Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including the Massachusetts Supreme Court seemed receptive to establishing a constitutional right to assisted suicide; Evacuations of civilians resumed from besieged Ukrainian cities; Exxon Mobil urged a court to give it carte blanche for rhetoric about fossil fuels, and more.

National

Chevron Phillips will settle Texas pollution suit for $121M

U.S. officials touted a deal the government struck Wednesday with the Chevron Phillips Chemical Company to eliminate approximately 158 tons per year of hazardous air pollutants and 1,528 tons per year of volatile organic compounds.

This photo of the TPC Port Neches plant explosion is included in a 2019 report by the Frontier Group and Environment Texas.

Exxon Mobil fights to shield climate disinformation as free speech

One of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies appeared to be running on fumes Wednesday in its bid to avert liability for publicly downplaying both the risks of climate change and how its business contributes to global warming.

Justin Anderson argues before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on March 9, 2022, in a bid to dismiss the commonwealth's lawsuit against Exxon Mobil under anti-SLAPP statute. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Regional

Right to assisted suicide gets favorable argument in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Supreme Court seemed receptive Wednesday to becoming the first court in the country to establish a constitutional right to assisted suicide.

The justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court await oral argument on March 9, 2022, for a case on the constitutional right to assisted suicide. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Trial starts against men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan governor

A trial against four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer began in earnest Wednesday with opening statements and could shine a revealing light on violent extremism in the country.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks in Grand Rapids in May 2021. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

Embattled Colorado secretary of state candidate Tina Peters hit with criminal charges

Tina Peters, the Mesa County, Colorado, elections chief who's also running for secretary of state, faces criminal charges related to leaking voting machine passwords and processes last year, according to an indictment filed by the Mesa County district attorney's office Tuesday.

In this June 30, 2020, file photo, Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters reads an update on the election in Grand Junction, Colo. (McKenzie Lange/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP, File)

Michigan Catholic school argues suit over rescinded mask mandate is not moot

Despite being rescinded nine months ago, a statewide mask mandate for Michigan schoolchildren was debated Wednesday before the en banc Sixth Circuit, which attempted to determine whether a Catholic school's challenge to the order has already been mooted.

International

More civilians evacuated from Ukrainian cities, maternity hospital struck

More civilian evacuations took place on Wednesday from besieged Ukrainian towns and cities on a day that saw fewer reports of fighting and bombings until late in the afternoon when Ukraine accused Russia of launching a missile attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol.

This image shows the aftermath of Mariupol Hospital after an attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, on Wednesday March 9, 2022. (Mariupol City Council via AP)

European rights court grapples with ‘right to be forgotten’

Lawyers for Belgian newspaper Le Soir told Europe’s top rights court Wednesday that affirming a decision supporting the so-called "right to be forgotten" would curtail the practice of journalism.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. (hpgruesen/Pixabay via Courthouse News)

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