Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including two arteries meant to bring Russian gas to the West leaked into the Baltic Sea; A federal lawsuit was filed seeking to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness plan; Millions of Floridians faced evacuation orders a major hurricane barreled toward them, and more.

National

Lawsuit takes aim at Biden student loan forgiveness plan

A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday seeks to block the Biden administration’s student loan debt forgiveness plan, marking the first significant legal challenge to the policy.

Students walk past Sather Gate on the University of California at Berkeley campus in May 2018. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Trump may get government stand-in for suit on rape allegations

Punting the final decision to an appeals court in Washington, the Second Circuit left the door open Tuesday for the U.S. government to take the place of former President Donald Trump in litigation brought by a woman who says Trump raped her.

Columnist E. Jean Carroll leaves federal court in New York on Feb. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister)

Lawyers for 5 Oath Keepers wary of jury bias ahead of seditious conspiracy trial

Just because a potential juror is educated and follows the news is not grounds to strike, a federal judge said Tuesday, rejecting defense objections as the court worked to empanel a jury that will hear charges against five members of the Oath Keepers over last year's Capitol riot.

Stewart Rhodes, founder and president of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally at the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford on April 20, 2013. Rhodes has been arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Jared Ramsdell/Journal Inquirer via AP)

Regional

Ian barrels toward Florida as major hurricane

Millions of residents on Florida’s west coast faced evacuation orders on Tuesday as a major hurricane barreled toward them in what could be the most significant storm this part of the state has seen in years.

This Sept. 26, 2022, satellite image released by NASA shows Hurricane Ian growing stronger as it barreled toward Cuba. (NASA Worldview/Earth Observing System Data and Information System via AP)

Longshore union accuses terminal operator of disrupting West Coast contract talks

In the first concrete sign that things aren't going all that well in the contract negotiations between the longshore union and employers at West Coast ports, the longshore union said the operator of the largest ocean terminal in Seattle is disrupting the talks by getting the National Labor Relations Board involved in a spat with an unrelated union.

ILWU checker working on China Shipping's Xin Tian Jin at T30 29 September 2010. (Source: Port of Seattle).

Environmentalists sue to protect rare Tennessee fish

Just five small populations of the Barrens darter are still known to exist along a single river in central Tennessee. An environmental group says the government was wrong to deny the fish Endangered Species Act protections.

The Barrens darter is found in tributaries along 6 miles of the Collins River in Tennessee. (Bernie Kuhajda/Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute)

International

Gas leaks spur worry that Russia-Europe pipeline was sabotaged

A Danish navy frigate headed to patrol the Baltic Sea near Bornholm, an island in eastern Denmark, on Tuesday while authorities investigate a trio of gas leaks from pipelines meant to supply Germany and the EU with Russian gas.

A large disturbance in the sea can be observed off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm on Sept. 27, 2022, following a series of unusual leaks on two natural gas pipelines running from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany. (Danish Defense Command via AP)

Polish surveillance draws fire at top European rights court

Warsaw faced off Tuesday against a group of five Polish lawyers and activists, all working on human rights, who complained to the European Court of Human Rights about wiretapping and mass data collection by security agencies.

Supporters of Hungary's political opposition display a banner during a 2017 anti-government protest at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. (Balazs Mohai/MTI via AP)

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