Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including President Donald Trump signed an executive order that demands colleges commit to protecting free speech if they want federal funding; In the first decision since a major fault line opened in the legal landscape around the First Amendment, a federal judge in Virginia has ruled that its powerful writ reaches past the state courthouse door; Fears are growing that Great Britain may be headed toward a potentially chaotic exit from the European Union by the end of next week, and more.
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National
1.) Taking aim at the angry student mobs that tend these days to derail controversial campus speakers, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that demands colleges commit to protecting free speech if they want federal funding.
2.) In the first decision since a major fault line opened in the legal landscape around the First Amendment, a federal judge in Virginia has ruled that its powerful writ reaches past the state courthouse door.
3.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may soon adopt a method of assessment that ignores a majority of science showing air pollution harms human health, and experts are sounding the alarm ahead of a March 28 meeting to discuss the proposed change.
4.) A Wisconsin judge on Thursday temporarily blocked three controversial laws passed during a December lame-duck session in the GOP-controlled Legislature aimed at limiting the powers of the new Democratic governor and attorney general.
International
5.) Fears are growing that Great Britain may be headed toward a potentially chaotic, and some argue catastrophic, exit from the European Union by the end of next week.
6.) Preliminary elections results show a big win for the Netherlands’ far-right Forum for Democracy party in provincial elections.
Science
7.) Chinese scientists have developed a new plant-based biofuel that could help the aviation industry “go green,” according to research published in the journal Joule Thursday.
8.) There might be another reason to avoid sugary drinks, according to a study released Thursday that links high-fructose corn syrup to colon cancer – at least in the case of several lab mice who developed tumors after just two months of sipping sugary water daily.
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