• I adopted my sons from Ethiopia in 2012 and immediately started saving for their college tuition.
• I wanted them to graduate with no student loans and have every opportunity for success.
• To save, we gave up traveling and other big expenses, but we don't regret it.

When my husband and I adopted our sons from Ethiopia in 2012, we were already behind when it came to college expenses — especially when compared to friends who basically started saving as soon as they saw the second line on the pregnancy test.

Our sons were 7 and 8 years old when they joined our family. We lost years of creating family memories — first words, first day of kindergarten, first wiggly tooth — and years of adding to a 529 savings account.

After becoming the parents to Black boys in America, we learned the realities of our country's income and wealth gaps.

According to data from 2023 census reports, the median income of white households exceeds that of Black households by more than $30,000.

The research on college degrees is murkier. The census data shows that just over 20% of Black people hold a college degree.

We want our sons to help change those stats and narratives, so my husband and I have saved rigorously and sacrificed for our son's college tuition.

We've given up a lot to ensure our sons can go to college

While we've taken some epic family trips — to several national parks, to both coasts, to our sons' homeland of Ethiopia — we've also taken many equally memorable low-budget vacations to family members' cabins just a few hours from our house.

Our living room sectional — an uncomfortable monstrosity — should have been donated years ago, and nights dining out together look more like McDonald's than Michelin stars. Instead of expensive hobbies requiring lots of equipment, we opt for running (we just need sneakers!).

Looking back, some financial choices carry a tinge of regret. Skipping travel sports teams saved money, and we didn't push enrichment camps or invest in tutoring. However, it's hard not to wonder if those missed opportunities could have opened doors to scholarships or other benefits. While we know we did our best with our resources, those lingering "what-ifs" are a pervasive part of parenting for me.

Still, we press on in the present, striving to balance providing for our sons' futures with appreciating the life we have now.

We don't regret these sacrifices

In many ways, our choices don't feel like sacrifices. We live in a lovely home in an established city neighborhood we love. We own vehicles and have money in retirement accounts. Our parents' generosity added more money to college savings accounts than we could've accumulated on our own. As much as possible, we try to recognize our privilege.

We hope that by receiving degrees without the predatory student loans we've heard horror stories about, our sons won't feel forced to start on undesirable career paths.

If they want to pursue an advanced degree, buy a home, or travel, those enormous loans won't deter life choices that bring them joy. Just as my husband and I owe our financial freedom as young adults to our parents' decisions, our choices today can have a generational impact on our future grandchildren.

Our savings are finally coming into play today

Our sons have taken two different paths so far. One explored the trades in high school and started with classes at a community college while living at home. The other is a freshman at a large public university, trying out life in a dorm.

They both know we are doing everything we can to help them avoid college debt, but we try to share this without making them feel unduly burdened.

Of course, we want them to have a sense of responsibility, too. Through the years, they've built up their savings accounts thanks to part-time jobs and birthday and graduation gifts. That money will contribute to their college education and living expenses, motivating them to receive good grades, apply for scholarships, and keep working.

Today, as I work on the family budget, I think about the dollar amounts. But more than anything, I think about the opportunity to rewrite the narratives surrounding inequality we became aware of the moment we became parents to Black boys in America. If one day my sons use their education to create opportunities for themselves and others, these challenges will have been well worth it.

Blue Origin is preparing for one of its biggest launches yet. On Sunday, the Jeff Bezos-owned commercial space company will attempt to send its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space for the first time.

The launch comes after almost a decade of development, and its outcome could threaten the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX — not only in the commercial space industry but also in the satellite internet business. Here’s an overview of what you need to know about the New Glenn flight and how to watch it live.

What is New Glenn, and why is it important?

First announced in 2016, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is meant to shuttle cargo, satellites, and, in the future, people into space. The New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first NASA astronaut to enter the Earth’s orbit.

Its first stage is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen. Blue Origin aims to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions, as it’s designed to touch down vertically on a sea-based platform following launch, allowing the company to retrieve it.

The rocket’s upper stage is disposable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It’s capable of sending 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin says New Glenn is also “engineered with the safety and redundance required to fly humans.” Though Blue Origin initially aimed to launch New Glenn in 2020, its inaugural flight kept getting pushed back due to issues with the development of its BE-4 engine and other technical mishaps.

As pointed out by NPR, New Glenn has a similar carrying capacity to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, but it stands out with a larger, 23-foot-wide cargo bay. If New Glenn’s launch is successful, it could heat up its rivalry with SpaceX as both companies vie to secure lucrative government contracts.

