Nightly Brief

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including a Republican plan to end the government shutdown with $5.7 billion to fund a border wall and a competing Democratic proposal both failed in the Senate; The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Michael Cohen one after he said he did not want to testify because of intimidation from the president; A European court ruled American former student Amanda Knox is entitled to damages for unfair treatment at the hands of Italian police before being cleared of a murder charge, and more.

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National

1.) Voting on two plans to end the partial government shutdown, but falling short of a 60-vote threshold, a Republican plan with $5.7 billion to fund a border wall and a competing Democratic proposal failed Thursday.

2.) Climate change and military presence at the Arctic Circle dominated testimony Thursday at a Senate committee’s first meeting of the year on the future of energy expansion in the rapidly warming region.

3.) The Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Michael Cohen on Thursday, a rep for the former Trump lawyer said, one day after Cohen said he did not want to testify because of intimidation from the president.

4.) The en banc Seventh Circuit ruled that the protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act apply only to current employees, not to job applicants.

5.) In another good sign for the U.S. job market, the Labor Department said Thursday that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest level in nearly 50 years.

Science

6.) NASA’s Opportunity Rover marked its 15th anniversary on Mars Thursday, though the space agency hasn’t heard from the intrepid explorer since a months-long dust storm covered its power-grabbing solar panels last year.

International

7.) Amanda Knox, an American at the center of a sensational murder case in Italy, suffered unfair treatment at the hands of Italian police and is entitled to damages, a European human rights court ruled Thursday.

8.) Apparently satisfied with her cooperation, the United States released a prominent Iranian television anchor Wednesday night following a 10-day detention related to an unspecified criminal case.