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New rules allow students to apply for aid earlier

 
Published Sept. 14, 2015

Washington

New rules allow students to apply for aid earlier

Aspiring college students will be able to apply for federal financial aid three months earlier than now and submit a previous year's tax return, changes aimed at helping more people pay for school, the White House said Sunday. Under the current system, students planning to start school in the fall of 2017 must wait until January of that year to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The new system will let them complete the form as early as October 2016, the month that marks the traditional start to the college application season. The government uses that form to determine eligibility for Pell Grants and federally backed student loans. The White House said requiring applicants to wait until January slows down the aid process and makes it harder for prospective students to determine whether they can afford to go to college.

New Orleans

Durst may not get hotel evidence tossed

Federal prosecutors say registering at a hotel under a false name cost real estate heir Robert Durst his right to privacy there. That opens their 65-page response to defense lawyers' contentions that all evidence found in Durst's New Orleans hotel room should be thrown out. That would erase the gun charge that keeps him in Louisiana despite waiving extradition to California on a murder charge. A judge is expected to hear arguments in the coming weeks on the motion to dismiss all evidence found in his hotel room. The 72-year-old millionaire is scheduled for trial Jan. 11 on a charge of illegally possessing a .38-caliber revolver after a felony conviction. At the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday night, HBO's controversial The Jinx: The Life And Deaths of Robert Durst won the Emmy for best documentary or nonfiction series.

Seattle

Teachers' strike shuts schools for 4th day

Seattle Public Schools are canceling classes for a fourth day today as a strike by teachers enters its second week. The strike, over issues that include pay raises and teacher evaluations, has delayed the start of the school year for about 53,000 students. The sides resumed negotiations Saturday and continued to talk Sunday. The educators, who have not received a cost-of-living pay raise in six years, have joined other workers pushing for higher wages. The cost of living has been rising in Seattle thanks in part to the city's influx of highly paid tech workers.

New York

Grilled-cheese truck grabs top food award

A New York grilled-cheese food truck whose proceeds go to help formerly incarcerated youths has won the top Vendy award for best street fare. The Street Vendor Project sponsors the annual event. It said this year's Vendy Cup winner is Snowday, a truck specializing in the sandwiches with a touch of maple syrup using ingredients from New York farms. More than 2,000 people gathered Saturday on Governors Island, where eight food experts voted.

Elsewhere

Atlantic City, N.J.: Miss Georgia, Betty Cantrell, was named Miss America 2016 on Sunday night. The pageant featured contestants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

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Yemen: Yemen's internationally recognized president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, will not participate in U.N.-brokered talks this week with Shiite rebels who control the capital and much of the country's north, his office said Sunday. A statement said there would be no talks with the rebels, known as Houthis, unless they accept a U.N. resolution that obliges them to withdraw from areas they seized and surrender weapons taken from the state.

Times wires