Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Republican Representative George Santos stepped down from House committee service in the face of multiple investigations; Italy is being gripped by the case of an imprisoned anarchist at risk of dying in a hunger strike; Democratic Governor Tim Walz signed a bill guaranteeing the right to abortion in Minnesota, and more.

National

Santos shrugs House committee appointments as ethics probes abound

Republican Representative George Santos stepped down Tuesday from House committee service in the face of the multiple investigations he faces from local and federal authorities.

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., leaves a House GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Poll: Republicans support Biden probes, reject compromise

With the balance of power having shifted in the U.S. House of Representatives, a majority of Republicans want their party leaders to take an aggressive approach against the Biden administration rather than compromise to solve the nation’s problems, the Pew Research Center reported Tuesday.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Calif., speaks with members of the press as he walks to the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Regional

Changes at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre prompt debate and hand-wringing

A beloved movie palace in the heart of San Francisco's LGBT community is at the center of conflict between those who want change and those who don't.

The Castro Theatre, in San Francisco's largely LGBT Castro District, is at the center of controversy. (Eric Burkett/Courthouse News)

Texas rocked by deadly ice storm

As a winter storm rolls southward through Texas for a second day, officials advised people Tuesday to stay off the icy roadways, which have been blamed for at least one death.

An icy mix covers Highway 114 in Roanoke, Texas, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Minnesota enshrines abortion rights into law

Democratic Governor Tim Walz signed a bill Tuesday guaranteeing the right to abortion in Minnesota, cementing the North Star State as an upper Midwest island for abortion access.

A large crowd marches on Cedar Avenue to downtown during a University of Minnesota student-led protest in Minneapolis, Minn., after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022. (Renée Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP)

States come up with plan to save Colorado River water

Six of seven states in the Colorado River basin signed off on a consensus-based modeling alternative aimed at cutting water usage to stave off the dwindling water supply serving 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

Glen Canyon Dam holds back the waters of Lake Powell, a sprawling recreational reservoir that provides storage and power for residents along the Colorado River. (Brad Poole/Courthouse News)

International

Italy gripped by anarchist’s hunger strike against solitary confinement

The fate of an imprisoned Italian anarchist vowing to die if necessary during a hunger strike to protest his country's harsh regime of solitary confinement has become the topic of heated debates and sparked a series of alleged anarchist attacks.

The gutted remains of cars following an attack claimed by an anarchist network in Rome on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

Azerbaijan counters Armenia claims of ethnic cleansing with landmine accusations

Azerbaijan accused Armenia of using landmines to attack civilians during a hearing before the International Court of Justice on Tuesday, following allegations of ethnic cleansing by Armenia the day before.

A forest burns in October 2020 after shelling by Azerbaijan's artillery during a military conflict with Armenia outside Stepanakert, in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. (AP Photo)