Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Puerto Rico governor faces calls for impeachment over chats

Puerto Rico's embattled governor came under growing pressure to resign or be impeached on Friday after the leak of hundreds of vulgar and offensive chat messages, as the Caribbean island's trade unions staged another protest march in San Juan. Governor Ricardo Rossello has faced a week of sometimes violent street protests demanding he step down over the messages about political adversaries.

Heat wave gripping eastern, central U.S. to intensify over weekend

A massive heat wave that has enveloped the U.S. Midwest pushed into the Northeast on Friday, ushering in temperatures that could top 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees C) in Washington and prompting utilities to take steps to prevent power outages. The huge blob of warm air is likely to blanket the region, home to a third of the U.S. population, through Sunday with little overnight relief, said meteorologist David Roth of the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

NSA contractor sentenced to prison for huge theft of classified U.S. data

A former National Security Agency contractor was sentenced in Maryland to nine years in prison on Friday for stealing huge amounts of classified material from U.S. intelligence agencies over two decades though officials never found proof he shared it with anyone. Harold Martin, 54, also received three years of supervised release from U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett in Baltimore after pleading guilty to willful retention of national defense information, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Democratic lawmakers slam Trump's latest border initiatives

U.S. Democratic lawmakers on Friday called President Donald Trump's latest anti-immigration initiatives "unacceptable" and warned his administration against misappropriating funding authorized only for humanitarian use. The criticism came as two congressional delegations toured the U.S.-Mexico border area near McAllen, Texas, as part of efforts to oversee policies banning nearly all asylum-seekers from entry, warehousing detainees in crowded quarters and holding children separately from the adults they traveled with.

About 3,100 federal inmates to be released early under new U.S. law

Roughly 3,100 U.S. inmates, including many convicted of drug offenses, will be released early from federal prisons for good behavior under a criminal justice reform law signed last year by President Donald Trump, the Justice Department said on Friday. Officials detailed the early impact of the law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress last December and championed by criminal justice advocates across the political spectrum to help reduce sentencing disparities for low-level offenses historically with higher conviction rates for racial minorities.

Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo' begins life term in Colorado 'Supermax' prison

Joaquin Guzman, the Mexican drug lord known as "El Chapo," entered a Colorado prison known as "the Alcatraz of the Rockies" on Friday to begin a life sentence after being found guilty of a raft of crimes including conspiracy to commit murder. Guzman was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years, on Wednesday in a federal court in the New York borough of Brooklyn. A jury convicted him of drug trafficking and engaging in multiple murder conspiracies as the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s largest, most violent drug-trafficking organizations.

In battleground Florida, Republicans shrug off Trump's tweet 'kerfuffle'

An immigrant to the United States, Suzanne Vale took no offense at Republican President Donald Trump's tweet this week telling Democratic congresswomen they are free to "go back" to their ancestral homes if America is not to their liking. She disagrees with critics who accuse Trump of race-baiting with his attacks on the four women of color.

Lockheed awarded $1.48 billion Saudi missile defense contract: Pentagon

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $1.48 billion contract to build the THAAD missile defense system for Saudi Arabia, bringing the total value of the deal to $5.36 billion, the Pentagon said on Friday. The new contract was a modification to a previously awarded agreement to produce the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor for Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said.

U.S. CDC links two deaths to multi-state salmonella outbreak

Two people have died following a multi-state outbreak of salmonella infections linked to backyard poultry, U.S. health officials said on Friday. One death was reported in Ohio and the other one in Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

U.S. prosecutors charge New York man with being Islamic State sniper

U.S. prosecutors have charged a New York man with fighting for the Islamic State militant group in Syria and serving as a weapons trainer, according to court documents unsealed on Friday. Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a 42-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Kazakhstan, was charged with providing material support to the terrorist organization, including providing training to terrorist soldiers and attempting to recruit personnel.