Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Oliver North steps down as NRA president amid dispute over 'damaging' information

Retired U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North will step down as president of the National Rifle Association, North said on Saturday, adding he was being forced out due to his allegations that NRA leaders engaged in financial improprieties. In a letter read to the organization's annual meeting in Indianapolis by an NRA board member, North, a conservative commentator best known for his central role in the 1980s Iran-Contra affair, said he had hoped to run for re-election when his term ends on Monday.

Boy hurled off Minnesota mall balcony now 'alert and conscious'

The 5-year-old boy thrown off a third-floor balcony at Minnesota's Mall of America by a stranger is no longer in critical condition, said his family, who hopes he will be home by June. More than 28,000 well-wishers from around the globe donated a total amount of more than $1 million to an online fundraiser set up for Landen Hoffman, who was hospitalized after the April 12 attack in the Bloomington mall, a major tourist attraction in the state.

Winter tries a comeback in U.S. Midwest with up to a foot of snow

The phenomenon known as thundersnow announced the arrival of a storm expected to dump more than a half-foot of snow on the U.S. Midwest on Saturday, more than a month into spring. Midwesterners retrieved their winter wear from storage to trudge through a possible 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) of snow predicted by evening in the Chicago area and more than a foot (30 cm) in some isolated areas of Minnesota, Iowa, southern portions of Wisconsin and northern Illinois, forecasters said.

Crane collapse kills four, injures three in Seattle

A giant construction crane operating at the site of a future Google campus collapsed from the roof of a building and toppled across a Seattle intersection on Saturday, killing four people and injuring three others, authorities and local media said. The crane collapse occurred in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood shortly after 3:30 p.m. local time, crushing five cars and damaging a sixth at the intersection of Fairview Avenue North and Mercer Street, the Seattle Fire Department said.

First swastikas, then synagogue attack: U.S. no safe haven for Israeli family

For one family caught up in the California synagogue shooting, a move from Israel to the United States in search of a safer life has been a journey "from fire to fire." Israel Dahan and three of his five children were at Sabbath services at Congregation Chabad in Poway, near San Diego, on Saturday when a gunman opened fire, killing a woman and wounding three others in what local authorities deemed a hate crime.

Trump says U.S. paid no money to North Korea over Warmbier

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of comatose American student Otto Warmbier. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from North Korea to cover its care of the college student, who died shortly after he was returned to the United States after 17 months in a North Korean prison.

U.S. warrant issued for accused ringleader of North Korean embassy raid in Madrid

U.S. authorities are focused on Southern California in their manhunt for a one-time human rights activist accused of leading a violent takeover of North Korea's embassy in Spain, according to a federal arrest warrant unsealed on Friday. Adrian Hong Chang is wanted by Spain in connection with the alleged embassy raid in February, but his lawyer denounced the U.S. Justice Department for seeking his arrest and extradition based on "the highly unreliable accounts of North Korean government witnesses."

Top Kansas court rules state constitution protects abortion rights

The Kansas Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state's constitution protects a woman's right to an abortion and upheld an injunction blocking a state law that would have banned a common second trimester abortion procedure. The ruling would protect the right to abortion in Kansas even if the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that recognized a right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution.

Democratic presidential candidates seek union support at workers' forum

Six Democratic presidential hopefuls declared their support for American workers and a $15 federal minimum wage on Saturday as they seek the backing of labor unions in their battle to become the candidate to take on Republican President Donald Trump next year. The candidates spoke to an audience of union workers in Las Vegas, decrying low wages and corporate greed, as they woo organized labor, an important voting bloc in the Democratic Party's presidential nominating battle.

Deadly synagogue shooting suspect in California linked to mosque arson

A 19-year-old man who authorities said gave himself up to police shortly after carrying out a deadly shooting in a Southern California synagogue filled with Sabbath worshippers is also under investigation in connection with an unsolved mosque arson. The gunman walked into the suburban San Diego synagogue late Saturday morning, the last day of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover, and opened fire with an assault-style rifle, killing one woman inside and wounding three others, including the rabbi, authorities said.