Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including pandemic stresses have made Colorado mountain communities even more unaffordable for frontline workers; EU passengers whose flight times are moved up by more than an hour are eligible for financial compensation; President Biden announced new actions to fight the omicron coronavirus variant, and more.

National

For future of voting rights, and the Senate, fate of filibuster looms large

Filibuster reform is a notoriously difficult undertaking but one Senate Democrats have on their agenda for January.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives at the Capitol in Washington on Dec. 16, 2021, for an end-of-the-year news conference. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Biden will supply Americans with 500 million home tests to fight omicron

President Joe Biden announced new actions Tuesday to fight the omicron variant of the coronavirus, measures that include dispatching 500 million at-home tests to Americans, creating new federal testing sites and deploying 1,000 service members to hospitals across the county.

A line stretches down the block as people wait in line to be tested for Covid-19 in New York on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Brooke Lansdale)

No prison time for man who brought knife to Capitol riot

An Indiana man who wore an armored vest to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to “look cool” was sentenced to 36 months of probation on Tuesday, a significantly lighter sentence than the two months behind bars sought by prosecutors.

The government used this photo of Israel Tutrow in its case against him for his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (Image via Courthouse News)

Regional

Great Resignation strains Colorado ski town economies during winter peak

Pandemic stresses have made mountain communities in Colorado even more unaffordable for frontline workers.

A poster advertises job opportunities at the Cheba Hut in Silverthorne, Colorado, on Dec. 18, 2021. (Amanda Pampuro/Courthouse News)

Experts: Newsom fired warning shot at Supreme Court with anti-gun pledge

While scoring political points along the way, the California governor has floated the idea of using gun control to pressure the high court to strike down Texas' effective ban on abortion.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in Rancho Cordova, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)

International

Top EU court upholds law that balances compliance with sanctions and economic ruin

For a German telecom that makes half of its profits from U.S. business, the “risk of substantial economic loss” can be enough to trigger a loophole under an EU law that would otherwise let it carry on business with an entity like Bank Melli that has been sanctioned by the United States, the bloc's highest court ruled Tuesday.

A worker rides a bicycle in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran on Oct. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Mehr News Agency, Majid Asgaripour, File)

EU court opens new doors for online libel suits across bloc

In a ruling that expands the possibility for libel lawsuits to be filed across the European Union, the bloc's top court on Tuesday said a Czech pornography company can bring suit in France against a Hungarian filmmaker for defamation.

The European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, is the European Union’s supreme court in matters concerning EU law. (Molly Quell/Courthouse News)

For flights too late or too early, airlines owe compensation

Passengers whose flight times are moved up by more than an hour are eligible for financial compensation, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday, saying such cases require treating the flight as though it was canceled.

Passengers are checked by French police officers prior to boarding their plane at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy, north of Paris, on Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)