Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight CNS stories for today including hundreds of thousands of people on the West Coast remain under evacuation orders due to a relentless late-summer wildfire siege; The 11th Circuit ruled Florida can condition voting rights on the payment of fines, fees and restitution by felons; The crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Belarus is once again turning violent, and more.
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National
1.) Strip clubs cannot force the Trump administration to make them eligible for pandemic relief loans because the government has no legal obligation to provide financial aid to erotic dance clubs, a federal judge ruled Friday.
2.) Nearly six months after Congress earmarked $8 billion for Native tribes in the CARES Act, the Treasury Department argued to the D.C. Circuit on Friday that it can lawfully hand out portions of the coronavirus relief funds to Alaska Native corporations.
3.) President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending certain work visas through the end of the year will devastate scores of industries that rely on seasonal and specialty workers, organizations representing hundreds of U.S. businesses affected by the sweeping proclamation argued in federal court Friday.
Regional
4.) Escaping dozens of major fires burning near the fringes of major West Coast cities like Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles, hundreds of thousands of people remained under evacuation orders Friday due to a relentless late-summer wildfire siege.
5.) Florida can condition voting rights on the payment of fines, fees and restitution by felons, the en banc 11th Circuit ruled Friday.
6.) The Fifth Circuit vacated a San Antonio federal judge’s order that would have allowed any eligible Texas voter to qualify for a mail-in ballot during the Covid-19 pandemic.
International
7.) Microsoft’s claim to have prevented Iranian cyberattacks drew swift denials Friday from Tehran, where officials maintain they have no interest in who controls America’s executive branch.
8.) The crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Belarus is once again turning violent as security forces increasingly attack demonstrators and masked men carry off opposition figures.
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