Nightly Brief

Your Tuesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including the Supreme Court agreed to consider for the second time a case where a federal agent fired his gun across the border into Mexico and killed an unarmed teenager; Oklahoma’s bellwether trial over the opioid crisis began with officials accusing pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson of acting as a “drug kingpin” that killed thousands and created a public nuisance; The next European Parliament will be ruled by centrist pro-European Union political parties, and more.

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National

A U.S. Border Patrol agent patrols Sunland Park along the U.S.-Mexico border next to Ciudad Juarez on Jan. 4, 2016. The New Mexico border town, next to El Paso, Texas, has struggled to put a series of national scandals behind it until two city councilors were recently arrested. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)

1.) The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider for the second time a case where a federal agent fired his gun across the border into Mexico, killing an unarmed teenager.

FILE - In this Oct. 5, 2018, file photo, the U. S. Supreme Court building stands quietly before dawn in Washington. The Constitution says you can’t be tried twice for the same offense. And yet Terance Gamble is sitting in prison today because he was prosecuted separately by Alabama and the federal government for having a gun after an earlier robbery conviction. he Supreme Court is considering Gamble’s case Thursday, Dec. 6, and the outcome could have a spillover effect on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

2.) Reinstating Indiana rules that require aborted fetuses to either be buried or cremated, the Supreme Court chided the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday for failing to recognize the state’s legitimate interest.

Judge Thad Balkman listens Tuesday, May 28, 2019, during opening arguments for the state of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla., as the nation's first state trial against drugmakers blamed for contributing to the opioid crisis begins in Oklahoma. At right is a slide from the state's presentation shown on a monitor. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

3.) Oklahoma’s bellwether trial over the opioid crisis began Tuesday with officials accusing pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson of acting as a “drug kingpin” that killed over 4,600 Oklahomans through unintentional overdoses and created a public nuisance that cost the state billions of dollars.

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2017, file photo, homes in the Cantera area are covered with FEMA tarps, where buildings from the Hato Rey area stand in the background in San Juan, Puerto Rico. A new law requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency to investigate how it came to award Hurricane Maria relief contracts to a company with an unproven record. The Associated Press reported last year that the newly-formed contractor, Florida-based Bronze Star, LLC, won more than $30 million in FEMA contracts but never delivered the emergency tarps and plastic sheeting for repairs of damaged homes in Puerto Rico. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)

4.) Funding for disaster relief has been put on hold yet again as another Republican lawmaker objected Tuesday to the approval of a $19.1 billion emergency spending package during an abbreviated legislative session.

Porn actress Stormy Daniels, accompanied by her attorney, Michael Avenatti, left, leaves federal court in New York on April 16, 2018. After federal agents raided the office and residence of the president's personal lawyer, A federal judge in Los Angeles is set to hear arguments on April 20 about whether to delay the case Daniels brought over her alleged affair with President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, file)

5.) Appearing in the same courthouse where he once represented the adult film star, celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti told a federal judge Tuesday that he will fight charges that he tried to rip off Stormy Daniels.

International

A young boy with a balloon walks by a sign erected by climate activists outside the European Parliament in Brussels, Sunday, May 26, 2019. From Germany and France to Cyprus and Estonia, voters from 21 nations went to the polls Sunday in the final day of a crucial European Parliament election that could see major gains by the far-right, nationalist and populist movements that are on the rise across much of the continent. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

6.) The next European Parliament, the world’s only transnational parliament, will be ruled by centrist pro-European Union political parties, but they will be under a lot of pressure after Greens on the left and nationalist parties on the right made gains in Europe-wide elections.

Science

The remnant of a supernova. (X-ray: NASA / CXC / Rutgers / J.Hughes; Optical: NASA / STScI)

7.) Research published Tuesday raises questions about mankind’s cosmic origins, an elegant examination of how cosmic rays from dying stars may have set off a chain of terrestrial events to create the conditions for our ancient ancestors to walk upright.

Horses eating wild apples in the Tien Shan Mountains. These domesticated horses demonstrate the process of seed dispersal that wild apple trees evolved to support millions of years ago, when large monogastric mammals such as these were prominent across Eurasia. (Artur Stroscherer)

8.) A recent study takes a deep dive into the history of the humble apple, yielding some remarkable information on one of the world’s most well-known fruits.

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