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Top Eight

Top eight stories for today including supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol during a violent clash with police; Democrats took control of the Senate with a pair of wins in Georgia; President-elect Joe Biden will select U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland be the nation’s attorney general, and more.

/ January 6, 2021
U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight stories for today including supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol during a violent clash with police; Democrats took control of the Senate with a pair of wins in Georgia; President-elect Joe Biden will select U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland be the nation’s attorney general, and more.

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National

1.) One person has been shot at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building during a violent clash with police, forcing a lockdown of the ceremony to confirm Joe Biden’s win in the November election.

U.S. Capitol Police with guns drawn stand near a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

2.) Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff has won his Georgia runoff contest against Republican Senator David Perdue, giving President-elect Joe Biden’s party control of the chamber. 

Jon Ossoff, left, and Raphael Warnock exchange elbow bumps during a campaign rally in Augusta, Ga., Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. Democrats Ossoff and Warnock are challenging incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election on Jan. 5. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP)

3.) President-elect Joe Biden will select U.S. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland — blocked from the Supreme Court by the GOP during the final year of the Barack Obama administration — to be the nation’s attorney general.

FILE - In this July 22, 2019, file photo, Merrick Garland pays his respects for the late Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington. President-elect Joe Biden is set to name Garland as Attorney General. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

4.) A hospital worker who was fired for complaining to a newspaper about staffing practices got a sympathetic ear at the First Circuit Wednesday, in a case that has drawn national attention due to the large number of health care workers who have recently been terminated for speaking out about inadequate protection during the pandemic. 

FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2020, file photo, registered nurse Chrissie Burkhiser works in the emergency room at Scotland County Hospital in Memphis, Mo. Scientists say there is reason for concern but not alarm about new strains of the coronavirus, especially the one currently spreading in England. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Regional

5.) New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to legalize recreational cannabis this year, giving a preview to his upcoming State of the State address. 

A bud tender shows a top cannabis strain at Serra, a dispensary in Portland, Ore., on Feb. 7, 2019. In an attempt to reduce the marijuana inventory in Oregon, the state is moving toward allowing the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to refuse to issue initial marijuana production licenses, based on supply and demand. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

6.) Two Louisville detectives were fired Wednesday for their roles in the raid that left Breonna Taylor dead, while Kentucky’s largest city also announced the hiring of Atlanta’s former police chief as the new head of its force.

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2020, file photo, protesters march in Louisville, Ky. Hours of material in the grand jury proceedings for Taylor’s fatal shooting by police have been made public on Friday, Oct. 2. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

7.) Slamming the East Ramapo School District for acting in bad faith throughout litigation, the Second Circuit affirmed Wednesday that at-large elections diluted minority votes for the Hudson Valley school board.

International

8.) European Union regulators on Wednesday approved the use of a second vaccine against the novel coronavirus, this one manufactured by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Moderna, but the announcement will do little to quiet rows erupting across Europe over a sluggish rollout of vaccinations.

Exterior view of the European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Peter Dejong/AP)
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