Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including a grand jury found no widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election and most jurors believe at least one witness in their probe committed perjury; Dozens of nations joined a call to action to regulate military artificial intelligence; The man accused of killing seven people at California mushroom farms pleaded not guilty, and more.

National

Partial grand jury report released in Trump election interference probe

A Georgia judge on Thursday released parts of the final report produced by a special purpose grand jury seated last year as part of an investigation into potential criminal interference with the state's 2020 elections by former President Donald Trump and several of his allies.

Fulton County Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is seen in her office on Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)

Eyeing spies in the sky, US launches strike force to safeguard intel

The United States launched what it framed as a disruptive technology strike force Thursday, citing the need to protect the country's advanced technologies assets from foreign adversaries.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco at the Department of Justice in Washington on Nov. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Aerial objects shot down after Chinese balloon were not spying, Biden says

One week after his administration announced it would explore retaliation avenues against Beijing for what it said was a surveillance balloon with proven ties to the Chinese military, President Joe Biden distinguished that event from the three subsequent objects shot down in recent days.

President Joe Biden discusses findings on February 16, 2023, after an investigation into aerial balloons that drew a military response in recent weeks. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Asylum policy squabble nixed mysteriously from high court docket

The Supreme Court will no longer hear a fight between the Biden administration and several red states over the conclusion of a pandemic-era immigration policy.

The U.S. military blocks migrants from crossing into El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 20, 2022, as seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

Regional

Kentucky Supreme Court keeps abortion ban in place

Kentucky’s Supreme Court has kept the state’s near-total abortion ban in place, affirming the reversal of a temporary injunction which halted the law while a circuit court considers a challenge from abortion rights supporters.

Protesters outside the Kentucky Supreme Court chambers rally in favor of abortion rights as the justices hear arguments over whether to temporarily pause the state's abortion ban in Frankfort, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect pleads not guilty

The man accused of killing seven people at mushroom farms in the coastal Northern California city of Half Moon Bay pleaded not guilty Thursday before a packed San Mateo County courtroom.

FBI officials walk toward the crime scene at Mountain Mushroom Farm, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, after a gunman killed several people at two agricultural businesses in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Officers arrested a suspect in Monday’s shootings, 67-year-old Chunli Zhao, after they found him in his car in the parking lot of a sheriff’s substation, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus said. (AP Photo/Aaron Kehoe)

Storms headed for California to boost already healthy snowpack

After a mostly dry February, California may see a return of stormy weather over the next week — a welcome addition to a snowpack that will bring some relief to the historic drought.

Snow at the Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains (California Department of Water Resources via Courthouse News)

International

Countries sign military AI pact at historic summit, but is it enough?

A short walk from the European Union agencies Europol and Eurojust and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 60 countries announced on Thursday they are joining a call to action to regulate artificial intelligence.

The opening of the Summit on Responsible AI in the Military Domain, or REAIM, 2023 in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023. (The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Valerie Kuypers)

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