US Domestic News Roundup: Court rules for Trump on transgender military limits; Three killed in California bowling alley shooting

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Johns Hopkins, Bristol-Myers must face $1 billion syphilis infections suit

A federal judge in Maryland said The Johns Hopkins University, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and the Rockefeller Foundation must face a $1 billion lawsuit over their roles in a 1940s U.S. government experiment that infected hundreds of Guatemalans with syphilis. In a decision on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang rejected the defendants' argument that a recent Supreme Court decision shielding foreign corporations from lawsuits in U.S. courts over human rights abuses abroad also applied to domestic corporations absent Congressional authorization.

Manson family follower recommended for parole: media

A California parole board recommended Thursday that an acolyte of cult leader and mass murderer Charles Manson be set free, media reports said. Manson follower Robert Beausoleil, 71, has served nearly half a century for a conviction in the 1969 slaying of musician Gary Hinman, who was tortured for three days before his death, previous court hearings and news accounts said.

Washington governor to pardon pot crimes, six years after legalization

Washington state will create a streamlined system to pardon people convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession before the drug was legal, under an initiative launched on Friday by Governor Jay Inslee, who is considering a run for U.S. president. Voters in Washington state and Colorado in 2012 made their two states the first in the United States to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Since then, eight other states have followed suit, while more than 30 states allow the use of medical marijuana. Federal law still bans cannabis.

Washington D.C. food trucks feel the bite from government shutdown

Looking out from her food truck over a sidewalk left empty in downtown Washington on Friday by the U.S. government's partial shutdown, Farida Abou Draa said she felt like crying. "My business is to make people happy, to give them something to eat, to see their smiles," said Abou Draa, 38. "There is no people to make happy today."

U.S. top court takes up politically charged electoral map disputes

The U.S. Supreme Court is giving itself another chance to make a definitive ruling on the legality of the long-established but often-criticized political practice called partisan gerrymandering in which state legislators draw electoral districts with the intent of entrenching their party in power. The high court, which failed to resolve the issue last year, on Friday agreed to hear constitutional challenges to electoral maps drawn by Republicans in North Carolina and by Democrats in Maryland. The court will hear arguments in both cases in March, with rulings due by the end of June that could have enduring political consequences nationwide.

Two former South Carolina police officers charged in hurricane deaths

Two former South Carolina sheriff's deputies were charged with involuntary manslaughter on Friday for the deaths of two women who drowned while being transported through floodwaters resulting from September's Hurricane Florence, court officials said. The deputies were driving two female mental health patients on Sept. 18 when they passed a barrier warning of rising waters, according to The State newspaper. Floodwaters pinned their van against a guard rail, the newspaper said. The officers managed to escape their vehicle when it began to flood but were unable to rescue the patients, the newspaper said.

JonBenet Ramsey's brother settles lawsuit with CBS: attorney

The brother of slain Colorado child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey has settled the lawsuit he filed against CBS Corp over a documentary theorizing that he killed her, both sides said on Friday. Burke Ramsey's attorney, Lin Wood, said the case had been settled but declined to disclose the terms.

U.S. court rules for Trump on transgender military limits

A U.S. court on Friday ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces, handing the president his first legal victory on the issue after several defeats. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that blocked the policy, saying it likely violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members.

Three killed, four wounded in California bowling alley shooting

Three men were killed and four wounded in a shooting at a bowling alley in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance and police said early on Saturday they were searching for a suspect or suspects. The incident followed a fight at the Gable House Bowl, a bowling alley and arcade that also offers laser tag, according to local media.

Trump threatens years-long government shutdown, emergency powers to build wall

President Donald Trump threatened to keep the U.S. government partially shut for months or years on Friday after he and Democratic leaders failed to resolve their dispute over Trump's request for $5.6 billion to build a wall on the Mexican border. After Democratic congressional leaders refused Trump's requests at a meeting in the White House Situation Room, the Republican president threatened to take the controversial step of declaring a national emergency and building the wall without congressional approval.

(With inputs from agencies.)