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Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News
Top CNS stories for today including a new report from Earthjustice claiming that since Inauguration Day 2017, the Trump administration and Congress have taken deliberate steps to limit or eliminate access to the nation’s courts; the president says he’s willing to rejoin the Trans Pacific Partnership; Missouri Governor Eric Greitens desperately tries to play damage control after a special investigative committee releases a report on his alleged blackmail of a former mistress; researchers say the most “charismatic” species have an elevated status in conservation biology and receive extra attention – often at the expense of other creatures; a magistrate with the European Court of Justice advises that EU grandparents should be able to seek court relief when it comes to child access, and more.
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**National **
1.) A new report from Earthjustice, the nonprofit environmental law organization, claims that since Inauguration Day 2017, the Trump administration and Congress have taken deliberate steps to limit or eliminate access to the nation’s courts.
2.) It will likely be two weeks before the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up a bipartisan bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired without good cause, as committee members need time to review the legislation and any potential additions.
4.) The Kirtland’s warbler songbird has recovered sufficiently to be removed from the endangered species list, but the island marble butterfly, which lives only on an island in northwest Washington, should be protected, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday.
**Regional **
5.) Fighting for his political life, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens desperately tried to play damage control Wednesday after a special investigative committee released a report on his alleged blackmail of a former mistress that has lawmakers on both sides of the aisle calling for his immediate resignation or impeachment.
6.) Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear sued Governor Matt Bevin in an attempt to nullify a pension reform billthat stands to cut benefits for teachers and other public employees, a day after Bevin signed the bill into law.
7.) Kern County at the southern end of California’s great Central Valley will implement new voting districts and pay plaintiff $3 million in legal fees after disenfranchising Latino voters for nearly a decade.
**Science **
9.) The most “charismatic” species have an elevated status in conservation biology and receive extra attention – often at the expense of other creatures, some say. But the animals’ popularity may actually be their downfall because we become complacent about their survival, researchers say.
10.) Bees and other critical pollinators in the food chain face new threats as plants produce fewer flowers during droughts made more frequent and intense by climate change, new research shows.
**International **
11.) EU grandparents should be able to seek court relief when it comes to child access, a magistrate with the European Court of Justice advised Thursday.
12.) The European Union’s top court cracked down Thursday on Slovakia for levying an 80 percent tax on free greenhouse emission allowances that were supposed to spur emissions-reducing investments.
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