Mexico compound, Tropical Storm Lane, U.S. State Department: US news round-up

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Two charged for boy's death at New Mexico compound

Two people arrested for alleged child abuse at a New Mexico settlement faced new charges on Friday in connection with the death of a toddler whose body was recently discovered at the site, the Taos County Sheriff's Office said. Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, the father of the boy whose body was found, and his wife Jany Leveille were charged with abuse of a child resulting in death, which carries a potential life sentence, Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe said in a statement. They were also charged with conspiracy to commit an abuse of a child.

Tropical Storm Lane threatens more Hawaii floods as it turns away

Tropical Storm Lane, greatly diminished from the major hurricane it once was, drifted at sea off the Hawaiian coast on Saturday as it spread rains across the island chain from Oahu to the Big Island, threatening to trigger more flooding and landslides. But as trade winds finally began to nudge the storm off to the west, away from land, the National Weather Service (NWS) lifted all remaining tropical storm warnings and watch advisories for the state of Hawaii.

U.S.calls foreign mail system unfair in surprise win for Amazon

The U.S. State Department on Friday said it would push for foreign postal carriers to pay the U.S. Postal Service more to deliver small parcels within the United States, taking up a longtime complaint by Amazon.com, UPS and others who have alleged the current system is unfair. The State Department also said it would push foreign postal services to furnish data that would help customs officials detect opioids and other illegal shipments entering the United States. That task could also add to their costs.

Seven arrested at Confederate statue protest in North Carolina

Police in North Carolina arrested seven people on Saturday during scuffles at a university campus where demonstrators earlier this week had toppled a statue of a Confederate soldier, a campus official said. Most of those taken into custody face assault charges, Carly Miller, a spokeswoman for the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, said in an email.

Georgia blocks move to close voting sites in mostly black county

A Georgia elections board on Friday blocked a bid to close most polling places in a largely black county after critics called it a thinly-veiled attempt to undercut Stacey Abrams, who could become the country's first female, African-American governor. Both Abrams, the Democratic nominee, and her rival Republican Brian Kemp, who is white and serves as Georgia's secretary of state, had urged county officials to drop the plan.

All tropical storm warnings and watches lifted for Hawaii: NWS

All coastal weather warnings and watch advisories for the Hawaiian Islands were lifted on Saturday as Tropical Storm Lane weakened further and drifted to the west, away from land, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Lane's maximum sustained winds diminished to 50 miles per hour (85 km per hour), but the NWS said lingering moisture from the storm would produce heavy rainfall through the weekend that could trigger additional flooding and mudslides.

Former Pennsylvania altar boy says he stole from church to avenge abuse

Mike McDonnell was an altar boy who loved to sing Latin hymns at his church in suburban Philadelphia, but his Roman Catholic faith became a source of torment at age 12 when he woke up to find a priest molesting him in the vacation bed the clergyman forced him to share. "From that day forth, I would never be that same child," said McDonnell, now 49. "I went into shock mode and shut down. I would hold onto those secrets for 20-plus years."

U.S. health agency's ex-director charged with groping woman

A former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who helped contain the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, was arrested and charged with sexual abuse on Friday after being accused of groping a woman last year. A 55-year-old woman filed a complaint in July against Thomas Frieden, who once served as the city's health commissioner, accusing him of grabbing her buttocks without permission last October at his Brooklyn apartment, said New York City Police Department spokeswoman Arlene Muniz. The woman's name was not divulged.

U.S. judge rejects Trump directives easing ability to fire federal workers

A U.S. federal judge on Saturday rejected key elements of President Donald Trump's May executive orders that would make it easier to fire federal employees and reduce their ability to bargain collectively. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said in a court order that Trump's orders, which also would reduce the amount of time low-performing employees had to improve their performance before being fired, "undermine federal employees' right to bargain collectively."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)