicaid is the health insurance program for people with low incomes or certain disabilities. About 72 million people, or about a fifth of all the people living in the United States, are enrolled. It operates with state and federal funding, but every state has the freedom to choose how to run its program, within federal rules.

As a result, Medicaid is a sprawling patchwork of programs that can confuse lawmakers and even top health officials, not to mention the average beneficiary. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, incorrectly described basic elements of Medicaid and seemed to confuse it with Medicare during his January confirmation hearing before Congress.

Republicans in Congress are considering proposals to slash hundreds of billions of dollars from federal Medicaid funding as they look to offset trillions in tax cuts proposed by President Donald Trump. The specifics of the Medicaid cuts are still being hammered out. But any reductions to federal Medicaid spending would shift those costs to states, which would likely be forced to end services or cut coverage for certain groups of people.

“Part of the problem is when we hear people talk on television or hear lawmakers talk, there are many people that don’t make the connection that they themselves are on [Medicaid] or that their hospital is very much dependent upon the dollars that come from Medicaid,” said Brown.

“Calling it one thing and branding it something very different, that makes it challenging for people to understand the connection or the value in the product that they actually have.”

About 3 in 4 people who have Medicaid are enrolled in managed care organizations (MCOs), according to the latest national data. Most of these are private plans operated by companies such as UnitedHealth Group and Centene. But the branding from these companies can distance recipients from the fact that their care is paid for with public funds.

When Brown worked in emergency medicine, he had many patients who had insurance through Medicaid.

“There were times they would show me their card and it would have commercial branding, like a Blue Cross Blue Shield,” he said. But as they talked, “I noticed there was a lack of understanding that they were on a Medicaid-supported or state/federal-supported program.”

Millions of people who are enrolled in Medicaid mistakenly believe they’re uninsured, Dr. Ben Sommers, a Harvard health economist and physician, told Stateline.

“It is a long-standing issue that got worse during the pandemic,” he said.

He and fellow researchers found that the gap between the number of people who have Medicaid and the number who think they have it jumped during the pandemic, to about 18.5 million people. This was due to a lack of public understanding about a COVID-era rule that granted continuous Medicaid coverage to people without requiring them to re-enroll, researchers found.

Sommers expects the gap will eventually return to pre-pandemic levels, or nearly 6 million people.

“That’s still a lot of people who don’t think they’re in Medicaid but who are,” he said.

There are also some uninsured people who enroll in Medicaid when they show up at an emergency room or clinic needing care. Most providers will check for Medicaid eligibility if a person doesn’t have another form of insurance. People who become Medicaid beneficiaries that way may not realize it’s Medicaid paying for their care, Sommers said.

Public debate

Physicians, public health experts and advocates worry that the confusion over Medicaid is affecting public debate over funding cuts.

From a public health perspective, Sommers said, “It’s not a huge problem if people think they have one type of insurance and misclassify it, as long as they’re getting care.

“Politically, it can be tricky if people don’t recognize they have Medicaid and they’re trying to weigh in on policies that affect Medicaid.”

Conservatives have long argued for reducing the reach of Medicaid. They say the program is too expensive and that its expansion under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, diverts too much money toward able-bodied adults and away from the more vulnerable populations it was originally intended to help.

But despite the controversy surrounding Medicaid, the program is extremely popular. More than 3 in 4 people view Medicaid favorably, including nearly two-thirds of Republicans, according to a January tracking poll from KFF.

In focus groups conducted in January by KFF, no Trump voters and few Harris voters said they were aware of proposals to cut federal Medicaid dollars, and some Trump voters said they didn’t think Trump would follow through on the cuts.

Making the connection

Brown said that despite confusion, most Medicaid patients he encountered were aware their insurance came through a government program.

But he said it can still be hard for people — including those with private insurance — to make the connection between Medicaid funding cuts and their local hospitals or other services.

“We oftentimes frame this [debate over Medicaid funding cuts] as ‘People will lose their health insurance,’ and that is true,” Brown said. But “the constituencies affected are not just the people who have Medicaid.”

Less funding for Medicaid, or an increase in the number of people without insurance, would harm people with any kind of insurance, he said. It could lead to longer wait times at hospitals, fewer services offered and, in some cases, hospital closures.

“One of the important parts about democracy is people being educated about what their representatives are voting for or against, and also how to advocate for yourself,” Brown said. “If you don’t fundamentally understand or fully grasp the benefits you have, then it’s harder to advocate.”

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Why ‘intuitive budgeting’ might be your new favorite budgeting tool 15 Apr 2025, 6:25 pm

By Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

Intuitive budgeting involves approximating your expenses instead of counting every penny. For some people, this kind of relaxed approach is more appealing than traditional budgeting.

“It’s more of a dance with your numbers,” says Bari Tessler, author of “The Art of Money” and a financial therapist in Boulder, Colorado.

