In this photo released by the Hoover Police Department, Carlee Russell is shown. — Hoover Police Department
(HOOVER, Ala.) — Carlethia “Carlee” Russell, the Alabama woman who returned home on Saturday after she went missing for two days, called 911 to report a toddler walking down the highway before her disappearance, but the Hoover Police Department said in a press release on Tuesday evening that investigators have not found any evidence of a child walking on the side of the road.
“The Hoover Police Department has not located any evidence of a toddler walking down the interstate, nor did we receive any additional calls about a toddler walking down the interstate, despite numerous vehicles passing through that area as depicted by the traffic camera surveillance video,” the press release said.
Police also previously said that they did not receive any calls to report a missing toddler.
The update came amid questions surrounding the circumstances of Russell’s disappearance. Police said in the statement that detectives are continuing to investigate what happened from the time she called 911 on Wednesday at around 9:30 p.m. ET to report a toddler on Interstate 459 in Alabama, until she returned home on foot late Saturday.
Police said they will share more information about the investigation during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. ABC News has reached out to Russell’s family for comment.
The Hoover Police Department previously said the 25-year-old stopped her car to check on the toddler she reported after making the 911 call and called a family member to report what she saw. The family member lost contact with Russell, but the line remained open, according to police.
Officers who responded to Russell’s 911 call found her vehicle and some of her belongings on the scene, but there was no sign of Russell or the child she reported. Authorities said Tuesday that Russell stopped at a Target to buy snacks, but they were not found in her belongings at the vehicle.
Police said in the statement on Tuesday that detectives have obtained surveillance video of Russell that shows her walking alone in her neighborhood before she arrived home on Saturday night.
Medics were dispatched to Russell’s residence on Saturday after she returned home to aid an “unresponsive but breathing” person as described in the 911 call, but police said that first responders found Russell “conscious and speaking” when she arrived and she was transported to a local hospital, where she was treated and released.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab and Mariama Jalloh contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Kenya is bracing for three days of anti-government protests led by the government’s political opposition over a contentious new finance bill and the rising cost of living
The protests, which began on Wednesday, have been called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. The unrest was set to take place despite Kenya’s President William Ruto vowing no protests would take place in the East African Nation.
“We are here, first and foremost, to confirm that the peaceful protests planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week are on as earlier declared by our leadership,” read a statement by Odinga’s party, Azimio La Umoja, sent to ABC News.
At least five protesters were injured on Wednesday as demonstrators clashed with police. Amnesty International Kenya said, said that “para-military police officers and armored water cannon trucks [are] already patrolling and engaging protestors across several towns and neighborhoods.”
In Kibera — a stronghold of the opposition — protests turned violent, with demonstrators setting fire to tires and furniture, stones being pelted, and tear gas being deployed by police. In the most recent round of anti-government protests at least 23 people are reported to have been killed according to the U.N., with over 300 arrested.
Protests have also been reported in Kenya’s Kisumu, Kisii and Migori counties.
Kenya’s Ministry of Education also announced that all primary and secondary schools in Nairobi and the coastal city Mombasa are to close on Wednesday as a “precautionary measure” following “credible security intelligence.” Several businesses also remain closed.
The protests come after Ruto last month signed into law a contentious finance bill at Nairobi’s State House that proposed doubling the tax levied on fuel from 8% to 16%.
The bill aimed to aid in offsetting Kenya’s external debt, officials said. However, the bill will have a ripple effect on the price of basic commodities, compounding on the economic strain of Kenyans already struggling with the rising cost of living.
Implementation of the Bill — which was due to come into effect on July 1 — was halted by Kenya’s High Court following a case brought by opposition Sen. Okiya Omatah, who argued it was unconstitutional.
In a joint statement with Heads of Missions from 13 countries in Kenya, the U.S. Embassy Nairobi said it was “saddened” by the loss of life from anti-government protests and “concerned by the levels of violence” exhibited during recent demonstrations.
“We recognise the daily hardship faced by many Kenyans and urge all parties to table their concerns through a meaningful dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully,” the statement said.
