Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including investigators found a backpack belonging to Gabby Petito’s boyfriend and human remains in a Florida park; An EU court approved the takeover of bankrupt Air Berlin by Lufthansa and easyJet; The White House unveiled distribution plans for Pfizer Covid-19 shots for kids ages 5 to 11, and more.

National

Human remains, backpack found in Florida park during search in Gabby Petito case

Investigators have found a backpack belonging to Gabby Petito’s boyfriend Brian Laundrie and human remains in a Florida nature preserve, the FBI announced on Wednesday afternoon.

Body camera video shows Brian Laundrie talking to an officer after police pulled over the van he was traveling in with his girlfriend, Gabrielle "Gabby" Petito, near the entrance to Arches National Park in Utah on Aug. 12, 2021. (The Moab Police Department via AP)

White House unveils plan to vaccinate young kids against Covid

Having secured enough vaccines for all 28 million Americans ages 5 to 11, the White House released its plans Wednesday to make Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine easily accessible to as many of these children as possible at pediatrician's offices, pharmacies and schools.

White House Covid-19 coordinator Jeff Zients speaks about plans to vaccinate children ages 5 to 11 at a task force meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (Image via Courthouse News)

Another rioter who thought they were in White House on Jan. 6 pleads guilty

Two U.S. Marine Corps veterans from Texas – one of whom claimed on a video that they “crashed the White House” – pleaded guilty to their participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Wednesday.

The government used this photo of Richard Barnard, left, and Jeffrey Witcher, right, in their case against the two Jan. 6 defendants.

Ninth Circuit ends court oversight of Covid policies at ICE detention facilities

Calling a nationwide injunction on ICE’s Covid-19 response “sweeping” and unwarranted, a divided Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday ended requirements for ICE to adopt policies to protect vulnerable immigrants from Covid-19 at 250 U.S. detention centers.

Young unaccompanied migrants, from ages 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)

Regional

Sixth Circuit skeptical of Michigan lawmakers’ claim that term limits are too strict

Ten former Michigan state representatives, nine of whom are barred from seeking office again, argued on Wednesday before a Sixth Circuit panel that the state’s harsh term limits violate their First Amendment rights.

Kentucky high court grapples with police use of real-time cellphone data

The Kentucky Supreme Court heard debate Wednesday on whether police need a warrant to use real-time cellphone data to track a criminal suspect.

The Kentucky Supreme Court hears arguments in a criminal case involving cellphone location data on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021. (Image via Courthouse News)

Minneapolis landlords challenge tenant-screening rules

Minneapolis landlords sought to take advantage of a June Supreme Court decision Wednesday morning in their Eighth Circuit challenge to a city ordinance governing tenant-screening processes.

The Warren E. Burger Federal Building, St. Paul's federal courthouse. (Carol M. Highsmit/Library of Congress)

International

Court OKs Air Berlin takeover deals by Lufthansa, easyJet

The takeover of bankrupt Air Berlin four years ago by German airline Lufthansa and British low-cost carrier easyJet did not give them unfair market dominance, the European Union's second highest court found on Wednesday.

An Air Berlin plane flies above the town of Wustermark, Germany, in 2016. (Ralf Hirschberger/dpa via AP)

Categories / Closing Arguments

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.