To the relief of academe, federal shutdown ends

After weeks of bickering and brinkmanship, the United States Congress passed legislation to reopen the federal government and raise the nation's borrowing limit, ending an impasse that disrupted research and education, and averting a debt crisis that could have devastated colleges and the economy at large, writes Kelly Field for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The US Senate passed the measure last Wednesday, and the House of Representatives approved it a few hours later, despite opposition from a majority of that chamber's Republicans. President Barack Obama then signed the bill into law, restoring the flow of federal funds to students and researchers, and allowing the reopening of the National Archives and other government facilities on which researchers depend. Most importantly, the measure prevents a national default that could have caused interest rates on student loans to soar and spending on student aid and research to slow or even stop.
Full report on The Chronicle of Higher Education site