Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump confident he will prevail against lawsuits over emergency declaration

President Donald Trump expressed confidence on Tuesday that he would prevail against a lawsuit filed by 16 U.S. states seeking to block his declaration of a national emergency to fund a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. The group of states, including California and New York, has charged the president and top officials in his administration with taking away taxpayer funds for their communities to fulfill a promise from his 2016 campaign to curb illegal immigration and the flow of drugs. Bernie Sanders faces new challenges in crowded 2020 U.S. presidential race

Bernie Sanders is back for another White House run, but this one promises to be far different than the improbable 2016 presidential campaign that made the Vermont senator a political force. In the 2020 race, Sanders, who announced his latest bid on Tuesday, will have to fight to stand out in a crowded field of progressives touting issues he brought into the Democratic Party mainstream four years ago. At 77, he also will face questions about his age and relevance in a party increasingly embracing more diverse and fresh voices. Schools shut, flights canceled as storm sweeps U.S. Midwest, East Coast

A winter storm swept across much of the U.S. Midwest and East Coast on Wednesday, hampering air travel and prompting officials to close federal offices in Washington and several large public school systems. The National Weather Service warned the storm could make travel very difficult, with snow, sleet and freezing rain potentially causing downed branches and power outages. West Virginia teacher strike heads into second day in charter schools fight

A union for West Virginia teachers carried its strike into a second day on Wednesday, despite a retreat by the state legislature on one of their key demands. Union leaders vowed to continue the strike after the House of Delegates voted 53-45 to effectively kill legislation opposed by the union that would have opened the first charter schools in the state. West Virginia teachers to continue strike, in charter schools fight

A union for West Virginia teachers vowed on Tuesday to continue their strike to oppose charter schools, expressing distrust of lawmakers despite scoring a legislative victory. A bill that would have opened the first charter schools in West Virginia failed to win approval in the state House of Delegates on Tuesday after Governor Jim Justice, a Republican, vowed to veto it. Teen in Lincoln Memorial protest sues Washington Post for $250 million

A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist in a January videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, 16, seeks $250 million in damages, the amount that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world's richest person, paid for the Post in 2013. Illinois mass shooting reveals gaps in gun laws; state seeks to close them

The governor of Illinois vowed on Tuesday to seek tighter gun control measures after learning the man who shot five co-workers dead last week was wrongly granted a firearms permit but never forced to surrender his weapon. Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, said his "entire team is focused" on problems raised by the disclosure the gunman was a violent felon who was legally barred from owning a gun but still obtained a permit to buy a weapon. North Carolina poll workers admit improperly running early results

North Carolina poll workers told election officials on Tuesday they illegally viewed early election results last year, the latest evidence in a probe of voting irregularities in a still unsettled congressional race. The investigation into the disputed Nov. 6 election for the state's 9th Congressional District seat also uncovered an unlawful absentee ballot scheme by an operative for Republican candidate Mark Harris, according to testimony at the hearing that could prompt a new vote. Colorado man beat fiancé to death with bat, burned body: police

A Colorado man accused of murdering his fiancé last November beat the young mother to death with a baseball bat before burning her body, a homicide investigator told a hearing on Tuesday, a court official said. The gruesome details emerged at a day-long preliminary hearing in Teller County District Court in Cripple Creek, Colorado, to decide if there was probable cause to try Patrick Frazee for the disappearance and slaying of 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth. Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as Justice Dept. No. 2: senior official

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Jeffrey Rosen as the next deputy U.S. attorney general, the White House said on Tuesday night, the latest shuffle in the Justice Department at a time when it faces close scrutiny over its Russia investigation. Rosen, currently deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, would succeed Rod Rosenstein, who appointed a special counsel to investigate possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign.