US Domestic News Roundup: 2017 Michigan airport stabbing; 'El Chapo' trial; California's deadliest wildfire

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Citizenship query will not cause U.S. census undercount: official

The U.S. Census Bureau's top scientist on Wednesday insisted the bureau can get a full count of American residents during the 2020 census, despite the Trump administration's addition of a question on citizenship. The agency's chief scientist, John Abowd, made the comments in testimony in federal court in New York, where a group of U.S. states, cities and civil rights groups have sued the administration to remove the question, arguing it could dissuade non-citizens from participating in the decennial census.

Air Force pilot killed, another injured in crash in Texas: Air Force

A U.S. Air Force pilot was killed and another injured when their supersonic jet crashed in Texas, the Air Force said on Wednesday. The T-38C Talon crashed at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas at 7:40 p.m. local time (0140 GMT), the air base said on Facebook. The plane is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer, it said on its website.

'Progress is being made' against California's deadliest wildfire

Fire crews in northern California seized on improved weather conditions on Wednesday in their six-day-old battle to suppress the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history as National Guard troops were called in to help search for victims. The confirmed death toll from the Camp Fire stood at 48 as the footprint of the fire grew by 5,000 acres to 135,000 acres(55,000 hectares), even as diminished winds and rising humidity allowed firefighters to carve containment lines around more than a third of the perimeter.

Mattis defends Mexico border deployment in first troop visit

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis defended the deployment of thousands of troops to the border with Mexico as he traveled there on Wednesday, saying the mission was "absolutely legal" and justified, and that it was improving military readiness. President Donald Trump's politically charged decision to send U.S. troops to the Mexico border came ahead of U.S. midterm congressional elections last week, as Trump sought to strengthen border security as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration.

U.S. top court to review Virginia voting districts in race case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will review for a second time whether Republican legislators in Virginia drew electoral districts in the state in a way that unlawfully diluted the clout of black voters. The high court will hear an appeal by the Republican-led state House of Delegates of a June ruling by a federal three-judge panel that said the 11 state House districts in question all violated the rights of black voters to equal protection under the law under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment.

Possible witnesses against 'El Chapo' revealed at U.S. trial

A defense lawyer for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Wednesday named some of the former close associates of the Mexican drug lord -- including his alleged head of operations in Central America -- who will likely testify against him at a U.S. trial.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said as part of his opening statement that he expected prosecutors to call Cesar Gastelum, Damaso Lopez and Miguel Angel Martinez, former drug traffickers who are now cooperating with authorities.

U.S. safety board holds hearing on fatal Southwest engine explosion

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigative hearing on Wednesday into the fatal engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that killed one passenger. Dallas-based Southwest has been under scrutiny since an engine on a flight headed from New York to Dallas blew apart in mid-air over Pennsylvania, shattering a plane window, flinging shrapnel and killing passenger Jennifer Riordan, one of 149 people aboard.

Mexican man faces execution in Texas for bludgeoning death of family

A Mexican man was due to be executed in Texas on Wednesday for bludgeoning his wife and two children to death at their home in 1992, as his attorneys continued to plead that his case be reexamined, according to state officials and court documents. Roberto Ramos Moreno, 64, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1993 for killing his 42-year-old wife Leticia Ramos and their children, Abigail Ramos, 7, and Jonathan Ramos, 3, with a sledgehammer, according to court filings from the state's Department of Justice.

U.S. seeks to strike El Chapo lawyer's opening statement

U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday asked a federal judge to strike the opening statement made a day earlier by the lawyer for accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on the first day of his trial in Brooklyn for drug smuggling. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, prosecutors said the lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, tried improperly to sway the jury by arguing that Guzman had been selectively targeted for prosecution, an argument the court had barred him from making.

Man convicted on terrorism charge in 2017 Michigan airport stabbing

A man accused of stabbing a police officer at a Michigan airport last year was convicted in U.S. federal court on Tuesday of charges including terrorism, a court official said. A jury in Flint, Michigan, found Amor Ftouhi, 51, of the Canadian province of Quebec, guilty on charges of committing an act of violence at an international airport, interference with airport security and committing an act of terrorism, the court said.

(With inputs from Reuters)