Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including the Federal Communications Commission paved the way for phone companies to block robocalls without first getting permission from their customers; President Donald Trump signed a long-delayed $19.1 billion disaster-relief bill that provides money to areas recovering from recent floods, hurricanes and wildfires; The U.S. trade gap with all countries dropped 2.1% in April but overall exports fell and the deficit with China widened, and more.
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National
1.) Answering a growing call from the public and their representatives in Congress, the Federal Communications Commission paved the way Thursday for phone companies to block robocalls without getting permission first from their customers.
2.) America’s trade gap with all countries dropped 2.1% in April, but overall exports fell and the deficit with China widened amid a trade war with no end in sight.
3.) The defense of Michael Flynn changed hands Thursday when the former national security adviser terminated his relationship with two Covington & Burling attorneys.
4.) President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a long-delayed $19.1 billion disaster-relief bill that provides money to areas recovering from recent floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters.
Regional
5.) Arkansas State Police said Thursday the woman found dead outside of her home in the city of Pocahontas this week is former state Senator Linda Collins-Smith and authorities are investigating the case as a homicide.
6.) The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Thursday in response to a question from the Seventh Circuit that prior burglary convictions involving overlapping locations cannot be considered for stiffer sentencing under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act, finding that state law counts them as alternative means of committing a single crime.
International
7.) The European General Court threw out a lawsuit Thursday by a former EU health commissioner who resigned when he was implicated in a bribery scheme with tobacco lobbyists.
8.) Exposure to infections threatens the survival of wild snow leopards in the rugged mountains of Central Asia, but the pathogens may also put villages and livestock that come into contact with the elusive cat at risk to illness according to a study published Thursday.
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