Author
![Shauneen Miranda](https://lailluminator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Headshot-ShauneenMiranda-300x300.jpg)
Shauneen Miranda is a reporter for States Newsroom’s Washington bureau. An alumna of the University of Maryland, she previously covered breaking news for Axios.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Biden’s newest student loan repayment plan temporarily blocked by Supreme Court
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 29, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday slashed the Biden administration’s latest efforts to provide student debt relief to millions of borrowers to go forward while the appeals process unfolds. The Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan provided lower monthly loan payments for borrowers and lessened the time it takes to pay off […]
U.S. education secretary to launch back-to-school bus tour that includes swing states
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 22, 2024
WASHINGTON — U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said Thursday he is launching a “2024 Back to School Bus Tour” in early September that will include stops in multiple battleground states across the United States as he and other Biden administration officials highlight their work in investing in public education. While not a campaign event, the […]
With Harris on the ballot, Democrats work to build momentum for bigger youth vote
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 15, 2024
WASHINGTON — Democratic and left-leaning youth organizing groups have seized on a new opportunity to rally younger voters now that Vice President Kamala Harris is their party’s presidential nominee. Young adult voters — including millions of Gen Zers — could be pivotal in determining the outcome of the race in which the 59-year-old Democrat vies […]
Added delays in store for Trump in 2020 election interference case
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 9, 2024
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith was granted more time on Friday before having to give an outline on the next steps his office is taking in the 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. The delay pushes the case proceedings further into the thick of the presidential race, […]
Feds to gradually roll out new student aid application by Dec. 1
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 7, 2024
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday it will use a phased rollout to launch the 2025-26 form to apply for federal financial student aid, which will make the application fully available two months later than usual. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid — better known as FAFSA — will be available […]
Much-attacked final Title IX rule goes into effect while still blocked in 26 states
By: Shauneen Miranda - August 1, 2024
WASHINGTON — Though the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX extending federal protections for LGBTQ students went into effect nationwide Thursday, a slew of legal challenges has temporarily blocked over half of all states from enforcing the updated regulations. After the Department of Education released the final rule in April, 26 states — all […]
Appeals court blocks Title IX rule protecting LGBTQ kids, reversing Alabama federal judge
By: Shauneen Miranda - July 31, 2024
Just a day after a federal judge struck down an attempt by Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to halt enforcement of the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX, a federal appeals court granted the states’ request for an administrative injunction Wednesday — temporarily blocking the updated regulations from taking effect in those Southern […]
Trump shooting ‘a failure on multiple levels,’ acting U.S. Secret Service chief says
By: Shauneen Miranda - July 30, 2024
WASHINGTON — When acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. visited the site of the campaign rally where a gunman attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, he went up to the roof, lying flat on his stomach, to evaluate the shooter’s line of sight that mid-July day. “What I saw made me ashamed,” Rowe […]
VP Harris tells teachers union she’s ‘fighting for the future,’ blasts Project 2025
By: Shauneen Miranda - July 25, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris — the likely 2024 Democratic presidential nominee — outlined on Thursday some of her “vision of the future” while touting the administration’s education record in her keynote address to the American Federation of Teachers national convention in Houston. Harris has quickly drawn the support of major unions like the AFT in […]
Secret Service director faces mounting calls to resign over Trump assassination attempt
By: Shauneen Miranda - July 22, 2024
WASHINGTON — Congressional lawmakers on both sides of the aisle berated U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Monday over the agency’s failures to prevent the attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump, urging her to resign amid dissatisfaction with her testimony. Nine days since a 20-year-old shooter killed one rallygoer and injured two others […]
What to know about Vice President Kamala Harris, endorsed by Biden as his successor
By: Shauneen Miranda - July 21, 2024
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Sunday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the new Democratic presidential nominee, passing the torch to the California native who has helmed administration initiatives on reproductive rights and gun control. A former U.S. senator from California who vied for her party’s presidential nomination in the 2020 primaries, Harris, […]
California Rep. Schiff latest Democrat to call on Biden to drop out
By: Shauneen Miranda and Jennifer Shutt - July 17, 2024
WASHINGTON — The intraparty effort to convince President Joe Biden to end his reelection bid resurfaced Wednesday, when prominent U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California became the latest Democratic member of Congress to go public with his concerns. Leading Democrats also set an early August window for a virtual roll call to officially name Biden […]