Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. California to pull troops from U.S.-Mexico border in rebuke to Trump

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday that he is ready to withdraw hundreds of the state's National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border, a rebuke of President Donald Trump's stance that a national security crisis is unfolding there. In his State of the State address on Tuesday, the newly elected Democratic governor will say that border crossings had fallen to their lowest since 1971 and California's undocumented population had dropped to a more than 10-year low, spokesman Brian Ferguson said. Denver teachers march out of classrooms in strike over wages

Denver public school teachers walked off the job on Monday to demand higher and more predictable wage hikes, disrupting classes for some 92,000 students in the latest of a wave of strikes by U.S. educators over the past year. The walkout comes the month after a six-day strike by Los Angeles school teachers ended in a deal to reduce class sizes and raise salaries by 6 percent, and follows statewide work stoppages last year in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona. Thousands of dogs vie for Best in Show at New York's Westminster contest

The annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens in New York on Monday, with nearly 3,000 competitors vying for an array of trophies, including Best in Show, the most prestigious title in the rarefied world of pedigree dog breeding. This year's two-day event draws challengers from all 50 U.S. states and 14 other countries, including Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and Japan, the club said in a statement about the 143rd Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, held at Madison Square Garden. 'El Chapo' jurors appear to focus on top U.S. charge; no verdict

The jury weighing the fate of accused Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Monday appeared focused on the main charge against him, whether he engaged in a continuing crime spree that could land him in prison for life. Jurors left the federal courtroom in Brooklyn after failing to reach a verdict in their fifth day of deliberations, which began on Feb. 4. They are expected to resume deliberations on Tuesday morning. Illinois attorney general challenges Van Dyke murder sentence

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a prosecutor on Monday challenged the sentence of former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke for the murder of a black teenager, questioning whether the judge who imposed it followed the law due to his failure to account for other convictions. Van Dyke, 40, who is white, was sentenced last month to nearly seven years in prison for second-degree murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014 in a case that highlighted racial tensions in America's third-largest city. Five killed in shooting in eastern Texas: police

Five people were found shot and killed in a home in an unincorporated town in eastern Texas on Monday, police said. Police and rescue workers responded to a call at 10:30 a.m. CST about multiple victims of an assault at a residence in Blanchard, Texas, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. First U.S. tax filings under Trump's overhaul off to slow start

The first U.S. tax filing season under the overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law at the end of 2017 got off to a slow start in the first week, with data released on Friday showing a significant drop in returns and refunds. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the total number of returns received in the week ending Feb. 1, 16.04 million, was down 12.4 percent from the week that ended on Feb. 2, 2018. Only 13.31 million returns were processed, down 25.8 percent from the year before. The average refund of $1,865 was 8.4 percent smaller than the average refund in the period last year. Virginia Democrats hold fire on impeachment of lieutenant governor

Virginia Democrats pressured Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax to resign on Monday over accusations of sexual assault, which he denies, but held off on pursuing impeachment, with the Republican speaker of the state House urging restraint. Fairfax is one of three top state Democrats engulfed by scandal this month. Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have also faced criticism after admitting they wore blackface in the 1980s. Pennsylvania suspends all permit work for Energy Transfer

Pennsylvania environmental regulators suspended all permit work for Energy Transfer LP after the company failed to comply with an October order following an explosion of the Revolution natural gas pipe in the western part of the state in September. The company said the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) action on Friday did not affect operation of any pipeline that is in service or construction where permits have already been issued. Suspect in synagogue massacre pleads not guilty to new charges

The man accused of massacring 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue last year in the deadliest attack on a U.S. Jewish institution pleaded not guilty on Monday in federal court to a dozen additional charges including hate crimes. The suspect, Robert Bowers, is accused of bursting into the Tree of Life synagogue in the city's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on Oct. 27 armed with three handguns and a semi-automatic rifle, and firing on congregants as he shouted "All Jews must die."