Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including two-thirds of Danes voted to lift Denmark’s defense reservation and be able to join European-led missions and arms cooperation; The Biden administration moved to reverse a Trump-era rule that limited the power of tribes and states to block pipelines; A New York appeals court refused to overturn disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction, and more.

National

Garland may be taking Jan. 6 Capitol riot probe ‘up a notch’

A lawsuit filed this week signaled for the first time that Attorney General Merrick Garland may be investigating former President Donald Trump as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announces actions to enhance the Biden administration’s environmental justice efforts at a news conference on May 5, 2022, at the Department of Justice in Washington. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Michael Avenatti, who shot to fame as lawyer for Stormy Daniels, sentenced to prison for ripping her off

California attorney Michael Avenatti expressed remorse in court Thursday but it was not enough to stop a federal judge from adding nearly three years to a prison term he has been serving since last summer.

Michael Avenatti speaks to reporters outside the Manhattan federal courthouse on Feb. 2, 2022, the day the jurors began deliberations in the suspended attorney's second criminal trial in the Southern District of New York. (Josh Russell/Courthouse News Service)

Biden moves to restore power of states and tribes to protect their waters

Looking to give states and Native American territories and tribes more power to block energy projects capable of polluting waterways on their land, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed reversing a Trump-era rule.

Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" march through swamp land leading to an Enbridge pipeline construction site in Clearwater County, Minn., on June 7, 2021. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP, File)

Regional

Harvey Weinstein loses appeal of NY rape conviction

Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein claimed he was unfairly disadvantaged at his 2020 rape trial by abundant witness testimony about his bad behavior. A New York appeals court disagreed Thursday.

Harvey Weinstein, the convicted rapist and disgraced movie mogul, arrives in a wheelchair to an arraignment hearing on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, in Los Angeles. Weinstein pleaded not guilty at the hearing to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts. (KABC/Pool Photo via AP)

Union seeking to shield police records dealt 2nd Circuit blow

The Connecticut Legislature was responding to a “pressing social ill” and a crisis of confidence in the wake of George Floyd’s murder when it disregarded a collective bargaining agreement and made police disciplinary records subject to the state’s open records laws, the Second Circuit ruled Thursday.

(Image by Yildiray Yücel Kamanmaz from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

International

Danes overwhelmingly back EU defense cooperation

Not since Denmark chose its membership of the European Union in 1972 has such a clear majority opted for EU collaboration. On Wednesday, 66.9% of the Danish voters marked “yes” to whether Denmark should lift its defense reservation and be able to join European-led missions and arms cooperation.

A poster from Denmark's Conservative party encourages voters to lift the defense reservation and join saying "Freedom and safety — vote YES" in a referendum held June 1, 2022. (Mie Olsen/Courthouse News Service)

EU high court OKs ban on cosmetics that look like food

The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that the bloc’s consumer safety regulations allow member states to ban cosmetics if they look too similar to food.

The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, is the European Union’s supreme court in matters concerning EU law. (Molly Quell/Courthouse News)

Science

New Alzheimer’s findings could lead to breakthrough in treatment

For decades, the fight against Alzheimer’s disease has targeted plaques on the outside of cells that are thought to represent a crucial connection between the disease and subsequent brain damage, but new research shows Alzheimer’s begins sooner and inside the cells.

A doctor points to PET scan results that are part of a study on Alzheimer's disease at a hospital in Washington in 2015. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

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