$1.7B paid to Iran was all in cashWASHINGTON — The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency, as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments.Treasury Department spokesman Dawn Selak said in a statement late Tuesday that the cash payments were necessary because of the “effectiveness of U.S. and international sanctions,” which isolated Iran from the international finance system.The $1.7 billion was the settlement of a decades-old arbitration claim between the U.S. and Iran. An initial $400 million of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currency was delivered on pallets Jan. 17, the same day Tehran agreed to release four American prisoners.

Female WWII pilot finally laid to restARLINGTON, Va. — It took an act of Congress, but World War II pilot Elaine Harmon is finally being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.Harmon died last year at age 95. She was one of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a group of women who flew military aircraft on noncombat missions during World War II so that men were freed up for combat.The women were not granted military status at the time they served, but received retroactive status as veterans in 1977. And for many years, WASPs were eligible to have their ashes inurned at Arlington.Last year, though, Army officials concerned about limited space at the cemetery ruled WASPs ineligible for inclusion at Arlington. A memo from then-Army Secretary John McHugh concluded that Arlington never should have granted eligibility to WASPs in the first place.Harmon’s family fought the rule. In December, an Associated Press article about the family’s campaign prompted widespread criticism of the Army for excluding WASPs. A petition on change.org received more than 175,000 signatures.In May, President Barack Obama signed legislation allowing WASPs in Arlington. The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., herself a retired Air Force pilot who was the first female fighter pilot in U.S. history to fly in combat.On Wednesday, Harmon’s ashes will be inurned at a funeral service with military honors. The family had kept her ashes in a bedroom closet while they worked to get Arlington’s exclusionary policy overturned.

ITT Technical closing all schoolsThe for-profit college chain ITT Technical Institute is shutting down all 130 of its U.S. campuses, saying Tuesday it can’t survive recent sanctions by the U.S. Department of Education.In a letter to more than 35,000 students, the Indiana-based parent company ITT Educational Services announced that campuses won’t open for the fall term that was scheduled to begin Sept. 12 — leaving students scrambling for last-minute options since many U.S. colleges already have started fall classes. ITT also cut more than 8,000 jobs immediately.The chain was banned Aug. 25 from enrolling new students who used federal financial aid, because, Education Department officials said, the company had become a risk to students and taxpayers. The department also ordered ITT to pay $152 million within 30 days to help cover student refunds and other liabilities if the chain closed.