Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. United States frees American-born anchor of Iran's Press TV

An American-born anchor for Iran's state-run Press TV was released after 10 days of detention in the United States as a material witness in an undisclosed U.S. federal investigation, the English-language news channel reported on Thursday. There has been tension between Iran and the United States since U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision last May to pull out of an international nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Nurse charged with rape of disabled Arizona woman who gave birth

An Arizona male nurse has been charged with raping a severely disabled woman at the long-term care facility where he worked, a crime that came to light only after she gave birth, prosecutors said on Wednesday. Nathan Sutherland, 36, was arrested by investigators who linked him to the case through DNA evidence after the woman, who is in her 20s, unexpectedly gave birth on Dec. 29 at Hacienda Healthcare Skilled Nursing Facility in Phoenix. Furloughed federal workers may lose some health benefits: U.S. senators

Four U.S. senators expressed concern on Wednesday that federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown could lose their dental and vision health insurance benefits if they are unable to pay their premiums. In a letter to the government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Democratic Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin said forcing workers to pay the premiums during the shutdown would be "unacceptable." Trump delays State of the Union Address until shutdown ends

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a late night Tweet on Wednesday that he would delay a State of the Union address until the government shutdown was over, responding to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's move to obstruct his plans for the speech. Earlier in the day, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives floated the idea of ending the partial government shutdown by giving Trump most or all of the money he seeks for security along the Mexican border but for items other than the wall he wants. 'AI' to hit hardest in U.S. heartland and among less-skilled: study

The Midwestern states hit hardest by job automation in recent decades, places that were pivotal to U.S. President Donald Trump's election, will be under the most pressure again as advances in artificial intelligence reshape the workplace, according to a new study by Brookings Institution researchers. The spread of computer-driven technology into middle-wage jobs like trucking, construction, and office work, and some lower-skilled occupations like food preparation and service, will also further divide the fast-growing cities where skilled workers are moving and other areas, and separate the high- skilled workers whose jobs are less prone to automation from everyone else regardless of location, the study found. 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 second-largest U.S. 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 the union and school district had reached before dawn that day, union officials said. U.S. government shutdown to crimp growth, recession risk steady: Reuters poll

U.S. economic growth will take a hit this quarter from the longest-ever government shutdown, keeping the Federal Reserve on the sidelines until at least its April 30-May 1 meeting, a Reuters poll of economists showed. But the probability of a U.S. recession in the next 12 months held steady from last month at 20 percent, according to the median forecast, while the chance of a recession in the next two years was also steady at a median 40 percent. Senate stirs with votes on bills to end U.S. shutdown

The Republican-led U.S. Senate planned votes for Thursday on competing proposals, one broadly backed by Democrats and the other by Republicans, to end the partial government shutdown, both of which seemed unlikely to resolve the month-long impasse. Republican President Donald Trump last month triggered the shutdown, now in its 34th day, by demanding $5.7 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, opposed by Democrats, as part of any legislation to fund about a quarter of the government. Gunman surrenders after killing five in central Florida bank: police

A gunman killed five people in a bank in central Florida on Wednesday and then called police to inform them of the shooting before he eventually surrendered, local authorities said. The shooting occurred at the SunTrust Bank in Sebring, a town of about 10,000 people 95 miles (153 km) south of Orlando, around 12:30 p.m. ET (1730 GMT), Sebring Police Chief Karl Hoglund said at a news conference. U.S. universities unplug from China's Huawei under pressure from Trump

Top U.S. universities are ditching telecom equipment made by Huawei Technologies and other Chinese companies to avoid losing federal funding under a new national security law backed by the Trump administration. U.S. officials allege Chinese telecom manufacturers are producing equipment that allows their government to spy on users abroad, including Western researchers working on leading-edge technologies. Beijing and the Chinese companies have repeatedly denied such claims.