Top eight

Your Tuesday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

National

1.) MSNBC host Rachel Maddow got to have the last word Tuesday as the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a defamation case brought against her by conservative news network One America News over a statement she made on-air in 2019 calling the 24-hour news network “Russian propaganda.”

2.) A jury must decide if the use of stolen animation technology in three hit films made by Disney and Twentieth Century Fox obligates the studios to surrender a portion of their movie profits, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

3.) Urging a federal judge to approve the bankruptcy deal for Purdue Pharma, a member of the family behind the company that makes the painkiller OxyContin testified Tuesday that the family doesn’t accept legal responsibility.

4.) The voting-technology company Smartmatic appeared likely Tuesday to advance a $2.7 billion defamation case against Fox News and Rudy Giuliani for pushing a baseless ballot-rigging conspiracy theory after the 2020 election.

Regional

5.) Another wildfire has broken out in Northern California, adding to what is swiftly becoming a dreadful fire season for mountain residents. And voluminous amounts of smoke pouring into the San Francisco Bay Area means coastal Californians are not immune from the ravages of large fires burning throughout the state. 

6.) Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, an outspoken opponent of mask mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions, tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, despite being fully vaccinated.

7.) Indiana may withdraw from a federal unemployment benefits program that was enacted by Congress last year to help mitigate the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state appeals court ruled.

International

8.) The sudden and dramatic collapse of Afghanistan to Taliban control is being seen as NATO's first military defeat and a serious setback in the warming of relations between U.S. President Joe Biden and his European allies, who are worried about seeing another refugee crisis at their borders.

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