Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. In rare move, U.S. judge orders acquittal of Barclays currency trader

A U.S. judge on Monday acquitted a former top foreign exchange trader at Barclays Plc accused of illegally trading ahead of an $8 billion transaction for Hewlett-Packard Co, without letting the case go to a jury. The acquittal of Robert Bogucki, who led Barclays' foreign exchange trading desk in New York, by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco sets back federal efforts to hold senior bankers and traders criminally responsible for suspected misconduct. Defiant U.S. sheriffs push gun sanctuaries, imitating liberals on immigration

A rapidly growing number of counties in at least four states are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, refusing to enforce gun-control laws that they consider to be infringements on the U.S. constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Organizers of the pro-gun sanctuaries admit they took the idea from liberals who have created immigration sanctuaries across the United States where local officials defy the Trump administration's efforts to enforce tougher immigration laws. Imprisoned California serial killer Juan Corona dies at age 85

Juan Corona, a serial killer found guilty of murdering 25 farmworkers whose bodies were found buried in Northern California orchards, died on Monday at the age of 85, state prison officials said. Corona, who had been serving a life prison term since his 1973 conviction on 25 counts of first-degree murder, died of natural causes at an outside hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement. North Carolina elections board sets new dates for House election

North Carolina's elections board on Monday set dates for the redo of a congressional election it ordered after finding the results of the 2018 vote were tainted by a ballot fraud scheme. The new primary election for the state's 9th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which stretches southeast from Charlotte to north of Whiteville along the state's southern border, will take place on May 14, the bipartisan state elections board said. U.S. East Coast digs out from snow, braces for bitter cold

New England dug out from more than a foot of snow on Monday that snarled commutes and canceled flights, although New York City was spared the worst of the late-winter storm, which was expected to be followed by bitter cold in the days ahead. A band of winter weather stretching from Maryland to Maine dumped 15 inches (38 cm) of snow overnight on downtown Boston and some 5 inches (13 cm) on Central Park in the heart of New York City, National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard reported. Coal ash contaminates groundwater near most U.S. coal plants: study

More than 90 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants that are required to monitor groundwater near their coal ash dumps show unsafe levels of toxic metals, according to a study released on Monday by environmental groups. The groups, led by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice, said their findings show the potential harm to drinking water from coal ash and indicate that stronger regulations are needed. Ex 'Beverly Hills, 90210' star Luke Perry dead at 52 after stroke

Actor Luke Perry, who rose to superstardom on the teen-oriented 1990s U.S. television drama "Beverly Hills 90210" and then aged into a fatherly role on comic-based "Riverdale," died on Monday at the age of 52 after suffering a "massive" stroke last week, his publicist said. Publicist Arnold Robinson said Perry died in a Los Angeles area hospital surrounded by his family and close friends, including his former wife Minnie Sharp, his two children, and his fiance Wendy Madison Bauer. California: Pulling federal high-speed rail funds would be 'disastrous'

California's High-Speed Rail Authority on Monday urged the Trump administration to abandon plans to withhold $929 million in funding and seek to claw back $2.5 billion the state has already received for a rail project, calling the effort "disastrous" and "unlawful." Brian Kelly, chief executive of the authority, told the Federal Railroad Administration in a letter that seeking the return of funds already spent by California would be "disastrous policy" and could put 2,600 people out of work. He formally asked the agency to reconsider ahead of a March 5 deadline. Justice Ginsburg keeps busy as U.S. high court's writer-in-chief

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg showed little evidence of slowing down on Monday, issuing rulings in two business-related cases just 11 days before her 86th birthday and two months after undergoing lung cancer surgery. The liberal justice, who was named to the court in 1993 and is now its eldest member, had missed oral arguments in several cases in January while recuperating from her Dec. 21 surgery, but returned to the bench on Feb. 19 and has been an active participant since. Like 'giant knife,' tornadoes slash eastern Alabama, killing 23

Alabama residents and rescue teams on Monday sifted through the splintered remnants of homes torn apart by a string of tornadoes that killed at least 23 people, including three children, in the deadliest burst of twisters to hit the United States since 2013. The tornadoes, spawned by a late-winter "supercell" thunderstorm, ripped through Lee County on Sunday with cyclonic winds of up to 170 miles (274 km) per hour, at step four of the six-step Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale of tornado strength.