Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Man charged with sending bombs to Trump critics pleads guilty

A Florida man pleaded guilty on Thursday to using weapons of mass destruction and other crimes in connection with mailing explosives to prominent Democrats and other critics of U.S. President Donald Trump. Cesar Sayoc, 57, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan federal court, speaking in a halting, shaky voice that often dropped to a whisper. He admitted to sending 16 devices "designed to look like pipe bombs" consisting of a plastic pipe filled with powder from fireworks and fertilizer, a digital clock and wires. Houston suburbs lift travel restrictions imposed after petrochemical fire

Two Houston-area cities told residents to stay indoors and closed schools on Thursday due to air pollution from a petrochemical plant fire, then lifted the travel restrictions after airborne levels of the chemicals abated. The three-day blaze at Mitsui unit Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) in Deer Park, Texas, was extinguished on Wednesday after sending a plume of smoke over the area from 11 burning fuel tanks. No injuries were reported, but air monitors detected high levels of benzene, a toxic chemical linked to cancer. FBI not properly assessing potential U.S. maritime terrorism threats: report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not taking appropriate steps to review and assess potential maritime terrorism risks facing U.S. sea ports, the Justice Department's internal watchdog has found. The audit, released on Thursday by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, found that while top FBI officials believe the country faces a low maritime terrorism threat, that view is actually based on "incomplete and potentially inaccurate information." U.S. immigration arrests fall under Trump as resources shift to the border

U.S. immigration arrests fell under President Donald Trump at the end of 2018 compared to the same period a year earlier, a drop authorities attributed to a growing need to deal with "alarming rates" of migrant families at the border. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said on Thursday that enforcement resources were stretched thin in the interior of the country as agents deal with an overflow of Central Americans seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. Mississippi governor signs 'heartbeat' abortion ban

Mississippi's Republican governor signed one of America's strictest abortion bills on Thursday banning women from obtaining an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can often occur before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. Dubbed the 'heartbeat bill,' this is the second legislative attempt in less than a year aimed at restricting abortions in a state with a single abortion clinic. Wisconsin judge blocks Republican-backed laws curbing Democratic governor's powers

A Wisconsin judge on Thursday blocked legislation passed by Republican lawmakers during a December lame-duck session intended to curb the powers of newly elected Democratic Governor Tony Evers, calling the measures unconstitutionally approved. The governor immediately moved to withdraw Wisconsin from a multistate lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Obamacare healthcare law, the signature domestic achievement of former Democratic President Barack Obama and a longtime target of Republicans, including President Donald Trump. U.S. team heading in positive direction from dark place, says Biles

Simone Biles believes U.S gymnastics is moving in a positive direction after the "dark place" it found itself in a year ago following a sex-abuse scandal. The Texas-based 22-year-old, winner of a record-equalling four gold medals at the Rio Olympics, was one of more than 100 gymnasts who say they were abused by former Gymnastics USA doctor Larry Nassar who was jailed last year. Missouri governor declares state of emergency amid rising floodwaters in Midwestern U.S.

Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency on Thursday as floodwaters that left a swath of destruction across Nebraska and Iowa surged downstream, swamping small towns, roads and farmland in the U.S Midwest. Flooding triggered by last week's so-called "bomb cyclone" storm has already inflicted damage estimated at nearly $1.5 billion in Nebraska, killed at least four people in Nebraska and Iowa and left a man missing below Nebraska's collapsed Spencer Dam. Pastor convicted of hacking, insider trading gets five years prison: NY judge

A former hedge fund manager who also worked as a pastor was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison after being convicted of insider trading on non-public corporate press releases stolen by computer hackers. Vitaly Korchevsky, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie in Brooklyn after being convicted by a jury last July on two securities fraud counts and three conspiracy counts. Trump signs executive 'free speech' order for U.S. colleges

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order linking "free speech" efforts at public universities to federal grants in an effort to combat what he considers a clamp down on conservative students' abilities to share their views. Under the order, the schools will themselves certify whether they are protecting students' free speech rights, which are already guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.