Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including President Biden signed an executive order expanding the number of background checks conducted before gun sales; Environmentalists urged Nevada lawmakers to approve a bill that would help protect pollinators and other insects; The European Commission defended its fine against Qualcomm for predatory pricing, and more.

National

Biden boosts gun control with tougher background checks

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Tuesday expanding the number of background checks conducted before gun sales, imposing harsher penalties on violations of federal firearms law and directing a study of how firearm manufacturers market to minors.

President Joe Biden boards Marine One at San Diego International Airport on March 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US courts saw drop in case filings, uptick in judge complaints in 2022

While many courts returned to their usual pre-pandemic operations in 2022 as the Covid-19 crisis receded, most received fewer case filings than the year prior, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. judicial system.

EPA unveils first federal limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

U.S. drinking water standards will for the first time include limits on the presence of cancer-causing substances known as PFAS or forever chemicals because of their inability to degrade without costly intervention.

Eric Kleiner, center, sorts samples for experimentation as part of drinking water and PFAS research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response in Cincinnati on Feb. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Regional

Nevada lawmakers urged to let wildlife agency conserve pollinators

Environmentalists from numerous organizations urged the Nevada Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee to approve a bill that would help the state’s Department of Wildlife protect pollinators and other insects in need of conservation.

A monarch butterfly on milkweed. (Caitlin Nagorka/USFWS via Courthouse News)

Maine lobster industry cries defamation over claim it’s harming whales

Representatives of the Maine lobster industry filed a defamation lawsuit Tuesday against a California nonprofit that has been advocating a boycott on the grounds that the industry is dangerous to whales.

Lobster fishermen work at sunrise, Sept. 8, 2022, off Kennebunkport, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

Nationals arbitration award in TV rights fight with Orioles has sticking power

The Baltimore Orioles could be facing strike three in a bid to overturn an arbitration award granting television rights to its crosstown rival, the Washington Nationals.

Grounds crew members place a tarp over the infield at Oriole Park at Camden Yards prior to a baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Seattle Mariners in Baltimore on April 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

International

Brussels defends Qualcomm antitrust fine at EU court

The European Commission defended its 2019 fine against Qualcomm for predatory pricing on Tuesday, telling judges at the European Union’s second-highest court that the company knew its behavior was illegal.

Visitors look at a display booth for Qualcomm at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing on April 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Albania names wild Vjosa River a national park

In a significant victory for environmentalists, Albania says it is making one of Europe's last free-flowing rivers into a national park, a key step in staving off the construction of hydroelectric dams on the river.

The Vjosa River near Tepelene, Albania. (Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)