Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including a federal judge indicated he will allow the public to access portions of the affidavit used to execute a search warrant on Donald Trump’s estate; The war in Ukraine is at a risky point as fighting continues over a nuclear plant and Russian military targets are hit in Crimea; The Kentucky Supreme Court kept in place a near-total ban on abortions, and more.

National

Judge keen to unseal affidavit behind Trump warrant, at least in part

A federal judge indicated Thursday that he will have a decision this time next week that will ostensibly allow the public to access portions of the affidavit used to execute a search warrant on the estate of former President Donald Trump.

Former President Donald Trump gestures as he departs Trump Tower in New York on Aug. 10, 2022, ahead of his deposition at the New York attorney general's office in a civil investigation. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Ex-Trump Organization CFO pleads guilty to all tax charges

Less than a week after a New York judge set a trial date for a tax-evasion case against the Trump Organization, Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg pleaded guilty Thursday in Manhattan criminal court.

The Trump Organization's former accountant Allen Weisselberg, second from right, and his attorney Mary Mulligan, sit in a New York courtroom on Aug. 18, 2022. Weisselberg pleaded guilty to accepting more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the former president's company over several years, including untaxed perks like rent, car payments and school tuition. (Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool, File)

Sixth Circuit rules against access to court audio records

A pair of Michigan litigants do not have a fundamental right to the audio recordings of their court proceedings, the Sixth Circuit held Thursday.

Sandy Hook defamation trial is imminent, but first Alex Jones needs a jury

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones faces his latest court appearance as a long-awaited defamation trial on his rhetoric that the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax kicked off Thursday with jury selection.

Alex Jones talks to media in a break from his trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on July 26, 2022. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP, Pool)

Regional

Beto O’Rourke takes defamation fight to Texas appeals court

Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke argued that statements he made which are now the subject of a $1 million defamation lawsuit all concern a matter of immense public importance, and that the claim against him is nothing more than an attempt “to silence political debate.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaking to reporters after a rally on the anniversary of the deadly 2021 Winter Storm in Austin, Texas, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (Courthouse News Service/ Kirk McDaniel)

Kentucky Supreme Court keeps abortion ban in place, for now

A so-called trigger law that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade and bans nearly all abortions in Kentucky will remain in effect until arguments can be heard in November, the commonwealth's top court ruled Thursday.

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)

International

Fears of escalation grow as Ukraine war grinds on

The war in Ukraine has entered a new bloody phase as fighting rages along heavily fortified front lines and both sides claim deadly strikes while civilian deaths continue to mount in a conflict that's dragged on for nearly six months.

Women hug in front of a building destroyed during a missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

EU inflation hits new record high of 9.8%

The annual inflation rate in the European Union rose to a record high of 9.8% in July, according to data released Thursday by the bloc's statistics agency, while inflation among the eurozone countries also hit a new high of 8.9%.

A customer pays for vegetables at the Maravillas market in Madrid. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

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