Senate Republicans on Wednesday filibustered a bill that would have helped people with outstanding student loans refinance their debt at lower interest rates. By a 56-38 vote, the measure failed to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to advance to debate.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), would have been funded by raising taxes on those who make more than $1 million.

That the bill would fail was essentially preordained given the Senate's partisan polarization, though Democrats can use the vote to further their midterm pitch that Republicans favor the rich over the middle class. Jon Terbush

National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre acknowledged in court Wednesday that he did not inform most of the NRA's board before he pushed the gun organization into bankruptcy protection in January. LaPierre also conceded he should have disclosed his several free trips on a 108-foot luxury yacht owned by David McKenzie, a Hollywood producer closely tied to four vendors the NRA paid $100 million in recent years, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The NRA is facing off in bankruptcy court against New York Attorney General Letitia James and the gun group's largest creditor, estranged longtime advertising firm Ackerman McQueen. James filed a broad lawsuit against the NRA last summer, seeking its dissolution over alleged self-dealing by LaPierre and other top NRA executives, plus other financial malfeasance. New York and Ackerman McQueen are trying to block the NRA's Chapter 11 filing.

The New York attorney general and the NRA both basically seem to agree that the NRA is financially solvent, and that it has filed for bankruptcy — pausing the New York lawsuit and other litigation — to avoid scrutiny from New York authorities. Whether the NRA can cloak itself in bankruptcy protection and reincorporate in Texas from New York, where it chartered as a nonprofit in 1871, will be up to Judge Harlin Hale in Dallas. Hale on Wednesday called this "the most important motion I've ever heard as a judge."

LaPierre said in a deposition filed over the weekend that he and his family took refuge in the Bahamas, on McKenzie's yacht and at a resort the producer paid for, several times between 2013 and 2018 due to threats he received after mass shootings in Parlkand, Florida, and Newtown, Connecticut. The yacht, Illusions, "was offered as a security retreat where we could be safe and feel safe," LaPierre said. "This was the one place that I hope could feel safe, where I remember getting there going, 'Thank God I'm safe, nobody can get me here.'"

Under questioning, LaPierre said he neither paid to use the yacht nor reported it on financial disclosure forms, as required. He also conceded that his security director did not assess the security of the yacht or do background checks on its cook and other staff. LaPierre also cited security concerns when trying to have Ackerman McQueen buy him a $6 million mansion in a gated Dallas suburb in 2018 and when he treated his house for mosquitoes, The Washington Post reports. Peter Weber

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Wednesday evening that state child welfare officials have received three reports of neglect and abuse at a San Antonio coliseum being used by the federal government to house more than 1,300 migrant teens who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. "This facility should shut down immediately," Abbott said at a hastily arranged news conference outside San Antonio's Freeman Expo Center. "The children should be moved to better staffed and better secured locations."

Abbott said he did not have many details about the alleged abuse, reported early Wednesday, but he believes the reports came from somebody who had been inside the facility. One of the allegations included sexual abuse, he said, and he also heard reports of children not eating and not being separated after testing positive for COVID-19. Abbott, a frequent critic of President Biden's border policies, acknowledged he had not yet been inside the coliseum.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is overseeing the temporary migrant facility, said it can't comment on any specific cases but "has a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and inappropriate sexual behavior."

Bexar County Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores (D), who has been inside the facility as both an elected official and volunteer, disputed Abbott's characterization. "What I saw when I went in there on several occasions, it was well-staffed, the children are very happy and very excited to be here," she said after Abbott left. "This is not a political issue. This is about children who deserve protection from adults." She and Abbott toured the facility after he spoke to reporters, Clay-Flores said, and "I wish the governor had done his tour before the press conference when he politicized children."

The Biden administration has opened at least eight temporary facilities in Texas to house the unusually large number of unaccompanied minors arriving in the seasonal flow of migrants to the border. "To staff its emergency sites, HHS waived regulations that normally apply to its permanent facilities, including bypassing FBI fingerprint background checks for all caregivers," The Associated Press reports. "There is no information to suggest any staff member is accused of assaulting a child."

"Vulnerable children are often victims of sexual assault," The Texas Tribune reports. "In Texas, children kept in foster care and state-run juvenile lockups often report sexual assault, as well, without the governor's immediate intervention." Peter Weber

Pooja Rai believes all children should have access to a playground where they can let their imaginations run wild, and through Anthill Creations, she's helping make this happen at schools across India.

