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. Cargo jet with three on board crashes near Houston airport

A Boeing 767 cargo jetliner with three people on board crashed into a bay near Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday, police and officials said. Atlas Air Flight 3591 was en route to Houston from Miami when radar and radio contact with the plane was lost about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. 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. 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. Democrats pursue subpoenas on Trump separations of immigrant families

In what is likely to be their first public use of subpoena power since taking over the U.S. House of Representatives in January, Democrats were set to vote on Tuesday on subpoenaing documents on the Trump administration's migrant family separation policy. If approved, the subpoenas by the House Oversight Committee would show Democrats beginning to invoke the investigative clout they obtained when voters in November handed them majority control of the House and took it away from Republicans. 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. North Carolina orders new U.S. House election after 'tainted' vote

North Carolina's elections board on Thursday ordered a new election for a U.S. House seat after officials said corruption surrounding absentee ballots tainted the results of a 2018 vote that has embarrassed the Republican Party. The bipartisan board's 5-0 decision came after Republican candidate Mark Harris, confronted by days of evidence that an operative for his campaign orchestrated a ballot fraud scheme, called for a new vote in the state's 9th Congressional District. Singer R. Kelly due in court Saturday on sexual assault charges

Grammy-winning R&B singer R. Kelly, who for years has faced allegations that he abused women and underage girls, was due in court in Chicago on Saturday to hear charges that he sexually assaulted four people, including three teenagers. The 52-year-old, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was charged with a 10-count indictment on Friday, nearly two months after the Lifetime television network aired a six-hour documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" in which multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and abuse.