Speaking at a Geneva press briefing, U.N. Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence appealed for calm, saying, “We call on the authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the Kenyan Constitution and international human rights law.”
(NEW YORK) — Police have called the Gilgo Beach murders “one of the most consequential homicide investigations” in Long Island’s history.
The search for missing sex worker Shannan Gilbert led to the grisly discovery of 10 other bodies on a stretch of beach along the island’s South Shore.
Now, nearly 13 years after the first victim was discovered, a suspect has been arrested in connection with the case.
New York City architect Rex Heuermann has been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found covered in burlap in December 2010, according to court records.
Heuermann, 59, a married father of two, is also the “prime suspect” in the death of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was also found that month, according to the court document. He has not been charged with her murder.
The four victims have become known as the “Gilgo Four”; the Craigslist escorts were found along the beach about 500 feet from each other, and all died by homicidal violence, according to officials.
Here’s a timeline of the investigation:
July 9, 2007
Brainard-Barnes, 25, is last seen alive in New York City, according to prosecutors.
July 10, 2009
Barthelemy, 24, is last seen alive in New York City, according to prosecutors.
May 1, 2010
Gilbert, 23, goes missing after fleeing from a client’s home in Oak Beach, near Gilgo Beach, according to police. Her disappearance prompts several searches in the area.
June 6, 2010
Waterman, 22, is last seen alive at the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge, New York, according to prosecutors.
Sept. 2, 2010
Costello, 27, is last seen alive at her home in West Babylon, New York, according to prosecutors.
Dec. 11, 2010
An officer conducting a search for Gilbert with his police K9 along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach — near her last known location — discovers a set of human remains that are later identified to be those of Barthelemy, police said.
Dec. 13, 2010
During a search of the area, police find the remains of Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello within a quarter mile of where Barthelemy’s remains were recovered, police said.
March 29, 2011
Amid the continued search for Gilbert, police find partial skeletal remains several miles east of where the Gilgo Beach Four were found belonging to Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old sex worker. Other remains from Taylor were previously discovered in Manorville, in eastern Long Island, in July 2003.
April 4, 2011
Police find three sets of remains along Ocean Parkway while searching for Gilbert.
The remains of Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old escort who disappeared while living in Philadelphia, are found about a mile and a half east of Taylor’s remains and a little over 2 miles east of the Gilgo Four. Mack’s partial remains were previously discovered in Manorville in November 2000, and police have suggested there may be a connection to Taylor’s remains.
The remains of an unidentified female toddler are also located in the same area.
The remains of an unidentified man are also discovered closer to the remains of the Gilgo Four. Authorities said the person was about 17 to 23 years old, Asian, and had died five to 10 years before being discovered.
April 11, 2011
Two sets of remains are located off of Ocean Parkway in Nassau County, seven miles west of Gilgo Beach.
One set of remains is determined to be the mother of the female toddler discovered on April 4, 2011. The mother’s partial remains were first discovered in 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park.
The second set, known as Jane Doe Seven, is confirmed to belong to an unidentified victim whose remains were located on Fire Island in 1996.
Dec. 13, 2011
Gilbert’s remains are found in marshland near Oak Beach. Her death is later ruled as an accidental drowning, though her family maintains they believe she was murdered.
January 2022
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office creates a task force to conduct a comprehensive review of evidence in the investigation.
March 14, 2022
Heuermann first comes up as a suspect in the investigation, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. Heuermann was tracked through his car, a Chevrolet Avalanche, according to court documents. A witness to Costello’s disappearance reported seeing a Chevrolet Avalanche at Costello’s home, court records stated.
July 13, 2023
Heuermann is arrested in Manhattan at his midtown office. Investigators matched DNA from hair recovered from the burlap used to wrap Waterman’s body to leftover pizza crust Heuermann threw into a Manhattan garbage can in January 2023, according to court documents.
Detectives also tracked Heuermann through cellphone records, according to court records. Tierney said cellphone mapping led investigators to zero in on areas in midtown Manhattan and Massapequa Park, where Heuermann lives.
