US Domestic News Roundup: Trump says family separations deter illegal immigration

Volunteer search teams born of prior disasters reactivated in Florida

Volunteer search-and-rescue networks formed during previous flood disasters in Texas and Louisiana sprang into action in Florida this week following Hurricane Michael, providing a boost to authorities hit by electricity and communications outages. By Friday, two days after Michael plowed into Florida's Panhandle as one of the fiercest hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. mainland, there was no official word on the number unaccounted for in beachfront communities affected by the storm.

In Tennessee, a Democrat scrambles to turn out voters as polls show slide

Just weeks ago, Tennessee's Phil Bredesen was a bright light for a Democratic Party hoping to make inroads into conservative “Trump country” and secure a path to retake majority control of the U.S. Senate in November's elections. Polls showed Bredesen, the state's 74-year-old former governor, in a surprisingly tight race with Republican U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn to replace retiring Republican Senator Bob Corker.

Honduran migrant group treks north as the U.S. calls for tighter borders

More than 1,000 people, including families and women carrying babies, set off from Honduras toward the United States on Saturday, days after the United States urged Honduras' president to halt mass migration. Recent attempts at group crossings from Central America to the United States have tested U.S. President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" stance on illegal immigration, as people fleeing violence and poverty defy threats of deportation.

Four shot dead at one-year-old's birthday party in Texas

Four men were shot and killed following a fight between two families at a birthday party for a 1-year-old in Texas, state officials said. A 37-year-old man is suspected of shooting five men with a handgun early Saturday evening in the backyard of a home in the small town of Taft, north of Corpus Christi, said Sgt. Nathan Brandley of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Trump says family separations deter illegal immigration

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that separating migrant families at the border could deter illegal immigration and that he was considering several options to tighten border security. In June, Trump abandoned his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents on the U.S.-Mexico border after images of youngsters in cages sparked outrage at home and abroad.

Pennsylvania Republican candidate threatens to stomp on opponent's face

The Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania threatened to stomp on the face of his Democratic opponent in a social media video on Friday and then walked back his comments, saying he made a mistake in his choice of words. Republican Scott Wagner is trailing well behind incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf in the polls ahead of the Nov. 6 election, and the video posted on Wagner's campaign Facebook page was part of an acrimonious battle in one of most populous U.S. states.

Without captions, warnings about Hurricane Michael failed to reach disabled

When Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin turned to the internet to view a video warning about Hurricane Michael, she was quickly reminded that sign language interpreters are often edited out of broadcast clips and closed captioning seems to be non-existent online. "There are 35 million deaf and hard of hearing people and it's amazing today that there isn't full access to them," she told Reuters through an interpreter on Friday in a telephone interview.

Hopes fade for more survivors of Hurricane Michael

The hunt for missing people in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael early Sunday is turning into a search for the dead, as hope of finding more people alive fades in the Florida Panhandle, U.S. officials said. "We're going into recovery mode, unfortunately," said Fire Chief Alex Baird of Panama City, one of the coastal Florida communities clobbered by the hurricane that made landfall Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, packing more than 140 mph winds and deadly storm surges.

Bodies of 11 babies found hidden in a former funeral home in Detroit: police

The bodies of 11 babies were found hidden at a former funeral home in Detroit on Friday after authorities received an anonymous letter leading them to the remains, police said. Police are investigating after authorities found nine badly decomposed bodies inside a box and two inside a casket, all hidden in a false ceiling at the former Cantrell Funeral Home, Detroit police Lieutenant Brian Bowser told reporters.

Florida wild cat sanctuary caught in hurricane's path

"Saint" the mountain lion was pacing nervously in his pen and crying days before Hurricane Michael cut a path of destruction through the Bear Creek Feline Center, a refuge for 23 wild cats near Florida's Panama City. "They were very agitated," said Bertie Broaddus, who runs the centre with her husband Jim Broaddus, as she inspected the damage from the powerful storm that killed at least 17 people and tore up Florida's Panhandle coastline.

(With inputs from agencies.)