US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. govt shutdown drags into fourth week amid stalemate; Trump vows fair deal with China

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Stormy Daniels sues over Ohio strip club arrest, calling it political

Ohio police officers were politically motivated when they arrested Stormy Daniels, the porn star who has described having an affair with President Donald Trump, at a strip club last year, the actress said in a lawsuit on Monday. The Columbus vice unit officers who arrested Daniels on July 12, 2018, were registered Republicans as is the president, Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, said in her lawsuit filed in federal court in Ohio.

Accused captor of 13-year-old Wisconsin girl to face murder, kidnap charge

The man accused of kidnapping a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl after murdering her parents is due in court on Monday to face charges, days after the teen ended her 88-day-ordeal by escaping the rural home where she was held hostage. Jake Patterson, 21, was arrested hours after Jayme Closs' escape on Thursday but police have so far said little about what might have motivated him to target the girl and her parents. The parents' bodies were discovered in their home in October, sparking a massive months-long search for the missing teen.

Suspect shot by police dies after standoff at New Jersey UPS facility

A 39-year-old gunman opened fire at a United Parcel Service Inc facility in New Jersey and held two employees hostage for hours on Monday before police fatally shot him, officials said. William Owens barricaded himself and two women inside the sorting facility in Logan Township and police sent a heavily armed SWAT team to the location, about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of downtown Philadelphia, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said in a statement.

New Illinois governor promises balanced budget for state

Billionaire political newcomer J.B. Pritzker took office as Illinois governor on Monday, pledging to pass a balanced budget and take on the state's "challenging" financial problems with "hard choices." The inauguration address by the Democratic first-time government office holder promised a new direction for Illinois, "with leadership that abandons single-minded, arrogant notions."

'El Chapo' dreamed of biopic for years before capture, says trial witness

Accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was interested in directing a movie about his life story as early as 2007, long before his well-known meeting with U.S. actor Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo in 2015, jurors in Guzman's U.S. trial heard on Monday. Alex Cifuentes, Guzman's self-described one-time "right hand man," said he learned about a planned movie project while living with Guzman in the mountains of his boss' home state of Sinaloa from 2007 to 2009.

Trump defends trade policies to farmers, vows fair deal with China

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday defended his tough trade policies in front of thousands of farmers who have suffered because of his trade war with China, disappointing some who had hoped to hear a plan for a swift resolution. Trump dedicated much of his speech to explaining why the U.S. needs a wall on its southern border in his second consecutive visit to the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual convention. He also said his trade policies would deliver long-term benefits for the American heartland.

U.S. government shutdown drags into fourth week amid stalemate

President Donald Trump on Monday rejected a Republican call for temporarily reopening shuttered U.S. government agencies in order to encourage negotiations with Democrats on border security issues, as a partial government shutdown limped through its 24th day. About one-quarter of federal operations have been partially closed by a lack of funding since Dec. 22 after Trump demanded $5.7 billion this year from Congress for building a security wall on the southwest U.S. border.

Los Angeles teachers strike, claiming 'existential battle' over schools

More than 30,000 Los Angeles teachers demanding pay raises and smaller classes walked off the job in America's second-largest school system on Monday, marching downtown in the rain after negotiations over a new contract broke down. Students arriving for classes at some 900 campuses across the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) were met by their teachers carrying picket signs in the city's first teachers' strike in three decades. The system educates some 640,000 students.

Worst is over for winter storm that clobbered U.S. Midwest, D.C. and New England

The deadly winter storm that clobbered a swath of the U.S. Midwest and East Coast over the weekend is blowing out to sea, but leaves as much as 13 inches of snow in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and frigid arctic air parked over New England. All Washington D.C. federal offices would be closed on Monday, but train and bus service in the metro D.C. area would resume after being shut down on Sunday, officials said.

Judge says accused NYC bike path attacker still a threat, eases conditions

A federal judge on Monday said Sayfullo Saipov, who could face the death penalty if convicted of killing eight people on a New York City bike path, should remain subject to special detention measures to protect against terrorism, but eased restrictions on communications involving his legal team. Saipov, a 30-year-old Uzbek national, has been housed at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan since his Oct. 31, 2017 arrest, which police said came after he ran over his victims by driving a truck down the lower Manhattan bike path.