Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Americans to bet $8.5 billion on NCAA's 'March Madness' basketball tournament: report

About 47 million people - one in five American adults - are expected to bet a combined $8.5 billion on "March Madness," the annual men's college basketball tournament, a new report said on Monday. A plurality of bettors - 29 percent - favor Duke University's Blue Devils to win, according to a report from the American Gaming Association (AGA), a casino industry group. Police have man in custody for murder of New York Mafia boss

Police have a 24-year-old suspect in custody in the slaying of reputed Mafia boss Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali in New York City, authorities said on Saturday. The 53-year-old Cali, who was shot to death on Wednesday outside his Staten Island home, was allegedly the head of the Gambino family, one of the five Italian-American Mafia families that have historically dominated organized crime in New York and New Jersey. Spring weather to bring more floods to waterlogged U.S. Plains states

The U.S. Central Plains states could face more flooding this week as rising temperatures accelerate snow melt across the region, weather forecasters said Monday. Floods in the aftermath of a late-winter storm that dumped snow and rain on the nation's midsection last week have already killed two people and destroyed homes and businesses. Two people hurt in Los Angeles gasoline tanker blast

A leaky gasoline tanker exploded in south Los Angeles on Sunday, injuring two people and sending at least one manhole cover flying into the air and flames shooting out of a storm drain to threaten nearby buildings. A plume of thick black smoke rose into the sky over 216 West Slauson Avenue in Florence as planes headed for nearby Los Angeles International Airport, according to photographs on social media. U.S. seizes 1 million pounds of pork from China on swine fever concerns

U.S. border agents have seized around 1 million pounds of pork from China, a spokesman for the agency said on Friday, over suspicions that it might contain African swine flu disease which has hit Chinese pork output. Federal agents have seized the supplies over the past week in New York. Trump urges General Motors to reopen Ohio plant in tweet

U.S. President Donald Trump urged General Motors Co to reopen Ohio plant in a tweet on Saturday, ten days after the plant made its last Chevrolet Cruze. The last Cruze rolled off the assembly line a week ago Wednesday at GM's plant in Lordstown, Ohio, the first of five plants in North America to end production this year and ending U.S. production of the Cruze. Far-flung job offers pose tough choices for GM Ohio workers

General Motors Co built the final Chevrolet Cruze small car at its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant on March 6, despite demands from President Donald Trump, Ohio political leaders and the United Auto Workers union not to close the plant and leave nearly 1,500 workers laid off. Dina Mays, a 14-year veteran of Lordstown Assembly, was not at the plant for its last day. She had already moved on to her new workplace, GM's Toledo transmission plant, where the automaker builds 10-speed transmissions for popular pickup trucks. Fire engulfs eight massive petrochemical storage tanks in Houston

A fire at a fuels storage company at the Houston Ship Channel spread on Monday to eight massive petrochemical storage tanks, shutting schools and forcing residents in the suburb of Deer Park to stay indoors. The fire, which sent a plume of black smoke across the city's eastern half and was visible from 10 miles (16 km) away, began in a giant storage tank containing naphtha, a volatile component of gasoline, at about 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Nebraska nuclear plant still at full power after preparing for flooding

Nebraska Public Power District's (NPPD) Cooper nuclear plant in Nebraska was still operating at full power early Monday after the company said on Friday it was preparing for possible flooding, according to a report from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Officials at NPPD were not immediately available for comment Monday morning.