Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump administration bans abortion referrals at U.S.-funded clinics

The Trump administration said on Friday that taxpayer-funded family planning clinics which primarily serve low-income Americans will no longer be able to refer patients for abortions, a move that critics vowed to challenge in court. The new regulation was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of Title X, a government family planning program that serves about 4 million people. North Carolina judge rules voter ID, tax cap amendments unconstitutional

A North Carolina judge on Friday ruled that two amendments, one requiring identification to vote and another capping the state income tax, were unconstitutional because racial gerrymandering meant that the state's legislature was "illegally constituted." Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins found the makeup of the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly was based on unconstitutional racial gerrymandering when it sent the ballot questions to the voters for their approval in November, the ruling showed. Actor Jussie Smollett arrested in Chicago: police spokesman

Actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested after he was charged with lying to police when he claimed he was attacked and beaten by two masked men shouting racist and homophobic slurs, Chicago police said on Thursday on Twitter. Smollett, a 36-year-old black, openly gay actor on the hip-hop TV drama "Empire," ignited a firestorm on social media by telling police on Jan. 29 that two apparent supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump had struck him, put a noose around his neck and poured bleach over him. As 2020 candidates turn left, some Democrats worry about the center

Liberal Democratic presidential contenders' rush to embrace the left's most ambitious proposals has some Democrats worried there could be a price to pay when they try to defeat President Donald Trump next year. Party activists have been energized as Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and other candidates endorsed plans to provide Medicare coverage to every American, some form of tuition-free college, a national $15 minimum wage and the so-called “Green New Deal” advocated by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. NASA clears SpaceX test flight to space station

NASA gave its final go-ahead on Friday to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company to conduct its first unmanned test flight of a newly designed crew capsule to the International Space Station on March 2. The approval cleared a key hurdle for SpaceX in its quest to help NASA revive America's human spaceflight program, stalled since space shuttle missions came to an end in 2011. Patriots owner Robert Kraft charged in Florida prostitution sting

Robert Kraft, owner of the Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots, was charged in Florida with soliciting prostitution after he was captured on video engaging in sex acts with a worker at a massage parlor, police said on Friday. Kraft, 77, a billionaire businessman who built the Patriots into the National Football League's most dominant franchise, was swept up in a police sting targeting sex-trafficking in day spas and massage parlors in several Florida counties. The operation has led to hundreds being charged. R&B crooner R. Kelly charged with sexually assaulting teenage girls

Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly was charged in Chicago on Friday with the aggravated sexual assault of four people, including three teenage girls, following years of accusations against the performer. Kelly, 52, was charged in a 10-count Cook County Circuit Court indictment handed down two months after the debut of a six-hour documentary series on the Lifetime television network in which multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and abuse. Time's Up leader resigned after sexual allegation against son

The leader of the Time's Up group set up last year to fight sexual harassment resigned after her own son was accused of sexual misconduct, the organization said on Friday. Lisa Borders announced her resignation as Time's Up's first president and chief executive on Monday after four months in the job, saying in a statement that she needed to address unspecified "family concerns." California couple plead guilty to torturing their 13 children

A Southern California couple accused of beating, shackling and starving their 13 children held captive in the family's home pleaded guilty on Friday to multiple charges including torture, child abuse and false imprisonment. David Turpin, 57, and his wife Louise Turpin, 50, who were arraigned in Riverside County Superior Court, made the plea as part of a deal with prosecutors to serve sentences of 25 years to life in prison, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said. U.S. Senators launch bipartisan probe into rising insulin prices

Two top U.S. senators launched an investigation into rising insulin prices on Friday, sending letters to the three leading manufacturers seeking answers as to why the nearly 100-year-old drug's cost has rapidly risen, causing taxpayers to spend millions of dollars a year. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Ron Wyden, the committee's top Democrat, sent letters to the heads of Eli Lilly and Co, Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi SA, the long-time leading manufacturers of insulin.