Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Exclusive: Air Force suspends fee payments to landlord Balfour Beatty following Reuters report

The U.S. Air Force has suspended paying incentive fees at all 21 military housing bases operated by landlord Balfour Beatty Communities following a Reuters-CBS News report that the company falsified maintenance records at an Oklahoma base to help it qualify for millions of dollars in bonuses. The Air Force previously had suspended fees at three Balfour Beatty bases. Now, it has halted such payments at all 21 company sites after new allegations of improper handling of maintenance records arose at another base in Idaho, Mountain Home Air Force Base, John Henderson, the Air Force assistant secretary for installations, said in a statement to Reuters late on Friday.

Mueller report shows evidence Trump committed crimes, House Judiciary chairman says

The top Democrat on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said Sunday he believes there is "substantial evidence" that President Donald Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors, and he plans to ask former Special Counsel Robert Mueller to present those facts at a congressional hearing on Wednesday. "The report presents very substantial evidence that the president is guilty of high crime and misdemeanors, and we have to let Mueller present those facts to the American people and then see where we go from there," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said on "Fox News Sunday."

Bayer could benefit from home advantage in St. Louis Roundup cancer trial: experts

Bayer AG, facing an upcoming trial in St. Louis over allegations that its Roundup weed killer causes cancer, has recruited Missouri-based expert witnesses to make its case in a place where it has century-old roots but where juries often hit companies with huge damages. Four expert witnesses Bayer is seeking to admit hail from Missouri universities, and some legal experts said the company is trying to clinch its first favorable Roundup verdict by emphasizing its reputation as a major local employer.

Trump relished rally chant, Ocasio-Cortez tells constituents in Queens

U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Saturday that President Donald Trump relished a chant by the crowd at a campaign rally this week that called for a Democratic congresswoman to be sent back where she came from. Trump renewed his criticism of four minority women lawmakers on Friday, saying that they had said horrible things about the United States, and defended himself from criticism over his comment that they should leave the United States if unhappy.

As U.S. heat wave breaks records, cooling centers offer relief

With a record-breaking heat wave intensifying over much of the U.S. Midwest and East Coast through the weekend, it was a bad time for Annie McQueen's air conditioner to break down in her New York City apartment. Cities across the affected regions have opened public cooling centers, and after a sticky night in which the combined forces of a ceiling fan and a floor fan in her bedroom offered little relief, McQueen, 76, headed to one of them on Sunday at a senior center in downtown Brooklyn.

Thousands expected to demonstrate Monday against Puerto Rico's governor, hold general strike

Thousands of people are expected to fill the streets of San Juan on Monday morning in massive demonstrations to demand that the U.S. territory's governor resign over offensive chat messages. The Washington Post reported late Sunday that organizers expected more than 1 million residents, about a third of the population, to join in the protests.

Democratic candidate Warren sees U.S. economic downturn; urges quick steps

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Monday warned of "serious" signs that the U.S. economy could skid into a downturn either this year or next, as she proposed a series of steps to minimize the risk. Warren, 70, who serves in the U.S. Senate and is considered a top-tier candidate in a crowded field of Democrats hoping to challenge President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3, 2020 election, called on federal regulators and Congress to act "before another crisis costs America's families their homes, jobs and savings."

Explainer: Send him back? What it would take for Congress to impeach Trump

A dark cloud of impeachment has threatened President Donald Trump for many months, with Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, where any such effort to remove him from office would begin, divided about whether to proceed. In American politics, few procedures are as arduous or as divisive as the Constitution's carefully balanced law for ousting a chief executive found to be unfit to serve.

Longtime New York District Attorney, scourge of white-collar criminals, dies at 99: NYT

Robert Morgenthau, 99, who became the scourge of white-collar criminals over three decades as the Manhattan district attorney, died on Sunday, his family told the New York Times. He passed at a hospital in Manhattan, after a short illness, his wife Lucinda Franks told the Times. He would have turned 100 on July 31.

Trump administration pauses new rule limiting abortion referrals: report

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will pause its enforcement of a new rule barring federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, the Washington Post reported late on Saturday. The rule had been announced last Monday, when officials said it would take immediate effect. The reversal was announced on Saturday evening by U.S. Health and Human Services Department officials, who informed clinics that they would now have two months to comply before facing penalties, the Post reported.