Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top eight CNS stories for today including California’s pandemic-induced recession could lead to a record $54 billion budget shortfall; The 22.6 million Americans receiving unemployment insurance benefits represents 15.5% of the country’s workforce; The Oklahoma Senate voted along party lines to reinstate a requirement that absentee ballots must be notarized, and more.
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National
1.) The worst projections of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 have been realized, according to the Department of Labor’s weekly unemployment report. The 22.6 million Americans receiving unemployment insurance benefits represents 15.5% of the country’s workforce.
2.) The steady drop-off in new unemployment claims likely does not paint an accurate picture of just how many people are jobless.
3.) Companies that wrongfully took loans intended for small businesses ravaged by Covid-19 shutdowns have an extra week to return them, but banks likely are off the hook for any penalties.
Regional
4.) With millions already jobless, California’s pandemic-induced recession is on pace to shatter previous downturns and could lead to a record $54 billion budget shortfall, state officials warned Thursday.
5.) Only three days after it was struck down by the state’s high court, the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Senate voted along party lines Thursday to reinstate a requirement that absentee ballots must be notarized.
6.) While New York and New Jersey continue to battle Covid-19 as the states worst hit by the deadly outbreak, they appeared to gain ground at the D.C. Circuit on Thursday in a fight to regulate smog carried downwind from neighboring states.
International
7.) Albania’s system of compensating for its former communist regime’s land seizures won support Thursday from Europe’s top rights court, despite claims from the public that it’s inadequate.
8.) The family members of more than 1,000 people killed in a 2006 Egyptian ferry disaster can sue for damages in Italy, where the vessel was certified as safe, Europe’s highest court ruled Thursday.
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