Top Stories for the Week of August 30th.

These are the top stories for this week.

The Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump to continue construction of a new White House ballroom, rejecting a challenge from a historic preservation group in a 5-4 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s liberal justices in dissent, while the majority found the preservation group likely lacked standing to sue. Trump called the ruling a full resolution of the legal fight and said the $400 million project would be “one of the greatest ever constructed” in Washington. See Details

The jury in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial was sent home without a verdict after a fifth day of deliberations, following a rare judicial instruction urging jurors to keep working toward a unanimous decision. Clancy does not dispute killing her three young children but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time. Source

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to give the U.S. Postal Service sweeping power to withhold delivery of mail ballots, setting up a showdown over voting rules less than two months before the November midterms. The request escalates a fight over how ballots are processed nationwide ahead of the election. See Details

A Utah judge ruled Tuesday that Tyler Robinson, the man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, will stand trial and could face the death penalty. Robinson’s family and Kirk’s widow sat rows apart during the emotional preliminary hearing in Provo, where prosecutors argued they have sufficient evidence to proceed. Source

Rescuers in Nepal pulled a second worker alive from a hydropower tunnel Friday, nine days after catastrophic floods trapped hundreds of workers in the Himalayan region. Nepal lawmaker Shri Ram Neupane said roughly 900 workers remain missing from 12 hydropower projects, with about 500 believed to be inside affected tunnels. Source

A Nevada jury found Duane “Keffe D” Davis guilty of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the 1996 drive-by shooting death of rapper Tupac Shakur. The 63-year-old was convicted after nine days of testimony and less than three hours of deliberation, capping a case that had gone unsolved for nearly 30 years. Davis is accused of providing the murder weapon but was not the shooter; he could face life in prison at sentencing. Source

Minnesota’s highest court rejected Mike Lindell’s bid for an expanded recount in the Republican gubernatorial primary he lost, ruling he had pursued the wrong legal remedy to challenge the result. Source

President Trump pledged to campaign aggressively for Republican candidates ahead of November’s midterms, telling Republican lawmakers at a Rose Garden dinner that they have a winning record to run on despite his sagging approval numbers. He said he plans extensive travel to states with high-stakes races in the final stretch of the campaign. Source

Organized labor is ramping up its midterm mobilization, with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler laying out the federation’s priorities in her annual State of the Unions address this week. Affordability, including housing and health care costs, along with concerns over artificial intelligence, topped the list for the labor federation’s nearly 15 million members. Read More

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Trump and is set to depart the Pentagon in the coming days following a months-long turf war with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The White House credited Driscoll, an ally of Vice President JD Vance, with strengthening the Army and assisting in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Hegseth is reportedly considering his senior adviser and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell as a replacement. Source

Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said President Trump’s repeated attacks on him and his wife are turning him into the “main character of the midterms,” predicting it could give him a national platform ahead of his November race against Republican Mike Rogers. Trump has called El-Sayed a “man of hate” in recent Truth Social posts. Find out More

Vice President JD Vance delivered a closed-door speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. Vance attempted to bridge the divide between pro-Israel Republicans and the America First base that now dominates the Republican Party. Read More

The Trump administration deported more than 100 people from countries including Afghanistan, Cuba and Venezuela to eight African nations over a 10-day span, internal documents obtained by CBS News show, raising questions about sending people with no ties to those countries into regions facing armed conflict. Find out More

House Republicans are moving to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling that freed national party committees to coordinate directly with candidates, reserving nearly $9 million in TV ads across more than 20 races this month. The National Republican Congressional Committee is seeking to exploit a cash advantage over its Democratic counterpart. Find out More

New York City’s public school system is rolling out a policy banning AI use in elementary and middle school classrooms starting this academic year, alongside new screen-time limits. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the district will study the technology’s effects over the next year before reconsidering. See Details

A South Carolina police officer was killed and another wounded in a gunfight with a suspect who had an extensive criminal record, authorities said. See Details

A veteran Democratic digital strategist who helped build Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign is warning that the party is unprepared for the misinformation tactics likely to define the 2026 midterms. He argues that political operatives can now target small, precisely selected groups of voters with short videos and ads that spread before journalists or fact-checkers are aware of them. The warning comes as both parties gear up for what is expected to be a costly and closely fought midterm cycle. See Details

A Bank of America vice president killed in a random knife attack in New York’s Times Square has been identified as 32-year-old Erin Piacenti of Chester, New Jersey. Police say the attacker, who was fatally shot by officers, also wounded a 68-year-old bystander. Source

The Trump administration is working on possible restrictions aimed at preventing women in the late stages of pregnancy from entering the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s department said Thursday, describing the effort as part of a broader crackdown on so-called birth tourism. Officials framed the move as closing a loophole used to secure automatic U.S. citizenship for children born on American soil. Source

A woman was fatally shot by NYPD officers in Times Square Monday after police say she carried out a “random and unprovoked” stabbing attack on two strangers with a pair of knives. Officers identified the suspect as 39-year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens, who had a documented mental health history; she stabbed a 68-year-old man, who remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition, and 32-year-old Erin Piacenti of Chester, New Jersey, who died at the hospital. See Details

