Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including Special Counsel Robert Mueller filing a list of 35 potential witnesses for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s trial on fraud and conspiracy charges next week; U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill reveals Russian hackers attempted to infiltrate her office network last year; a federal judge says he likely won’t grant a gag order against Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing former porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump; a development boom is transforming Inglewood, California; the federal government did not meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite all families with children over age five that were separated at the southwest border under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy; a German court ruled Friday that authorities must pay a farmer nearly $904,000 for a bronze horse’s head dating back to Roman times that was found on his land, and more.

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National

1.) Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday filed a list of 35 potential witnesses for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s trial on fraud and conspiracy charges next week.

Michael Cohen arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 19, 2017. A secret recording between Donald Trump and Cohen discussing payments to a Playboy model has brought renewed attention to the question of whether the candidate and his lawyer sought to stymie politically damaging stories from women ahead of the 2016 presidential election. But it’s not clear that the brief recording, on its own, creates additional legal problems for either man. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

2.) President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen said Thursday that the president knew in advance of a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who offered dirt on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to several media sources.

FILE - In this June 20, 2018, file photo, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., asks a question during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. McCaskill says Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her Senate computer network, and says she “will not be intimidated.” The Missouri Democrat released the statement after The Daily Beast website reported that Russia’s GRU intelligence agency tried to hack the senator’s computers in August 2017. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

3.) Russian hackers attempted to infiltrate U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s office network last year, the Missouri Democrat confirmed Thursday night.

Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti speaks to the press after a hearing in Los Angeles federal court on July 27, 2018. (Nathan Solis/CNS)

4.) A federal judge said Friday he likely won’t grant a gag order against Michael Avenatti, the attorney representing former porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump.

Regional

5.) Monsanto’s attorneys failed Thursday to undermine a New York toxicologist who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused a groundskeeper’s deadly lymphoma, in a contentious California jury trial over the herbicide’s alleged carcinogenicity.

6.) Eleven states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration Labor Department on Thursday, fighting a change in healthcare benefit rules they say will allow insurers and private employers to skirt Affordable Care Act regulations such as required coverage for preexisting conditions.

Residents and affordable housing advocates gather at the Chucos Justice Center in Inglewood, California, on June 24, 2018, to talk about efforts to gain tenant’s rights agreements and put a rent control measure on the November ballot. Some 65 percent of residents rent and have seen housing costs climb by 25 percent since 2013. (Martin Macias Jr/CNS)

7.) Drivers making their way to Los Angeles International Airport may have never noticed Inglewood or thought about stopping for a visit, but that will change thanks to a development boom spurred by city leaders and developers.

Maria holds her 4-year-old son Franco after he arrived at the El Paso International Airport Thursday, July 26, 2018 in El Paso, Texas. The two had been separated for over six weeks after being entering the country. (Ruben R. Ramirez/The El Paso Times via AP)

8.) The federal government did not meet a court-ordered deadline Thursday to reunite all families with children over age five that were separated at the southwest border under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

In this Aug. 4, 2016, file photo, Amazon.com boxes are shown stacked near a Boeing 767 Amazon "Prime Air" cargo plane on display in a Boeing hangar in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

9.) E-commerce giant Amazon is under fire from U.S lawmakers after independent tests revealed Thursday that the company’s facial recognition technology falsely matched 28 current members of Congress with images in a mugshot database.

International

FILE---The hand of a restorer is seen cleaning a horse's head which is part of a statue which represents Roman Emperor Augustus on a horse, in Wiesbaden, central Germany, Tuesday, March 16, 2010. A German court has ruled that authorities must pay a farmer 773,000 euros (nearly $904,000) for a this bronze horse's head dating back to Roman times found on his land in 2009. The state of Hesse initially paid the farmer 48,000 euros.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)

10.) A German court ruled Friday that authorities must pay a farmer nearly $904,000 (€773,000) for a bronze horse’s head dating back to Roman times that was found on his land in 2009.

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