Reuters US Domestic News Summary

09/06/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Cosby could face multiple accusers at June assault trial

Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial in Pennsylvania has been scheduled for June, and if prosecutors have their way, more than a dozen accusers will take the stand to detail what they claim is a decades-long pattern of attacks. During a hearing on Tuesday, Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill in Norristown, Pennsylvania, set Cosby's trial for June 5, 2017, setting up what will likely be months of fiercely fought legal battles over the scope of evidence allowed at trial.

L.A. airport gunman pleads guilty to murder, other federal charges

A man who fatally shot a security screener and wounded three other people at a Los Angeles International Airport terminal in 2013 pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges under an agreement with prosecutors that spares him the death penalty. Paul Ciancia, 26, entered his guilty plea to murder of a federal officer and 10 other criminal counts during a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Los Angeles passenger train crash injures 21

Nearly two dozen people were injured when a Metrolink commuter train carrying nearly 200 passengers crashed into a semi truck on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles, fire department officials said. The collision occurred around 10:40 a.m. local time in Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. The department said 21 people were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries.

Minnesota man admits to abducting, killing 11-year-old in 1989

A Minnesota man admitted in court on Tuesday to the 1989 abduction and killing of an 11-year-old boy whose remains he helped police locate last week as part of a plea agreement, authorities said. Jacob Wetterling was riding his bike on a rural Minnesota road with his brother and a friend when he was abducted in October 1989. Danny Heinrich, 53, said he kidnapped, sexually assaulted and fatally shot the boy.

Ex-Stanford swimmer registers as sex offender in Ohio after assault

Former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner has registered as a sex offender in his home state of Ohio, following his conviction for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015 and public outrage over his six-month jail sentence. The controversy over a sentence seen as too short and over the fact Turner, a one-time U.S. Olympic hopeful, was released early has stoked intense debate about sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and beyond.

Dallas prosecutor resigns after battling depression

The district attorney for Dallas County, one of the most populous in the United States, resigned on Tuesday after battling personal issues that included three lengthy visits to treatment centers for depression since taking office in 2015. Susan Hawk, a first-term Republican who had previously been a state judge, has publicly acknowledged seeking treatment for depression and prescription drug abuse.

Fire guts U.S. Agriculture Department shed in Maryland

A fire on Tuesday gutted a storage shed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) complex in Maryland that was closed last week because of threats, a fire official said. The blaze at Building 426 at the USDA's Beltsville facility took firefighters about two hours to extinguish, Prince George's County fire department spokesman Mark Brady said by phone, adding there were no injuries.

Fox settles sexual harassment lawsuit for $20 million on Ailes' behalf

Fox News will pay $20 million to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose allegations led to the resignation of network chief Roger Ailes in July, a source familiar with the agreement said on Tuesday. The company also settled with two other women who were part of a Fox-initiated investigation by the law firm Paul, Weiss, Wharton & Garrison, according to the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

Man gets 15 years for Somali cafe attack in North Dakota

An American man who threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of a Somali restaurant in North Dakota was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday over what federal prosecutors said was an act of "hate violence." Matthew Gust, a 26-year-old of Grand Forks, North Dakota, pleaded guilty to arson and hate-crime charges on May 19, Vanita Gupta, head of the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, said in a statement.

Company agrees to temporarily halt some North Dakota pipeline work

A Native American tribal chairman said his people were "disappointed" that a company agreed on Tuesday to temporarily halt construction of an oil pipeline only in some but not all parts of North Dakota where the tribe says it has sacred sites.

After violent clashes over the weekend between protesters and security officers near the construction site, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a neighboring Native American tribe had asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday for a temporary restraining order against Dakota Access, the company building the pipeline.

09/06/2016 19:52