US Domestic News Roundup: Tailpipe pollution; Obamacare law; magic mushrooms; Super Bowl

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Virginia governor denies being in racist yearbook photo

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Saturday resisted mounting pressure from his Democratic party that he resign, denying that he appeared in a racist yearbook photo while admitting he once wore blackface in a dance contest. Northam, who took office a year ago, said he would stay in his job. "As long as I feel that I can lead, I will continue to do that," he said.

Foxconn vows to build Wisconsin plant after talk with Trump

Foxconn Technology said on Friday it will build a factory in Wisconsin after the company's chairman spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump, following a Reuters report earlier this week that the Taiwanese company was reconsidering its plans. Reuters reported that Foxconn was reconsidering making liquid crystal display panels at a planned $10 billion Wisconsin campus and intended to hire mostly engineers and researchers there. But after conversations between Trump and Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou, the company said it would move "forward with our planned construction of a Gen 6 fab facility," which is a type of plant that produces displays.

U.S. high court temporarily blocks Louisiana abortion restrictions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily prevented a Louisiana law imposing strict regulations on abortion clinics from taking effect in a case that presents a key test on the contentious issue following last year's retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, a pivotal supporter of abortion rights. A one-page order issued by Justice Samuel Alito said that "the justices need time to review" the various court filings before making a decision on the emergency application filed by Shreveport-based abortion provider Hope Medical Group for Women to block the law.

Inmates shiver in frigid cells at New York jail, lawmakers say

Inmates at a federal jail in Brooklyn have suffered for days without heat or power during a wintry cold snap, according to lawyers and U.S. lawmakers who rallied outside the jail on Saturday demanding the problems be fixed and ill inmates moved. A fire last Sunday at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center cut off power and heat to parts of the jail just as freezing Arctic air began rolling towards the East Coast, according to motions filed this week in federal court by lawyers from the Federal Defenders who represent some of the inmates.

A climate problem even California can't fix: tailpipe pollution

For three decades, California has led the fight to control tailpipe pollution, with countless policies promoting cleaner gasoline, carpooling, public transportation and its signature strategy - the electric vehicle. Californians now buy more than half of all EVs sold in the United States, and the state's auto-pollution policies have provided a model being adopted around the world.

U.S. judge throws out Maryland bid to protect Obamacare law

A U.S. judge on Friday threw out the state of Maryland's bid to protect the healthcare law known as Obamacare in a ruling that also sidestepped a decision on whether President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general was lawful. In a win for the Republican president, Baltimore-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander said Maryland had failed to show that the Trump administration is likely to terminate enforcement of the 2010 law, officially called the Affordable Care Act.

In Chicago's epic freeze, some homeless feel more comfortable outdoors

Blanca Rodriguez, a 52-year-old homeless woman, spent a night at one of the warming centers Chicago set up ahead of the Arctic-like weather that froze a large swath of the United States this week. But then Rodriguez, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, went back to the homeless encampment on the North Side of Chicago where she had been staying the past couple of months, complaining the shelter took away her medications for high blood pressure and "a bad kidney".

In U.S. Midwest, 22F 'feels like spring' after days of brutal cold

Bone-chilling cold that paralyzed a chunk of the United States this week and killed at least 18 people eased on Friday as an errant Arctic air mass retreated ahead of a warmer-than-normal weekend in areas of the Midwest and Northeast. In Chicago, where the mercury dipped as low as minus 22 Fahrenheit (minus 30 Celsius) this week, temperatures of 22F (minus 5.5C) by Friday afternoon felt balmy for some in the nation's third-largest city.

Denver to vote on whether to decriminalize 'magic mushrooms'

Denver voters will decide in May whether to decriminalize possession of small amounts of the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin, which would make it the first U.S. city to halt prosecution of people caught with psychedelic mushrooms. The citizen-driven proposal, which election officials said this week reached the required number of signatures to be on the city's municipal ballot, would not legalize so-called "magic mushrooms," but rather make them a low priority for law enforcement, according to its language.

Civil rights pillar Atlanta grapples with Super Bowl hosting duties

As football fans flood Atlanta for Sunday's Super Bowl, not everyone is thrilled that a city once a pillar of the Civil Rights movement is playing host, given the NFL's record on race. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell highlighted Atlanta's history of racial activism in comments to reporters this week and said the National Football League, where 70 percent of players are African American, was devoted to "honoring that legacy."

(With inputs from agencies.)