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Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including the confessed serial killer dubbed The Golden State Killer will die in prison; Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told a Senate committee he plans to give mail-in ballots top priority; New York City’s pro-transparency law allowing for the release of police disciplinary records can proceed in mostly full effect, and more.

Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight CNS stories for today including the confessed serial killer dubbed The Golden State Killer will die in prison; Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told a Senate committee he plans to give mail-in ballots top priority; New York City’s pro-transparency law allowing for the release of police disciplinary records can proceed in mostly full effect, and more.

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National

1.) Amid growing concern that the White House is out to undermine vote by mail in November’s election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told a Senate committee Friday that he plans to give mail-in ballots top priority

In this image from video, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies during a virtual hearing before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on the U.S. Postal Service during COVID-19 and the upcoming elections, Friday, Aug. 21, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs via AP)

2.) “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin was sentenced to two months in jail Friday for her part in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, with the sentencing judge saying he was “dumbfounded” by her “gall.” 

Lori Loughlin depart federal court with her husband, clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli, left, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019, in Boston, after a hearing in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (AP Photo/Philip Marcelo)

3.) The week in which two of the three major U.S. indices hit new record high marks ended on a high note, mostly due to positive housing data and promising news on a coronavirus vaccine.

In this photo provided by the New York Stock Exchange, traders gather at a post during the Fast Acquisition Corp. IPO, Friday, Aug. 21, 2020. (Colin Ziemer/New York Stock Exchange via AP)

Regional

4.) Ensnared randomly by a relative’s DNA genetic test submitted decades after a brutal yearslong crime spree, the confessed serial killer dubbed The Golden State Killer’s disappearing act is up: He will die in prison.

Joseph James DeAngelo, right, speaks with public defender Joseph Cress at the end of the second day of victim impact statements at the Gordon D. Schaber Sacramento County Courthouse on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, in Sacramento, Calif. Victims of California serial killer and rapist, DeAngelo want him in a maximum security prison far, far away if he can't spend the rest of his life on death row. But they may not hold much sway over where or how the 74-year-old former police officer is imprisoned once he is sentenced on Friday, Aug. 21. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool)

5.) New York City’s pro-transparency law allowing for the release of police disciplinary records can proceed in mostly full effect, a federal judge announced in a telephone conference Friday.  

6.) Indiana election officials cannot reject absentee ballots based upon mismatched signatures without first notifying the voter and giving them a chance to correct any mistakes, a federal judge ruled.

FILE - In this May 27, 2020, file photo, a voter drops off their mail-in ballot prior to the primary election, in Willow Grove, Pa. The civic ritual of casting a ballot has been disrupted by a global pandemic and dramatically animated by social unrest. And If the results of a frustrating, chaotic primary in Georgia are a measure, the notion of democracy itself will also be on the ballot in the November election. Congress is now considering sending $3.6 billion to states to help facilitate safe and fair elections as part of another round of relief funds to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

International

7.) Bond hearings were held Thursday for five powerful men accused of arms trafficking in El Salvador, with the court agreeing to release the defendants without conditions before trial.

A water truck makes deliveries in a locked-down village in rural El Salvador in the days before the left- and right-wing parties joined forces to lift the nationwide lockdown. (Miguel Patricio photo/Courthouse News)

8.) A large share of European Union agricultural subsidies benefit the wealthiest and most polluting farms in Europe, new research shows.   

A farm in rural England. (David Mark/Pixabay via Courthouse News)
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