Top Eight

Your Monday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top eight stories for today including Georgia’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed a sweeping election bill that repeals no-excuse absentee voting; Twelve states challenged the Biden administration’s Green New Deal-inspired decision to calculate the social costs of emitting greenhouse gases; Pope Francis returned to the Vatican after a historic three-day trip to Iraq, and more.

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National

1.) Missouri led 12 states on Monday challenging the Biden administration’s Green New Deal-inspired decision to calculate the social costs of emitting greenhouse gases.

2.) Individuals accused of sexual assault or harassment on college campuses could lose some of the protections that the last administration afforded them after President Joe Biden directed the Department of Education on Monday to review Title IX policies.

President Joe Biden, fourth from left, Vice President Kamala Harris, top left, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, center right, meet with House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Peter DeFazio Ore., second from left, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., second from right, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., bottom left, and other members of the House of Representatives in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 4, 2021, on infrastructure. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Vice Chair Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., is at right. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

3.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off Monday on fully vaccinated people gathering indoors without masks or keeping 6 feet apart.

This photo provided by Chorus Media Group, Skippack Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Dr. Mayank Amin administers vaccine to Aubrie Cusumano while son, Luca looks on Feb. 11, 2021, in Skippack, Pa. In communities across the country, local pharmacy owners are among the people administering COVID-19 vaccinations. Being a vaccine provider requires a big investment of time and paperwork, and for some, finding a location for a mass vaccination clinic. (Chorus Media Group via AP)

4.) While Covid vaccination efforts continue to roll out across the country, a new poll suggests a looming snag: almost a quarter of Americans say they don’t actually want the shots.

People line up for Covid-19 vaccine shots at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, Minn., in January 2021. (Jim Mone/AP)

Regional

5.) In a push to implement voting restrictions that critics say target Black voters, Georgia’s Republican-controlled Legislature on Monday passed a sweeping election bill that repeals no-excuse absentee voting.

Voters wait in line to cast their ballot early at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Ga., on Oct. 12, 2020. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP, File)

6.) Iowa prosecutors told jurors in the criminal trial of a Des Moines Register reporter Monday that police were justified in arresting and criminally charging a reporter covering a protest in the capital city because she ignored police orders to disperse and interfered with officers’ duties.

MOVE PHOTO AT 10 PM ON MARCH 4, 2021 TO ACCOMPANY STORY BY RJFOLEY - Police officers are shown arresting Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri after a Black Lives Matter protest she was covering on May 31, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa, was dispersed by tear gas. Sahouri is set to stand trial on Monday, March 8, 2021, on misdemeanor charges, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from advocates for press freedom. (Photo courtesy Katie Akin via AP)

International

7.) Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Monday after a historic three-day trip to Iraq where he gave solace to that country’s suffering Christian communities, spoke out against extremist violence and built new bridges with the Muslim faith.

Pope Francis, center, walks with Iraqi President Barham Salih towards his plane upon concluding his visit to Iraq at Baghdad airport, Iraq, Monday, March 8, 2021. Pope Francis left Baghdad on Monday after three days of the historic whirlwind tour of Iraq that sought to bring hope to the country's marginalized Christian minority with a message of coexistence, forgiveness and peace. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

8.) Former Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda was ordered by the International Criminal Court on Monday to pay $30 million in compensation to his victims.

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019 file photo, Congolese militia commander Bosco Ntaganda enters the courtroom of the International Criminal Court, or ICC, to hear the sentence in his trial in The Hague, Netherlands. International Criminal Court judges on Monday March 8, 2021, awarded $30 million (25.3 million euros) in reparations to victims of crimes for which Congolese warlord Bosco Ntagand was convicted including child soldiers and victims of rape and sexual slavery. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool, File)

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