July 14, 2023
Defense attorney Michael Brown enters a not guilty plea on Heuermann’s behalf at his arraignment for three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder. Heuermann was ordered held on no bail.
He is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 1.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Jon Haworth, Emily Shapiro, Josh Margolin, Mark Osborne and Mark Crudele contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Wednesday denied former President Donald Trump’s request for a new trial in the defamation and battery case brought by E. Jean Carroll that resulted in a $5 million damage award.
Trump had sought a new trial after a New York jury in May found him liable for sexually assaulting the former Elle magazine columnist in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s, then defaming her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie.”
Judge Lewis Kaplan denied the request, saying, “The jury in this case did not reach ‘a seriously erroneous result.'”
“Its verdict is not ‘a miscarriage of justice,'” the judge said.
(NEW YORK) — A swath of the United States is facing a dangerous combination of extreme heat and wildfire smoke this week.
More than 85 million Americans across 15 states — from California to Florida — are under heat alerts for Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The consecutive days of record high temperatures combined with overnight temperatures remaining high makes this heat wave especially threatening. The longer it lasts, the more dangerous it becomes.
A number of cities are shattering records amid scorching temperatures.
Tuesday marked the record-breaking 19th straight day that the heat index value was at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, Arizona, with no end in sight. Overnight temperatures there also haven’t dropped below 90 degrees for a record nine days in a row.
In Miami, Florida, the heat index value has been at or above 100 degrees for a record 38 consecutive days.
El Paso, Texas, has counted a record 33 straight days with the heat index value at or above 100 degrees.
Las Cruces, New Mexico, has gone a record 17 days in a row with the heat index value at or above 100 degrees.
The heat wave isn’t expected to end anytime soon. The latest forecast shows above average temperatures for the rest of July, particularly in the West and the South.
The last 16 days on Earth have been the hottest on record and the planet’s surface temperature is on track to break a record set only a couple weeks ago.
Meanwhile, several states in the East are under air quality alerts due to smoke from raging wildfires in neighboring Canada. The smoke was expected to lighten up on Wednesday as the weather front moves through the region.
California is now battling its own wildfires, with heavy smoke drifting over cities such as Fresno and areas up the northern coast. Dangerous smoke was expected to spread into Medford, Oregon, on Thursday.
(LONDON) — An American soldier who had just been released from a South Korean detention facility fled across the border to North Korea where he was detained and remains in custody.
Here’s what we know about the situation.
Who is the detainee?
The soldier in question was identified as 23-year-old U.S. Army Private 2nd Class Travis King, according to a U.S. official. King has been a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army since January 2021 and has no deployments, according to service information provided by Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee.
King has received three medals while serving in the U.S. military: the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon. These medals are commonly received by American service members in Korea.
Why was he in prison?
King served 47 days in a South Korean detention facility following an altercation with locals, according to a U.S. official.
South Korean media reported that King allegedly punched someone in the face repeatedly while drinking at a club in Seoul last September. He also allegedly kicked and broke the door of a police patrol car that was sent to the scene of a reported assault in Seoul last October, according to South Korean media.
He was released from prison earlier this month, according to reports.
How did he get to North Korea?
Two U.S. officials told ABC News that King spent about a week under observation at a U.S. military base in South Korea after being released from jail. He completed out-processing from the facility and on July 17 was escorted by U.S. military officials to South Korea’s Incheon International Airport as far as the customs checkpoint.
The military escort had no ticket and was not allowed past the checkpoint, so King continued into the terminal alone, according to the U.S. officials.
A U.S. official told ABC News that King was supposed to board a flight and end up in Fort Bliss, Texas. Awaiting him there was a “pending administrative separation actions for foreign conviction,” another U.S. official said.
Because King had finished serving his prison sentence, he was no longer under custody and, thus, an escort to the gate was not required. There was also no reason to suspect he would fail to board his flight.
But instead, King left the airport terminal for a tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, the heavily militarized border that separates North and South Korea. It’s unclear when he bought a ticket for the tour.
