Reuters US Domestic News Summary

08/06/2016 8:56

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

California mayor declares innocence in strip poker scandal

The mayor of Stockton, California, who faces charges stemming from a strip poker game that he is accused of initiating at a summer camp he hosts for underprivileged youth, on Friday said he is innocent of criminal wrongdoing. Anthony Ray Silva, 41, at a brief news conference the day after his arrest, denied furnishing anyone with alcohol or doing anything to endanger a child, insisting that everyone present during the incident was at least 18 years old.

Railing collapses at New Jersey concert injuring about 30: media

Dozens of concertgoers suffered minor injuries on Friday night when a railing collapsed during a hip hop concert featuring Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa in west New Jersey, local media reported. About 30 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries when they fell and were crushed after a railing collapsed near the stage at about 10 p.m. local time in the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

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.

Judge eases restrictions on defendants in armed Oregon occupation

A federal judge ruled on Friday that eight anti-government militants facing criminal charges in the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife center can now communicate with each other ahead of a trial set for next month. The easing of restrictions imposed as a condition of the pretrial release of four defendants comes after defense lawyers in May accused jail officials of hindering meetings with some of their clients and not providing a confidential phone line.

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

Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who earlier this week 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 after a judge ruled that the recommended six-month prison term was too lenient, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all three counts handed down in a U.S. District Court grand jury indictment.

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.

Four killed, three injured in Oregon motel fire: media

Four people were killed and four were injured in a fire that destroyed a motel in a coastal city in Oregon on Friday, local media said. The fire began at about 5:45 a.m. in a room at the City Center Motel in Newport, Oregon, and quickly engulfed the entire building, the Newport Police Department said in a statement.

08/06/2016 8:56