At more than a trillion dollars, student loan debt in the U.S. now surpasses credit card debt. College tuition is rising steadily, every year. And the interest rates on Stafford Loans, the most common form of federal student loans, are set to double this summer, from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent unless Congress can agree on how to keep them low. We talk to Representative Peter Welch, who has been speaking out about what he says is the necessity of keeping interest rates from doubling, about the issues of student loan debt and college affordability. Welch has also been gathering stories from people about their experiences with student loans and higher education.

Several cases around Vermont have made it clear how difficult it can be to get public opinion to coalesce in favor of an industrial wind project. But the controversy is made even more complicated when the site's neighbors are not just the next town over, but another country. The proposed wind project in Derby Line, Vermont has met with opposition both within the town and from their neighbors in Stanstead, Quebec. Laura Carpenter, a reporter with the Newport Daily Express, has been following this story and has the details.