CNS

The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic surged past 800,000 over the weekend, but the head of the World Health Organization said Monday “there is light at the end of the tunnel” thanks to new treatments and the prospect of vaccines.

by CAIN BURDEAU

Arizona’s Covid-19 reproduction number — a measure of whether a disease is spreading or contracting, also called R0 — is the lowest in the nation, by one count, just eight weeks after the state was in headlines as a coronavirus hot spot.

by BRAD POOLE

by ALEX PICKETT

Scientists from Hokkaido University announced Monday they have discovered a region of high melting activity beneath Shirase Glacier Tongue in East Antarctica responsible for an alarming rate of ice loss, which will give them better insight into predicting sea-level rise from glacial melting.

by MADELINE REYES

A copper and gold mine planned for Bristol Bay at the eastern edge of the Behring Sea hit a snag Monday when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a letter saying the mine owners must make up for the expected loss of thousands of acres of wetland where one of the greatest salmon runs on earth begins. The mining company’s answer is due after the coming presidential elections.

by KARINA BROWN

President Donald Trump surprised GOP delegates during their renomination vote Monday morning to reiterate what has been his frequent lines of attack in his bid to stay in the Oval Office: the coronavirus pandemic and mail-in voting.

by ERIKA WILLIAMS

By all outward appearances, Hatam Khatoun Nema was a small-time money changer working from a nondescript office in Järfälla, a workaday Stockholm suburb.

by OCCRP & SVT

Natural Disasters

Following a weekend of improved weather conditions across much of the state, California firefighters are gaining on the series of historic wildfires that have burned an area the size of Rhode Island in just over a week.

by NICK CAHILL

All tropical storm warnings and watches for the Louisiana coast were dropped Monday afternoon as Tropical Storm Marco continued to weaken, while Tropical Storm Laura gained intensity as its path shifted west toward Texas.

by SABRINA CANFIELD

Fossil Find

Paleontologists in Luxembourg recently identified a new species of brittle star — a sea-dwelling echinoderm similar in appearance to the starfish — that thrived during the Cretaceous period.

by DUSTIN MANDUFFIE

Columns

MILT POLICZER

Were Republicans really trying to steal the fall election?Depending on your political sympathies, you probably had an easy yes or no answer to that question. But what if I said both sides are wrong?

ROBERT KAHN

Across the Nation

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy drew subpoena threats Monday at the House as he dodged questions about operational changes like the reduction of mail-sorting machines and clawback of postal worker overtime in an election season poised to bring unprecedented mail-in ballots.

by BRANDI BUCHMAN

Accusing the Trump Organization of stonewalling an investigation that remained confidential for months, New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the president’s business, his son Eric Trump and their associates on Monday to force compliance. 

by ADAM KLASFELD

Nearly 16 years after being sentenced to death for the murders of his wife Laci and unborn child, Scott Peterson won a reprieve of sorts Monday: The California Supreme Court reversed his death sentence due to jury selection errors — but the murder convictions stand.

by NATHAN SOLIS

The Wisconsin Department of Justice said Monday morning it is investigating the shooting of a Black man by Kenosha police the night before, which spurred immediate unrest locally as graphic video of the incident circulated on social media and generated national attention.

by JOE KELLY

The Fourth Circuit on Monday upheld the convictions of two members of a white supremacist group involved in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, but the Virginia-based appeals court also invalidated sections of a 52-year-old anti-riot law for infringing on free speech.

by BRAD KUTNER

A 19-year-old Texan faces up to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty Monday to threatening to mail a bomb to the Federal Reserve building in Washington.

by CAMERON LANGFORD

by MEGAN MINEIRO

Margaret Hunter, the estranged wife of ex-Congressman Duncan D. Hunter, was sentenced to eight months home detention Monday, just over two years after an indictment alleging campaign finance fraud was filed against the couple that upended a Southern California GOP dynasty.

In Brief

Following a similar suit by police unions, labor reps for state troopers and correctional officers sued Wednesday to overturn New York City’s ban on chokeholds. They say the ban criminalizes the maneuver even if no injury occurs, and that it encroaches on the authority of the state police superintendent.

A group of WeChat users filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday, claiming that the president’s ban of the popular messaging app violates their constitutional rights.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claims in federal court that Texas A&M University violated a settlement agreement by deleting PETA’s comments about the school’s research on dogs from its Facebook and YouTube pages.  

Conservationists sued the Trump administration Wednesday over oil and gas leases in Colorado’s North Fork Valley, which plaintiffs say was done “without defining or taking steps to prevent unnecessary or undue degradation of the lands.”

Arguing the rules are not significant barriers to voting, Oklahoma fired back against a lawsuit filed by Democrats challenging laws requiring absentee ballots to be notarized or verified with a copy of photo ID.

From the Walt Girdner Studio

Rulings

by KELSEY JUKAM

A federal court in Houston approved an incentive package for oil and natural gas company California Resources Corp. in its bankruptcy proceedings. Under the plan, nine of the company’s executives could receive, in a year, up to $57.2 million altogether if they meet certain metrics. 

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of Jon Astor White’s copyright infringement suit in which he claimed the Fox television series “Empire” infringed on his treatment of the television series “King Solomon.” The court found the works do not share similarities in protectable expression. 

Marine contractor Couvillion is entitled to immunity in a suit brought against it by Taylor Energy, which asked a federal court in Louisiana to declare that the contractor did not have the authority to assist in the containment of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Taylor Energy now exists only to address the spill at its MC-20 platform, which collapsed during Hurricane Ivan. 

The Ninth Circuit vacated a ruling in favor of prison officials in a dispute brought by a California prisoner who claims they discriminated against him based on his gender by not allowing him to purchase certain prison vendor products, finding “gender-based distinctions must be rooted in reasoned analysis” instead of “often inaccurate assumptions about gender.”

A Texas trial court judge temporarily lifted the Department of State Health Services’ ban on the manufacture, processing and sale of smokable hemp products.

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Places

Majestic sequoia as seen from the ground, Yosemite National Park (Courthouse News photo / William Dotinga)