Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the Supreme Court overturned the denial of qualified immunity for police officers in two excessive force cases; Jury selection began in the trial of three white men accused of murdering Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery; Azerbaijan asked the United Nations' top court for temporary protective measures against Armenia, and more.

National

High court sides with police in use-of-force cases

Enforcing qualified immunity rights for police officers, the Supreme Court on Monday summarily reversed two lower court orders that allowed excessive force cases against officers to move forward.

(Image by Yildiray Yücel Kamanmaz from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Biden administration moves to curtail ‘forever chemicals’

In an effort to better protect Americans from toxic compounds called “forever chemicals” for their resistance to dissolution, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a roadmap to new regulations Monday.

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)

Supreme Court takes up pair of tribal law disputes

The Supreme Court added two new cases concerning Native American law to its docket Monday morning, one involving double jeopardy and the other centered on gaming rights.

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Thursday, July 1, 2021, as final decisions of the term are anticipated. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Trump sues Jan. 6 committee to block records request

Former President Donald Trump sued the Jan. 6 select committee and the National Archives on Monday, claiming that the committee’s request for records surrounding the failed insurrection is overly broad and illegal.

President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Regional

Jury selection begins in Georgia trial of men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery

Monday morning marked the start of a long process to choose 12 jurors from the 1,000 called up for jury duty to determine the guilt of three white men charged with fatally shooting a Black jogger in south Georgia last February.

Ahmaud Arbery's father Marcus Arbery, left, heads into the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga with his attorney Benjamin Crump on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Lewis M. Levine/AP)

With deadline looming, Washington judge declines to block state employee vaccine mandate

Thousands of Washington state employees, contractors and health care workers — including firefighters, nurses and teachers — stand to lose their jobs after a Thurston County Superior Court judge declined to block a vaccine mandate that goes into effect Tuesday.

A worker readies syringes with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Free to fish: Judge prevents partial closure of lobster fishing grounds in Maine

A group of lobstermen are back out on the water, free to fish a strip of ocean about 30 miles off the coast of Maine after a federal judge stopped the implementation of a federal rule designed to protect the endangered North American right whale.

A lobster walks over the top of a lobster trap off the coast of Biddeford, Maine. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

International

Azerbaijan asks UN high court to force Armenia to turn over landmine maps

Azerbaijan has asked the United Nations' top court for its own temporary protective measures, following a similar request by Armenia last week.

The scene of damage a day after shelling by Armenian's artillery during fighting over the Armenian separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh in Ganja, Azerbaijan, in October 2020. (AP Photo)