US News Roundup: Abrams admits defeat in Georgia governor race; DeSantis secures Florida governor's seat

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Evacuation plan 'out the window' when fire hit California town

When a "megafire" engulfed Paradise, California, officials and residents had to abandon their evacuation plans and improvise new ways to save lives, learning lessons that could help the growing number of U.S. communities at risk to wildfires. As strong winds sent flames roaring into Paradise at 2 miles per minute, emergency personnel and locals realized their escape plans, crafted after a 2008 blaze, would not work.

Judge eases Reagan shooter Hinckley's release conditions

A federal judge on Friday eased travel and other restrictions on the activities of John Hinckley, who shot former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in a 1981 assassination attempt. Hinckley, 63, has been living with his mother, who is in her 90s, in Williamsburg, Virginia since his September 2016 release from a Washington psychiatric hospital.

U.S. prosecutors talking with accused Russian agent to resolve case

U.S. prosecutors and lawyers for accused Russian agent Maria Butina are engaging in negotiations, both sides said in a court filing on Friday, raising the possibility the case could be resolved with a plea deal. Butina, a former graduate student at American University in Washington who has publicly advocated for gun rights, was charged in July with acting as an agent of the Russian government and conspiracy to take actions on behalf of Russia.

Abrams admits defeat in hard-fought Georgia governor race

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams admitted defeat in her effort to become the first black female U.S. governor on Friday, but said she planned to sue the state over voting problems and "gross mismanagement" of the election. Abrams' announcement effectively hands victory to Republican Brian Kemp in a bitter race that has drawn national attention both for her historic campaign and for Kemp's role as the state's top election administrator.

Republican DeSantis secures Florida governor's seat after rival Gillum concedes

Democrat Andrew Gillum, who had sought to become Florida's first black governor, conceded on Saturday after a recount showed he had no way of catching his Republican rival Ron DeSantis, an ally of President Donald Trump. Gillum, the 39-year-old liberal mayor of Tallahassee, had initially conceded the race on the night of the Nov. 6 election to DeSantis, a conservative former congressman. But Gillum later withdrew that concession when the results showed the two were close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

U.S. judge orders White House to restore press pass to CNN's Acosta

A U.S. judge on Friday ordered the White House to temporarily restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's press pass, which was revoked after a contentious news conference last week with President Donald Trump. The White House withdrew Acosta's credentials on Nov. 7 in an escalation of the Republican president's attacks on news organizations, who he has called enemies of the people.

Rain on the way as search for missing continues after California wildfires

Rain is on the way for fire-scorched and smoke-choked northern California, forecasters said on Sunday, as the search for the dead and missing continued after the state's most destructive wildfires. The wildfires have already claimed at least 76 lives and the number of people missing jumped on Saturday to 1,276, despite authorities locating hundreds of people who scattered when the Camp Fire tore through the mountain town of Paradise.

Fiery mailboxes and dogs in bags: fleeing California's wildfire

Nicole Montague and her 16-year-old daughter Destiny noticed a red glow on the horizon as they drove to school in Paradise, California, that Thursday morning. They did not think much of it as they had seen fires nearby in the past. Since they had not heard any warnings, they shrugged it off. But within minutes mass panic broke out, said Nicole Montague, 45.

Eleventh child dies from viral outbreak at New Jersey facility

An 11th child has died in less than four weeks at a New Jersey rehabilitation centre, one of 34 young patients with compromised immune systems to have been infected by a viral outbreak, state health officials said on Friday. The child, who died late Thursday, and the others at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in the town of Haskell, became ill with adenovirus between Sept. 26 and Nov. 12, the state's Department of Health said in a statement.