Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti says he is not running for president

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on Tuesday he would not join what is likely to be a crowded field of candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. "I have decided not to throw my hat into the ring to run for president in 2020," Garcetti told a news conference at City Hall. New Mexico governor moves to limit methane emissions, combat climate change

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday ordered state officials to develop regulations to reduce methane emissions from its oil and gas industry and separately rollback statewide greenhouse gas output over the next decade. The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and Environment Department were directed to enact methane emission reduction "rules as soon as practicable," the executive order said. U.S. lawmakers urge Pentagon to revise climate change report

Three Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including the House armed services committee chairman, on Wednesday urged the Pentagon to revise a report on climate change, saying it omitted required items such as a list of the 10 most vulnerable bases. The Pentagon's report, released on Jan. 10, said climate change was a national security issue and listed 79 domestic military installations at risk from floods, drought, encroaching deserts, wildfires and, in Alaska, thawing permafrost. Father of Saudi sisters found dead in New York rejects suicide finding

The father of two young Saudi women whose bodies were found bound together in New York last October has dismissed a police assessment that they committed suicide and said marks he saw on their faces indicate they were beaten before their deaths. Tala Farea, 16, and Rotana Farea, 23, who had previously been living in Virginia, were found along the rocky Manhattan shore of the Hudson River with duct tape around their waist and ankles. A New York Police Department official has said they likely entered the water alive and were said to have preferred suicide over returning to Saudi Arabia. Youngest member of murderous Manson 'family' recommended for parole

The California Board of Parole Hearings recommended on Wednesday that Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson's murderous "family" of followers, be released early from the life prison term she is serving for her role in the cult's 1969 killing spree. The ultimate decision on whether to grant parole to Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the slayings and is now 69, rests with Governor Gavin Newsom, whose predecessor and fellow Democrat, Jerry Brown, twice denied the board's recommendation that she be set free. Senate hearings to probe unsafe housing of U.S. military families

Troubled by widespread health and safety hazards uncovered by a Reuters investigation into U.S. military housing, Congress will hold hearings next month to ensure that “what we’re seeing now can never happen again,” said Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During the hearings, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 13, lawmakers will question the Department of Defense and private contractors who house thousands of U.S. military families on bases across the country, according to Senate staff familiar with the plans. Colder than the South Pole: U.S. Midwest gripped by deep freeze

A blast of polar air brought record-low temperatures to much of the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, canceling trash pick-ups, halting the mail and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors. Classes were canceled for Wednesday and Thursday in many cities, including Chicago, home of the nation's third-largest school system, and police warned of the risk of accidents on icy highways. Michigan said all state offices would remain closed through Thursday. 'El Chapo' decided 'who lives and who dies' as drug boss, U.S. jury told

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was someone who decided "who lives and who dies," a prosecutor said in closing arguments in the accused Mexican drug kingpin's trial in the United States. "The government does not have to prove that he was the boss, or the only boss, or even one of the top bosses," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg told jurors, though she hastened to add that Guzman was "one of the top bosses, without a doubt." Utah man sues Gwyneth Paltrow for alleged ski slope 'hit and run'

A Utah man has sued Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow for $3.1 million, claiming she slammed into him on a ski slope in 2016, breaking four of his ribs and knocking him unconscious before skiing off. Terry Sanderson, 72, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Paltrow in Utah state court over the alleged "hit and run ski crash" at the Deer Valley Resort in Park City. Tyson recalls chicken nuggets on possible rubber contamination

Tyson Foods Inc is recalling some chicken nuggets it manufactured because of possible contamination with rubber, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said late on Tuesday. About 36,420 pounds of Tyson's 'White Meat Panko' chicken nuggets will be recalled after several consumers complained of extraneous material in the purchased product, the FSIS said.