New Glenn is also key to Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet initiative. Though the company’s first set of satellites is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this year, Blue Origin will eventually launch Project Kuiper satellites aboard New Glenn, rivaling SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon plans to send 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites into space, which is still far fewer than Starlink’s growing constellation of more than 6,000 satellites.

What to expect from New Glenn’s first launch

New Glenn is set to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a three-hour launch window opening on January 12th at 1AM ET (10PM PT). The launch was originally scheduled for January 10th, but it was pushed back due to “a high sea state in the Atlantic.”

During this uncrewed launch, New Glenn will have the Blue Ring Pathfinder on board, a payload consisting of a communications array, a power system, and a flight computer. It will test the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft, which will help support missions with refueling, hosting, data relay, and cloud computing capabilities. The goal is for New Glenn to reach orbit, while “anything beyond that,” like landing its reusable booster is a “bonus,” according to Blue Origin CEO David Limp.

Image: Blue Origin

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” Jarrett Jones, the senior vice president of New Glenn, said in a statement. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are a replacement for flying this rocket. It’s time to fly. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”

How to watch New Glenn’s launch live

Blue Origin will likely stream the launch live from its website and YouTube channel. We’ll embed the stream below once it becomes available.

Sixteen-year-old Selena Not Afraid vanished on the way home from a New Year’s party in 2020. Now a man has been charged in her death, and Selena’s aunt tells Andrea Cavallier that she’s ready to hear the whole story of what happened that day.

Melania Trump has sent a message of support to victims of the deadly LA wildfires.

Federal prosecutors say disgraced former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez should be imprisoned for 15 years after his conviction in a "long-running bribery and foreign influence scheme of rare gravity." On Friday, prosecutors filed a 108-page briefing outlining their arguments for sentencing Menendez, as well as Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who were convicted alongside the former lawmaker.

In their briefing, the prosecutors emphasized the seriousness and profundity of the crimes and noted their historical significance.

"As proven at trial, the defendants engaged, for years, in a corruption and foreign influence scheme of stunning brazenness, breadth, and duration, resulting in exceptionally grave abuses of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the United States Government," prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors believe that Menendez needs to be thrown behind bars for the "egregious" crimes that they say showed "naked greed" and a "sense of entitlement to convert the public’s trust to private and personal benefit."

BOB MENENDEZ TO RESIGN FROM SENATE AMID DEMOCRATIC PRESSURE AFTER GUILTY VERDICT

The disgraced former Democrat was accused and convicted of participating in a yearslong bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who is set to go on trial on January 21, also allegedly participated in the scheme. She is accused of receiving paychecks for a job that did not exist.

"Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the state of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes," prosecutors noted in the brief.

DEMOCRATIC SEN. BOB MENENDEZ GUILTY ON ALL CHARGES IN FEDERAL CORRUPTION TRIAL

Menendez, who was charged in 2023, made history in July 2024 when he became the first US senator to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent. His conviction came after a nine-week-long trial. The former Democratic lawmaker was accused of accepting gifts totaling more than $100,000 in gold bars as well as cash.

His sentencing is currently slated to take place on Jan. 29, 2025.

Jamie Joseph, Anders Hagstrom, and Maria Paronich contributed to this report.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers.
• Zelenskyy said the two soldiers were wounded and had been taken to Kyiv.
• He added that he had instructed Ukraine's security service to allow journalists access to the captured soldiers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has captured two wounded North Korean soldiers.

In a statement posted on X, Zelenskyy said the soldiers had been captured in Russia's Kursk region and had been taken to Kyiv, where they were now "communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine." He added that they were receiving the "necessary medical assistance."

Zelenskyy also shared images of two injured men, but he did not provide evidence that they were North Korean.

"This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea's involvement in the war against Ukraine," Zelenskyy said, adding that he had instructed Ukraine's security service to allow journalists access to the captured soldiers.

Pyongyang reportedly began sending troops to Russia in October.

White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said last month that Russia was using North Korean troops to carry out "human wave" assaults on Ukrainian positions, resulting in heavy casualties.

"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," Kirby said. "These North Korean soldiers appear to be highly indoctrinated, pushing attacks even when it is clear that those attacks are futile."

Zelenskyy said last month that preliminary estimates suggested that more than 3,000 of Pyongyang's soldiers had been killed or wounded in Kursk.

He previously said that Russian forces had been trying "to literally burn the faces of North Korean soldiers killed in battle" in an effort to "conceal" their losses.

In December, a North Korean soldier believed to be the first to be captured by Ukrainian forces died from his injuries, South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, per Yonhap news agency.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.