First Run News

Senate Democratic negotiators are getting pushback from pro-immigrant activists and other base constituencies who worry they are poised to give too much away in a deal protecting “Dreamers.” Democrats have signaled they are willing to consider proposals to rein in family-based migration and the diversity visa lottery to reach an agreement with MORE and the GOP. But with Trump and other Republicans already indicating their desire to help those immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, some immigration activists fear the Democrats

Senate Majority Leader on Tuesday that he will give an immigration bill a vote, but it won't be attached to a spending deal. "It is still my view that I will call up a DACA related immigration bill that ... the president will sign and that it will not be a part of any overall spending agreement," McConnell told reporters, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Congress has less than two weeks to meet a Jan.

PAUL LEONG, A YOUNG banker who lives in downtown Manhattan, spends an unusual amount of time thinking about square watermelons. He wonders where to get them, how long they’ll last, when they’ll next be in season. This is because two years ago, Leong bought a work by the Los Angeles-based artist Max Hooper Schneider called ‘‘Genus Watermeloncholia’’: a bioengineered square watermelon in a glass case filled with water. The watermelon is connected to an LED sign that is positioned so that it appears to be transmitting the watermelon’s depressive thoughts: ‘‘This is all a mistake,’’ for instance.

Many colleges ask you to choose a major as early as your senior year of high school, on your admissions application. Yet there’s a good chance you’ll change your mind. The Education Department says that about 30 percent of students switch majors at least once. Students get plenty of advice about picking a major. It turns out, though, that most of it is from family and friends, according to a September Gallup survey.

There’s no magic formula for getting into a selective college, but over a decade covering admissions for The Chronicle of Higher Education, I’ve picked up a thing or two. These takeaways, based on hundreds of interviews with admissions deans over the years, may help you navigate the process. When colleges choose applicants, they’re juggling competing goals, like increasing diversity and bringing in more revenue. Admissions officers aren’t looking for students who fit just one description — say, those who’ve earned all A’s or won the most awards.

The admissions process is out of whack. Just ask the heartbroken applicant, rejected by her dream school. Ask high school counselors, who complain that colleges don’t reward promising students for their creativity, determination or service to others. Even the gatekeepers at some famous institutions acknowledge, quietly, that the selection system is broken. Ask five people how to fix it, though, and they’ll give five different answers. Sure, you might think colleges put too much stock in the SAT, but your neighbor’s kid with the near-perfect score thinks it should matter a lot.

So it actually happened. Just last month, it was not certain that the Senate would go along with the House of Representatives’ proposal to let families use 529 college savings plans to pay for private school from elementary school onward.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s economic stimulus campaign continued to generate large profits in 2017, helping to reduce the federal deficit, but the windfall is showing signs of tapering. The Fed, which remits its profits to the Treasury Department, disclosed on Wednesday that its payments last year totaled $80.2 billion — about 12 percent less than the $91.5 billion in 2016. The decline in profits reflects

Camp David on Saturday. “I think it's a disgrace that somebody's able to have something, do something like that,” Trump said of the book released Friday. “The libel laws are very weak in this country.

President Ronald Reagan over such questions. While this is the first time Trump has directly engaged on the topic of his mental fitness amid new claims in the “Fire and Fury” book, the White House has forcefully denounced such questions as “disgraceful and laughable.” “If he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen,” White House press s