US News Roundup: Georgia lawsuit; Kavanaugh clears the way for Tennessee execution and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Georgia lawsuit is the latest blow in U.S. fight over voting rights

U.S. voting rights advocacy groups on Thursday sued Georgia's top election official, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, accusing him of putting more than 50,000 voter registration applications on hold to boost his gubernatorial campaign. Kemp is the Republican nominee for governor in one of this year's highest-profile state races, in which Democrat Stacey Abrams is seeking to become the state's first black governor. The lawsuit brought by a coalition of state civil rights groups accused Kemp of attempting to depress minority turnout to improve his chances of victory.

Harvard bias trial to spotlight use of race in college admissions

A lawsuit challenging the use of race as a factor in U.S. college admissions will go to trial in Boston on Monday when Harvard University will face accusations that it discriminates against Asian-American applicants. The lawsuit, backed by the Trump administration, could eventually reach the Supreme Court, giving the newly cemented five-member conservative majority a chance to bar the use of affirmative action to help minority applicants get into college.

Supreme Court with Kavanaugh clears the way for Tennessee execution

The U.S. Supreme Court with new Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued two decisions on Thursday that helped clear the way for Tennessee to execute an inmate convicted of murdering two men in 1983. Edmund Zagorski, 63, had been set to be executed on Thursday but a few hours before the Supreme Court's decision Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam granted a 10-day reprieve to allow the case to wind itself through the courts and to consider the inmate's request to be put to death by electrocution.

Kanye West defends support for Trump, in front of Trump

(Editor's note: Paragraphs 7 and 8 contains language that readers may find offensive.) Rapper Kanye West, with a stream of consciousness speech in the Oval Office and a burst of profanity, defended his support for President Donald Trump on Thursday, to the great delight of Trump himself.

Trump's lawyers preparing answers to questions in Russia probe: source

President Donald Trump's lawyers are preparing answers to questions for the U.S. special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The development, first reported by CNN, appears to show progress after several months of talks between the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and Trump's legal team in connection with the president answering questions in the investigation.

The death toll from Hurricane Michael rises to 12 amid search for survivors

Using heavy equipment to push aside debris and with helicopters circling overhead, rescuers in the Florida Panhandle searched for trapped residents as officials warned on Friday the death toll from Hurricane Michael was likely to rise. At least 12 people were killed in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia, officials said, after one of the most powerful hurricanes in U.S. history slammed into Florida's northwest coast.

Washington state's top court bans death penalty as biased, arbitrary

Washington became the 20th U.S. state to abolish capital punishment when its Supreme Court struck down the death penalty on Thursday, saying in a unanimous decision that its application was arbitrary and racially biased. "The death penalty, as administered in our state, fails to serve any legitimate enological goal," the Washington Supreme Court said, adding it "is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner."

Pope accepts the resignation of Washington archbishop in sex abuse crisis

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl as archbishop of Washington, D.C., the Vatican said on Friday, making him one of the most senior Catholic figures to step down in a worldwide sexual abuse crisis. Wuerl, 77, who was bishop of Pittsburgh between 1988 and 2006, has been under scrutiny over his handling of sexual abuse cases during that period. He keeps the title of cardinal.

Regulator ties pipeline work to deadly Massachusetts gas explosion

A NiSource Inc affiliate failed to require contract repair crews to relocate pressure sensors during natural-gas pipeline work, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Thursday, resulting in overpressured lines that caused explosions and fires in three Massachusetts communities last month. Overpressurized gas poured through Columbia Gas Co of Massachusetts' distribution system in Lawrence, North Andover and Andover, flooding into homes and businesses and sparking explosions and fires that killed one person and injured 21.

Limo company operator in New York crash pleads not guilty, faces threats

The operator of a limousine company that owned the vehicle involved in a crash that killed 20 people in upstate New York has received threats since pleading not guilty to criminally negligent homicide, his lawyer told local news media on Thursday. Nauman Hussain, 28, was charged with one felony count related to the deadliest U.S. transportation accident in nearly a decade. All 20 victims were listed on the charging document.