Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Manafort seeks sentence well below guidelines in Virginia case

Lawyers for Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, asked a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to hand down a sentence that is significantly below sentencing guidelines, according to a court filing. Manafort, 69, who was convicted in August of eight charges of bank and tax fraud as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, is due to be sentenced on March 7. Southwest takes mechanics union to court over flight disruption

Southwest Airlines filed a lawsuit against its mechanics union on Thursday, accusing the workers of an illegal campaign to disrupt operations in order to improve their position in prolonged labor talks. Southwest and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents some 2,400 mechanics at the low-cost carrier, have been in contract negotiations since 2012. Warmbier parents blast 'evil' North Korea regime after Trump praises Kim

The parents of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after 17 months a North Korean prison, blamed Kim Jong Un's "evil regime" on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed the leader's claim not to have known how their son was treated. Warmbier's parents said they held off commenting during the second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi, which was cut short on Thursday after the two sides failed to reach a deal for the reclusive communist nation to give up its nuclear weapons. U.S. Air Force grounds Boeing's KC-46 tankers over debris issue

The U.S. Air force said on Friday it had stopped accepting Boeing Co's KC-46 tankers since Feb. 20 and is working with the company to resolve the issue of foreign object debris (FOD) that were found in the aircraft. "No aircraft have been accepted since then, and will not restart until the production aircraft are cleared of FOD, and the Air Force and DCMA have approved a corrective action plan by Boeing that will prevent FOD in the future," U.S. Air Force spokesperson Hope Cronin said in a statement. Washington's Inslee puts climate change at center of presidential bid

Washington Governor Jay Inslee launched a longshot bid for the U.S. presidency on Friday with a vow to fight climate change and promote policies to make the country more prosperous and inclusive. Speaking in Seattle in the chilly garage of a solar energy company, Inslee became the first governor to join the crowded field of Democrats vying for the party's White House nomination in 2020, a race expected to be volatile and hard-fought as the winner faces off against Trump. Receding waters spell relief for flooded Northern California towns

Low-lying communities along the rain-engorged Russian River in Northern California wine country were largely cut off by flooding on Thursday, even as waters began receding and sunny skies returned after days of nonstop showers. The flooding this week isolated the towns of Rio Nido, Guerneville, Monte Rio and Cazadero, inundating roads around those communities, according to the Sonoma County emergency operations center. Texas cargo plane's cockpit voice recorder recovered in fatal crash

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday that investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a cargo plane that crashed on Feb. 23 in Texas, killing three. An Amazon Prime Air cargo plane operated by Atlas Air Worldwide nosedived into a bay outside Houston as it approached Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Actress Katherine Helmond of TV's 'Soap,' 'Who's the Boss?' dies at 89

Actress Katherine Helmond, a seven-time Emmy Award nominee who played lusty matriarchs on the hit television sitcoms "Soap" and "Who's the Boss" from the 1970s into the 1990s, died last month at the age of 89, her talent agency said on Friday. Helmond, who also delivered a memorable turn as a vain woman obsessed with plastic surgery in director Terry Gilliam's dystopian film "Brazil" (1985), died Feb. 23 at her Los Angeles home due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. Pfizer unit Meridian under civil investigation by U.S. Attorney

Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it received a request for documents as part of a U.S. investigation related to quality issues involving the manufacture of auto-injectors at its Meridian Medical Technologies site. Pfizer, in a regulatory filing, said it would be producing records in response to the civil investigative demand from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. Trump ordered aide to give Kushner security clearance: NY Times

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his chief of staff in May to grant his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner a top-secret security clearance, the New York Times reported on Thursday. It said senior administration officials were troubled by the decision, which prompted then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to write an internal memo about how he had been ordered to give Kushner the top-secret clearance.