Nightly Brief

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including a group of automakers said they have reached a deal with California to produce more fuel efficient and electric vehicles; The House of Representatives passed a $2.7 trillion budget agreement that raises caps on discretionary spending over the next two years and lifts the limit on how much debt the federal government can take on; Attorney General William Barr announced federal inmates on death row will be executed for the first time since 2003, and more.

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National

1.) Shunning the Trump administration’s push to weaken Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, a group of automakers said Thursday they have reached a deal with California to produce more fuel efficient and electric vehicles.

2.) The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $2.7 trillion budget agreement that raises caps on discretionary spending over the next two years and lifts the limit on how much debt the federal government can take on.

3.) A trio of Democratic congresswomen introduced a bill Thursday to prohibit the use of facial-recognition technology in most federally sponsored public housing.

4.) As more states aim to tackle criminal justice reform, voting rights advocates contend the legal financial obligations of former felons continue to deprive them of the right to cast a ballot.

5.) Federal inmates on death row will be executed for the first time since 2003, Attorney General William Barr announced Thursday, championing the return to capital punishment as a way to bring “justice to victims of the most horrific crimes.”

Regional

6.) Weeks after California’s strongest earthquake in 20 years struck near the town of Ridgecrest, scientists have begun tracking aftershocks using a sophisticated network of fiber optic sensors.

7.) New Mexico’s Environment Department and attorney general filed an injunction asking that the U.S. Air Force be compelled to quickly clean up contamination from toxic firefighting foam that lingers in the ground around Cannon and Holloman Air Force bases.

International

8.) The mob came at the Roma with baseball bats, threw stones and bottles, broke windows and shouted frightening cries: “Kill them all!” “Burn them alive!” “Send them all away!” This, according to witnesses who spoke to Courthouse News, was the scene last week when a mob of more than 100 people living in a rundown housing estate outside of Rome descended on an adjacent community of Roma, the historically nomadic peoples also known as gypsies.