Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including for-profit colleges asked the Supreme Court to block the Biden administration’s student loan relief plans; A Ninth Circuit panel denied former Peru President Alejandro Toledo Manrique's bid to duck extradition from the U.S.; A North Carolina Democrat announced she is switching parties, and more.

National

For-profit colleges join dogpile opposed to student loan forgiveness

For-profit colleges brought the latest appeal to the Supreme Court steps over the Biden administration’s actions to cancel student loan debt.

President Joe Biden unveils his plan to forgive student loan borrowers in an August 24, 2022, broadcast from the White House. (Screenshot via Courthouse News.)

Blinken: ‘No doubt’ Russian arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter is wrongful detention

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken supports a designation of Russia’s arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter as a wrongful detention.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted by officers from the Lefortovsky court to a bus in Moscow, Russia, on March 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Senate Dems laud rule boost for power plant emissions

Top congressional Democrats heaped praise on the White House Wednesday in response to a proposal aimed at drastically reducing certain air pollutants emitted by coal- and oil-fired power plants.

Emissions rise from the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant near Emmett, Kansas, as the sun sets on Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Regional

ACLU wastes no time suing over Indiana ban on transgender health care for minors

The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging a ban on almost all forms of gender-affirming care for minors in Indiana immediately after it was signed into law.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb speaks with reporters at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Tom Davies, File)

North Carolina lawmaker switches parties, giving GOP veto-proof control of statehouse

A North Carolina Democrat announced she is switching parties, giving Republicans a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly and dealing a blow to the Democratic governor as he fights to block conservative legislation on issues including abortion and voting.

State Rep. Tricia Cotham, then a Democrat representing Mecklenburg, speaks on the House floor as North Carolina lawmakers gather for a special session in Raleigh in March 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)

International

Finnish military provides stability in time of change

As Finland goes through a multitude of political changes, its citizens are comforted by a strong military supported by decades of sustained defense spending and widespread public training.

A Finnish soldier participates in amphibious operations as part of NATO sea exercises in Ustka, Poland, on June 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

No extradition stay for Peru ex-president during appeal

A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday denied former Peru President Alejandro Toledo Manrique’s bid to duck extradition from the U.S. to face bribery charges in his home country.

Alejandro Toledo, then the president of Peru speaks during the session The Challenge for Latin America at the 'Annual Meeting 2003' of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Daniel Ammann/World Economic Forum)

Science

Medieval monks made unexpected contribution to study of volcanos

Medieval scribes from both the east and west documented lunar eclipses and unwittingly also contributed to our knowledge of volcanic eruptions of their time.

"Dionysius the Areopagite Converting the Pagan Philosophers," by Antoine Caron (c. 1570),

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