Top Eight

Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight CNS stories for today including the State Department issued a security alert telling U.S. citizens to get out of Iraq after a U.S. drone killed the head of Iran’s elite military force; A federal judge allowed Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas to share information that could kickstart further impeachment investigations against President Donald Trump; The House of Representatives plus a group of 20 mostly Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia asked the Supreme Court to hear a case over the constitutionality of Obamacare, and more.

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National

1.) The State Department issued a security alert Friday telling U.S. citizens to get out of Iraq, one day after a U.S. drone killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite military force.

2.) Just as Congress ends a holiday recess, a federal judge allowed Rudy Giuliani’s associate Lev Parnas on Friday to share information that could kickstart further impeachment investigations against President Donald Trump.

3.) In a hearing that will determine whether a onetime top adviser to President Trump will testify at his Senate trial, the D.C. Circuit sought confirmation Friday on whether House Democrats plan to file more articles of impeachment.

4.) The House of Representatives plus a group of 20 mostly Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia asked the Supreme Court on Friday to hear a case over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, following a Fifth Circuit ruling that struck down the law’s individual mandate.

Regional

5.) A national advocate for free speech on college campuses brought a federal lawsuit against Iowa State University administrators, arguing the school’s chalking ban and other policies stifle political speech at a time when presidential politics are an especially hot topic.

6.) With two friendly state legislative chambers set to convene next week, Virginia’s Democratic attorney general reintroduced a handful of bills Friday aimed at stopping the rising tide of hate-fueled violence.

Science

7.) For decades, meteorologists and other scientists have attributed worldwide shifts in rain, hurricanes, fish breeding and coastal sea temperatures to a pair of climate cycles that ebb and flow on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – which a study published Friday says may be a fluke.

8.) When the feds take a species off the endangered list, the move is typically greeted with praise from conservation groups and offered as proof that conservation in concert with recovery programs works. The delisting of the Kanab ambersnail is different.

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