U.S. News Roundup: Pelosi pushes Trump to delay State of Union speech; Georgia man charged with plotting attack on White House

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Court rejects U.S. cities' appeal over Pentagon gun check flaws

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected an effort by three major U.S. cities to require the Pentagon to be more vigilant about reporting service members who were disqualified from owning weapons to a national background check system. By a 3-0 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it lacked jurisdiction to compel the Department of Defense to fix what New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco called a "broken" system, or to supervise improvements to the Pentagon's "partial and inconsistent reporting."

Georgia man charged with plotting attack on White House: media

A Georgia man has been arrested and charged for allegedly plotting to destroy the White House and other government buildings in Washington, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on Wednesday.

On Prohibition milestone's anniversary, U.S. top court hears booze case

A case testing the constitutionality of state regulations on the sale of alcohol enacted after the Prohibition era brewed before the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, with the justices appearing sympathetic toward a challenge to Tennessee's residency requirements for retailers. The one-hour argument came on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution's 18th Amendment, which imposed a nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages and paved the way for a Prohibition era that ran from 1920 to 1933.

Head of striking Los Angeles teachers' union aims to resume talks 'soon'

The head of the Los Angeles teachers union said he hoped to resume talks "very soon" as a strike that has interrupted classes for some 492,000 students in the second-largest U.S. public school system ticked into a third day on Wednesday. More than 30,000 educators have walked off the job demanding higher pay, smaller classes and more staff, requests that the county's independent school district has described as unaffordable. The two sides have not held formal talks since the strike began on Monday.

Tennessee ex-teacher who took off with student sentenced to 20 years

A former Tennessee high school teacher who took off with a female student in 2017 on a cross-country journey that ended with his arrest in California was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday. Tad Cummins, 52, was sentenced in federal court in Nashville by U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger, according to emails from a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Ex-Michigan governor to resign university post in Nassar fallout: media

Michigan State University's interim president John Engler will resign following renewed criticism of how he handled fallout over the sex abuse scandal involving sports doctor Larry Nassar, the Detroit Free Press reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed officials. Nassar, who was a team doctor for USA Gymnastics, was sentenced to up to 300 years in prison in two different trials last winter after more than 350 women testified about abuse at his hands. He also worked at Michigan State University.

As shutdown lingers, Pelosi pushes Trump to delay State of Union speech

With the partial U.S. government shutdown now in its 26th day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday urged President Donald Trump to reschedule his State of the Union address - a move that could deny him the opportunity to use the pageantry of the speech to attack Democrats in their own chamber over the impasse. With Trump's address set for Jan. 29, Pelosi wrote him a letter citing security concerns because the Secret Service, which is required to provide security for the address, has not received funding during the dispute.

Celebrity's 'Chefs for Feds' kitchen feeds unpaid U.S. government workers

Maurice Wilson joined dozens of fellow federal workers in Washington on Wednesday at the opening of celebrity chef Jose Andres' emergency kitchen, grateful for a free lunch of egg sandwiches, quinoa bowls and tomato soup as the partial government shutdown dragged on. "Within another two weeks, I'm going to have to figure out a way to survive," said Wilson, 59, who is working without pay at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency of the District of Columbia.

Migrants depart from El Salvador as new U.S.-bound caravan forms

At least 150 Salvadoran migrants departed in a group for the United States on Wednesday, the latest in a string of such 'caravans' that U.S. President Donald Trump has used to build his case for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. The group, organized through social media, is following in the wake of a larger caravan that departed from Honduras this week.

U.S. watchdog faults handling of government lease for Trump D.C. hotel

An internal U.S. government watchdog on Wednesday found "serious shortcomings" in federal officials' handling of a lease by President Donald Trump's company of a historic government building in Washington now home to a Trump International Hotel. Amid intensifying scrutiny of possible conflicts of interest involving Trump's businesses, the inspector general of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) found fault with the agency's review of the lease of the Old Post Office Pavilion.