Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including several families of U.S. troops killed or wounded in Iraq suing some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies claiming their alleged bribes to officials lengthened the conflict there; an attorney told a federal judge that the government’s objection to the judicial branch’s authority to probe President Donald Trump puts the commander in chief above the law; California’s $17 billion water project reached a tipping point Tuesday after a Silicon Valley water district voted against Gov. Jerry Brown’s approach; a federal judge tossed claims over reporting on payments that a powerful Russian billionaire made to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and more.
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1.) In National news sixty-six families U.S. troops killed or wounded in Iraq sued some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies Tuesday, claiming they paid millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Iraq’s Health Ministry for lucrative contracts, which financed the Iran-backed Shiite Mahdi Army.
2.) Returning to the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since his confirmation, Attorney General Jeff Sessions offered little insight Wednesday into the firing of former FBI Director James Comey and the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
3.) Defending the judicial branch’s authority to probe President Donald Trump for conflicts of interest, an attorney told a federal judge Wednesday that the government’s logic puts the commander in chief above the law.
6.) As President Donald Trump prepares to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency, the director of a residential treatment facility in West Virginia hopes the renewed federal focus on the epidemic will help her save more of addiction’s littlest victims.
7.) In Environmental news a new technique for estimating the populations of endangered and threatened species – involving the birdwatching public – could make conservation efforts more effective.
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