Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including U.S. federal prosecutors charged China’s Huawei, two subsidiaries and its CFO Meng Wanzhou in a money-laundering conspiracy that has roiled international relations in three countries; Thousands of Virginia educators marched on the state capitol to demand increased school funding and better pay for teachers; Spain’s judiciary will come under intense scrutiny in the coming months as its high court holds a politically explosive trial of Catalan independence leaders, and more.

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National

1.) Leveling indictments from coast to coast late Monday, U.S. federal prosecutors charged China’s Huawei, two subsidiaries and its CFO Meng Wanzhou in a money-laundering conspiracy that has roiled international relations in three countries.

Educators march through downtown Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 28, 2019, as part of the national Red4Ed movement advocating for more school funding and better teacher pay. (CNS Photo/Brad Kutner)

2.) Inspired by similar efforts in other parts of the country, thousands of Virginia educators marched on the state capitol Monday to demand increased school funding and better pay for teachers.

A map of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline, which has faced numerous judicial hurdles as landowners push back against federally authorized eminent domain claims. Image via Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC.

3.) Digging its teeth into plans for the already delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline, the D.C. Circuit appeared critical Monday of a glaring hole in the government’s environmental research.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, announces plans to run for president in 2020 before a crowd of 20,000 in Oakland, California, on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2019. (Helen Christophi/CNS)

4.) In a scathing rebuke of the Trump administration’s divisive politics, Senator Kamala Harris of California launched her bid for the U.S. presidency at an Oakland rally Sunday by promising to unite the nation and reclaim its democratic institutions if elected in 2020.

Regional

An election official checks a voter's photo identification at an early voting site in Austin, Texas, in 2014. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

5.) Texas officials said they identified 95,000 registered voters who were not U.S. citizens when they obtained state driver’s licenses or identification cards and are asking counties to confirm their current citizenship status and eligibility to vote, resulting in critics accusing the state of fear-mongering and voter suppression.

A customer purchases marijuana at Harborside marijuana dispensary on Jan. 1, 2018, in Oakland, Calif. Starting today recreational marijuana can be sold legally in California. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

6.) Seeking a “tax holiday” to boost sluggish recreational marijuana sales, California lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would temporarily lower taxes for the legal pot industry.

7.) The 11th Circuit on Friday begrudgingly granted a former Georgia district attorney qualified immunity from claims that he defamed a wrongfully convicted prisoner in retaliation for seeking compensation after his exoneration.

International

Demonstrators attend a concert holding a 'Estelada', the pro-independence Catalan flag, in support of the politicians and and civil leaders imprisoned at the Plaza Espanya square in Barcelona, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

8.) Spain’s judiciary, which critics say is too cozy with the country’s dominant political parties, will come under intense scrutiny in the coming months as its high court holds a politically explosive trial of Catalan independence leaders accused of rebellion and sedition.

Nightly Brief

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