Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill that takes another shot at putting cameras in the Supreme Court; The North Dakota Supreme Court kept in place a lower court's block of a controversial trigger law that would ban abortion in the state; French President Emmanuel Macron moved to force his contested pension reforms into law, and more.

National

Western water wars at high court focus on Navajo Nation

The fight for water in the West heads to the Supreme Court next week where the justices will decide if the government has a duty to give a tribal nation a share of the region's most precious resource.

A screenshot from the briefing in the case shows the Navajo reservation situated between Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. (Image via Courthouse News Service)

Chair of Senate security panel eyes bipartisan silver lining to Congress data breach

If there is any upside to last week’s hack of D.C. Health Link, which may have included a cache of personal information linked to members of Congress, Senator Gary Peters suggested that it is the possibility of it lighting a fire for more aggressive legislative action on cybersecurity issues.

Senator Gary Peters leads a hearing of the House Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on March 16, 2023. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

New bill would turn on cameras at Supreme Court arguments

A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that takes another shot at putting cameras in the Supreme Court.

People gather to hear the first arguments of the Supreme Court’s new term on Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Environmentalists argue for development agency to hold open meetings

Advocates for government transparency on environmental issues argued before a D.C. Circuit panel Thursday that a federal international development agency should not be exempt from the Sunshine Act.

An empty courtroom in the D.C. Circuit. (Image via Courthouse News)

Regional

Alabama allocates $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds

Concluding a special session called last week by Republican Governor Kay Ivey, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill Thursday allocating the state’s remaining $1.06 billion balance from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

North Dakota Supreme Court keeps block on abortion ban

The North Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday kept in place a lower court's block of a controversial trigger law that would ban abortion in the state.

The North Dakota Capitol building in Bismarck. (Bobak Ha'Eri/Wikipedia via Courthouse News)

As pot sale regulation crawls on, NY sellers say illicit shops thrive

New York leaders have not been shy about promoting the state’s newly minted legal marijuana dispensaries, but some would-be sellers say the process to get a license is slow, preferential and quickly getting eclipsed by illicit weed shops.

An employee helps a customer at the Sunnyside dispensary in Chicago's River North neighborhood in July 2021. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

International

With France in turmoil, Macron forced to push through pension plan

Facing defeat in a parliamentary vote, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday triggered a so-called “nuclear option” to force his contested pension reforms into law without the National Assembly's approval.