US News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Cosby victim asks only for 'justice' at sentencing hearing

The woman whose complaint led to Bill Cosby's conviction for sexual assault called for justice in brief testimony on the first day of the comedian's two-day sentencing hearing on Monday, where prosecutors asked for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Cosby was convicted in April of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former administrator at his alma mater Temple University, in his Philadelphia-area home in 2004 and faces a possible prison sentence on Tuesday. More than 50 other women also have accused him of sexual abuse going back decades.

After chaotic day, Rosenstein stays in job but will meet with Trump

President Donald Trump and U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees the special counsel investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election, will meet on Thursday to discuss whether Rosenstein will stay in his job. Rosenstein had spent the weekend contemplating whether he should resign after a New York Times report last week said he had suggested secretly recording Trump in 2017, a source told Reuters.

U.S. judge suggests he may dismiss Stormy Daniels lawsuit against Trump

President Donald Trump likely had a free-speech right to make a Twitter comment disputing allegations by adult film actress Stormy Daniels, a federal judge said on Monday, indicating he was inclined to dismiss her defamation lawsuit against Trump. Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and who has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, sued the president for defamation in April in federal court over the tweet.

Dallas police dismiss officer who fatally shot man in his home

The Dallas Police Department on Monday fired a police officer who is facing a manslaughter charge after fatally shooting a man in his apartment that the officer said she mistook for her own home. Officer Amber Guyger had been dismissed after nearly five years on the job for her actions on the night of the shooting earlier in September, Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall said in a statement. Hall also said Guyger had engaged in "adverse conduct" when she was arrested for manslaughter, without elaborating.

Waterways rise in South Carolina, residents told to leave

Authorities urged thousands of people to leave their homes around the city of Georgetown, South Carolina as water dumped by long-departed Hurricane Florence surged down rivers and threatened to bring devastating floods. Water levels were still rising early on Tuesday, said emergency services there, more than a week after the storm first made landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast and killed 46 people mostly in North Carolina.

Trump's Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh rejects 'false accusations'

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said on Monday he would not step aside after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct decades ago, with President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans showing no signs of relenting in their push for his Senate confirmation. "The truth is I've never sexually assaulted anyone, in high school or otherwise," Kavanaugh said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "The Story with Martha MacCallum," to air on Monday evening.

Colorado wildlife refuge at old nuclear plant is open - for now

Less than two miles (3 km) from where triggers for thermonuclear weapons were once manufactured and against the backdrop of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, a bull elk bugles as he defends his harem of cows from rival males. "It's rutting season and this is mating behavior," said David Lucas of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and manager of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Denver.

The night a Chinese billionaire was accused of rape in Minnesota

With the Chinese billionaire Richard Liu at her Minneapolis area apartment, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student sent a WeChat message to a friend in the middle of the night. She wrote that Liu had forced her to have sex with him. "I was not willing," she wrote in Chinese on the messaging application around 2 a.m. on August 31. "Tomorrow I will think of a way to escape," she wrote, as she begged the friend not to call police.

U.S. judge orders federal protection restored to Yellowstone grizzlies

A federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the bears in the region in more than 40 years. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, sided with environmentalists and native American groups by overruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip the grizzlies of their status as a threatened species.

U.S. development agency looks to boost funding to $60 billion

The head of the main U.S. agency for aiding developing country infrastructure projects said on Monday the ability to extend funding for such investments is expected to double if new legislation is approved by the U.S. Congress. Ray Washburne, president of the Overseas Private Investment Corp, told Reuters that the inclusion of the "Build Act" into must-pass legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration will accelerate the expansion and redesign of the agency.