In fact, Tessler shies away from even using the word “budget,” which can feel “so rigid and diet-like, as if there’s a right and wrong way.”

Tessler prefers “money map.” That phrase, she says, evokes the idea that “this is something we get to craft on our own, based on what phase of life we’re in, who we’re caring for and what our numbers look like.”

She’s part of a growing group of money professionals who are embracing the popularity of this more intuitive approach.

“Regimented budgeting strategies aren’t for everyone,” says Said Israilov, a certified financial planner in San Francisco and co-founder of Israilov Financial.

An intuitive approach means “spending your money on what feels right while staying mindful about your needs and wants. It doesn’t prescribe any spending guidelines and instead lets people make decisions by relying on their inner voice,” he adds.

It’s you relying on your sense for sound spending, trusting yourself and (hopefully) stressing less. If you’d like to give intuitive budgeting a try, here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

Capture an approximate cash flow

Before moving to intuitive budgeting, Tessler suggests getting familiar with your basic expenses each month.

“The key to intuitive budgeting is to have a baseline — a sense of what your expenses are,” she says.

Tracking your expenses for a few months can help you decide if you are comfortable with your level of spending or want to dial it back in certain categories.

Intuitive budgeting is not “magical thinking” where you simply don’t pay attention and hope for the best, Tessler says.

Instead, it’s being fluid and understanding about your numbers.

“It’s not critiquing ourselves but learning from it and being compassionate as we’re figuring this out,” she says.

You may have to gather some information up front and jot down your recurring income and expenses to get a good baseline feel.

Listen to your gut

Intuitive budgeting “relies on a gut feeling,” Israilov says.

If you’re deciding whether or not to splurge on a big television, for example, Israilov suggests reflecting on whether or not it feels right instead of crunching numbers. For much of his client base — which he describes as millennial immigrants working in the tech sector — this intuitive approach makes sense, perhaps partly because they tend to be frugal.

This way isn’t for everybody, though.

“If you tend to overspend, it might not work for you,” he says.

And even if the intuitive approach does work for you, it still requires guardrails.

“At the end of each month, make it a habit to audit your bank statements and review major spending categories,” Israilov says.

That way, you can make adjustments as needed.

Find the right method

The key to finding a money management approach that works for you is to make sure you use one that fits your life, says Dana Miranda, author of “You Don’t Need a Budget.”

Personal finance advice is not “one-size-fits-all,” she says, and pretending the same money maxims apply to everyone can be damaging.

That’s why she encourages people to explore their own financial goals and spending patterns with an emphasis on figuring out what works best for them, versus following along with whatever a money expert or influencer advises.

That might mean using intuitive budgeting or some variation of it. If the approach you select doesn’t evoke a sense of stress or shame, it has a better chance of being sustainable, Miranda says.

It also has to work, meaning your gut instinct needs to keep you from spending more than you make.

If needed, bring in more structure

If the free-flow of intuitive budgeting feels chaotic, Tessler suggests turning to more traditional tools like envelope-based budgeting.

A budgeting app can work well for people who need structure, she adds.

Some life events — like buying a home, having a baby or retiring — may require more guardrails, Tessler says. Then, when the phase passes, you can return to a more intuitive approach.

“There are certain phases of life where we have to be more vigilant,” she says.

And there are others, such as during periods of stable income and expenses, where you can go with the flow.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article Why ‘Intuitive Budgeting’ Might Be Your New Favorite Budgeting Tool originally appeared on NerdWallet.

Visa cancellations sow panic for international students, with hundreds fearing deportation 15 Apr 2025, 6:11 pm

By ANNIE MA, MAKIYA SEMINERA and CHRISTOPHER L. KELLER

WASHINGTON (AP) — At first, the bar association for immigration attorneys began receiving inquiries from a couple students a day. These were foreigners studying in the U.S., and they’d discovered in early April their legal status had been terminated with little notice. To their knowledge, none of the students had committed a deportable offense.

In recent days, the calls have begun flooding in. Hundreds of students have been calling to say they have lost legal status, seeking advice on what to do next.

“We thought it was going to be something that was unusual,” said Matthew Maiona, a Boston-based immigration attorney who is getting about six calls a day from panicked international students. “But it seems now like it’s coming pretty fast and furious.”

The speed and scope of the federal government’s efforts to terminate the legal status of international students have stunned colleges across the country. Few corners of higher education have been untouched, as schools ranging from prestigious private universities, large public research institutions and tiny liberal arts colleges discover status terminations one after another among their students.

At least 600 students at more than 90 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. Advocacy groups collecting reports from colleges say hundreds more students could be caught up in the crackdown.

Students apparently targeted over minor infractions

Around 1.1 million international students were in the United States last year — a source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid, and their ability to pay tuition often factors into whether they will be admitted to American schools. Often, they pay full price.

Many of the students losing their legal status are from India and China, which together account for more than half the international students at American colleges. But the terminations have not been limited to those from any one part of the world, lawyers said.

