Top Eight

Your Wednesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight stories for today including the Supreme Court torpedoed a pair of lawsuits against Germany and Hungary from the heirs of Jewish art dealers seeking restitution for a medieval collection sold to the Nazis in 1935; California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state is launching two major sites in urban areas that have been particularly devastated by the pandemic; The European Union’s top court found that national sports bodies may be governed by rules covering public contract awards, and more.

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National

1.) The Supreme Court on Wednesday torpedoed a pair of lawsuits against Germany and Hungary from the heirs of Jewish art dealers seeking restitution for a medieval collection sold to the Nazis in 1935, now estimated to be worth a quarter of a billion dollars.

2.) The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Biden’s choice to head the Department of Energy in a hearing that made it increasingly clear that the president’s climate change mitigation efforts must appease Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from coal mining West Virginia. 

Regional

3.) Answering President Joe Biden’s call for a wave of new vaccination centers across the country, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday the state is launching two major sites in urban areas that have been particularly devastated by the pandemic.

4.) After months of stalled efforts to reopen public schools shuttered by the Covid-19 pandemic, the city of San Francisco on Wednesday sued its own school district to make the Board of Education bring in-person learning back to classrooms.

5.) A Virginia judge has denied a preliminary injunction sought by parents of middle school students who sued the Fairfax County School Board over a plan to jettison standardized testing as part of the admissions process for one of the nation’s top high schools.     

International

6.) Ruling against Italy’s national soccer federation, the European Union’s top court found on Wednesday that national sports bodies may be governed by rules covering public contract awards.

7.) The United Nations’ high court ruled Wednesday that it has jurisdiction to hear a dispute brought by Iran against the United States over the reinstatement of sanctions in 2018. 

8.) Hungary has not done enough to reduce air pollution in Budapest, the capital, and in two other heavily industrialized regions, Europe’s highest court ruled on Wednesday.

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