While on the tour, the soldier “wilfully and without authorization crossed the military demarcation line,” according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who didn’t identify King by name.
“We’re very early in this event and so there’s a lot that we’re still trying to learn,” Austin told reporters on Tuesday. “We believe that he is in DPRK custody. We’re closely monitoring and investigating the situation, and working to notify the soldier’s next of kin and engaging to address this incident.”
“I’m absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop. We will remain focused on this, and this will develop in the next several days,” he added.
The United Nations Command also confirmed the incident via Twitter on Tuesday, saying an American “on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The Joint Security Area, or JSA, sits in the DMZ along the border between North and South Korea.
“We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident,” the U.N. command tweeted.
What does his family say?
King’s mother, Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, said she was shocked when she heard her son had crossed into North Korea.
“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Gates told ABC News during an interview on Tuesday.
Gates said the U.S. Army told her on Tuesday morning that King had crossed into North Korea. She said she last heard from her son “a few days ago,” when he told her would return soon to his base in Fort Bliss.
She told ABC News that she just wants “him to come home.”
What’s next?
U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation, while the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State work with the U.N. “to ascertain more information and resolve this situation,” according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who declined to say how much political capital the Biden administration would expend to secure the soldier’s safe return.
“I don’t have more to share beyond that,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “We are looking into this.”
(LONDON) — An American soldier who had just been released from a South Korean prison fled across the border to North Korea where he was detained and remains in custody.
Here’s what we know about the situation.
Who is the detainee?
The soldier in question was identified as 23-year-old U.S. Army Private 2nd Class Travis King, according to a U.S. official. King has been a cavalry scout in the U.S. Army since January 2021 and has no deployments, according to service information provided by Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee.
King has received three medals while serving in the U.S. military: the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal and the Overseas Service Ribbon. These medals are commonly received by American service members in Korea.
Why was he in prison?
King served 47 days in a South Korean detention facility following an altercation with locals, according to a U.S. official.
South Korean media reported that King was charged with assault after he allegedly punched someone in the face repeatedly while drinking at a club in Seoul last September.
He was released from prison earlier this month, according to reports.
How did he get to North Korea?
Two U.S. officials told ABC News that King spent about a week under observation at a U.S. military base in South Korea after being released from jail. He completed out-processing from the facility and on July 17 was escorted by U.S. military officials to South Korea’s Incheon International Airport as far as the customs checkpoint.
The military escort had no ticket and was not allowed past the checkpoint, so King continued into the terminal alone, according to the U.S. officials.
A U.S. official told ABC News that King was supposed to board a flight and end up in Fort Bliss, Texas. Awaiting him there was a “pending administrative separation actions for foreign conviction,” another U.S. official said.
Because King had finished serving his prison sentence, he was no longer under custody and, thus, an escort to the gate was not required. There was also no reason to suspect he would fail to board his flight.
But instead, King left the airport terminal for a tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, the heavily militarized border that separates North and South Korea. It’s unclear when he bought a ticket for the tour.
While on the tour, the soldier “wilfully and without authorization crossed the military demarcation line,” according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who didn’t identify King by name.
“We’re very early in this event and so there’s a lot that we’re still trying to learn,” Austin told reporters on Tuesday. “We believe that he is in DPRK custody. We’re closely monitoring and investigating the situation, and working to notify the soldier’s next of kin and engaging to address this incident.”
“I’m absolutely foremost concerned about the welfare of our troop. We will remain focused on this, and this will develop in the next several days,” he added.
The United Nations Command also confirmed the incident via Twitter on Tuesday, saying an American “on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The Joint Security Area, or JSA, sits in the DMZ along the border between North and South Korea.
“We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident,” the U.N. command tweeted.
What does his family say?
King’s mother, Claudine Gates, who lives in Racine, Wisconsin, said she was shocked when she heard her son had crossed into North Korea.
“I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Gates told ABC News during an interview on Tuesday.
Gates said the U.S. Army told her on Tuesday morning that King had crossed into North Korea. She said she last heard from her son “a few days ago,” when he told her would return soon to his base in Fort Bliss.