Apple shares are on track for a second straight monthly gain as John Ternus takes over as chief executive Tuesday, ending Tim Cook’s 15-year run atop the company. Shares are up 3.6% in August even after the stock pulled back from an all-time high following a soft iPhone outlook. Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran, faces an immediate test with the company’s fall product launch and its lagging artificial intelligence push. Source

Las Vegas casino operators are ramping up their fight against prediction-market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket, which they argue are functioning as unregulated sportsbooks and cutting into the traditional gaming industry. See Details

New details emerged from OpenAI’s investigation into a HuggingFace-related security incident, adding to scrutiny of how leading AI companies handle data exposure. Read More

Oil prices extended their surge Wednesday, with Brent crude topping $95 a barrel, as the overnight U.S.-Iran strikes intensified fears of supply disruptions in the Middle East. Both benchmarks had already jumped more than $4 a barrel Tuesday in their largest single-day gains in weeks. Find out More

Germany accused Russia of involvement in a foiled drone attack on Leipzig airport last month and raised its national threat assessment from “general” to “high.” Berlin also ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in the capital. See Details

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Thailand Wednesday, its first port call in more than eight months, ending a grueling deployment in the Middle East that raised concerns about crew welfare. The 100,000-ton carrier’s stint at sea included more than 250 uninterrupted days. See Details

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday that there were signs that Russia and Israel had spread disinformation that fueled last month’s migrant crisis in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, though he offered no further details on the evidence. More than 72,000 migrants crossed from Morocco into the territory over two days in July, prompting alarm across the European Union and sporadic unrest at a makeshift migrant camp. Neither Russia nor Israel has responded to requests for comment on the allegations. Source

Congo’s Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,000 people out of over 6,100 confirmed cases, government data showed, as the disease spreads faster than efforts to track and contain it. The World Health Organization says the outbreak remains on pace to exceed the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record. Find out More

Fears of renewed Middle East escalation grew after the U.S. and Iran exchanged their largest barrage of strikes in weeks, with Iran accusing Washington of hitting a wedding party and killing several civilians. The U.S. military said it is reviewing the allegation. Find out More

Tom Cruise was filmed slipping into Daytona International Speedway to announce a sequel to “Days of Thunder,” with Anne Hathaway set to join him and a release date now on the books. Source

McDonald’s confirmed its long-awaited SpongeBob SquarePants x One Piece meal collaboration will launch nationwide September 15, featuring 15 collectible toys tied to the crossover promotion. The tie-in follows the chain’s recent Godzilla x Hello Kitty rollout. Find out More

Paramount+ has ordered a third season of “MobLand,” the Guy Ritchie crime drama starring Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan, with the second season set to premiere Sept. 18. The series follows a ruthless British crime family navigating rising rivals and internal fractures. Source

Colorado held off Georgia Tech 14-13 in a Thursday night season opener, with Rahkeem Smith’s 100-yard kickoff return and a late Julian Lewis touchdown pass proving decisive. The Buffaloes improved to 1-0 to start the season under coach Deion Sanders. Source

College football experts released their season predictions for the College Football Playoff and Heisman race, noting unusual uncertainty about the preseason favorite after six teams received multiple first-place votes in the coaches poll. Defending champion Indiana starts sixth in the poll despite topping the most individual ballots. Source

Arte Moreno has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Angels to Rams and Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke in a deal reportedly worth $4 billion, an MLB record that surpasses the Padres’ recent $3.9 billion sale. Moreno, who bought the team in 2003, became one of the sport’s most maligned owners after presiding over more than a decade without a playoff appearance; the sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. Source

Tennessee chancellor Donde Plowman said Tuesday that the SEC “will not budge” on its rule barring professional athletes from returning to college rosters, declaring the conference “prepared to defend our rules.” The statement comes amid a brewing showdown with LSU, which has landed commitments from several players who signed NFL contracts before a Louisiana judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing them to return to college eligibility; a hearing on a potential injunction is set for Thursday in Baton Rouge. Source

Los Angeles Rams star defensive lineman Aaron Donald unretired, and Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list following his arrest on domestic violence allegations. Source

Scottie Scheffler passed Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list. Find out More

Kirk Cousins will be the Las Vegas Raiders’ starting quarterback for Week 1 of the 2026 season, coach Klint Kubiak announced, beating out rookie No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza for the job. The Raiders open their season hosting the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13. Source

An inexperienced North Carolina lottery player won a $325,758 jackpot the very first time she tried an online instant-win game. She said she plans to split the winnings with her mother, who introduced her to the lottery, with her share going toward investing and funding a cosmetology business. Source

Burning Man’s Orgy Dome is returning for the 2026 festival after high winds destroyed its previous structure last year, with organizers rebuilding using a geodesic dome and reinforced circus tents designed to better withstand the desert’s unpredictable weather. The camp’s nonprofit operators said they received a donation of 15,000 condoms this year in anticipation of especially high turnout after the closure. Source

Hundreds of Star Trek fans are gearing up to set a Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous Vulcan salute at London’s Science Museum, part of celebrations marking the franchise’s 60th anniversary ahead of Star Trek Day on Sept. 8. The record attempt calls for participants to raise a hand, palm forward, with fingers split into the iconic “V” made famous by Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. Find out More