Reuters US Domestic News Summary

08/12/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. court will not scrap lawsuit over Purina Beggin' dog treats

A U.S. judge on Friday threw a bone to a New York man whose lawsuit claims Nestle Purina Petcare Co duped dog owners into thinking its Beggin' treats are made mostly of real bacon. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in the Southern District of New York largely denied Nestle Purina's bid to dismiss the proposed class action brought last year by Paul Kacocha of Dutchess County, New York. The lawsuit accuses the company of violating New York consumer-protection law with its marketing of the popular Beggin' products.

At least two dead in Virginia plane crash

At least two people were killed on Friday when a small private plane crashed near Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after the plane attempted a landing, pulled up, and crashed into a tree line, officials said.A spokeswoman for Virginia State Police said there could be more victims. NBC News reported six dead without citing a specific source. "It's a small private aircraft that had come in for a landing. It got to the end of the runway. It pulled up, banked to the left and crashed in the trees and caught fire," said Corinne Geller, public relations manager for the state police.

Former L.A. County sheriff pleads not guilty to new federal charges

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he sought to obstruct a federal corruption probe that overshadowed the final years of his tenure as chief custodian of the nation's largest county jail system. Baca, who is 74 and suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was indicted last week on three new criminal charges after he backed out of an earlier plea agreement rather than face a sentence tougher than the six-month term a federal judge rejected as too lenient.

California man gets life in prison for slaying of Saudi student

A Southern California man was sentenced on Friday to life in prison for fatally stabbing an engineering student from Saudia Arabia who the killer met after the victim posted an online ad to sell his car two years ago, prosecutors said. The remains of the victim, Abdullah Abdullatif Alkadi, 23, were found alongside a freeway in the desert town of Indio, about 125 miles (200 km) east of Los Angeles, in October 2014, about a month after he went missing.

Judge rejects Ohio law to cut Planned Parenthood funds over abortion

A judge on Friday prevented Ohio from cutting federal taxpayer funding from 28 Planned Parenthood clinics, setting back the governor's hopes of stopping the women's health services group from providing abortions. U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett said the law was unconstitutional and would cause "irreparable injury" to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Southwest Ohio and their patients.

Muslim woman sues Chicago over arrest, stripping off of head garment

A Muslim woman has sued six Chicago police officers alleging abuse and harassment after she was arrested as she entered a train station on July 4, 2015, stripped of her head garment and jailed overnight, a Muslim civil rights group said on Friday. In the federal civil rights lawsuit, Itemid Al-Matar, 32, a student from Saudi Arabia, claims she was targeted unreasonably by the police because she was wearing a hijab head scarf and niqab face veil, which police ripped off her after they threw her to the ground.

At least one dead, two injured as rains pound U.S. Gulf Coast

Torrential downpours in parts of Louisiana and Mississippi caused flooding on Friday that killed at least one man, left two people injured and forced residents to evacuate homes throughout the region, officials said. Pounding rain over the past two days led Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards to declare a state of emergency, and forced the closure of schools, government offices and many roads.

Texas, other states ask judge to halt Obama transgender policy

Texas and a dozen other states asked a U.S. judge on Friday to block Obama administration guidance to public schools that transgender students must be allowed to use bathrooms of their choice, saying it usurps the authority of school districts nationwide. But at a hearing in Fort Worth in a lawsuit filed by the states against the U.S. government, Justice Department lawyer Benjamin Berwick urged U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to dismiss the injunction request because the federal guidelines issued in May were non-binding with no legal consequences.

Boeing's KC-46 program approved for production: U.S. Air Force

Boeing Co's KC-46A refueling plane has been approved for production, with work underway for the first two low-rate initial production lots to be awarded in the next 30 days, the U.S. Air Force said on Friday. "The KC-46 program has made significant strides in moving the Air Force toward the modernization needed in our strategic tanker fleet," Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said in a statement announcing the approval.

U.S. declares a public health emergency in Puerto Rico over Zika

The Obama administration on Friday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to the rapid and widespread transmission of the Zika virus, saying it poses a "significant threat" to the health of pregnant women who may be infected and their children. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last declared a public health emergency in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which slammed into the New Jersey shore and flooded parts of New York City in 2012. The action gives the government access to additional funding to fight Zika as congressional efforts to allocate money remain stalled.

08/12/2016 19:52