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(NEW YORK) — Ernesto Alvarez paid off about $70,000 of credit card debt in just over a year. The fix: a plan that combined his credit card debt into a single loan.

Alvarez, 55, said he repaid debt on 12 to 15 different credit cards through a plan with the nonprofit Money Management International, which helped him negotiate lower interest rates and consolidated the debt.

After repaying his debt last year, Alvarez said he and his wife sold their house, moved to an apartment and began saving money for his daughter’s college education.

“Personally, I feel a huge weight off my shoulders,” said Alvarez, who works at a Whole Foods in Newport, California. “It’s a feeling of accomplishment, elation.”

A surge of inflation is squeezing household budgets as many American shoppers weather mounting credit card debt and elevated interest rates. Some cardholders have sought out ways to consolidate their debt, slash their payments and cut down what they owe.

Analysts who spoke to ABC News outlined options such as credit cards that offer a months-long grace period without interest payments, as well as consolidated bank loans with fixed interest payments at comparatively low rates.

The nation’s credit card debt burden drew attention after the Federal Reserve hiked benchmark interest rates last month, since credit card rates typically rise in response to such a move.

Investors peg the chances of another rate increase in October at one in three, meaning credit card rates may face additional upward pressure within weeks, according to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.

“People do have more power in this situation than they think,” Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, told ABC News. “The things that you can do to get your interest rates down can be far more powerful and outweigh any single move the Fed is going to take.”

Total U.S. credit card debt registered at $1.26 trillion in the second quarter of this year, marking an increase of $21 billion from the previous three-month period, a recent New York Federal Reserve study found.

Outstanding credit card balances stand just below an all-time record of $1.28 trillion set in the fourth quarter of last year.

Credit card rates have jumped significantly in recent years. In the second quarter of this year, the average interest rate on all credit card accounts with a commercial bank stood at 20.94%, up from 15.13% at the same time in 2022, Federal Reserve data shows.

Cardholders can avail themselves of widely available financial instruments that consolidate their debt and reduce their payments, some analysts told ABC News.

A 0% balance transfer credit card, for instance, offers an initial interest-free period lasting as long as 15 months before payments take hold, Schulz said.

“A 0% balance transfer credit card is about the best consolidation offer you can get,” Schulz said.

Such credit cards typically carry one-time fees amounting to between 3% and 5% of a customer’s transferred debt, Schulz said. Depending on the amount of debt at issue, the one-time payment can prove steep, Schulz added, but it usually pales in comparison to the savings gained over time from a significantly lower interest rate.

A new credit card at a lower interest rate holds another downside, Schulz said: The temptation to run up more debt.

“It requires some discipline,” Schulz said.

If debt holders find they cannot qualify for the minimum credit score necessary to access a 0% balance transfer credit card, they may be able to secure a personal loan with a favorable interest rate.

Under that approach, a debtholder can take out a bank loan in an amount matching his or her credit card debt and use it to pay off the credit card. The remaining bank loan, in theory, would provide a fixed interest payment at a lower rate than the credit card, offering a measure of predictability and financial relief, Schulz said.

On the other hand, the fixed nature of the interest payments may be unwelcome to some debtholders who prefer the flexibility afforded by many credit cards, Schulz added.

“It can be a positive in a lot of ways because the predictability can be easier to budget for,” Schulz added.

Carol Jones, a hospital recruiter, racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt after stepping down from a second job and running up travel expenses to attend her stepdaughter’s basketball games, she said.

She said she sought out ways to consolidate her debt and slash her interest rates, knowing the hole would deepen otherwise.

Jones, who lives in Wichita, Kansas, took out two consolidation loans in an attempt to pay off her debt, but she had to use the credit cards again to make ends meet, leaving her unable to fulfill the terms of the consolidated loans, Lara Ceccarelli, a credit counselor with American Financial Solutions, told ABC News.

American Financial then worked with Jones on a debt management plan to modify the interest rates on her credit cards, another option available to debtholders, Ceccarelli said.

Jones took responsibility for her debt, but she said rising prices have exacerbated the difficulty of climbing out of her financial hole.

“It’s stressful when everything keeps inflating, and I know I’m going to have to hurry to try to pay this off, or I’m going to continuously just be in debt,” Jones said.

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(NEW YORK) — The family of Renee Good filed two federal civil lawsuits Thursday against the U.S. government and several top federal officials over Good’s fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis earlier this year.

The lawsuits were filed nearly 10 months after Good, a Minneapolis mother of three, was in the driver’s seat of her Honda Pilot in the middle of a residential street when an ICE agent opened fire. Federal officials say the agent acted in self-defense after Good tried to ram him with her car.

“The day of accountability has arrived for the United States’ rogue agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, and the unjustified and excessive use of force — let alone deadly force — used on people exercising their rights under the Constitution’s Bill of Rights,” Good’s legal team said in a statement.

One of the complaints, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act for wrongful death against the U.S. government, alleges that federal law enforcement officers used excessive and deadly force against Good. 

