Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Donald Trump is expected to voluntarily surrender to New York City prosecutors; Finland's center-left millennial prime minister was ousted from power; Longstanding protections for journalists are inching toward a pressure point as two bills move through the Florida Legislature, and more.

National

Donald Trump en route to surrender on New York criminal charges

In a historic moment and unprecedented first for any U.S. president, Donald Trump is expected to voluntarily surrender to New York City prosecutors for his arraignment on criminal charges Tuesday morning at the Manhattan criminal courthouse.

Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport in Texas, on March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

High court splits on death row appeal where testimony was withheld

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was joined in dissent Monday by her liberal colleagues as the Supreme Court shut the door on an alleged constitutional violation out of Louisiana.

Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations, on Capitol Hill in Washington in April 2021. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP)

Regional

Florida defamation bills head to committee encircled by conservative, free press critics

Longstanding protections for journalists are inching toward a pressure point as two bills move through the Florida Legislature, appearing to tee up a challenge of Supreme Court precedent considered by media figures across party lines as the backbone for their very existence.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives his State of the State address during a joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives on March 7, 2023, at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Sears)

Virginia teacher shot by first-grader sues school officials for $40M

Abigail Zwerner, the Virginia teacher who suffered critical injuries after being shot by her first-grade student in January, is seeking $40 million from school administrators who she claims failed to heed multiple warnings about the armed child.

Police look on as students return to Richneck Elementary in Newport News, Va., on Jan. 30, 2023, after a teacher was shot and wounded by her 6-year-old student. (Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot via AP, File)

International

War crimes trial of ex-Kosovo president kicks off in The Hague

Joining a small club of former heads of state to face international justice, Kosovo's former president Hashim Thaçi reiterated his innocence as his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity started on Monday.

Former Kosovo president Hashim Thaci, left, appears before the Kosovo Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, on Monday, April 3, 2023, as he defends himself against charges including murder, torture and persecution allegedly committed during his country's war for independence from Serbia. (Koen van Weel/Pool via AP)

Finland’s left-wing star Sanna Marin defeated by right at ballot box

Sanna Marin, Finland's center-left millennial prime minister who became an international star during a tenure that saw her push Finland toward NATO, was ousted from power on Sunday after voters rallied behind right-wing political forces.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin of the Social Democratic Party, center, reacts as she watches results of exit polls in Helsinki, Finland, on Sunday, April 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Science

‘Hellish’ exoplanet may have magnetic field, like Earth

Scientists don't know whether magnetic fields are the norm for Earth-sized exoplanets. The uninhabitable YZ Ceti b may hold answers.

An artist's conceptual rendering of interactions between an exoplanet and its star. Plasma emitted from the star is deflected by the exoplanet's magnetic field. That interaction perturbs the star’s magnetic field and generates auroras on the star and radio waves. (Alice Kitterman/National Science Foundation)

Op-ed

Super Brain

New software that is the tech topic du jour is commonly described as “powerful.” It is part of a slow progression of change now reaching into the domain of professionals.

Text from the ChatGPT page of the OpenAI website is shown in this photo, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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