PSJD News Digest – August 23, 2024
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Hello, interested public! Lots of big news this week, including our featured story, where the IRS has given employers guidance on providing matching retirement plan contributions based on student loan payments. Additional stories include a funding crisis for public defense in Arkansas and a staffing challenge for new public defense offices in Maine. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Take care,
Sam
Editor’s Choice
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Employers now have interim guidance on student loans and retirement plans (Journal of Accountancy; 20 Aug 2024)
Student Loans & Student Debt
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Federal Appeals Court Ruling Could Put Other Student Loan Forgiveness at Risk (Nat’l Assn of Student Fin Aid Admins; 21 Aug 2024)
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Student Loans: 1 in 3 Borrowers Have Slowed Repayment (Nerd Wallet; 20 Aug 2024)
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Student Loan Update: Forgiveness Program Ends This Month (Newsweek; 22 Aug 2024)
Access to Justice – Civil & Economic
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Could this right-to-counsel program for evictions become a statewide [VA] model? (Virginia Mercury; 19 Aug 2024)
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Skagit Legal Aid [WA] to significantly expand immigration services (Skagit Valley Herald; 19 Aug 2024)
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Stanford-LA County Court Judicial Access Project Gets Grant (Law360; 20 Aug 2024)
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Legal aid and AI help poor Americans close 'justice gap' (Context News; 22 Aug 2024)
Access to Justice – Criminal
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Arkansas public defenders face layoffs without state financial aid, commission director warns (Arkansas Advocate; 19 Aug 2024)
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Washington bar changes to help public defenders, questions remain on funding (NonStop Local; 16 Aug 2024)
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Would overhaul of WA’s public defense lead to better outcomes or ‘vigilante land’? (The News Tribune; 19 Aug 2024)
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Idaho is overhauling its public defense system, but some argue it won’t fix issues providing attorneys (Inlander; 22 Aug 2024)
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‘No easy fix’ to Maine’s indigent defense crisis, director tells lawmakers (Portland Press Herald; 21 Aug 2024)
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Public defender’s offices are opening across Maine. The next step: staffing them. (The Maine Monitor; 18 Aug 2024)
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Bangor’s new public defender office is struggling to hire lawyers (Bangor Daily News; 20 Aug 2024)
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[Coweta County GA] Public defender, district attorney seeks additional funds for upcoming fiscal year (Newman Times-Herald; 20 Aug 2024)