Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the EU’s top court once again slammed Poland’s government over controversial judicial reforms; Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to require proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor businesses, large events and city buildings; California’s era of mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug crimes will soon expire, and more.

National

Ninth Circuit OKs weakened Clean Water Act regs when cost is a factor

The Ninth Circuit refused to disturb a decision by the EPA to let Montana skip out on pollution regulations for its rivers, since the state said reducing runoff from agriculture and sewage treatment plants would cost too much.

The Missouri River runs through the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument near Fort Benton, Montana. (David Reese/Courthouse News)

Republican support for Trump back on the rise ahead of 2024

A new survey from the Pew Research Center reveals Republicans' growing desire to see former President Donald Trump remain a prominent figure in American politics and run again in 2024.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a Turning Point Action gathering in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 24, 2021. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)

Regional

California nixes mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug crimes

California’s era of mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug crimes will soon expire under new legislation intended to atone for strict sentencing laws hatched during the height of the war on drugs.

LA to require proof of Covid vaccination to enter businesses

Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to require proof of Covid-19 vaccination to enter certain indoor businesses, large events and city buildings.

A Covid mass-vaccination site at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles County. (Nathan Solis/Courthouse News)

Black prosecutor confirmed in first for powerful New York district

Top lawyers around the country are offering accolades in response to the Senate's confirmation of Damian Williams to lead the powerful Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office famously dubbed the “Sovereign District of New York.”

(Image courtesy of U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York via Courthouse News)

International

EU-Poland clash on rule of law enters decisive phase

The political and legal battle between Poland's right-wing government and the European Union is entering a decisive phase after the bloc's top court declared, not for the first time, Wednesday that Poland is undermining the independence of its judiciary.

Polish activists stage a protest outside of the constitutional court with Polish and EU flags and a sign that says "we are Europeans," in Warsaw on Aug. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

EU gets green light to ratify domestic violence treaty over member objections

All 27 member states don’t need to sign Europe’s first treaty to combat gender-based violence for the European Union to move forward with ratification, the bloc’s top court ruled Wednesday.

Women stage a die-in while holding placards with the names of women killed by their partners during a protest in Paris in 2019. (Thibault Camus/AP)

Magistrate opens door for Nord Stream to sue EU over pipeline

The legal fight over the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia into Germany may get more complicated after a European Union magistrate on Wednesday said the pipeline’s owners should be allowed to challenge the bloc over restrictions it imposed on the project.

Steel pipes for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline are stacked in Sassnitz, Germany, in 2017. (Stefan Sauer/dpa via AP)