Top eight

Your Thursday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

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National

1.) President Joe Biden announced a strategy Thursday to quickly transition America to electric vehicles, noting that the country falls in third when it comes to manufacturing in this rapidly growing sector. 

2.) Continuing to make history with the diversity of his judicial nominations, President Joe Biden tapped two individuals who could make history for the LGBTQ community as part of a slate of four new potential judges Thursday. 

3.) The U.S. Department of Justice’s internal watchdog reported Thursday that it was unable to determine whether FBI personnel leaked investigation secrets reported by the media ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Regional

4.) California’s fire season took a disastrous turn overnight Wednesday after the Dixie Fire destroyed the mountain town of Greenville and continues to burn out of control in the northern reach of the state. 

5.) A divided en banc Sixth Circuit on Thursday ruled 9-7 that Tennessee's two-day waiting period for abortions is constitutional, in part because the number of abortions in the state has not drastically decreased since the law was put in place.

6.) The Department of Justice will investigate use of force and civil rights practices among police in Arizona’s largest city, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.

7.) Immigrant rights groups backed by the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against Texas Governor Greg Abbott over his executive order restricting the transportation of migrants, claiming it goes against federal law and amounts to racial profiling at the southern border. 

International

8.) Following catastrophic flooding last month, southern Europe is now in the grip of devastating wildfires that are burning vast areas of Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Albania and Northern Macedonia.