Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Scotland's longtime leader Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned; Donald Trump’s quid pro quo offer to finally provide a DNA sample in civil rape litigation was shut down by a federal judge; The Eighth Circuit heard arguments over an Iowa school district’s policy aimed at respecting the wishes of transgender students, and more.

National

Trump can’t hinge DNA sample on demand for missing report pages

Donald Trump’s quid pro quo offer to finally provide a DNA sample in civil rape litigation earned a swift shutdown this week from a federal judge.

Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and his daughter Ivanka Trump speak in Washington on Sept. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Police officer’s texts with Proud Boys leader highlighted at trial

Only a day after jurors heard a defense argument that Enrique Tarrio was a friend to law enforcement, prosecutors turned the tables to heap suspicion on the police officer known to be communicating with the leader of the Proud Boys before the insurrection.

Regional

Iowa parents urge appeals court to block school gender identity policy

Parents of Iowa schoolchildren, Republican state legislators and advocates for recognizing LGBTQ rights are clashing at school board meetings and state Capitol hearings over whether some schools have gone too far in protecting transgender students – even from their parents. That clash came into sharp focus during oral arguments Wednesday morning before the Eighth Circuit.

Bill to expand post-conviction DNA testing clears key Colorado Senate committee

A bill that would lower the bar for individuals convicted of crimes to seek DNA testing of evidence unanimously passed the Colorado Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The Colorado statehouse. (Courthouse News photo / Chris Marshall)

Eighth Circuit weighs tribal authority in parental kidnapping case

A custody dispute over the children of a South Dakota Sioux woman who took them to a reservation brought a test of tribal sovereignty to the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday.

The flags of various Native American tribes flank the stage at the Frank LeMere Native American Presidential Forum at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2019. (Ted Wheeler/Courthouse News)

International

Sturgeon quits as Scottish leader after losing bid for independence vote

Scotland's longtime leader Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly resigned on Wednesday, nearly three months after the United Kingdom's Supreme Court rejected her government's attempt to hold an independence referendum.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unexpectedly announces her resignation at Bute House in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (Jane Barlow/Pool photo via AP)

Science

Why so much biodiversity in the tropics? New paper claims to have solved the puzzle

Scientists may have solved a 200-year-old mystery: Why is biodiversity — that is, a wide variety of different species — greater in the tropics, near the equator, where the earth is the hottest?

A light microscope image of a planktonic foraminifera collected from the water in the Southwest Indian Ocean. (Photo by Tracy Aze, University of Leeds via Courthouse News)

Forced sterilization survivors are still alive and deserve an apology, Utah researchers say

Forced sterilization in the U.S. may seem like a faraway horror, but new research estimates that there are still dozens of living survivors of Utah's sterilization program that the state has yet to make amends to.

A 1942 image of the Utah State Training School in American Fork, Utah, where the majority of the eugenic sterilizations in Utah took place (Photo courtesy of Utah State Historical Society via Courthouse News).

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