Reuters US Domestic News Summary

09/20/2016 19:54

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Oklahoma police release video of officer shooting unarmed black man

Police in Tulsa, Oklahoma released video on Monday showing an officer fatally shooting an unarmed black man who had his hands in the air, and the U.S Justice Department said it was looking into the incident as a possible civil rights violation. Officer Betty Shelby shot Terence Crutcher, 40, whose sport utility vehicle broke down on Friday, police said. Crutcher was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

U2 spy plane crash in California kills pilot, injures another

A U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane crashed shortly after takeoff during a training mission on Tuesday morning in California, killing one of the pilots and injuring the other, the Air Force said. Both the pilots had ejected from the aircraft, which crashed in an unpopulated area of Sutter County. The Air Force declined further comment, saying the crash was under investigation.

Senate Republicans seek probe of Mylan EpiPen oversight

Mylan NV faced new scrutiny over price hikes for its anti-allergy EpiPen on Tuesday, with U.S. lawmakers calling for a probe of oversight of the company's rebates to government healthcare plans, while West Virginia said it was investigating whether Mylan defrauded its Medicaid department. Mylan is grappling with a growing backlash from U.S. consumers, lawmakers and prosecutors over EpiPen prices, which have risen from about $100 in 2007 to more than $600 for a pair of the devices. The EpiPen delivers a dose of epinephrine, an antidote to a severe and potentially deadly allergic reaction to anything from nuts to bee stings.

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, fatally shoot man they say was armed

Police officers in Charlotte, North Carolina, fatally shot a man on Tuesday after he got out of his car armed with a gun as police approached him, authorities said. Officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department were at an apartment complex searching for a suspect with an outstanding warrant shortly before 4 p.m. when they saw a man get out of his vehicle with a firearm, public affairs officer Keith Trietley said in a written statement.

Discrimination widens U.S. wage gap between black and white workers: researchers

Black workers in the United States have dropped further behind white people in wages over the past four decades, largely because of racial discrimination in the labor market, according to a study released on Tuesday. The growing wage gap represents a stubborn disparity that researchers with the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute said should receive closer attention from government officials.

Oklahoma launches criminal probe into shooting of unarmed black man

A criminal investigation into a police officer in Oklahoma who shot and killed an unarmed black man seen on video with his hands in the air was underway, authorities said on Tuesday. Officer Betty Shelby shot Terence Crutcher, 40, after his sport utility vehicle broke down on Friday. A lawyer for the officer told media outlets that Shelby fired her weapon after Crutcher failed to comply with commands.

Former National Guard member gets 30 years for plot to attack Illinois base

A former member of the Illinois National Guard was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday for planning with his cousin to attack a military installation outside Chicago as part of a conspiracy to support the Islamic State militant group. Hasan Edmonds, 24, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 31, pleaded guilty last year to planning to carry out an armed attack on the military facility where Hasan Edmonds had been training in Joliet, 34 miles (55km) southwest of downtown Chicago.

U.S. charges NY bomb suspect with use of weapons of mass destruction

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged the Afghan-born man arrested after weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey with four counts including use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use. The charges were laid out in a federal complaint that said a handwritten journal was found on the suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, that praised Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and accused the U.S. government of slaughtering Islamist fighters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine.

Myanmar refugees, including Muslim Rohingya, outpace Syrian arrivals in U.S.

The resettlement of refugees from Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria, has been the center of a heated political debate after President Barack Obama last year pledged to resettle at least 10,000 refugees from the war-torn country in the United States. But refugees from Myanmar, whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi visited Washington last week, have quietly outpaced Syrian arrivals in recent years, even as Syria's civil war intensifies, with an increasing number coming from the marginalized Rohingya Muslim community, according to State Department figures.

U.S. man to plead guilty to conspiring to help Islamic State

A Rhode Island man charged last year with plotting to behead Massachusetts police officers in support of the Islamic State militant group is due to plead guilty to conspiracy charges this week, according to court papers on Tuesday. Nicholas Rovinski, 25, was arrested last year along with his friend David Wright, 26, of Massachusetts, and charged with plotting with Wright's uncle, Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, who was shot dead by law enforcement agents in Boston last year when he threatened them with a knife.

09/20/2016 19:54