Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including California’s chief justice announced an end to her 32-year judicial career; EU judges ruled a broadcast ban on Kremlin-funded media outlet RT doesn’t violate its freedom of expression; The Federal Reserve issued another big interest rate hike, and more.

National

Record on gun, abortion cases muddies confirmation waters for DC Circuit pick

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony Wednesday from five federal judicial nominees, including one D.C. Circuit appointee whose work on polarizing cases involving abortion and gun rights sparked pushback from Republican lawmakers.

D.C. Circuit nominee Bradley Garcia testifies before the Senate Judiciary committee on July 27, 2022. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Fed raises interest rates for fourth time this year to combat inflation

The Federal Reserve announced another big interest rate hike Wednesday as part of its continuous efforts to bring inflation down from four-decade highs.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve Board building in Washington on Wednesday, July 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Senate passes bill to boost American microchip manufacturing

After months of tumult, the Senate voted Wednesday to subsidize domestic semiconductor production, aiming to bolster the American manufacturing industry and compete against China’s market dominance.

President Joe Biden attends a March 9, 2022, event at the White House to support legislation that would encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen supply chains for computer chips. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Regional

California chief justice to retire in 2023

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye will not seek another term in November.

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye delivers her State of the Judiciary address before a joint session of the Legislature at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

‘We’re gonna need a bigger board’: A surfer shares his Shark Week tales

“Don’t tempt fate,” one surfer’s mother told him after yet another encounter with an apex predator.

Onlookers check out the remains of Elinor Dempsey’s longboard. Remarkably, she was uninjured by the 11- to 12-foot shark that attacked her board. (Pat Pemberton/Courthouse News)

Migrant smuggling in trailers a booming business in Texas

At the Southwest border, people smugglers are inviting another mass tragedy. Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint north of Laredo have discovered groups of 145, 124, 110 and 95 undocumented immigrants in sealed semitrailers this year amid a proliferation of illicit transports.

Police and other first responders work the scene of a human smuggling tragedy where dozens of migrants were found dead in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio on Monday, June 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

International

EU court upholds ban on Russian broadcaster RT France

The EU’s second-highest court dismissed a complaint by Kremlin-funded media outlet RT on Wednesday, finding a European Union broadcast ban doesn’t violate its freedom of expression.

The Kremlin in Moscow. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

WHO advises gay, bisexual men to limit sex partners amid monkeypox outbreak

Five days after declaring monkeypox an international health emergency, the head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday urged men who have sex with other men to reduce their number of sexual partners to help control the outbreak.

The logo of the World Health Organization is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

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