Nightly Brief

Your Monday night briefing from the staff of Courthouse News

Top CNS stories for today including a key Houston Ccongressional seat has been rated a tossup, with Republican incumbent John Culberson citing $141 billion in hurricane relief bills he helped pass in 2017 as proof he should keep his job, while the Houston Chronicle has endorsed Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher; if Rep. Jeff Denham, if a Republican, loses his bid to represent a slice of California’s Central Valley for a fifth term, pundits say there will be two reasons: health care and President Donald Trump; the U.S. Supreme Court declines to blot out a suit that demands the government do more to stop climate change; a California man sues the founder of home security company Ring in state court alleging that Jamie Siminoff, whose company was featured on the TV show “Shark Tank,” bilked him out of $300 million; the United Nations environmental group has found the ozone layer is set to fully heal within 40 years; Spain’s Supreme Court will decide whether the jailed leaders of the independence drive in Catalonia should face charges, and more.

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National

1.) In a flood-prone Houston congressional district that Hillary Clinton won by 1 point in 2016, Republican incumbent John Culberson is citing $141 billion in hurricane relief bills he helped pass in 2017 as proof he should keep his job. But the Houston Chronicle has endorsed Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, saying Culberson’s “career has been spent promoting his own pet projects,” such as encouraging NASA to probe for alien beings on a moon of Jupiter.

2.) If pollsters end up being correct on Nov. 6 and U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, a Republican, loses his bid to represent a slice of California’s Central Valley for a fifth term, it will likely come down to two reasons: health care and President Donald Trump.

**3.) ** On a breezeless Florida afternoon, just days before the midterm elections, thousands of men and women wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats and American flag memorabilia gathered outside an arena near Ft. Myers.

**4.) ** The biggest midterm election in a generation is now less than 24 hours away, with voters being asked to decide whether President Donald Trump’s no-holds-barred politics will define Washington for at least the next two years or if Democrats have made a convincing argument for ending the GOP monopoly in the nation’s capitol.

5.) It already interrupted the case from going to trial, but the Supreme Court declined Friday night to blot out a suit that demands the government do more to stop climate change.

Regional

**6.) ** A lawyer for students suing Harvard over its admissions policy pleaded with the court Friday at closing arguments to slam the door on “the wolf of discrimination.”

**7.) ** A man arrested for his alleged ties to a California white nationalist group that incited riots across the state last year was denied bail by a federal judge on Friday.

Science

10.) The ozone layer is set to fully heal within 40 years, according to the findings of a report out Monday from a United Nations environmental group, touting decades of corrective actions.

Research & Polls

**11.) ** Days ahead of the midterm elections, nearly eight in 10 U.S. residents worry the tone in Washington will lead to violence or acts of terrorism.

International

12.) Spain’s Supreme Court will decide whether the jailed leaders of the independence drive in Catalonia should face charges of rebellion or the lesser crime of sedition.

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