States fight to keep school mental health funding suit alive
SEATTLE (CN) — States suing to preserve federal funding for mental health programs in schools pushed back on Thursday against the Department of Education’s attempt to have their case thrown out. Earlier this year, the department discontinued grant programs...
Judge drops Drake’s defamation suit over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ diss track
MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a stunning defamation case brought by the rapper Drake against his own record label Universal Music Group, which he claims promoted his rival Kendrick Lamar’s hit 2024 song “Not Like Us” despite knowing the diss...
Trump adversary Letitia James hit with mortgage fraud indictment
NORFOLK, Va. (CN) — The Justice Department indicted another of President Donald Trump’s adversaries Thursday, accusing New York Attorney General Letitia James of mortgage fraud. The indictment concerns James’s purported use of falsified records to get...
Ninth Circuit wrestles with scope of arctic seal protections
HONOLULU (CN) — A Ninth Circuit panel spent much of a Thursday hearing debating whether they should even be hearing a case over if the federal government overstepped its authority in designating more than 160 million acres of Alaskan waters as critical habitat for...
California tries to bolster state insurance plan in bill package
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills Thursday that target improvements to the state’s insurance of last resort. Officials intended the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, or FAIR Plan, to serve as someone’s last...
Senate confirms Third Circuit nominee Mascott despite shutdown stall
WASHINGTON (CN) — Even as the government shutdown threatened to drag into a third week, the Senate on Thursday forged ahead with President Donald Trump’s judicial agenda, confirming Jennifer Mascott to a key appellate court vacancy. Just hours after lawmakers failed...
Ninth Circuit scrutinizes block on National Guard deployment in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals convened virtually this morning to hear arguments in the federal government’s appeal of a recent ruling that blocked the deployment of National Guard troops to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
Prosecutors outline case against man charged with torturing, killing woman found in refrigerator
LOS ANGELES (CN) — Last year, a pair of patrol officers made a welfare check on a woman living in a Downtown LA apartment. There was no one home, no sign of a break-in, and nothing inside appeared unusual — until one opened the refrigerator. On Wednesday,...
Ninth Circuit reverses course on anti-SLAPP denial appeals
(CN) — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday changed its longstanding precedent on whether it has jurisdiction to immediately hear appeals of denials of anti-SLAPP motions brought under California law in federal courts. An en banc panel of 11 judges...