Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including the federal government ordered Arizona and Nevada to cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River; The return of a beloved Japanese festival highlights the sense of community that is fundamental to Hawaii locals; The eurozone recorded its eighth straight monthly trade deficit, and more.

National

Feds order Arizona and Nevada to cut water use as Colorado River levels drop to historic lows

As the historic drought in the U.S. West continues to push reservoir levels down to new lows, the federal government on Tuesday ordered Arizona and Nevada to cut the amount of water they draw from the Colorado River.

Glen Canyon Dam holds back the waters of Lake Powell, a sprawling recreational reservoir that provides storage and power for residents along the Colorado River. (Brad Poole/Courthouse News)

Sweeping climate, health care and tax bill signed into law

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a massive climate, health and tax bill at the White House, the culmination of over a year of back and forth with congressional Democrats.

President Joe Biden hands the pen he used to sign the Democrats' landmark climate change and health care bill on Aug. 16, 2022, to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. Standing between them in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Regional

Hawaii’s obon celebrations focus on family as pandemic wanes

The return of a beloved Japanese festival highlights the sense of community that is fundamental to Hawaii locals.

Dancers wave fans, including light-up ones, at bon odori at Taiheiji temple on Oahu. (Candace Cheung/Courthouse News)

Thousands of Minnesota nurses vote to go on strike

Over 15,000 nurses in Minnesota's two largest metro areas voted to strike late Monday, with union leaders and hospital administration at seven of the state’s largest health care systems at a deadlock over staffing levels and wages.

Critical care nurses and respiratory therapists flip a Covid-19 patient upright at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn., on Dec. 7, 2020. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File)

International

Summer of wells, flowers and parades returns to England after pandemic

In a village called Hope in the East Midlands of England, an age-old regional tradition to worship water by decorating wells and springs with flowers has been revived as the world enjoys a summer with the coronavirus pandemic on the wane.

Religious ministers bless a well dressing on Edale Road in Hope, England, in June 2022. (Cain Burdeau/Courthouse News)

Energy costs perpetuate eurozone trade deficit streak

Driven by its rising energy costs, the eurozone saw another trade deficit in June, the eighth straight month its imports outpaced its exports, according to European Union data released Tuesday.

This graph shows how the EU's international trade deficit persisted from summer 2021 to June 2022, the latest month for which data is available. (Eurostat via Courthouse News)

EU greenhouse gas emissions creeping toward pre-Covid levels

First quarter greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union have lurched upward since 2020, according to data released Tuesday by Eurostat, but they remain below pre-Covid levels.

European Union greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity, Q1 2010 - Q1 2022. (Eurostat via Courthouse News)

Science

Plasma can be used to make oxygen on Mars, study finds

An international research team’s plasma-based method to generate oxygen on Mars could have implications for climate change on Earth.

Carbon dioxide plasma created at the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique in France and used in the research on harnessing and processing local resources to generate products on Mars. (Olivier Guaitella)

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