Top Eight

Top eight CNS stories for today including the Supreme Court held that a jury’s verdict must be unanimous to convict someone of a serious crime; Oil prices dropped to their lowest point ever as investors scrambled to contain losses; Even in a pandemic, Colorado’s cannabis industry appears as resilient as the weed it sells, and more.

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National

1.) Resolving what it called an “anomaly” in how the Bill of Rights has been applied to the states, the Supreme Court held Monday that a jury’s verdict must be unanimous to convict someone of a serious crime.

The U.S. Supreme Court. (Jack Rodgers/Courthouse News)

2.) Less than a week after a study found only harm and no benefit in using hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19, the Department of Justice on Monday cleared antitrust hurdles standing in the drug’s way.

FILE - In this Thursday, April 9, 2020 file photo, a chemist displays hydroxychloroquine tablets in New Delhi, India. Scientists in Brazil have stopped part of a study of the malaria drug touted as a possible coronavirus treatment after heart rhythm problems developed in one-quarter of people given the higher of two doses being tested. Chloroquine and a similar drug, hydroxychloroquine, have been pushed by President Donald Trump after some early tests suggested the drugs might curb coronavirus entering cells. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

3.) Oil prices dropped to their lowest point ever on Monday, entering into negative territory as investors scrambled to contain losses.

Speedy's Grub Shack is selling gas for 98.9 cents a gallon, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Cleveland. Oil started the year above $60 and has plunged on expectations that a weakened economy will burn less fuel. The world is awash in oil, meanwhile, as producers continue to pull more of it out of the ground. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

4.) Replenishment of a federal loan program for small businesses failed to get Senate approval Monday amid a dispute over money for coronavirus testing.

Tape outside of a pet-goods store in San Diego shows a few of the steps taken by businesses to respect social-distancing measures while remaining open for customers. (Photo by BARBARA LEONARD/Courthouse News Service)

Regional

5.) Even in a pandemic, Colorado’s cannabis industry appears as resilient as the weed it sells.

Chronic Therapy, a cannabis dispensary in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. (Courthouse News photo/Amanda Pampuro)

6.) Landowners and city governments fighting a planned $2 billion natural gas pipeline through the Texas Hill Country say the project should be halted after a federal judge’s ruling in Montana last week canceled a blanket permit for such projects across the nation.

This March 11, 2020 photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management shows a storage yard north of Saco, Mont., for pipe that will be used in construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline near the U.S.-Canada border. A Canadian company said Monday, April 6, 2020, that it's started construction on the long-stalled Keystone XL oil sands pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, despite calls from tribal leaders and environmentalists to delay the $8 billion project amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Al Nash/Bureau of Land Management via AP)

International

7.) With the coronavirus pandemic coming under control in Europe, several countries are taking cautious steps to reopen stores, schools and public spaces while keeping a wary eye on a spike in new infections.

Security employee disinfect shopping carts at the entrance of a garden store in Munich, Germany, Monday, April 20, 2020. Europe’s biggest economy, starts reopening some of its stores and factories after weeks of lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

8.) The head of the World Health Organization pushed back Monday against accusations by President Donald Trump that the global health agency withheld information from the United States and pointed out that U.S. officials embedded with the agency had first-hand knowledge of the coronavirus outbreak from the beginning.

President Donald Trump listens during a briefing about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, April 16, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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