Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Norfolk Southern’s CEO refused to say during a congressional hearing whether his company would provide full financial assistance to East Palestine residents; Europe’s top rights court took the Hungarian government to task for its policy of publishing the personal information of people who owed back taxes; A longtime Ohio politician was convicted for his role as the ringleader in a $60 million bribery scheme, and more.

National

Norfolk Southern CEO grilled at Senate on money for families affected by Ohio derailment

The chief executive of the company responsible for a February train derailment that displaced scores of people in East Palestine, Ohio, refused to say during a congressional hearing whether his firm would provide full financial assistance to the affected community.

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testifies before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on March 9, 2023. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

New House speaker inks resolution slamming ESG investments rule

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signed a resolution Thursday that undercuts efforts by the Biden administration to give socially or environmentally conscious investments a better foothold in retirement plans.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks at a press conference on March 9, 2023, in support of a resolution that rejects proposed changes to investment law. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Regional

California slams Huntington Beach over ‘brazen’ disregard of housing law

California sued the coastal enclave Huntington Beach on Thursday, the state attorney general’s first case this year claiming a city violated housing laws aimed at boosting housing stock.

Huntington Beach, Calif. at night. (JohnContiPhotoArt/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Ex-Ohio speaker found guilty of taking bribes to bail out nuclear plants

Longtime Ohio politician and two-time Speaker of the House Larry Householder was convicted Thursday for his role as the ringleader in a bribery scheme that used dark money contributions to pass a $1 billion bailout of two failing nuclear power plants.

Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder waits to retrieve his personal items after going through security at Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse in Cincinnati on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, before jury selection in his federal bribery trial. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

Seventh Circuit clears way for destruction of endangered bumblebee habitat

The Seventh Circuit signed the death warrant for an 8,000-year-old gravel prairie on Thursday morning, after it denied for the second time a petition to halt the expansion of a regional airport in northwest Illinois.

A rusty-patched bumblebee on Culver’s root in the arboretum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. (Photo by Photo By Susan Day Via Uw-Madison Arboretum via Courthouse News)

International

Shame list of Hungarian tax defaulters violates international law

Europe’s top rights court took the Hungarian government to task Thursday for its policy of publishing the personal information of people who owed back taxes.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. (Photo by CherryX from Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)

Science

Nations pushed for international treaty to eliminate space junk

Over the weekend, members of the United Nations put the finishing touches on a decades-in-the-making treaty to limit pollution and protect biodiversity in international waters, the so-called High Seas Treaty. Now scientists are calling for a similar treaty — for space.

A computer generated image of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. The dots represent the current location of each item. (NASA Orbital Debris Program Office)

Scientists develop first complete brain map of insect

In a major breakthrough for neuroscience over a decade in the making, an international team of researchers have completed a full brain map of an insect, the next step in what neuroscientists are hoping will become a better understanding of the mechanism of thought.