Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Atlanta airport says ready for Super Bowl crush despite shutdown

Atlanta airport will be ready to field the tens of thousands of additional visitors expected for next month's Super Bowl despite the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which has left critical airport personnel unpaid, a spokesperson said Tuesday. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), already the world's busiest, expects to see an additional 125,000 passengers ahead of the Feb. 3 game and is bringing in reinforcements to meet the additional numbers, said Elise Durham, the airport's director of communications.

Shutdown bites economy, U.S. Coast Guard, as talks to end impasse stall

The U.S. economy is taking a larger-than-expected hit from the partial government shutdown, White House estimates showed on Tuesday, as contractors and even the Coast Guard go without pay and talks to end the impasse seemed stalled. The longest such shutdown in U.S. history dragged into its 25th day with neither President Donald Trump nor Democratic congressional leaders showing signs of bending on the topic that triggered it - funding for a wall Trump promised to build along the border with Mexico.

No talks scheduled on third day of Los Angeles teachers strike

No talks were publicly scheduled as the Los Angeles teachers' strike enters its third day on Wednesday even as both the city's mayor and California's governor urged both sides to negotiate. Some 30,000 Los Angeles teachers are on strike for higher pay, smaller class sizes and more staff.

Hundreds in new U.S.-bound migrant caravan cross into Guatemala

Several hundred Honduran migrants in a new U.S.-bound caravan crossed into Guatemala on Tuesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump seized on news of the advancing group to try to build support for a wall along his country's border with Mexico. About 360 Hondurans presented documents to pass legally through the Agua Caliente border crossing separating the two Central American nations. The group included entire families and young men, as well as parents carrying small children.

Judge rejects citizenship question for 2020 U.S. census

A federal judge on Tuesday invalidated the Trump administration's addition of a U.S. citizenship question to the 2020 census, the first ruling in a handful of lawsuits that claim the query will hurt immigrants. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross concealed his true motives in adding the question last March.

Alabama judge overturns law protecting Confederate monuments

An Alabama judge has voided a 2017 state law preventing the removal or alteration of historic memorials, saying it infringed citizens' free-speech rights and effectively enshrined a pro-Confederacy message in the southern U.S. state. The ruling was the latest blow in an ongoing national fight over memorials to the pro-slavery Confederacy, which lost in the 1861-1865 U.S. Civil War. Backers of the monuments call them a tribute to history and heritage, while opponents decry them as powerful tributes to institutionalized racism.

Carol Channing, Broadway's iconic 'Dolly,' dead at 97

Carol Channing, who won over audiences with her giddy, guileless charm in signature roles in Broadway's "Hello, Dolly!" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," died in her California home on Tuesday at the age of 97, according to her publicist. Channing died of natural causes in Rancho Mirage after having suffered multiple strokes last year, publicist Harlan Boll said.

Family behind Purdue Pharma pushed opioid marketing, Massachusetts says

Members of the wealthy Sackler family behind Purdue Pharma LP pushed it to boost sales of OxyContin and other opioids even as questions emerged about the extent its painkillers were being abused, Massachusetts' attorney general alleged on Tuesday. Attorney General Maura Healey filed an amended lawsuit against Purdue and current and former officers and directors of the drugmaker that drew on years of internal records to reveal new details about the family's involvement in the company.

Disgraced U.S. ex-cardinal could be defrocked soon: Vatican sources

Disgraced former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick is almost certain to be defrocked in the next few weeks over allegations against him, including sexual abuse of minors, two Vatican sources said. Last July, McCarrick became the first Catholic prelate in nearly 100 years to lose the title of cardinal. The allegations against him date back to decades ago when he was still rising to the top of the U.S. Church hierarchy.

U.S. Justice Dept broadens restrictions on internet gambling

The U.S. Justice Department will effectively prohibit online gambling and lottery businesses, experts said on Tuesday, after it decided to broaden its interpretation of rules governing interstate sports gambling to other forms of betting. The department's Office of Legal Counsel said in a November 2018 opinion, not released until late Monday, that a 1961 law called the Wire Act does in fact apply to interstate online poker and casino games, not just sports bets.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)