Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the Supreme Court ruled school officials who tried to prevent a football coach from praying on the 50-yard line after games violated the First Amendment; Group of Seven leaders pledged their support to Ukraine during a summit in Bavaria; Governor Gavin Newsom and California legislators reached a deal on the 2022-2023 state budget, and more.

National

Coach prevails at Supreme Court on game-time prayers

Public school officials in Washington State who tried to prevent a football coach from leading prayers on the 50-yard line after games violated the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Monday.

Joe Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Wash., poses for a photo March 9, 2022, at the school's football field. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Thomas sounds alarm over hate group designation for anti-LGBT church

Justice Clarence Thomas urged the high court Monday to reconsider a key precedent governing media libel suits.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Regional

California lawmakers reach deal on record state budget

Governor Gavin Newsom and California legislators have reached a deal on the 2022-2023 state budget, including $17 billion in “inflation relief” for residents and a suspension of the state sales tax on diesel.

The California Capitol building. (Pixabay image via Courthouse News)

Clinics fight to restore access to abortion in Kentucky

Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center, the last remaining abortion providers in Kentucky, filed suit against the commonwealth on Monday, arguing an abortion ban imposed in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling last week to overturn Roe v. Wade is unconstitutional.

Community members gather to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and Kentucky's trigger law to ban abortion at Circus Square Park in Bowling Green, Ky., on Saturday, June 25, 2022. (Grace Ramey/Daily News via AP)

NYC law that would let noncitizens vote struck down in right-wing challenge

New York City broke the law in trying to let more than 800,000 noncitizens vote in municipal elections, a judge ruled Monday, siding with Republicans who brought a lawsuit in the city’s most conservative borough.

(Barbara Leonard/Courthouse News Service)

Separate trials not likely in LA City Hall bribery case

A federal judge said Monday she would probably deny Los Angeles City Council member Mark Ridley-Thomas’ request to be tried separately from co-defendant Marilyn Louise Flynn, a former USC administrator, on bribery and fraud charges.

LA Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas speaks at a technology and entertainment conference in September 2021. (LA City Council via Courthouse News)

International

G-7 leaders deepen support for Ukraine; Russia advances in east

Meeting at a resort in Bavaria, the Group of Seven leaders heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday and pledged their support to Kyiv for “as long as it takes.”

A view of a G7 leaders meeting with outreach guests as part of a summit at Castle Elmau in Kruen, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on Monday, June 27, 2022. (Lukas Barth/Pool Photo via AP)

Sweden on track for record number of fatal shootings

Swedish police and government authorities to fear that the current annual record of 47 shooting victims will be broken, with 30 people having been fatally shot just in the first five months of 2022.

A man lays flowers and a candle at the scene of a shooting in Malmo, Sweden, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

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