Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. 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. U.S. cold wave lingers, but should lose some of its bite by weekend

The blast of arctic cold that hit the U.S. Midwest this week will linger on Thursday, but it's pushing east and losing much of its bite. The cold has caused at least a dozen deaths since Saturday across the Midwest, according to official and media reports. Some died in weather-related traffic accidents, others from apparent exposure to the elements. Youngest member of murderous Manson 'family' again recommended for parole

The California parole board 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 California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose predecessor, 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. U.S. secretly ships Cold War-era plutonium to Nevada

The U.S. government secretly shipped a large amount of deadly plutonium from a South Carolina site that produced the radioactive metal for nuclear bombs during the Cold War to Nevada, the Trump administration revealed on Wednesday. The Justice Department, on behalf of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a notice filed with a U.S. court in Nevada that it could reveal the shipment of half a metric ton (1,100 pounds) because sufficient time had elapsed after the transfer to protect national security. The shipment occurred before November 2018. New York settles with sellers of 'fake' online followers, 'likes'

New York's attorney general on Wednesday said she has resolved a probe into a group of Colorado companies that once sold fake followers, "likes" and views on social media platforms, in the first U.S. settlement to deem such sales illegally deceptive. Attorney General Letitia James said the now-defunct Devumi LLC and other companies owned by German Calas generated about $15 million of revenue from 2015 to 2017 through roughly 250,000 sales of fake endorsements and engagement for platforms such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, SoundCloud, Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube. '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." Elephant seals take over California beach during U.S. shutdown

A herd of elephant seals took over a popular California beach while it was closed during the federal government shutdown and the animals show no sign of wanting to leave. A storm and high tides inundated the seals' usual habitat about 32 miles (51.5 km) northwest of San Francisco, encouraging them to seek safe haven nearby. Senator Rand Paul gets $580,000 after neighbor broke his ribs

A Kentucky jury has awarded U.S. Senator Rand Paul more than $580,000 in damages against a next-door neighbor who broke six of the Republican lawmaker's ribs in a gardening dispute. The neighbor, Rene Boucher, 60, pleaded guilty last year to tackling Paul, 56, in November, 2017. Chicago police to release images after attack on 'Empire' actor

Chicago police said on Wednesday they would soon release images of "persons of interest" in the assault of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in which two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs and wrapped a rope around his neck. The 36-year-old African-American actor, who is gay, was not seriously hurt in the Tuesday incident, which police were treating as a possible hate crime.