Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including Brexit is back with a vengeance; A federal judge refused Friday to order the release of man who insists he was only trying to help when he stole a police officer’s badge and radio during the Jan. 6 insurrection while the officer was getting assaulted by a group of rioters; A federal judge in Austin is considering whether to block enforcement of Texas’ month-old ban on most abortions after lawyers for the state and Biden’s Justice Department sparred over its constitutionality at a hearing on Friday, and more.

National

Cell doors slam on Capitol rioter who stole police officer’s badge and radio

A federal judge refused Friday to order the release of man who insists he was only trying to help when he stole a police officer’s badge and radio during the Jan. 6 insurrection while the officer was getting assaulted by a group of rioters.

Footage from the body-worn camera on D.C. Police Officer Mike Fanone's uniform at the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol shows rioter Thomas Sibick pulling off the officer's badge and radio. (Image via Courthouse News)

States and tribes urge judge to abolish Trump water rule

A plan to leave a contested Trump-era rule on the books for more than a year while the Biden administration reviews it will make it easier for industrial plants to pollute waterways and harm the environment, opponents of the rule argued in court Thursday.

Foam from PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, gathers at the Van Etten Creek dam in Oscoda Township, Mich., in 2018. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP)

New Biden immigration policies contrast recent uptick in deportations

The Biden administration’s struggles with immigration continued this week as its efforts to continue expelling asylum-seeking families overshadowed its announcement that most undocumented people in the U.S. will not be targeted for deportation.

Haitian migrants use a dam to cross into the United States from Mexico in Del Rio, Texas, on Sept. 18, 2021. President Joe Biden embraced major progressive policy goals on immigration after he won the Democratic nomination, and he has begun enacting some. But his administration has been forced to confront unusually high numbers of migrants trying to enter the country along the U.S.-Mexico border and the federal response has inflamed both critics and allies. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Regional

Newsom announces nation’s first vaccine mandate for students

California will be the first state to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for students under an order announced Friday by Governor Gavin Newsom.

A health care worker administers a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to a student during a vaccination clinic in June 2021. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Disbarred environmental lawyer sentenced to prison for criminal contempt

“Given Mr. Donziger’s repeated willful refusal to obey court orders … it seems only the proverbial 2-by-4 between the eyes will instill in him any respect of law,” U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said on Friday, just prior to ordering the the maximum possible sentence on six misdemeanor counts of contempt of court.

Supporters of environmental lawyer Steven Donziger protest his sentencing for contempt of court on Oct. 1, 2021. (Josh Russell/Courthouse News Service)

Federal judge considers blocking Texas’ controversial abortion law

A federal judge in Austin is considering whether to block enforcement of Texas’ month-old ban on most abortions after lawyers for the state and Biden’s Justice Department sparred over its constitutionality at a hearing on Friday.

Women protest against Texas’ six-week abortion ban at the state Capitol in Austin on Sept. 1. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

International

Brexit bites the UK as fuel, worker shortages rage

Brexit is back with a vengeance: Closed gas stations, rising fuel prices, worries over inflation, too few workers and, soon, livestock may go to waste.

A pro-EU protestor stands in Parliament Square as the House of Commons debated the EU (Future Relationship) Bill in London Dec. 30, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP)

Arguments in border dispute between Colombia, Nicaragua conclude before UN high court

Two decades of legal wrangling over ocean territory between Nicaragua and Colombia wrapped up before the United Nations’ high court on Friday.

Carlos José Argüello Gómez, Nicaragua’s ambassador to the Netherlands, addresses the International Court of Justice on the first day of hearings in its border dispute with Colombia, Sept. 20, 2021. (Frank van Beek/UN Photo courtesy of the ICJ)

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