Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the Russian invasion of Ukraine is set to enter a much more deadly phase as a miles-long convoy approaches Kyiv; Doctors sentenced to decades in prison for writing hundreds of thousands of scripts for painkillers asked the Supreme Court to overturn their convictions; Revelers are flooding New Orleans streets for the first full-scale Mardi Gras in two years, and more.

National

Dialysis coverage disparities stoke passions at high court

An attorney faced a steep climb at the Supreme Court on Tuesday as he tried to defend the system put in place by an Ohio hospital’s health care plan for reimbursing employees with end-stage renal disease.

Justices grapple with drug charges for pill-mill doctors

Medical doctors sentenced to decades in prison for writing hundreds of thousands of scripts for painkillers clung to criminal intent, or lack there of, as they asked the Supreme Court to overturn their convictions. To decide their fates, the justices found themselves returning Tuesday to elementary school grammar lessons.

Medications slated for destruction are shown in a locked storage area of the police department in Barberton, Ohio, on Sept. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

Regional

Mardi Gras is back, and the catharsis is palpable

It’s Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans, when a nonstop flood of costumed participants and parades roll through the Crescent City’s streets along with the blaring horns and percussion of marching bands, dancing, singing and carousing to mark the final day of Carnival season.

A parade goer holds up a hand to catch beads in front of a float titled "Covid Court" during the New Orleans Carnival in February 2022. (Sabrina Canfield/Courthouse News)

2022 midterm season kicks off in Texas

Texas voters became the first in the nation to cast ballots in this year’s midterm elections, where candidates for governor, attorney general, congressional seats and other statewide and local offices will be nominated ahead of the November general election.

A man passes an early voting poll site in San Antonio on Feb. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Paltry Sierra snowpack spells prolonged drought in California

A regular Sierra snowpack survey Tuesday proved what most Californians already knew: The first two months of 2022 were the driest January and February in a century.

Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit, conducts the third media snow survey of the 2022 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra, approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. (Ken James/California Department of Water Resources)

International

Russia poised to start battle for Kyiv, pounds Ukraine with missiles

The war in Ukraine entered a decisive phase on Tuesday as Russia moved a miles-long convoy of tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers onto Kyiv and told the capital's residents to leave the city.

Ukrainian emergency service personnel carry the body of a victim following shelling that hit the City Hall building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Pavel Dorogoy)

Ukraine fights Russia on the ground and in the courts

Ukraine has now filed complaints against Moscow at two international courts, and a third has announced it will open an investigation into Russian activities.

Supporters of Ukraine gather outside the United Nations in New York during an emergency meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. The U.N.'s two major bodies, the 193-nation General Assembly and the more powerful 15-member Security Council, held separate meetings Monday on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Denmark’s biggest right-wing party deteriorating amid potential conviction of chairman

Six members of Parliament have left the Danish People’s Party this past week citing chairman Morten Messerschmidt’s EU fraud charges, a toxic working environment and influential turndown.

Danish People's Party chairman Morten Messerschmidt. (Elgaard/Wikipedia via Courthouse News)

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