Reuters US Domestic News Summary

08/05/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

California mayor declares innocence in strip poker scandal

The mayor of Stockton, California, arrested on charges stemming from a strip poker game he is accused of playing at a summer camp he hosts for underprivileged children, said on Friday he is innocent of criminal wrongdoing. At a brief news conference the day after his arrest, Mayor Anthony Ray Silva, 41, denied that he provided anyone with alcohol or did anything else to endanger a child, insisting that everyone present at the incident in question last year was at least 18 years old.

Ex-FBI agent avoids prison for lying at Whitey Bulger murder trial

A former FBI agent was sentenced on Friday to two years of probation for lying repeatedly at the 2013 murder and racketeering trial of Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Robert Fitzpatrick, 76, received leniency because of his age and failing health, U.S. District Judge Dennis Saylor said at the former FBI agent's sentencing hearing in Boston. He benefited from a plea agreement, without which he would have faced a maximum sentence of more than 7 years in prison, the judge said.

State Department official: 8,000 Syrian refugees resettled in U.S

The United States has taken in 8,000 Syrian refugees since October and is on track to meet President Barack Obama's goal of resettling 10,000 by the end of the fiscal year, a U.S. State Department official told reporters on Friday. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard said additional U.S. personnel had been deployed to vet refugees overseas and that many other refugees had already been vetted and were awaiting resettlement.

Obama prepares to boost U.S. military's cyber role: sources

The Obama administration is preparing to elevate the stature of the Pentagon's Cyber Command, signaling more emphasis on developing cyber weapons to deter attacks, punish intruders into U.S. networks and tackle adversaries such as Islamic State, current and former officials told Reuters. Under the plan being considered at the White House, the officials said, U.S. Cyber Command would become what the military calls a "unified command" equal to combat branches of the military such as the Central and Pacific Commands.

Former L.A. county sheriff indicted on new federal charges

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who withdrew his guilty plea to a charge of lying to federal investigators in a corruption probe, was indicted on Friday on three new criminal counts, prosecutors said. Baca, who pulled out of a plea agreement with prosecutors this week after a judge ruled that the recommended six-month prison term was too lenient, could face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on all three counts handed down in a U.S. District Court grand jury indictment.

U.S. closer to testing engineered mosquitoes that could fight Zika

U.S. health regulators have cleared the way for a trial of genetically modified mosquitoes in Florida that can reduce mosquito populations, potentially offering a new tool to fight the local spread of Zika and other viruses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that a field trial testing Intrexon Corp's genetically engineered mosquitoes would not have a significant impact on the environment. The announcement came as Florida officials grapple with the first cases of local Zika transmission in the continental United States.

Virginia town mostly unfazed about arrival of Reagan attacker Hinckley

Many residents of the Virginia town where John Hinckley Jr. will settle after his release from a psychiatric hospital were unfazed by his expected arrival on Friday, though some were still wary of the man who tried to kill President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Hinckley, a 25-year-old college dropout when he shot and wounded the president, will live with his 90-year-old mother in a gated community in Kingsmill outside Williamsburg, a historic town about 130 miles (210 km) south of Washington.

North Carolina will ask Supreme Court to allow voter ID law to stand

North Carolina will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state law requiring voters to show identification to stand, after an appellate court struck it down a week ago, Republican Governor Pat McCrory said on Friday. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday refused the state's request to put its decision on hold while North Carolina asks the Supreme Court to overturn it ahead of the U.S. general election on Nov. 8.

Houston mom gets 40 years after daughter's body found in fridge

A Texas woman was sentenced on Friday to 40 years in prison after admitting responsibility for the death of her 9-year-old daughter, whose emaciated and dehydrated body was found in the refrigerator of their Houston home, court records showed. Amber Keyes, 37, had pleaded guilty of neglect that resulted in the death of 9-year-old Ayahna Comb, whose body was found in 2014.

Autopsies show Orlando club massacre victims were shot multiple times

Autopsy reports on some of the people shot at a gay nightclub in Florida in June appear to support witness accounts of the massacre at the crowded club including that some people were shot many times before the gunman was brought down in a hail of police bullets. Florida released autopsy reports on Friday for 31 of the 49 people killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history. Reports for the remaining victims were pending.

08/05/2016 19:52