Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Chinese woman in Mar-a-Lago trespassing case fights criminal charges

A Chinese national arrested for bluffing her way onto U.S. President Donald Trump's Florida resort carrying a variety of electronic gear, sparking questions about whether she was an intelligence threat, faces her first full day of trial on Tuesday. The defendant, Yujing Zhang, 33, is acting as her own attorney before U.S. District Judge Roy Altman and a 12-member jury in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom on charges of making false statements to a federal officer and trespassing on restricted property.

Plame, Valerie Plame: former CIA agent takes fast track in campaign video

Allow her to reintroduce herself. Valerie Plame, the former U.S. intelligence officer whose cover was blown by officials in the administration of President George W. Bush during the lead-up to the Iraq war, released a congressional campaign video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICW-dGD1M18&feature=youtu.be on Monday that was about as glossy as any Hollywood spy movie.

Hasty rollout of Trump immigration policy has 'broken' border courts

On the day she was set to see a U.S. immigration judge in San Diego last month, Katia took every precaution. After waiting two months in Mexico to press her case for U.S. asylum, the 20-year-old student from Nicaragua arrived at the border near Tijuana three hours before the critical hearing was scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m.

Southern U.S. states have closed 1,200 polling places in recent years: rights group

States across the American South have closed nearly 1,200 polling places since the Supreme Court weakened a landmark voting-discrimination law in 2013, according to a report released by a civil-rights group on Tuesday. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found http://www.democracydiverted.org that states with a history of racial discrimination have shuttered hundreds of voting locations since the court ruled that they did not need federal approval to change their laws. The report did not have comparisons with polling places in other regions.

U.S. credits Mexico, Central America for sharp drop in border arrests

The Trump administration on Monday credited Mexico and Central American countries with helping to cut U.S. border arrests by nearly 60% from a record high earlier this year but then lashed out at a federal judge for ruling against a strict anti-asylum policy. With President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policy shaping up as an issue in his 2020 re-election campaign, Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that 64,000 people were detained or turned back at the southwest border in August. That was down 22% from July and 56% from a high mark in May.

U.S. congressional panel to probe court secrecy

A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee will hear testimony this month about a lack of transparency in the federal courts, with a focus on judges who routinely keep important evidence secret at the public's expense. The hearing comes after a June 25 Reuters investigation (Read the Special Report https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-courts-secrecy-judges ) detailed how judges have allowed the makers of dozens of consumer products to file under seal in their courts information that is pertinent to public health and safety. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed or seriously injured by allegedly defective products -- drugs, cars, medical devices and other products -- while evidence that could have alerted consumers and regulators to potential danger remained hidden by the courts.

Texas to execute man convicted of killing woman during 2010 burglary

A man convicted of shooting a 61-year-old grandmother to death as he and his accomplice burglarized her home during a week-long crime spree in 2010 is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Tuesday in Texas. Mark Soliz, 37, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. CDT(2300 GMT) at the state's death chamber in Huntsville.

Many U.S. farmers fume at Washington, not Trump, over biofuel, trade policies

American farmers helped elect President Donald Trump in 2016 on hopes he would shake up Washington and turn around a struggling agricultural economy, but many of his policies have actually stung farmers, notably his trade war with China and biofuel waivers for oil refiners. Many farmers are angry, and some are directing their anger not at the Republican president, but at Washington's bureaucracy.

'You can't break down': Bahamas keeps up search of Dorian-devastated island

Rescue workers wearing white hazard suits carried out a grim search for bodies and survivors in the hurricane-ravaged Bahamas on Monday, as relief agencies worked to deliver food and supplies over flooded roads and piles of debris. The Royal Bahamas Police Force said at least 45 people died after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas on Sept. 1, tossing cars and planes around like toys. The death toll is likely climb.

NRA sues San Francisco over 'terrorist organization' label

The National Rifle Association (NRA) sued San Francisco on Monday, saying a declaration by the city's Board of Supervisors that officials should limit businesses linked to the NRA because it is a "terrorist organization" was effectively a blacklist. The confrontation follows heightened debate in the United States following a spate of mass shootings, including one last month at an El Paso Walmart in which 22 people were killed and about 24 wounded in the city near the U.S.-Mexico border.