Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including Top secret documents among recrods seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence; a New York judge rules tax case against the Trump Organization and former finance chief can proceed to trial; Wall Street gains accelerate as inflation begins to drop, and more.

National

NY judge rules tax case against the Trump Organization and former finance chief can proceed to trial

Concluding an anomalous August week for former president Donald Trump that began with FBI agents searching his Florida home, a New York judge on Friday ruled Trump’s company and its longtime finance chief will stand trial in the fall on tax fraud charges stemming from the city’s long-running criminal probe into Trump’s business dealings.

A woman holds a sign outside of the Manhattan federal courthouse on Friday, August 12 as Donald Trump's company and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg prepare to stand trial in the fall on tax fraud charges stemming from a long-running criminal probe into Trump’s business dealings. (Josh Russell/Courthouse News)

Wall Street gains accelerate as inflation begins to drop

As inflation seems to have turned a corner, Wall Street hopes to improve on its summer gains and recoup losses from the spring.

The New York Stock Exchange on June 29, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Federal judge poised to greenlight advertisers’ antitrust action against Meta

A federal judge said Thursday he will advance advertisers’ $67.8 billion antitrust class action against Facebook despite doubts that the social media giant barred competitors from entering the social advertising market.

A Meta sign at the company headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

Regional

Florida farmer convicted of bank fraud asks 11th Circuit to overturn 15-year sentence

An attorney for a Florida farmer convicted of multiple bank and wire fraud charges asked an 11th Circuit panel Friday to overturn his 15-year federal prison sentence.

The exterior of the U.S. Courthouse for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia. (Mike Stewart/AP)

Convicted murderer Scott Petersen fights for retrial, citing juror misconduct

Convicted murderer Scott Peterson — who made national headlines in the early 2000s when he was convicted of killing his wife and unborn son in Central California — spent five hours in court Thursday as prosecutors and defense attorneys argued over whether he should be retried due to jury selection errors and juror misconduct.

FILE - In this April 21, 2003, file photo, Sarah Kellison stands in front of a memorial in honor of Laci Peterson outside the house Laci shared with her husband Scott Peterson in Modesto, Calif. The California Supreme Court overturned the 2005 death sentence for Peterson in the slaying of his pregnant wife. It upheld his 2004 conviction of murdering Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant with their unborn son. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Judge revives 2016 freeze on federal coal leases

A federal judge in Montana on Friday put the kabosh on federal coal leases nearly five years after the paused program was brought back by the Trump administration.

A Signal Peak coal mine in Roundup, Montana. (Courtesy of Signal Peak Energy)

International

Nuke disaster fears hang over Europe as Ukraine war grinds on

Fears of a nuclear disaster loom over Europe as fighting and shelling in southern Ukraine on Friday continued to imperil Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

A rocket fragment is seen near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control in southeastern Ukraine on Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

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