Supreme Court is poised to weaken environmental review of infrastructure projects
CNN
The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to significantly weaken the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects in a case that could hand President-elect Donald Trump an early win on an issue he often hammered on during his first term.
The Supreme Court appeared poised Tuesday to significantly weaken the scope of environmental reviews of major infrastructure projects in a case that could hand President-elect Donald Trump an early win on an issue he often hammered on during his first term. If the court backs the plan to build an 88-mile railway in Utah it would be the latest decision in which the justices have ruled against environmentalists, shutting down regulations in recent years that were intended to protect wetlands, for instance, and reduce air pollution wafting across state lines. Environmental requirements are creating a “juicy litigation target” that allows opponents to stall infrastructure projects, Paul Clement, a veteran Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices. “After all, infrastructure requires investment, and for investors, time is money,” he said. During his first term, Trump raised similar arguments, repeatedly slamming environmental studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act as too cumbersome. The 1970 law, signed by President Richard Nixon, is considered one of the foundational environmental laws formed at the beginning of the modern environmental movement. “These endless delays waste money, keep projects from breaking ground and deny jobs to our nation’s incredible workers. From day one, my administration has made fixing this regulatory nightmare a top priority,” Trump said at the White House in 2020.
Some Medicare enrollees may soon be able to access super-popular drugs for obesity under a voluntary model program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Tuesday. Eligible beneficiaries will only have to pay $50 a month.
The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.
A Delaware state trooper was killed along with the suspected gunman Tuesday during a shooting at a motor vehicle agency near Wilmington, authorities said.
Wyoming’s lone U.S. representative is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Cynthia Lummis, who isn’t seeking re-election.
A new lawsuit filed in Washington, DC’s federal court Monday challenges the Kennedy Center board of trustees’ move to add President Donald Trump’s name to the cultural institution.
Warning: This post contains language readers may find disturbing.
Some staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs are finding little to be merry about after the agency said it would eliminate tens of thousands of open, unfilled positions across the country as it looks to streamline its staffing.
Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse announced Tuesday that he’s been diagnosed with “metastasized, stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.”
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning.
Political opposites are closing 2025 as they did 2024: on each side of America’s Donald Trump divide. But CNN’s “All Over the Map” survey did provide several interesting takeaways. Some may be instructive about the midterm election climate, at least at this beginning stage.
A 2-year-old child is among at least five people who were killed when a Mexican Navy plane carrying medical patients crashed into the waters of Galveston Bay in Texas on Monday afternoon, US Coast Guard officials say.
The Trump administration is suing the local government of Washington, DC, over its gun laws, alleging that restrictions on certain semiautomatic weapons run afoul of Second Amendment rights.