Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Donald Trump’s real estate companies were ordered to split a $1.6 million fine; German police forcefully removed holdouts in a yearslong protest to stop the expansion of a massive coal mine; Wall Street pulled down decent gains for the second consecutive week, and more.

National

Trump Org gets expected sentence, $1.6 million, for payroll and tax fraud

Found criminally liable for a tax evasion scheme at trial, former President Donald Trump’s real estate companies were ordered Friday to split a $1.6 million fine, the maximum possible penalty for a corporate entity.

Donald Trump poses with his children, from left, Eric, Donald Jr. and Ivanka, at the opening of the Trump SoHo New York on April 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

Supreme Court keeps term’s first opinion under wraps, setting record

The Supreme Court did not shy away from dealing itself another historic docket of cases this term but so far the justices are making history for what they aren’t doing: handing down rulings.

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Bottom row, from left, Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Top row, from left, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Justice Department announces new regulations for handgun attachments

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives signed a new rule Friday placing stricter regulations on pistols with attached stabilizing braces that effectively turn the firearms into short-barreled rifles.

A memorial around the King Soopers supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, where 10 were killed in a mass shooting on March 22, 2021. (Amanda Pampuro/Courthouse News)

Inflation finally falls, extending markets’ winning streak

Wall Street pulled down decent gains for the second consecutive week, building on its strong start to 2023 with help from data that show inflation has started to fall and in spite of recession warnings from big banks.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Trump rape lawsuit overcomes motion to dismiss

A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump that stems from an allegedly nonconsensual sexual encounter in the mid-1990s.

This 1987 photograph of E. Jean Carroll and Donald Trump appears in Carroll's civil defamation suit against Trump to rebuff his claims that he could not have raped her because he never met her. (Image via Courthouse News)

Regional

Watchdog calls for cuts to proposed California budget

Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget for California, looking leaner this year in the face of a revenue shortfall, must be trimmed by lawmakers to avoid deepening the deficit, the independent Legislative Analyst's Office said Friday.

The California Capitol building. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

Judge refuses to block California from sharing gun owner data with researchers

A federal judge has declined a request to temporarily block a California law that allows the state to share personal information about gun owners with gun violence researchers.

People wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif., March 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

International

German police clash with climate protesters over coal mine

German police on Friday forcefully removed holdouts in a yearslong protest to stop German energy giant RWE from expanding a massive coal mine in western Germany.

Climate activists Greta Thunberg, front third right, and Luisa Neubauer, front center, visit the village of Lutzerath, Germany, Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)