She told ABC News that she just wants “him to come home.”
What’s next?
U.S. President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation, while the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State work with the U.N. “to ascertain more information and resolve this situation,” according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who declined to say how much political capital the Biden administration would expend to secure the soldier’s safe return.
“I don’t have more to share beyond that,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday. “We are looking into this.”
(NEW YORK) — Drug overdose deaths involving both cocaine and opioids have spiked over the last decade, new federal data suggests.
A new report published early Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System between 2011 and 2021.
Results showed that in 2021, 78.6% of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine also involved an opioid. What’s more, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving both cocaine and opioids was 5.9 per 100,000 deaths in 2021, more than seven times the rate in 2011 of 0.8 per 100,000.
Meanwhile, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine without opioids did not increase much over the study period, going from 0.7 per 100,000 in 2011 to 2.1 per 100,000 in 2021.
“From 2011 through 2021, the rate of overdose deaths involving both cocaine and opioids increased more quickly than overdose deaths that involved cocaine but no opioids,” the authors wrote in the report.
The report found the percentage of deaths involving cocaine and opioids varied by region. The Northeast had the highest percentage at 84.5% while the West had the lowest at 73.4%.
Researchers also looked at overdose deaths in which opioids were involved along with psychostimulants, which includes drugs such as methamphetamines.
They found the rate of drug overdose deaths involving both psychostimulants and opioids increased 22-fold from 0.3 per 100,000 in 2011 to 6.7 in 2021.
For the first half of the 2010s, the rate of overdose deaths from psychostimulants without opioids was higher but, by 2017, it was surpassed by the rate of psychostimulants with opioids.
Similarly, rates were highest in the Northeast with 80.6% of all overdose deaths involving psychostimulants and opioids, and lowest in the West at 57.5%.
Although the report did not discuss which opioids played a role in the overdose deaths, there has been a rise in drugs laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a drug between 50 and 100 times stronger than morphine. State departments and the CDC have warned that drugs including prescription pills, cocaine, and heroin are often laced with fentanyl without users’ knowledge.
According to CDC provisional data, a record-high 108,500 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S.
This increase “highlights the need to ensure people most at risk of overdose can access care, as well as the need to expand prevention and response,” the federal health agency wrote on its website.
This includes making sure the opioid reversal drug naloxone is widely available, expanding awareness about treatment of substance use disorders, early intervention and detection of overdose outbreaks.
(NEW YORK) — Summer air travel is already off to a bumpy start for many travelers experiencing more flight delays than usual and now there’s a new alert for when it’s time to rebook.
With flight delays higher than last summer, stuck travelers are trying to avoid the lines and calling to rebook — and that’s where the trouble can start.
Shmuli Evers told ABC News he was in a jam on Sunday evening at JFK Airport in New York City when his Delta flight to Florida was canceled. While in a line of other stranded passengers at the help desk, Evers said he searched online for a number for Delta customer service. He called the number listed and eventually got an automated prompt.
Evers said he was almost scammed.
“There was like two options — like is this for this airline, that airline,” which he recalled thinking was weird. “‘If this is Delta’s number, this should be just Delta?’ which was, looking back now, already a little bit strange.”
He told ABC News that the call dropped and a different number called him back, asking for his name and flight confirmation number.
Evers claimed they tried several times to get his payment information, but told ABC News he noticed too many red flags.
“I asked him, ‘Where are you located?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m in Rochester, New York.’ [I asked], ‘How far is that from New York City?’ He’s like, ‘It’s about two hours.’ And so I’m like, ‘OK, that’s not the way it is,'” he recalled.
Delta told ABC News in a statement, “Whenever we become aware of an alleged scam targeting our customers, including in this situation, we immediately conduct an investigation. Using the facts gained from an investigation, when able, we can then address each unique situation as appropriate with the necessary legal means at our disposal.”
But this isn’t the first time would-be scammers have attempted to target unsuspecting airline customers.
Another traveler, Kathleen Marcozzi, said she tried to search online for her airline’s phone number to rebook a flight, but the person she eventually spoke to told her it would cost $400 and sent a document to sign from an unrelated company.
