CNBC reports: As student debt continues to climb, President Donald Trump on Monday released a budget for 2021 that would slash many of the programs aimed at helping borrowers. Student loan spending would be cut by $170 billion in Trump’s plan, titled “A Budget for America’s Future.” The reductions include “sensible annual and lifetime loan limits” for graduate students and …

Playbill reports: Tony winner James Corden, Oh, Hello! star John Mulaney, and comedian Romesh Ranganathan have joined the upcoming movie adaptation of Cinderella as the mice/footmen. The trio join Camila Cabello as the titular character, and Tony winners Idina Menzel and Billy Porter as the stepmother and Fairy Godmother, respectively. Deadline also reports that Oscar nominee Minnie Driver (Good Will …

The Washington Post reports: Federal prosecutors on Monday said longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone deserves a sentence of 7 to 9 years in prison for lying to Congress and tampering with a witness related to his efforts to learn about hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The sentencing filing came after days of tense debate within the …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: The Georgia Department of Driver Services has agreed to make it easier for Puerto Ricans and applicants from other U.S. territories to get driver’s licenses under the terms of a federal lawsuit settlement announced Monday. The department agreed to allow residents from the territories — who are U.S. citizens — to transfer their driver’s licenses to …

A sad update from Christian activist Mike Heath: For a bit over a week I’ve been salting my COLUMNS with the english words “faggot” and “maggot.” I started doing it with a promise that I’d do a World Tour because it is a fact that Faggots are Maggots. I probably won’t do the Tour. Not because I don’t want to …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General William P. Barr acknowledged Monday that the Justice Department would evaluate material that Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, had gathered from Ukrainian sources claiming to have damaging information about former vice president Joe Biden and his family — though Barr and other officials suggested Giuliani was being treated no differently than any …

USA Today reports: For the first time in the 2020 Democratic primary, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders took the lead in a national Quinnipiac University poll, overtaking former Vice President Joe Biden, just after the Iowa caucuses and one day ahead of Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. Sanders received 25% support among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, with Biden at 17%. Mike Bloomberg …

The Independent reports: Boris Johnson is stepping up work on his plan to build a £20 billion bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, despite experts dismissing it as “clueless” and “bonkers”. A “proper piece of work” is under way in Whitehall, his spokesman said, arguing it proved the prime minister is “ambitious in terms of infrastructure projects”. “This is an …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump continued his verbal barrage on Sen. Mitt Romney on Monday, telling Utah’s governor, “You keep him.” Trump, who’s repeatedly criticized his fellow Republican since Romney voted last week to convict the president for abuse of power at his Senate impeachment trial, still had the Utah senator on his mind when Gov. Gary Herbert tried …

Richmond’s ABC News affiliate reports: Virginia is moving toward decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana. The state House on Monday passed HB 972, a decriminalization bill, with bipartisan support. Delegates voted 64-34 for the measure, with a number of Republicans joining Democrats in favor. The state Senate is expected to pass its own version shortly. Gov. Ralph Northam has signaled his …

The Guardian reports: BBC Studios has announced a documentary series about the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg. The new show will follow Thunberg’s “international crusade” against the climate emergency, focusing on her campaign work as well as her “journey into adulthood”. It will also see Thunberg meet with scientists, politicians and businesspeople to explore the evidence around rising global temperatures. …

CBS News reports: Pete Buttigieg is asking for a partial recanvass for 66 precincts as well as a recanvass of all in-state satellite caucus locations. The former South Bend mayor said he believes the discrepancies identified by his campaign would result in a net increase of 14 state delegate equivalents if corrected. Buttigieg said his campaign found three types of …

Newsweek reports: In breaking with some of her opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination, Representative Tulsi Gabbard defended President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. Fox News host Neil Cavuto asked Gabbard if she agreed with the comparison of Vindman’s firing to October 20, 1973, when President Richard Nixon’s attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned instead …

The Des Moines Register reports: Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez answered affirmatively when asked if he takes responsibility for Iowa caucus issues — but when asked if he would resign, he said, “absolutely not.” Perez spoke with CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” following criticisms of the Iowa caucus and a call for his resignation after results …

Bloomberg News reports: New York sued to block the Trump administration’s plan to bar state residents from enrolling in federal Trusted Traveler programs like Global Entry, which allows pre-screened participants to breeze through airport passport and customs checks. President Donald Trump is seeking to punish the state for opposing many of his policies, said New York Attorney General Letitia James, …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump praised China’s death penalty for drug dealers, Monday, though he added he doesn’t know if the United States “is ready” for similar sentences. “Criminal in China for drugs by the way means that’s serious. They’re getting a maximum penalty,” Trump noted. “And you know what the maximum penalty is in China for that, and it …

The Hill reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign is requesting a partial recanvass of Iowa caucus results, citing “mathematical errors and inconsistencies” in the tabulations for more than two dozen precincts. In a letter to Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price, Sanders said that discrepancies in the vote tally at 25 precincts and three satellite caucus sites led to …

George Conway writes for the Washington Post: “So we’ll probably have to do it again.” So said the already-once-impeached President Trump on Thursday in the East Room, musing about the possibility he could become the first president to be impeached more than once. And on the very next day, as though he were competing for it, Trump showed precisely why …

Stuff New Zealand reports: Religious heckling towards participants of the Auckland Pride march was “quite jarring”, an organiser says. About 7000 members of the region’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) communities took part in the march on Saturday through Auckland’s CBD. They were met with a group of protesters on Queen St, who then followed the participants …

Reuters reports: The U.S. military is preparing to report a more than 50% jump in cases of traumatic brain injury stemming from Iran’s missile attack on a base in Iraq last month, U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of an announcement, said there were over 100 cases of TBI, up from …