Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including former Vice President Joe Biden began the year as the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and remains so as summer turns to fall; The Ninth Circuit heard arguments on whether Led Zeppelin lifted the chords in “Stairway to Heaven” from another group’s song and if that warranted a second trial; The defense team for one of two former Central African Republic officials accused of crimes against humanity began presenting their case during a preliminary hearing before the International Criminal Court, and more.

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National

Former Vice President Joe Biden works the grill during the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry on Sept. 21, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

1.) The size of the field of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to run against President Donald Trump spawned much hand-wringing in the early days of the campaign. But 10 months out from the Democratic Convention, the race is characterized more by consistency than volatility as former Vice President Joe Biden began the year as the front-runner and remains so as summer turns to fall.

Robert Plant (left) and Jimmy Page (right) of Led Zeppelin, in concert in Chicago, Illinois. (Jim Summaria via Wikipedia)

2.) The hauntingly spare opening to Led Zeppelin’s rock epic “Stairway to Heaven” and copyright law were on the minds of the en banc Ninth Circuit on Monday morning, which heard arguments on whether the British band lifted the chords from another group’s song and if that warranted a second trial.

Newly filled and sealed cans of Miller Lite beer move along on a conveyor belt at the MillerCoors Brewery, in Golden, Colorado on March 11, 2015. (Brennan Linsley/AP)

3.) The Seventh Circuit was critical Monday of MillerCoors’ false advertising claims against Anheuser-Busch over multimillion-dollar Bud Light advertisements claiming that Miller Lite and Coors Lite contain corn syrup, pointing out that Miller itself lists corn syrup as an ingredient in its beers.

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2015, file photo, people walk past a branch of Chase bank, in New York. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reports earnings Friday, April 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

4.) Just more than three years after his original conviction, former JPMorgan Chase banker Sean Stewart was found guilty Monday of participating in a father-son insider-trading conspiracy.

Regional

Former Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger listens to pretrial arguments in Judge Tammy Kemp's 204th District Court in Dallas, Monday, September 23, 2019. Guyger shot and killed Botham Jean, an unarmed 26-year-old neighbor in his own apartment last year. She told police she thought his apartment was her own and that he was an intruder. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

5.) On the first day of her murder trial, prosecutors accused a white former Dallas cop of being distracted by sexually charged messages with her police partner leading up to her fatally shooting a black neighbor in his own apartment that she mistook for her own.

FILE- In a Nov. 6, 2018 file photo voters wait in line on election day in Southfield, Mich. A three-judge panel has ruled that Michigan's congressional and legislative maps are unconstitutionally gerrymandered, ordering the state Legislature to redraw at least 34 districts for the 2020 election. The decision issued Thursday, April 25, 2019, also requires special state Senate elections to be held in 2020, instead of 2022 as scheduled. The judges say the maps drawn by Republicans in 2011 violate Democratic voters' constitutional rights.(Clarence Tabb, Jr /Detroit News via AP, File)

6.) Michigan’s top prosecutor said Monday that a city clerk in a Detroit suburb altered records tied to absentee ballots cast in last year’s general election to make it look like they did not have valid signatures.

International

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 25, 2019 file photo, the chief of Central African Republic's soccer federation Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona stands during his initial appearance before the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands. Two leaders of a predominantly Christian militia, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, involved in a bitter conflict with Muslim forces in the Central African Republic have appeared at the International Criminal Court for a hearing, that started Thursday Sept. 19, 2019, at which prosecutors are seeking to persuade judges that they have sufficient evidence to send the suspects to trial. (Koen Van Well/Pool photo via AP, File)

7.) The defense team for one of two former Central African Republic officials accused of crimes against humanity began presenting their case Monday during a preliminary hearing before the International Criminal Court, arguing there is not sufficient evidence to hold a trial.

Science

Screenshot of Africa AI via plantvillage.psu.edu.

8.) In the wake of climate warming that threatens to destroy African farmers’ crops, a team of Penn State scientists on Monday unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool in a cellphone app that can predict crop growth and help protect vital food supplies from intensifying heat.

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