“I said, ‘I’m not signing this.’ And he said, ‘You have to sign it or you’re going to lose your flight,'” she said.
The Better Business Bureau says it has received nearly 200 reports of similar airline travel scams, many of which have involved operators posing as airline employees, rebooking or canceling flights without refunds and even using images or logos of valid companies.
Experts say if you suspect you’re being scammed, contact your bank followed by the real travel company.
“Tell them what happened to you,” Theresa Payton, CEO of Borderless Solutions and former White House chief information officer, said. “Report the fraud and see if they can help you and get rebooked.”
“If you find yourself in this situation where you have been scammed, time is of the essence,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Concerned about the massive bureaucratic lift of restarting student loan payments this fall, some Senate Democrats are questioning whether loan servicers can smoothly transition out of a three-year-long payment pause.
“With the resumption of payments now fast approaching, we are requesting updated information on your plans to ensure a smooth transition back into repayment for borrowers,” the senators wrote in a letter sent to four major loan servicers Tuesday and obtained exclusively by ABC News.
The letter, signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, was sent to MOHELA, Maximus Federal Services, Nelnet and EdFinancial.
Student loan payments are scheduled to restart in October, and although the Biden administration announced that there will be a 12-month “on-ramp” period where borrowers will not be penalized for missing payments, interest will still start accruing on Sept. 1 — marking the end of the payment moratorium that began at the start of the pandemic.
In their letter, the senators said they were not persuaded that loan servicers were “prepared” for this change, citing what they deemed as insufficient communications between servicers and borrowers over the past few years.
“While we appreciated the Administration’s latest announcement of a 12-month ‘on-ramp’ transition period to help borrowers avoid the harshest consequences of missed, partial, or late payments, our previous correspondence with student loan servicers indicated that they had had little engagement with borrowers throughout the pandemic and were not prepared to support borrowers once payments resumed,” the senators wrote.
The senators also wrote letters to servicers in June and December 2021 with similar questions about outreach to student loan borrowers. Both inquiries received responses, though the senators said they were displeased with the data they saw: “only half of the servicers shared any information on borrower response rates, and those that did share this information had not been in touch with the majority of new borrowers,” they wrote on Tuesday.
MOHELA, Maximus, Nelnet and EdFinancial did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment Tuesday night.
While the Education Department has maintained that it will “be in direct touch with borrowers and ramping up our communications with servicers well before repayment resumes,” much of the execution will still come down to loan servicers.
In their letter, the senators said that they were concerned with the heavy workload and weakened ability of those servicers to take it on, highlighting layoffs and vast transfers of borrowers over the last three years of the pause.
“Since 2020, a number of servicers have exited the federal student loan program. About half of all borrowers — approximately 17 million — have been transferred to new servicer, with that number expected to grow in the next few months,” the senators wrote.
“We are also concerned by reports indicating that servicers are laying off employees and may be understaffed for the deluge of borrower communication,” they wrote.
These challenges come as the Office of Federal Student Aid — the government agency in charge of overseeing student loans — did not receive a funding increase this year, over which both Democrats and Republicans have voiced concern.
“Never has this ever been done where — depending on the decision of the Supreme Court — up to 43 million borrowers are going to start repaying,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told lawmakers in a congressional hearing, before the Supreme Court overturned President Joe Biden’s attempt to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for some Americans.
“It’s a huge lift for our team,” Cardona said.
The senators documented these workload difficulties, saying it increases “the risk that borrowers could fall through the cracks when payments resume.”
“But it is critical that servicers dedicate sufficient staff to respond to borrowers seeking information about the return to repayment, provide accurate information to borrowers about their payment obligations and options to manage their loan, ensure borrowers are assigned to the appropriate payment plan, and notify borrowers about any changes on a timely basis,” they wrote.
The senators requested responses from the loan servicers by Aug. 1, including details about how many new borrower accounts they’d taken on, the experience levels of new customer service employees, outreach to borrowers and steps being taken to avoid errors.
