Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Trump administration denies deceit in census citizenship fight
The Trump administration denied accusations that it concealed evidence that its plan to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census was aimed at boosting Republicans' electoral power, and said its accusers were making up a conspiracy theory. In a letter to Manhattan U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who in January blocked the citizenship question from being used on the decennial census, the government called the allegations an "eleventh-hour campaign to improperly derail the Supreme Court's resolution of the government's appeal."
Fate of Missouri's only abortion clinic at stake as St. Louis judge holds hearing
The fate of Missouri's only abortion clinic will be at stake on Tuesday when a St. Louis judge hears arguments in Planned Parenthood's lawsuit aimed at forcing state health officials to renew the facility's license to perform the procedure. Planned Parenthood sued Missouri last week after state health officials refused to renew the license of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis because, they said, they were unable to interview seven of its physicians over "potential deficient practices," according to court documents.
Military prosecutor removed from case of Navy SEAL charged with war crimes
The lead prosecutor in the court-martial of a U.S. Navy SEAL charged with war crimes was ordered removed from the case on Monday because he electronically tracked email communications of defense lawyers without a warrant, a Navy spokesman said. Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who the presiding Navy judge freed from pre-trial base confinement last week, is due to go on trial in San Diego on June 10 in a case that has drawn the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. judge denies Democrats' lawsuit to stop border wall funds
A U.S. federal judge on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Democrats in the House of Representatives that sought to block President Donald Trump's plan to divert funds to help build a border wall. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden of the District of Columbia ruled that the House lacked legal standing to sue Trump for using money to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that was appropriated by Congress for other purposes.
California governor reverses parole board decision on Manson follower
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday reversed a parole board recommendation that the youngest of Charles Manson's murderous "family" of followers be released early from prison. Newsom said in a written decision that he was concerned that Leslie Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the killings, has the potential for future violence.
U.S. drug agency to ask Congress to classify illicit fentanyl like heroin
Illicit chemical knock-offs of the extremely potent opioid fentanyl would be put permanently in the same legal class as heroin to boost prosecutions of traffickers and makers of the drugs, under a proposal to be unveiled on Tuesday by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The new classification is meant to help fight a proliferation of chemical look-alikes of fentanyl, known as analogs, that are fueling the U.S. opioid drug epidemic.
Exploding danger: U.S. marijuana oil labs pose deadly, destructive hazard
On the afternoon of May 5, college student John Nothdurft was watching TV at his suburban San Diego home when a series of explosions shook the house. Around the corner, on Sunny Meadow Street, flames billowed from a neighbor's garage. A man was running down the street. He was on fire.
Police search for reason for Virginia Beach mass shooting
The reason why DeWayne Craddock shot up a Virginia Beach municipal building on Friday - killing 12 people, and severely wounding four others - may have died with him. Even as families plan funerals on Monday, Craddock, 40, remains a puzzle to police.
U.S. border agents kill American in gunfight at U.S.-Mexico crossing
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers fatally shot an American man who pulled out a gun and started shooting while attempting to drive through the border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego late Monday, NBC reported. The 23-year-old man was driving from the Mexican side of the border when he refused to stop his truck for inspection at the San Ysidro port of entry. He instead began shooting at CBP officers through his truck's window, NBC reported, citing both CBP and the San Diego Police Department.
Man sentenced to 19 years in prison for tossing boy off Minnesota mall balcony
A man who admitted hurling a 5-year-old boy off a third-floor balcony at Minnesota’s Mall of America was sentenced to 19 years in prison on Monday. Emmanuel Aranda, 24, was sentenced in a Hennepin County District Court, two weeks after he agreed to the prison term and pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars, said Chuck Laszewski, spokesman for the county's district attorney’s office.
