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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A big setback for Fox: “A judge denied granting summary judgment to Fox News in its attempt to get Dominion Voting System’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit thrown out Friday, meaning the case will go to trial in mid-April. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis handed Dominion a major win, too, when he agreed that the challenged statements are false.”
* In the wake of the East Palestine derailment, this DOJ case is worth watching: “The federal government filed a lawsuit Thursday against Norfolk Southern, blaming the freight carrier for last month’s train derailment that allegedly contaminated waterways and air in northeast Ohio.”
* NATO: “Finland won final approval on Thursday to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after decades of nonalignment, a major shift in the balance of power between the West and Russia that was set off by the invasion of Ukraine.”
* The appeal we knew would happen: “The Department of Justice filed a motion on Friday to appeal a lower court decision that would allow insurers to stop covering certain preventive services for free in spite of an Affordable Care Act mandate.”
* On a related note: “A federal judge’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act this week means that patients would have to pay for some cancer screenings that are currently free — a ruling that, if it holds, could make the potentially life-saving tests unaffordable for many, experts say.”
* Some good news on inflation: “The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge slowed sharply last month, an encouraging sign in the Fed’s yearlong effort to cool price pressures through steadily higher interest rates.”
* Another story Republicans preoccupied with presidential family members will pretend not to notice: “Wealth funds in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have invested hundreds of millions of dollars with Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, according to people with knowledge of the transactions, joining Saudi Arabia in backing the venture launched by former President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law as he left the White House.”
* Best wishes for a speedy recovery: “Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee said Friday that he was diagnosed with a ‘serious but curable form of cancer’ after a tumor was found in one of his tonsils. Kildee, 64, said he was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma that was detected very early by doctors and that he will have surgery in a few weeks to remove it.”
Have a safe weekend.