Daily Briefing: Fox News settles for $787.5 million

Fox News has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit filed against the network over its broadcast of the 2020 presidential election. Also in the news: The Supreme Court will provide answers on the future access to the abortion pill mifepristone and a white homeowner charged in the shooting of a Black teen has been released on bond.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. A 600-pound NASA satellite is expected to crash into Earth today.

Now, here we go with Wednesday's news.

Fox News and Dominion reach $787.5M settlement

Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems agreed to a $787.5 million settlement Tuesday just as attorneys were set to outline their case to jurors ahead of testimony in what has been the most closely watched media trial in decades. Dominion sued Fox News and its parent corporation in 2021, claiming the network knowingly broadcast lies being perpetuated by former President Donald Trump and his attorneys as he clung to power in the months after his 2020 election loss. Details of the settlement were not immediately available. Read more

• McConnell rejected a Democratic plan to temporarily substitute Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee.

What will the Supreme Court do about mifepristone?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday will determine whether to halt or allow restrictions that limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone and if it will hear arguments from both sides on the issue.

Restrictions on mifepristone are set to take effect at midnight Wednesday when a temporary hold expires, including a requirement that Americans sit for in-person visits with doctors and a prohibition on the drug being dispensed through the mail.

• ​The plaintiffs in the case, which targets FDA approval of the drug, claim it comes with medical risks and should be pulled from the market.

• Leading medical associations and health experts say otherwise, pointing to mifepristone's decades-long safety record and studies showing it to be safer than common drugs such as Tylenol and Viagra.

• Last week, the Supreme Court temporarily paused a lower court's ruling so that justices have more time to review the case. Mifepristone remains available in the meantime.

• If the lawsuit reaches the high court, it would be the most consequential abortion appeal on the docket since last year's overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Keep reading: We take a look at what Biden is doing about child care costs.

More news to know now

• A 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman facing charges for leaking classified Pentagon information will be at a hearing Wednesday.

• One person is dead and four were hospitalized after a Manhattan parking garage collapsed.

• Speaker McCarthy and House GOP are racing to unveil and unite behind a debt ceiling proposal.

• Two Iowa teens pleaded guilty to beating a Spanish teacher to death over a bad grade.

• What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Four dead at house, connected to shooting on I-295 in Maine

A suspect is jailed after four people were found dead at a house and bullets were fired at a major highway near Portland, Maine, Tuesday morning, according to authorities. Maine State Police said four bodies were found in Bowdoin, about 25 miles north of Portland, and those deaths are connected to a shooting on Interstate 295 in the Yarmouth area, between Portland and Bowdoin. The interstate shooting injured three, one critically, police said. Authorities have not yet discussed what they think led to the incidents in either Bowdoin or Yarmouth. Read more

White homeowner released on bond in Kansas City shooting

The 84-year-old white man charged in connection with the shooting of a Black teenager who mistakenly went to his home is out on $200,000 bond, Kansas City, Missouri officials said. Andrew Lester was detained and released after the shooting, sparking criticism from attorneys Ben Crump and Lee Merritt, who have been retained by 16-year-old Ralph Yarl's family. “The police are not treating this case in the same way Black people accused of murder are treated,” they said. Lester was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action after he turned himself in. Yarl is recovering at home after being released from the hospital Sunday. Read more

• Ralph Yarl, Kaylin Gillis shootings may renew debate about ''stand your ground'' laws.

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Russian judge rules American journalist to remain in jail on spying charges

A Russian judge upheld the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich on Tuesday following his arrest on spying charges amid the Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on press freedom during the war in Ukraine. After Gershkovich appeared in court, a Moscow City Court judge denied the reporter’s appeal of his detention. The judge ruled that Gershkovich – Russia correspondent for the Wall Street Journal – is to stay in jail awaiting an investigation and trial. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years. Read more  

• ''Undersecretary for thugs'': Bill Richardson's endless push to free Americans detained abroad.

One more thing

• HGTV will turn Barbie's Dreamhouse into real-life home in a new series.

• Kylie Jenner, Timothée Chalamet and the fascination with couples who seem like an odd fit.

• Harrison Ford is back in a new ''Indiana Jones.'' What you need to know about ''Dial of Destiny.''

• After an unimaginable loss, this hockey fan is awarded surprise scholarship from the New York Rangers.

Photo of the day: ‘Super Bloom’ covers the West in colorful wildflowers

Record rainfall in California has resulted in a super bloom: acres of fields with blooming flowers. Thousands of people daily make the trek to north east Los Angeles County where poppies have bloomed and colored fields and hillsides bright orange. Click here for more photos.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dominion Fox News settlement, Maine shooting, Ralph Yarl shooting, mifepristone, abortion, Supreme court: Daily Briefing