Reuters US Domestic News Summary

09/21/2016 8:56

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'L.A. Confidential' director Curtis Hanson found dead at California home

Movie director Curtis Hanson, who won an Oscar for "L.A Confidential," was found dead in his California home on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department said. He was 71. Paramedics found Hanson at his Hollywood Hills home at about 5 p.m. local time (0000 GMT). Hanson, who was pronounced dead at the scene, died of natural causes, a police spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart pays quarterly bonuses to more store employees

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it paid more than $201 million in second-quarter bonuses to hourly store staff as 99 percent of its stores met targets for cleanliness, faster checkout and better service. The world's largest retailer said 932,000 store employees received a quarterly bonus this year. This was a jump from 880,000 employees in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 and 687,000 workers in fiscal 2015.

Protest erupts after police kill black man in North Carolina

Protesters blocked a highway and clashed with police in Charlotte, North Carolina, early on Wednesday morning after officers fatally shot a black man they said had a gun when they approached him in a parking lot. About a dozen officers and several protesters suffered non-life threatening injuries during an hours-long demonstration near where Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a policeman on Tuesday afternoon, police and local media said on social media.

Investigators probing North Carolina, Oklahoma police shootings

Investigators on Wednesday were probing a pair of police shootings of black men in North Carolina and Oklahoma, the latest in a long series of such killings that have stirred protest across the United States. In Charlotte, North Carolina, crowds of protesters briefly blocked an interstate highway, set fires, scuffled with police and briefly tried to break into a Walmart store after a black police officer shot Keith Lamont Scott, 43, who police say had a gun when he approached them in a parking lot.

Police had no justification for fatal shooting of Oklahoma man: family's lawyers

The unarmed black man fatally shot by a white Tulsa, Oklahoma, police officer in an incident captured on video posed no imminent threat, lawyers for his family said on Tuesday, disputing an allegation the man was reaching into his vehicle. The shooting of Terence Crutcher, 40, by Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby after his sport utility vehicle broke down on Friday, was the latest in a series of fatal shootings that have raised questions of racial bias in U.S. policing.

House committee launches review of FDA criminal office

A U.S. congressional committee has launched an examination of the Food and Drug Administration's criminal office, raising questions about the unit's management and handling of cases involving food, drugs and devices. The House Energy and Commerce Committee told FDA Commissioner Robert Califf it is "examining management concerns" and "possible morale concerns with the field offices" of the Office of Criminal Investigations. The September 20 letter, signed by committee chairman Fred Upton and Tim Murphy, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, seeks answers to a detailed list of questions by October 12.

'Chicken shacks' are lifeline for New Jersey's Afghan immigrants

They dot the landscape in this working-class New Jersey city, popping up every few blocks with names like U.S. Fried Chicken, Royal Fried Chicken and New York Fried Chicken and Burger and giving immigrants a foothold in a new country. One of these fried chicken restaurants, First American Fried Chicken, was thrust into the international spotlight on Monday when authorities arrested the owner's son, Ahmad Rahami, after a shootout with police.

Michigan man arrested after his four children found dead: media

A Michigan man suspected of killing his four children and critically injuring their mother was arrested early on Wednesday after calling police to confess, local media reported. The unidentified Dearborn Heights man told police by phone at about 1:30 a.m. that he had killed his family at their home, police told ABC affiliate WXYZ in Detroit. He was waiting on the porch when they arrived, WXYZ reported.

Divided U.S. Supreme Court turns to less sensitive IP cases

Shorthanded and ideologically divided, the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to take up any cases on politically sensitive social issues in its new term starting in October, instead showing a keen interest in more technical cases of importance to business such as disputes over intellectual property. In addition to four intellectual property cases it has already agreed to hear, the court could as soon as next week take up a trademark battle that pits an Asian-American rock band and the Washington Redskins football team against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

New York bombing suspect could face hearing in hospital bed

A lawyer for an Afghan-born U.S. citizen charged with bombings in New York and New Jersey over the weekend asked a federal judge to schedule his first court appearance for Wednesday, possibly in his hospital bed. Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested on Monday after a gunfight with police in Linden, New Jersey. He is now receiving treatment for his wounds at a Newark hospital, where he could formally face his charges if he cannot travel to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, his lawyer said.

09/21/2016 8:56