Your Friday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight stories for today including the article of impeachment outlining former President Trump’s incitement of an insurrectionist mob to storm the U.S. Capitol is heading to the Senate; Claims of excessive force, retaliation and other misconduct by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be probed during a civil rights investigation; President Biden’s nominee for secretary of defense overwhelmingly won confirmation in the Senate, and more.
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National
1.) The article of impeachment outlining former President Trump’s incitement of an insurrectionist mob to storm the U.S. Capitol is heading to the Senate on Monday, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday.
2.) President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of defense overwhelmingly won confirmation in the Senate on Friday, making retired Army General Lloyd Austin the first Black head of the Pentagon.
3.) A flurry of executive orders ushering in a new era at the White House continued Friday as President Joe Biden signed off on directives aimed at improving food security for millions of struggling Americans and paving the way for a $15 minimum wage for federal workers.
Regional
4.) Claims of excessive force, retaliation, and other misconduct by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be probed during a civil rights investigation, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Friday.
5.) Boston can refuse a citizen’s request to fly a Christian flag over City Hall even though it has allowed hundreds of other people to fly flags supporting everything from Chinese immigration to Juneteenth to gay pride, the First Circuit ruled Friday.
6.) Beginning a revival of First Amendment access in Florida’s courts, the state Supreme Court struck an old rule that forced clerks to find and redact private information in court records.
International
7.) With the world recording its deadliest week yet in the pandemic, the United Kingdom on Friday added to the global misery by announcing that a new strain of the coronavirus appears to not just be more contagious, but also more deadly.
8.) Italy is illegally sending asylum seekers who cross its borders back into the Balkans, where they are routinely beaten and mistreated by police, according to an Italian judge.
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