Reuters US Domestic News Summary

09/11/2016 19:52

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Native Americans celebrate pause of North Dakota pipeline, vow to fight on

Native Americans protesting construction of a North Dakota oil pipeline near land they consider sacred on Saturday quietly celebrated the U.S. government's decision to pause construction on federally owned land, and vowed to press for a full halt to the project. On Friday, the Obama administration temporarily halted construction on federal land of the planned pipeline that has angered the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and asked the company behind the project to suspend nearby work.

Winner of Miss America pageant could be gay, diabetic or a dancer

At the age of 96, Sunday's Miss America Pageant features at least one first that would have been unimaginable during its 1950s and 60s heyday, when the annual contest was a major national event on par with the Oscars film awards or football's Super Bowl. Decried by feminists for what some see as an outdated emphasis on physical beauty, but defended by proponents for awarding scholarships and promoting achievement in the arts and professions, the pageant has struggled to remain relevant.

A raised fist, more kneeling players as NFL anthem protest spreads

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters raised his fist and several Miami Dolphins players knelt during performances of the U.S. national anthem on Sunday, the latest gestures in the National Football League to draw attention to racial inequality. San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick started a controversy when he began the protests against injustice and police brutality by refusing to stand for "The Star-Spangled Banner" during preseason games.

Dozens injured after porch collapses in Connecticut

Dozens of people were injured on Saturday after a porch crowded with partygoers collapsed in Hartford near Trinity College, authorities said. Between 30 and 40 people were being treated for injuries, none of which appeared to be major, Hartford Police Department Deputy Chief Brian Foley said in postings on social network Twitter.

Homeowners sue California's Fresno, saying lead in water supply

Five homeowners filed a lawsuit against Fresno, California on Friday, accusing the city of letting dangerous levels of lead and other toxins into the water supply and failing to alert the public of the potential danger, local media reported. Karen and Michael Micheli, Faith and David Nitschke and Jeanette Grider filed a lawsuit against Fresno, its department of public utilities and two contractors in the Fresno County Superior Court on Friday, the Fresno Bee reported.

Report details horror, heroism during San Bernardino shooting

A report into last year's shooting rampage by a husband and wife in San Bernardino, California, reveals how three county workers battled to stop the shooters as they sprayed bullets into a conference room full of their colleagues. The report released on Friday describes the carnage found by rescue workers after Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a Dec. 2 party and training session at the Inland Regional Center for San Bernardino County health workers, killing 14 people and wounding 24 others.

Security firm that employed Orlando club killer fined for inaccurate forms

The security company that employed Omar Mateen, the man who in June killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was fined $151,400 for providing inaccurate psychological testing information on forms that allowed employees to carry guns, a state spokeswoman said on Saturday. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services fined GS4 Secure Solutions on Friday after discovering the firm had listed the name of a psychologist who no longer practiced as the screener on Mateen's form and more than 1,500 others over a 10-year period, said Jennifer Meale, a spokeswoman for the state agency.

Families remember 9/11 victims 15 years after attacks

Americans remembered the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on Sunday at a ceremony marking 15 years, with the recital of their names, tolling church bells and a tribute in lights at the site where New York City's massive twin towers collapsed. As classical music drifted across the 9/11 Memorial plaza in lower Manhattan, family members and first responders slowly read the names and delivered personal memories of the almost 3,000 victims killed in the worst attack on U.S. soil since the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Would-be Reagan assassin released from psychiatric hospital

Would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley Jr. was released from a psychiatric hospital on Saturday, media reports said, 35 years after he shot U.S. President Ronald Reagan in an attack prompted by a deranged obsession with the actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley, 61, is moving in with his elderly mother in a gated community in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he has been making increasingly long furlough visits in recent years under the watchful eyes of the U.S. Secret Service.

Woman kissed by sailor in famed photo at World War Two's end dies

Greta Friedman, the woman in white kissed by a sailor in New York's Times Square in a photograph symbolizing the end of World War Two, has died at age 92, media reports said on Saturday. Her son, Joshua Friedman, said she died on Thursday in Virginia after suffering a series of ailments, including pneumonia, NBC News reported.

09/11/2016 19:52