Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including the House Judiciary Committee hurtled President Donald Trump one step closer to impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress with a pair of party-line votes; The United States and China have formally agreed to a partial trade agreement; The Supreme Court agreed to hear Trump’s attempts to keep nearly a decade of his tax returns out of the hands of New York City prosecutors and congressional committees, and more.

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National

President Donald Trump with first lady Melania Trump, speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

1.) The House Judiciary Committee hurtled President Donald Trump one step closer to impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress on Friday with a pair of 23-17 party-line votes.

FILE - In this July 22, 2019, file stacked containers wait to be loaded on to trucks at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

2.) Canceling tariffs set to snap into place on Sunday, President Donald Trump announced Friday the United States and China have formally agreed to a partial trade agreement that has been months in the making.

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington on June 17, 2019. Abortion rights, and protections for young immigrants and LGBT people top an election-year agenda for the Supreme Court. Its conservative majority will have ample opportunity to flex its muscle, testing Chief Justice John Roberts’ attempts to keep the court clear of Washington partisan politics. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

3.) The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear President Donald Trump’s attempts to keep nearly a decade of his tax returns out of the hands of New York City prosecutors and congressional committees.

Regional

Shasta Lake at dusk. (Chris Marshall / CNS)

4.) In his latest dispatch, a beast stalks Courthouse News’ western bureau chief at an otherwise empty campground in Northern California.

5.) A conservative free speech group appeared successful Friday at persuading a Sixth Circuit panel that a Detroit-area public transit authority cannot ban its anti-Muslim ads for being overtly political.

John Feit leaves the courtroom during a break in his trial for the murder of Irene Garza on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, at the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg, Texas. (Nathan Lambrecht/The Monitor/Pool)

6.) A former Catholic priest convicted two years ago of murder in the 1960 death of a South Texas schoolteacher is asking a state appellate court for a new trial based largely on hearsay claims from witness testimony.

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015, file photo, Robert Lewis Dear talks to Judge Gilbert Martinez during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo. Prosecutors are asking a judge to order a new mental evaluation for Dear who is accused of killing three people in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. The request comes with Dear set to appear in U.S. District Court in Denver on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, on new charges related to the 2015 Colorado Springs shooting. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File)

7.) Despite four years of quarterly assessments deeming him incompetent to stand trial, the Colorado man accused of killing three people in a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015 told a federal judge Friday he is mentally sound.

International

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is greeted by staff as he returns to 10 Downing Street, London, after meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace and accepting her invitation to form a new government, Friday Dec. 13, 2019. Boris Johnson led his Conservative Party to a landslide victory in Britain’s election that was dominated by Brexit. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

8.) Relishing a landslide election victory, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday morning that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union by the end of January. Johnson called the Conservative win an “irrefutable” mandate from voters.

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