Top Eight

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight stories for today including inmates and imposters ran up a $10 billion tab on California taxpayers’ dime during the opening stretches of the pandemic; Two cases of the South Africa coronavirus variant were diagnosed in the U.S.; A federal judge ruled the Trump administration could not issue a last-minute regulation that restricts the EPA’s use of science when making policy decisions, and more.

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National

1.) A federal judge in Montana ruled the Trump administration could not issue a last-minute regulation that restricts the EPA’s use of science when making policy decisions.

2.) General Motors, the fourth largest automaker in the world, announced a progressive plan Thursday to become a carbon neutral company by 2040, aiming to cut off sales of most new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.  

3.) The U.S. economy shrank last year by the largest amount since World War II, but a turnaround in the fourth quarter leaves some hope for a strong recovery in 2021.

Regional

4.) Inmates and imposters ran up a $10 billion tab on California taxpayers’ dime during the opening stretches of the pandemic, taking advantage of the state’s dithering and deficient management of its massive unemployment benefit system, according to a new state audit.

5.) Two cases of the South Africa coronavirus variant were diagnosed in South Carolina, state health officials said Thursday.

6.) Twice as many nursing home residents died from Covid-19 than state data reflected, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday, having devoted nine months to studying disparities between the number of deaths being reported by the state and those that the nursing homes themselves reported.

7.) Maryland’s unique public access law allows state courts to claw back recordings they’ve already made available, but journalists seemed likely Thursday to convince an appeals panel that the law should be struck down.

8.) In what is sure to be a relief for many law school graduates anxious to launch their legal careers, the California Supreme Court agreed to extend a temporary licensing program to those who sat for the bar in the last five years and scored high enough to meet the new minimum passing threshold.

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