A federal appeals court has blocked proposed restrictions aimed at saving a vanishing species of whale, saying they could put thousands of commercial fishermen out of work.

A federal judge has declined to block a ban imposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent mandating masks for Florida school students amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

A prosecutor says South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will avoid a trial and take a plea deal on misdemeanor traffic charges in a crash last year in which he hit and killed a man who was walking near a rural highway.

A new study says the hulking giants of the deep, North Atlantic right whales, are on average about three feet shorter than just 20 years ago.

Ravnsborg, South Dakotas Republican attorney general, has been charged with misdemeanor careless driving after he struck and killed a man with his car, authorities said Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. Ad“At best, his conduct was negligent, which is insufficient to bring criminal charges in South Dakota," Beadle County State's Attorney Michael Moore, who helped handle the case, said. He called South Dakota's manslaughter law “weak” and that he expected his family to take civil action against Ravnsborg. Moore, the state's attorney, said the misdemeanor charges were the “right decision” but that he didn't feel good about it. A crash reconstruction expert from Wyoming and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation assisted the South Dakota Highway Patrol in the investigation.

This combination photo shows poster art for political documentaries, from left, "All In: The Fight for Democracy," "Boys State," "537 Votes," "Slay the Dragon," and "The Fight." The election has unleashed an avalanche of documentaries like no season before it. In a presidential election of enormous stakes, filmmakers have rushed to finish their films before Election Day. (Amazon, from left, Apple TV Plus, HBO Max, Magnolia Pictures, Magnolia Pictures via AP)NEW YORK – The election has unleashed an avalanche of documentaries like no season before it. In a presidential election of enormous stakes, filmmakers have rushed to finish their films before Election Day, to try to inform, sway and entertain the electorate.