The second complaint was filed against top officials including White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fired the fatal shots, as well as other federal agents. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

The complaint alleges that top officials engaged in a “carefully planned, coordinated effort between senior federal officials and private actors to make two ethnic communities in Minnesota — Minnesotans of Somali and Hispanic descent and origin — the object of aggression and abduction.”

According to the complaint, Ross fired through Good’s windshield and open driver’s-side window as her SUV was turning away from him. The filing states that Ross stepped toward the car, fired a round through the windshield, and then fired twice more through her open window as the vehicle completed a turn. 

“The operation was in essence the domestic deployment of a paramilitary force of three to four thousand masked, armed, camouflaged agents, outfitted in military tactical gear including camouflage, helmets, gas masks, and military-grade weapons, wielding instruments of war to carry out domestic shock-and-awe tactics to intimidate the populace” the complaint states.

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A helicopter carrying five people crashed into the water off the coast of Catalina Island in California on Wednesday evening, killing two of those on board, sending two others to the hospital and prompting a search in the water for the last one.

“This remains an active scene with search and rescue operations continuing throughout the night,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

Two of four people who were recovered from the water were taken to the hospital and another two were pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.

“I have been informed that a medevac helicopter leaving Catalina Island has crashed shortly after takeoff,” Janice Hahn, a county supervisor, said in a statement.

“LA County Fire, Sheriff, Coast Guard, and Avalon Fire are on the scene,” Hahn added. “Search and rescue operations are underway and I am praying for everyone who was on board.”

California officials said the National Transportation Safety Board had been made aware of the crash and that it would lead an investigation.

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During a 2025 hearing at Cornell University, an unidentified female former student who alleges she was gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024 described her harrowing night at the house surrounded by multiple men: “I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in.”

Her description is included in a heavily-redacted 99-page report, obtained by ABC News, that was prepared by the university last year as it investigated what happened.

As part of its investigation, Cornell conducted 50 interviews with 32 witnesses, including the fraternity brothers Jane Doe accused in a civil lawsuit filed earlier this month of gang rape, and determined that someone at the Chi Phi house had overdosed on ketamine one day prior to Jane Doe’s experience.

“Ketamine was a substance used by multiple individuals in the Chi Phi house at the time, including [redacted] who had overdosed on or about October 18, 2024,” the report said.

Jane Doe told investigators the ketamine she took that night induced a “vague consciousness” that left her disoriented.

“So, lights are on, but nobody’s home. Your brain is not functioning at its proper level,” Doe said, according to the report. “I know it sounds super weird to say. I know it happened, but I don’t remember it.”

The investigators also noted an apology from one of the fraternity brothers during the hearing.

“I was sorry that maybe if it wasn’t consensual and she was victimized, I was sorry for not stopping it,” said the fraternity brother, who Cornell’s investigation concluded did not engage in the assault but was found responsible for “attempted sexual exploitation.” “And that I’m sorry I couldn’t tell if she was under the influence … just sorry that I felt like if something actually bad happened, I didn’t stop it.”

 

University agrees to independent investigation, governor says

 

Earlier Wednesday, Cornell University agreed to initiate an independent investigation into how the Ivy League school handled the allegations, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told ABC News.

Hochul called for the outside review, saying the allegations raised “serious questions about Cornell campus culture” and whether the university is doing all it can to protect students.

“I wanted to make sure they knew how important this was, and they absolutely agreed. And they’re acting on this this afternoon. So, they’ll be reporting on what the details are, but they will be conducting what I asked for, which is an independent outside investigation of what happened,” Hochul told ABC News on Wednesday.

“People need to know the truth and I think it’s important for the public, for the victim, her family and the university community to know that their university did everything that they’re supposed to do,” she said.

Cornell’s internal data show 35% of undergraduate women reported experiencing sexual assault during their time on campus, but Hochul said the problem was acute on every campus.

“There’s been a culture of this kind of treatment of young women on campuses for as long as I’ve been in college, and it has to change,” Hochul said.

Cornell confirmed the outside investigation on Wednesday but has not yet provided details.

Prosecutors in central New York this week announced that they are reopening the investigation of the alleged sexual assault after the former student filed a civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell, sparking outrage about the incident.

Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said in a statement that his office is considering whether to bring criminal charges related to the incident, though he said the allegations in the civil complaint are “dramatically different” than the woman’s statement to police two years ago.

In an interview with ABC News, Van Houten acknowledged that he relied on the investigation conducted by Cornell Police and said his office didn’t “independently investigate” the allegations.

Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter is barred from campus. Trey Robb, the interim executive director of Chi Phi fraternity, said in a statement that all the accused members were kicked out of the Cornell chapter within three days of Jane Doe filing her police report in 2024.

Three of the defendants named in the suit have denied the allegations through their attorneys.

“Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said in a statement Monday, in part.

In an earlier statement, Cornell said it conducted a thorough Title IX investigation of Jane Doe’s allegations. “At its conclusion, the hearing panel issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell,” the university’s statement said.

Cornell did not specify who was disciplined, how many and for what.

