US News Roundup: U.S. court upholds Louisiana restriction, Kavanaugh hearing and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Texas executes man convicted of drowning woman, dumping body

Texas on Wednesday put to death a man convicted of drowning a woman in a bathtub 20 years ago and dumping her cement-encased body in a remote area, in the first of its two planned executions this week. Troy Clark, 51, was executed by lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said. On Thursday, Texas plans to execute Daniel Acker, 46, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering a woman in 2000.

U.S. court upholds Louisiana restriction on abortion clinics

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday upheld a Louisiana provision that requires doctors who perform abortions in the state to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. In a 2-1 ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, the judges said the Louisiana provision was different than one in Texas that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 because it would not put an undue burden on women.

Supreme Court's Ginsburg voices support for #MeToo on eve of Kavanaugh hearing

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg voiced support for the #MeToo movement on Wednesday in a striking statement on the eve of a high-stakes U.S. Senate hearing into allegations of sexual misconduct by President Donald Trump's nominee to the court, Brett Kavanaugh. During a question-and-answer period after an address to first-year law students at Georgetown University in Washington, Ginsburg was asked if there was anything she was excited or disappointed about regarding the current women's movement.

Trump's top court pick, accuser to face high-stakes hearing

A woman who has accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982 will testify at a high-stakes Senate hearing on Thursday that could determine whether he is confirmed or rejected for the nation's top court. Christine Blasey Ford will give her account of an alleged incident, in which she said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a party when both of them were in high school.

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.

Cosby's appeal likely to focus on parade of accusers at his second trial

Bill Cosby's appeal of his conviction for sexual assault is expected to focus on a Pennsylvania judge's decision to allow several accusers to testify against him, but his challenge faces significant hurdles, according to legal experts. The disgraced comedian's first trial hinged largely on the credibility of a single woman, his one-time friend Andrea Constand, who said he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004, and ended in a hung jury.

Trump wavers on Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he could withdraw his support for Brett Kavanaugh depending on the testimony in a high-profile Thursday hearing into multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against the Supreme Court nominee. Trump defended Kavanaugh, now a federal appeals court judge, at a New York news conference, but the president's comments injected another note of uncertainty into Kavanaugh's already troubled bid for a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court.

Texas to execute man convicted of strangling woman while driving

Texas plans on Thursday to execute a man convicted of kidnapping a woman and choking her to death while driving as lawyers for the inmate seek to spare his life, arguing he did not murder her and was convicted due to faulty forensic evidence. Daniel Acker, 46, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT).

U.S. court dismisses NY lawsuit against FedEx over cigarettes

A federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday against FedEx Corp in which New York state and New York City claimed that the package delivery company had shipped untaxed cigarettes, cheating both out of tax revenue, according to a court document. The lawsuit, which was filed against FedEx Ground Package System Inc and FedEx Freight Inc, had sought penalties under the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act, which prohibits shipping contraband cigarettes.

Man deported six times charged with murder in California bludgeonings

A man who police said fled to California from Texas after being questioned in the disappearance of two relatives was charged on Wednesday in Los Angeles with bludgeoning eight men, three fatally, in a string of attacks aimed mostly at homeless victims. Ramon Alberto Escobar, 47, an El Salvador native and convicted burglar who has been repeatedly deported from the United States, was arrested on Monday after he allegedly clubbed a sleeping man in the head with bolt-cutters in the ocean-front city of Santa Monica, authorities said.