Rai is the founder and CEO of Anthill Creations, based in Bengaluru. In 2014, while still an architecture student, Rai went with a friend to donate food at an orphanage. She was shocked to see the kids playing with trash, like pipes they pretended were swords and old shoes they used as badminton rackets. "Play shouldn't just be part of a rich, privileged kid's lifestyle," Rai told The Christian Science Monitor. "All kids have a right to enjoy their childhoods."

She asked friends for donations to buy playground equipment, but then had an idea that would help both kids and the environment. Every year, roughly 100 million old tires are thrown away in India, and Rai figured she could turn some of that trash into treasure — in the form of playground equipment like tire swings, jungle gyms, tunnels, and sculptures.

Since Rai began Anthill Creations in 2016, the nonprofit has delivered tire playground equipment to 275 schools, public spaces, and refugee camps, and designed playspaces for blind children as well. The tires are all carefully looked over to make sure they are safe to use, and then painted bright colors and transformed into whatever each site requests. Read more about the creativity behind the designs at The Christian Science Monitor. Catherine Garcia

Southern California's famous Venice Beach will soon be more inclusive, ensuring that all visitors can enjoy the sand and surf.

It can be hard to navigate wheelchairs through sand, but a new mesh mat set to be installed at Venice Beach next Tuesday will make it much easier. The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors is installing an access mat that is semi-permanent and made of a firm nylon mesh, so anyone who needs a harder surface will be able to move across the sand. The mat will be available for use every year, spring through fall.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl told City News Service one of the "great joys of going to the beach is spending time on the sand near the water. Now, with the use of this new mat, people who have difficulty negotiating the sand can more fully and safely enjoy a glorious day at Venice Beach." Catherine Garcia

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) said Wednesday morning that he did not have an extramarital affair, claiming that the woman who alleged otherwise, Cesaire McPherson, was "stalking" and "harassing" him. When AL.com played Merrill a recording of him and McPherson discussing various sexual acts they performed over dozens of encounters, Merrill acknowledged the affair and said he will not make an expected run for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

"It's clear that I had an inappropriate relationship with her, and it is not something that I am proud of or something that is something that — I'm very disappointed in myself," Merrill told AL.com. "I will obviously not be a candidate for the United States Senate nor will I be seeking any other elected position in 2022." Merrill, in office since 2014, was term-limited out of seeking a third term. Conservative Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Lynda Blanchard, President Trump's ambassador to Slovenia, are both expected to run for Shelby's seat.

McPherson, 44, had provided explicit text messages with Merrill to the conservative website National File on Tuesday, then gave a 17-minute audio recording to AL.com, which posted an excerpt. "I don't want to say anything other than here's the proof that John Merrill is a liar," she told AL.com. "Here's the true John Merrill."

In a long interview with National File, McPherson said Merrill used his state car and state cellphone to carry on their affair, and also that he's a "real bad racist" who would refer to Black people as "the coloreds."

The Alabama Democratic Party highlighted those allegations. "With the exception of the use of state resources to facilitate his affair, Merrill's personal life and conduct are just that — personal," said Wade Perry, state party executive director. "The Democratic Party is much more concerned about the allegation that he regularly referred to African American judges and citizens in Alabama as 'The Coloreds.' If true, he must apologize AND resign immediately."

Merrill said it's not true, telling AL.com Wednesday night he "never referred to African Americans and Black folks as coloreds," adding: "I don't do that. I've never done that." Regarding the use of state resources, he said he doesn't "have any other things to say about this particular incident, now or in the future." Peter Weber

Rudy Giuliani's false claims of election fraud weren't enough to overturn the presidential election, but they did motivate Republican lawmakers in Georgia to pass a law that restricts voting rights, the state's Republican lieutenant governor said.

Under the new election law, signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) last month, it's harder for voters to request and drop off absentee ballots; ballot drop boxes are limited; voters can't be approached and handed food or water while they wait in line to cast their ballots; and the secretary of state is no longer chairman or a voting member of the Georgia State Election Board.

During an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) said the restrictions are "the fallout from the 10 weeks of misinformation that flew in from former President Donald Trump. I went back over the weekend to really look at where this really started to gain momentum in the legislature, and it was when Rudy Giuliani showed up in a couple of committee rooms and spent hours spreading misinformation and sowing doubt across, you know, hours of testimony."

Joe Biden won Georgia, a fact that was affirmed during three different ballot counts in the state. Giuliani still tried to get Georgia to overturn the election results, appearing before state lawmakers to spread multiple falsehoods, including that thousands of dead people voted. He also claimed, without any evidence, that the voting machines were "like Swiss cheese. You can invade them. You can get in them. You can change the vote." He is now the subject of a $1.3 billion defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Catherine Garcia