Top Eight

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.

The headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington (Courthouse News photo/Jack Rodgers)

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.

In this April 25, 2017, photo, a GMC truck sits in a General Motors dealer's lot in Nashville, Tenn. General Motors Co. reports earnings Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

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.

FILE - In this July 13, 2020 file photo, a For Rent sign hangs on a closed shop during the coronavirus pandemic in Miami Beach, Fla. Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the U.S. economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about the likelihood of any sustained recovery the rest of the year. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

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.

The California Employment Development Department. (Nick Cahill/Courthouse News)

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

A member of the media takes a picture inside a school bus set up for social distancing during a media demonstration at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering Monday, July 20, 2020, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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.

A woman passes a fence outside Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery adorned with tributes to victims of COVID-19, Thursday, May 28, 2020, in New York. The memorial is part of the Naming the Lost project which attempts to humanize the victims who are often just listed as statistics. The wall features banners that say "Naming the Lost" in six languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Yiddish and Bengali. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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.

In this September 2020 photo, several recent law school graduates protested the California Supreme Court's refusal to make the state bar exam's new lower passing score retroactive. (Courthouse News photo / Maria Dinzeo)

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