Four students from two Michigan universities are suing Trump administration officials after their F-1 student status was terminated last week. Their attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, Ramis Wadood, said the students never received a clear reason why.

“We don’t know, and that’s the scary part,” he said.

The students were informed of the status terminations by their universities via email, which came as a shock, Wadood said. The reason given was that there was a “criminal records check and/or that their visa was revoked,” Wadood said, but none of them were charged or convicted of crimes. Some had either speeding or parking tickets, but one didn’t have any, he said. Only one of the students had known their entry visa was revoked, Wadood said.

Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.

But many students say they don’t fall under those categories. Students have filed lawsuits in several states, arguing they were denied due process.

In New Hampshire, a federal judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to restore the status of a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, Xiaotian Liu, while he challenges the revocation of his visa.

In a break from past, feds cancel students’ status directly

At many colleges, officials learned the legal immigration status of some international students had been terminated when staff checked a database managed by the Department of Homeland Security. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school.

The system to track enrollment and movements of international students came under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after 9/11, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators. She said recent developments have left students fearful of how quickly they can be on the wrong side of enforcement.

“You don’t need more than a small number to create fear,” Aw said. “There’s no clarity of what are the reasons and how far the reach of this is.”

Her group says as many as 1,300 students have lost visas or had their status terminated, based on reports from colleges.

The Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Foreigners who are subject to removal proceedings are usually sent a notice to appear in immigration court on a certain date, but lawyers say affected students have not received any notices, leaving them unsure of next steps to take.

Some schools have told students to leave the country to avoid the risk of being detained or deported. But some students have appealed the terminations and stayed in the United States while those are processed.

Still others caught in legal limbo aren’t students at all. They had remained in the U.S. post-graduation on “optional practical training,” a one-year period — or up to three for science and technology graduates — that allows employment in the U.S. after completing an academic degree. During that time, a graduate works in their field and waits to receive their H-1B or other employment visas if they wish to keep working in the U.S.

Around 242,000 foreigners in the U.S. are employed through this “optional practical training.” About 500,000 are pursuing graduate degrees, and another 342,000 are undergraduate students.

Among the students who have filed lawsuits is a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is supposed to graduate on May 5, with a job offer to join the faculty. His attorney Charles Kuck said the student was likely targeted for termination because of an unpaid traffic fine from when the student lent his car to a friend. Ultimately, the violation was dismissed.

“We have case after case after case exactly like that, where there is no underlying crime,” said Kuck, who is representing 17 students in the federal lawsuit. He said his law firm has heard from hundreds of students.

“These are kids who now, under the Trump administration, realize their position is fragile,” he said. “They’ve preyed on a very vulnerable population. These kids aren’t hiding. They’re in school.”

Some international students have been adapting their daily routines.

A Ph.D. student from China at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said she has begun carrying around her passport and immigration paperwork at the advice of the university’s international student office. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by authorities, said she has been distressed to see the terminations even for students like her without criminal records.

“That is the most scary part because you don’t know whether you’re going to be the next person,” she said.

Seminera reported from Raleigh, N.C., and Keller reported from Albuquerque, N.M.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Bank of America ordered to pay $540 million in long-running lawsuit from the FDIC 15 Apr 2025, 5:50 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Bank of America to pay more than $540 million to resolve long-running litigation from a U.S. regulator that alleged the company underpaid mandatory assessments for deposit insurance.

The order, reached March 31 and published publicly on Monday, arrives over eight years after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued Bank of America in 2017.

“We are pleased the judge has ruled and have reserves reflecting the decision,” Bank of America said in a statement to The Associated Press. The FDIC declined to comment when reached Tuesday.

Back in 2017, the FDIC accused Bank of America of refusing to pay over $500 million in assessments — a figure it later expanded to $1.12 billion — alleging that the banking giant failed to honor a 2011 regulatory rule and “unjustly enriched itself” at the FDIC’s expense.

The Bank of America later filed a motion to dismiss in part, strongly denying it acted with an intent to evade such payments. It also argued that some of quarters the FDIC targeted for assessments fell outside the statue of limitations.

After a yearslong legal battle, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan in Washington, D.C. partially granted and denied motions for both Bank of America and the FDIC. She said that the nearly $540.3 million payment from Bank of America would cover its underpaid assessments spanning from the second quarter of 2013 through the end of 2014’s fiscal year, plus interest — but ruled that the FDIC waited too long to sue over earlier claims.

Formed in 1933 during the Great Depression, the FDIC is one of several banking system regulators today. The agency is best known for running the nation’s deposit insurance program, which insures Americans’ deposits up to $250,000 in case their bank fails.

Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the second-largest bank by assets in the U.S. On Tuesday, the company reported a first-quarter profit of $7.4 billion and $27.37 billion in revenue net of interest expense, topping Wall Street expectations.