US Domestic News Roundup: New York Governor Cuomo aims to legalize recreational marijuana use; E-cigarette usage nearly doubles in U.S. high-schools

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

No immediate health coverage changes from Obamacare ruling: government

There will be no immediate health coverage impact from a federal judge's ruling that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, is unconstitutional, as it is expected to be appealed through higher courts, a government official said. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday sided with a coalition of 20 states that argued requiring people to pay for insurance coverage is illegal because a change in tax law last year eliminated a penalty for not having health insurance.

After outcry over appointment, Trump's top law enforcer treading lightly

Matthew Whitaker flew to Dallas last week to deliver his latest speech since U.S. President Donald Trump installed him as acting attorney general, an appointment embroiled in criticism and court challenges. In the aftermath of the blow-up, Whitaker's public remarks in the last five weeks have been notable for what they lacked - any hint of controversy.

Small assault-style rifle firms thriving under activists' radar

A decade ago, Kentucky's Anderson Manufacturing was a small machine shop that didn't make firearms. By 2016, it was making more rifles than Smith & Wesson, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Anderson's big seller: assault-style rifles that cost up to $2,100 and require no lubrication. Anderson says it made nearly 454,000 rifles that year, or about 57,000 more than Smith & Wesson.

E-cigarette usage nearly doubles in U.S. high-schools: survey

The percentage of high school seniors who used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days nearly doubled to 20.9 percent from last year, results of a survey released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed on Monday. The increase in vaping by 10th and 12th graders was the largest year-over-year jump for any substance ever measured by the survey, which started 44 years ago.

New York Governor Cuomo aims to legalize recreational marijuana use

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday said legalizing marijuana for recreational use would be one of his top legislative priorities next year. The move, which would add New York to the list of 10 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that have legalized cannabis, could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue, according to a report commissioned by the governor and released last summer.

Dead Guatemalan girl dreamed of sending money home to poor family

The 7-year-old Guatemalan migrant girl who died after being detained by U.S. border agents this month was inseparable from her father and had looked forward to being able to send money home to support her impoverished family, relatives said on Saturday. Nery Caal, 29, and his daughter Jakelin were in a group of more than 160 migrants who handed themselves in to U.S. border agents in New Mexico on Dec. 6. Jakelin developed a high fever while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and died two days later at a hospital in El Paso, Texas.

Hondurans who fled political violence fear for lives if sent home

The Pineda family trudged northward for more than a month with a caravan of Central American migrants who are now stuck at the U.S. border. But they were on the run in Honduras much longer than that due to fears of political persecution. According to the family's account, masked men in military uniforms came in November 2017 to their door in the town of Peña Blanca, brandishing handguns and giving them two options: leave or be killed. They chose to leave, taking refuge with friends and family for nearly a year, they said, before joining thousands of others in a 2,800-mile (4,500-km) journey to the United States in October.

Trump approves second round of trade aid payments for U.S. farmers

President Donald Trump on Monday said he authorized a second round of payments from an aid package of up to $12 billion designed to help farmers stung by the U.S. trade war with China, billing it as a promise kept to a key constituency. "Today I am making good on my promise to defend our Farmers & Ranchers from unjustified trade retaliation by foreign nations," Trump said in a Twitter post.

(With inputs from Reuters)