Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Iowa's 'fetal heartbeat' abortion ban ruled unconstitutional

Iowa's "fetal heartbeat" law, the most restrictive abortion ban in the United States, was declared unconstitutional Tuesday, as it violates the Iowa state constitution, a state judge ruled. Iowa's Republican-controlled legislature passed the restriction in May 2018, outlawing the procedure after a fetal heartbeat is detected, often at six weeks and before a woman realizes she is pregnant. Nurse charged with raping disabled Arizona patient who gave birth

Police in Phoenix, Arizona charged a nurse at a long-term care facility on Wednesday with raping a severely disabled patient, who unexpectedly gave birth in December after being institutionalized for more than 25 years. The Dec. 29 birth set off a massive investigation, with police gathering DNA samples from male employees at the facility as they tried to determine who had assaulted the patient. The woman, who is in her 20s, has spent most of her life in Phoenix's Hacienda Healthcare since suffering a childhood injury. White man who wanted race war pleads guilty to New York stabbing

A white Baltimore man who traveled to New York City in 2017 and killed a black man with a sword in hopes of sparking a race war in the United States pleaded guilty to murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said on Wednesday. James Jackson, a 30-year-old U.S. Army specialist, stabbed Timothy Caughman, 66, to death on March 20, 2017, and turned himself in at a police station the next day after police circulated surveillance video of the killing. Activist group challenges Colorado mineral rights law

A Colorado activist group this week filed a lawsuit challenging a state law that allows oil and gas companies to drill a property owner’s minerals without consent of the owner. The move is the latest effort by environmental activists to tighten drilling regulations in the fifth largest oil producing state in the United States. U.S. airlines tap army helicopter pilots to ease shortage

U.S. Army pilot Shaun Perez spent ten hours flying an Apache helicopter over Afghanistan, providing gun cover for Special Forces soldiers on the ground as they hunted for high-value targets, guns and weapons. Returning to his base at dawn, he donned a fresh uniform before shutting himself into a small room to secure the next stage of his career - as a commercial airline pilot. Democrats push technology as alternative to Trump wall in shutdown impasse

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives floated the idea on Wednesday of ending a partial U.S. government shutdown by giving President Donald Trump most or all of the money he seeks for security along the Mexican border but for items other than the wall he wants. As a shutdown that has left 800,000 federal workers without pay hit its 33rd day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi essentially disinvited Trump from delivering the annual State of the Union address in the House chamber until the government is fully opened. Back to school: Los Angeles teachers return to work after six-day strike

Thousands of teachers in Los Angeles returned to the job on Wednesday, fresh off a six-day strike against the nation's second largest school district that disrupted the education of half a million students. Rank and file members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly late on Tuesday to approve a 3-1/2 year contract agreement that the union and school district had reached before dawn that day, union officials said. FAA details impact of drone sightings on Newark airport

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that 43 flights into New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport were required to hold after drone sightings at a nearby airport on Tuesday, while nine flights were diverted. The incident comes as major U.S. airports are assessing the threat of drones and have been holding meetings to address the issue. Five killed in central Florida bank shooting, police say

A gunman killed five people in a bank in central Florida on Wednesday, then called police himself and eventually surrendered, local authorities said. The shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles south of Orlando, around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference. Striking L.A. teachers to resume picketing as talks drag on

Some 30,000 striking Los Angeles teachers were set to return to the picket lines on Tuesday after contract negotiations with America's second-largest school district stretched into the early morning hours with no word of a deal. More than 1,000 firefighters attending a conference in Los Angeles planned to rally in downtown Tuesday morning in support of the stoppage, to be joined by a marching band of striking music teachers, the union said.