Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including the United Kingdom began its shift away from Europe as the Conservative-dominated House of Commons voted in favor of a deal that spells out the terms of Brexit; The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government must reduce greenhouse gas emissions; A coalition of state prosecutors claim the Trump administration ignored the science in rolling back protections for many U.S. waterways, and more.

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National

1.) A coalition of state prosecutors filed suit Friday against the Trump administration, saying regulators ignored the science in rolling back protections for many U.S. waterways.

2.) Johnny Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard asked a Virginia judge on Friday to dismiss the actor’s $50 million defamation case against her, arguing he was not implicated in an article she wrote about domestic violence.

Amber Heard, left, and Johnny Depp arrive at the premiere of Depp's film "Black Mass" at the London film festival in 2015. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)

3.) A federal judge signaled Friday he will likely strike down a lawsuit seeking to hold the U.S. government liable for a ranger whose gun was stolen and used to fatally shoot a young woman on a San Francisco pier in 2015.

4.) The D.C. Circuit on Friday ruled against a former member of President Donald Trump’s short-lived advisory commission on election fraud, finding he is not entitled to emails between commissioners and the vice president’s staff.

Vice President Mike Pence, third from right, accompanied by former Mayor of Cincinnati Ken Blackwell, fourth from right, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, second from right, and Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, right, gavels in for the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Wednesday, July 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

International

5.) In a historic change in direction, the United Kingdom began its shift away from Europe on Friday as the Conservative-dominated House of Commons voted in favor of a deal that spells out the terms of the U.K.’s divorce from the European Union.

In this photo made available by the UK Parliament, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, attends the debate in the House of Commons, London, Thursday Dec. 19, 2019. Boris Johnson signaled an end to Britain’s era of Brexit deadlock Thursday, announcing a packed legislative program intended to take the U.K. out of the European Union on Jan. 31, overhaul everything from fishing to financial services and shore up the country’s cash-starved public services. (Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament via AP)

6.) There was crying, cheering and applause Friday as the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government must reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate activists gather outside the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, The Hague, on Friday Dec. 20, 2019, ahead of a ruling in a landmark case in which the government was ordered to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. The government appealed saying that the ruling effectively meant that courts were setting government policy. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)

Regional

7.) In a rebuke to nearly 100 cities and counties, Virginia’s Democratic attorney general said in an advisory opinion Friday that local pro-Second Amendment laws declaring an exemption from statewide gun safety measures are invalid.

The Virginia State Capitol in Richmond. (Photo via Anderskev/Wikipedia Commons)

8.) A California judge on Friday signed off on an $84.5 million settlement between the University of California and a class of former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employees in a deal that will secure lifetime health care benefits for roughly 9,000 retirees, their spouses and dependents.

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