Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Johnson is facing threats of a motion to vacate the speaker's chair - the same legislative maneuver that saw Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy thrown out from the job for the first time in U.S. history last year - from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican who is unhappy that Congress approved aid to Ukraine. Explainer-How US change on marijuana would help cannabis companies The U.S. Justice Department is moving to make marijuana use a less serious federal crime with a proposal to reclassify the drug as on par with Tylenol with codeine, rather than heroin, according to sources.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump does not rule out building detention camps for mass deportations

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump does not rule out building detention camps on U.S. soil for migrants in the country illegally if he wins a second White House term, he told Time magazine in an interview published on Tuesday. Trump was asked whether he would build new detention camps as part of his campaign pledge to carry out the biggest deportation of migrants in the country illegally.

US House Democrats won't support motion to eject Speaker Mike Johnson

U.S. House Democrats will not support a proposed motion to eject Republican Speaker Mike Johnson if it comes to a vote, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement on Tuesday. Johnson is facing threats of a motion to vacate the speaker's chair - the same legislative maneuver that saw Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy thrown out from the job for the first time in U.S. history last year - from Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican who is unhappy that Congress approved aid to Ukraine.

Explainer-How US change on marijuana would help cannabis companies

The U.S. Justice Department is moving to make marijuana use a less serious federal crime with a proposal to reclassify the drug as on par with Tylenol with codeine, rather than heroin, according to sources. Here are some ways those changes will affect business.

US Justice Department takes step to make marijuana use a less serious crime

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday moved to make marijuana use a less serious federal crime, taking a step to remove the drug from a category that includes heroin in a shift that could shake up cannabis policy nationwide. Shares of cannabis firms including Tilray, Trulieve Cannabis Corp and Green Thumb Industries surged.

North Carolina police examine whether multiple shooters involved in killing of four officers

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, said on Tuesday they were investigating whether more than one shooter opened fire a day earlier in the gun battle that killed four law enforcement officers who were trying to serve a fugitive arrest warrant at a home. Gunfire broke out on Monday as officers from the U.S. Marshals Office approached the home to serve a warrant for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. They returned fire and the fugitive was fatally shot in the front yard during the gunfight, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Judge fines Trump $9,000, threatens jail for contempt in hush money trial

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court on Tuesday and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order. In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.

Florida abortion clinics and funds face uncertain future on eve of six-week ban

Florida's ban on abortions past six weeks of pregnancy takes effect this week, threatening the future of the state's clinics and abortion funds and forcing patients to travel hundreds of miles to get the procedure. Phones have been ringing off the hook at clinics and funds in Florida ahead of the Wednesday enforcement date, as newly pregnant abortion-seekers scramble to book appointments before they may have to travel as far as Virginia or New York to get an abortion, eight clinic and fund workers told Reuters. Most women are not aware they are pregnant at six weeks.

Columbia University threatens to expel students occupying building

Columbia University officials on Tuesday threatened academic expulsion of students who seized and occupied a classroom building, intensifying a nearly two-week standoff between administrators and pro-Palestinian activists on the Manhattan campus. The occupation began overnight when protesters broke windows and entered Hamilton Hall, where they unfurled a banner reading "Hind's Hall," symbolically renaming the building for a 6-year-old Palestinian child killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.

US Supreme Court will not halt Texas age verification for online porn

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Tuesday to block a Texas law requiring online age verification in order to access pornographic websites in a case pitting the Republican-led state's effort to keep adult content away from minors against constitutional free speech protections. With no publicly noted dissents, the justices denied a request by a trade group representing adult entertainment performers and other challengers to the law to put on hold a lower court's ruling that the measure likely did not violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment safeguards against government interference with freedom of speech.

Families of Americans held abroad want more help, information

Families of Americans still detained in foreign countries despite recent prisoner swaps arranged by the Biden administration pleaded on Tuesday at least for more information about their loved ones, while waiting and hoping for their release. "I literally have no idea what steps are being taken to rescue my husband," Anna Corbett, whose husband Ryan Corbett has been detained in Afghanistan, told a congressional committee.

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