The university said the investigation was conducted over several months and included hearings before a panel of trained faculty and staff.

 

Text messages between Jane Doe and fraternity member unearthed

 

A report prepared by Cornell as part of its investigation into the sexual assault allegations included text messages between the Jane Doe and one of the people she accused of rape — the fraternity member who had invited her to the Chi Phi house.

According to the text messages, which were obtained by ABC News, Jane Doe told the man four days after the alleged incident that “everyone knows” and “my reputation is destroyed and I’m utterly ashamed.”

In the Oct. 23, 2024, exchange Jane Doe texted the man, later identified by the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office as Male Number 1: “everyone needs to grow up cause sexuality and sex and s— is changing and stuff like this is going to become more common,, I’m also really open minded tho, I luv you king.”

On Nov. 7, 2024, when Male Number 1 expressed concern that he was “being labeled an assaulter,” Jane Doe replied, “I haven’t said anything but I do know people are changing the narrative because like in any sexual scenario w one woman and many men the woman was probably the victim.”

“I know there are rumors I was gang banged,” her text continued.

On Nov. 8, 2024, Male Number 1 asked Jane Doe for a phone call. She replied, “I think I’m done talking to you. I know you lied.” It’s not clear from the text messages what Jane Doe was referring to but Male Number 1 responded, “What? Can you call?” Jane Doe answered, “no. never again.”

A week later, Jane Doe gave a sworn statement to Cornell University police. She described that she felt incapacitated, saying she declined to participate in some of the sexual activity and that the incidents at Chi Phi fraternity house “felt like coercion,” according to a copy of the police report obtained by ABC News.

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When Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk climbs aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket that will take him and the other three members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-13 to the International Space Station, he’ll bring a more than 100-year-old pocket watch.

Kutryk, a fourth-generation Ukrainian Canadian, says he’s bringing the timepiece because “I need a watch to tell time,” but also because it’s been a family heirloom since the first generation that reminds him of how far his family and the world have come.

“For me, it’s really neat to look at that and reflect on just how much has changed in those 100 years, a little over 100 years,” said Kutryk during a prelaunch news conference in August. “If that’s how much change in the last hundred years, how much more could change if we do things right in the next hundred?”

It was only 66 years from the first time the Wright Brothers took flight to the first time a human set foot on the moon. And when Kutryk, NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov lift off for the space station, currently scheduled for Thursday at 11:10 a.m. ET, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida; they will add to their own scientific contributions to centuries of discovery.

“During the mission, the crew will help researchers treat heart disease and Parkinson’s disease by studying human stem-cell-derived tissues that can help improve medicine, disease modeling, and pharmaceutical testing,” said Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, on NASA’s website. “They also will explore crop production, which is important for longer-duration spaceflight missions, help us better understand blood flow abnormalities that we see in space, and test new diagnostic medical equipment for monitoring crew health.”

The mission, part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, will take less than 8 hours to reach the station. NASA says if the launch proceeds as scheduled, it will be the fastest trip to the ISS ever. 

“The angle separation between space station and Dragon is very, very close, and that’s just essentially orbital mechanics that got us in the right place,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, during a prelaunch news conference on Wednesday. “There was a recent orbit adjustment maneuver done by space station, and that kind of set things up, and we just kind of got lucky that they line up and work out extremely well.” 

Docking is scheduled for around 7 p.m. ET with the hatch opening less than two hours later. Once aboard the station, the crew will join Expedition 75, which includes three other astronauts who are already on the station. The crew will spend the next 6 months on the ISS, relieving Crew-12, who have been living and working on the station since February.

“Once our Crew-13 arrives on board station, they’ll quickly get acclimated and we’ll conduct a relatively short handover with our Crew-12 preparing to return home early next week,” said Lori Glaze, NASA’s associate administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate, during Wednesday’s news conference.

NASA says the launch has “favorable weather conditions,” but there is still a 45% chance the mission will be postponed because of thick cloud layers and rain at the launch site.

The launch of the Crew-13 mission was delayed in August because of a mechanical issue involving an oxidizer leak in the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft’s propulsion system, discovered during environmental checks. Gerstenmaier said SpaceX also troubleshot unexpected problems with the vehicle’s GPS and a rocket engine motor microcontroller. But after a Launch Readiness Review on Wednesday afternoon, NASA and SpaceX declared they were “go for launch.”

“The spaceflight gave us some surprises here,” said Gerstenmaier. “But the absolute number one priority for us is to get the crew safely to orbit. We will continue to look at data. We will continue to review information. We’ll look back through past records. We’ll make sure everything is right, and when we’re ready to go fly, we’ll go fly.”

November will mark the 26th year of continuous human presence aboard the space station. In that time, more than 280 astronauts from 26 countries and the station’s five international partners have spent time on the ISS.

“The space station, as you know, is approaching 26 years of continuous operations, where research and technology demonstrations continue to benefit people here on Earth. They strengthen our U.S. leadership in space and ensure that we’re ready for sustained human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit,” said Glaze. 

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