US News Roundup: Trial opens against Harvard; 4 shot dead at one-year-old's birthday party

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trial opens on claim Harvard discriminates against Asian-Americans

Harvard University is set to face trial on Monday over accusations that it discriminates against Asian-American applicants in a closely watched lawsuit that could influence the use of race as a factor in college admissions decisions. The non-jury trial before U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston pits the Ivy League school against Students for Fair Admissions, an organization founded by an anti-affirmative action activist that sued Harvard in 2014.

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.

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.

Honduran migrant group grows, heading for the United States

A growing group of more than 1,500 Honduran migrants headed for the United States moved toward the Guatemalan border on Sunday, witnesses and organizers said. The migrants, who included families of adults and children, and women carrying babies, began a march on Saturday from the violent northern city of San Pedro Sula, days after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called on Central America to stop mass migration.

President Trump, First Lady to visit storm-ravaged Florida Panhandle

U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will travel to Florida's storm-ravaged Panhandle on Monday, the White House announced, in the president's first tour of the destruction left by the deadly Hurricane Michael. It was previously announced that Trump would also inspect south Georgia, also battered by the storm that came ashore on Florida's Gulf Coast last week before it moved up the U.S. East Coast.

Affluent cities gained at expense of Trump's 'forgotten' America study

The economic divide between affluent U.S. cities and suburbs and the ailing, often rural, areas where blue collar and middle-tier service jobs are the norms grew wider after the onset of the Great Recession, a Washington-based think tank said on Monday.

The business jet show kicks off amid optimism over U.S. tax cut-spurred demand

The latest trends in corporate jets, from high-end technology to hot showers at 40,000 feet, are on display at a flagship industry show in Orlando this week, where planemakers expect booming demand, helped by U.S. President Donald Trump's changes to the tax code. After years of sluggish sales, new models of business jets featuring longer ranges and elements like high-speed Wifi are attracting buyers. Others are weighing the advantage of tax deductions for new and pre-owned aircraft used for business, planemakers and forecasters said ahead of the Oct. 16-18 convention.

Los Angeles judge to weigh evidence against Robert Durst of 'The Jinx'

Real estate scion Robert Durst, the enigmatic subject of the HBO television documentary "The Jinx," was due back in court on Monday for a hearing on whether prosecutors have sufficient evidence to bring their murder case against him to trial. The 75-year-old multimillionaire Durst was arrested in 2015 and charged with murder in the 2000 shooting death of his longtime friend and confidante, Susan Berman.

Senator Warren, mocked by Trump as 'Pocahontas,' releases DNA test

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has released a DNA test that shows "strong evidence" she has Native-American heritage, rebutting President Donald Trump's ridicule of her as "fake Pocahontas" while she signals a possible 2020 presidential run. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said last month she would take a "hard look" at running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Trump in 2020. She and Trump clashed frequently through the 2016 presidential campaign and Trump has cast aspersions on her claim to Native-American ancestry.