Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including the California Supreme Court extending public records law to personal devices; opposition builds in Texas to a proposed bullet train route; federal prosecutors nab a disgraced reporter for trying to frame his ex-girlfriend for a string of bomb threats against Jewish targets across the country; Facebook agrees to cut back on snooping, and more.

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1.) California High Court Extends Public Records Law to Personal Devices

Text messages and emails about government business sent from officials’ private phones are public records that the people have the right to see, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

 2.) Opposition Building to Texas Bullet Train

Several Texas legislators have taken aim at the Texas High-Speed Rail project by proposing bills to restrict a startup company’s access to private land to be used in its bullet train route.

3.) NY Clammers Urge Court to Shuck Regulations

Dropping anchor in federal court, a clamming conglomerate says that new rules for New York’s shellfishing industry hurt business at every level, from harvesters and vessel owners to shippers and distributors.

4.) Lovesick Fabulist Nailed in Copycat JCC Threats

A disgraced reporter trying to frame his ex-girlfriend is behind a string of bomb threats against at least eight Jewish targets across the country, federal prosecutors said Friday.

 5.) Feds Quietly Drop Appeal in Transgender Case

The Justice Department and its new leader Jeff Sessions brought an anticlimactic end Thursday to a battle over transgender rights, dismissing an appeal that sought to enforce an Obama-era directive for public schools to honor students’ gender identities.

6.) Facebook Agrees to Cut Back on Its Snooping

Facebook has agreed to stop reading its users’ private messages for targeted ads, to settle a class action that claims it broke federal and state laws by doing so without consent.

7.)  $168M Deal in Animators' Wage-Fixing Case Gets Preliminary OK

A federal judge granted preliminary approval late Thursday to a $168 million settlement between animation workers and the large movie studios that colluded to suppress their wages.

8.) Teacher’s Slur Wasn’t Protected, Judge Says

A federal judge ruled that a Los Angeles Unified schoolteacher was not protected by the First Amendment when he used a racial epithet in front of a black student who faced a storm of protests after she sued the teacher and her school.

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