Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Ex-coaches among 12 to plead not guilty in U.S. college admission scandal

Former coaches from the University of Southern California and Georgetown University were among a dozen people who pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that they participated in the largest college admissions fraud scheme uncovered in U.S. history. The 12 people appeared in Boston federal court to face charges that they took part in a $25 million racketeering conspiracy in which wealthy parents paid for help cheating on admissions exams and to bribe coaches who secured spots for their children in elite universities as fake athletic prospects. Obamacare enrollments drop marginally for 2019

Enrollments in healthcare plans for 2019 through the Federal Obamacare marketplace dropped marginally by 300,000 from last year, according to U.S. government figures released on Monday. The decrease in plan selections could likely be due to lower demand for exchange coverage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said. Trump, allies attack president's critics after he is cleared of Russia collusion

President Donald Trump, cleared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election, vented his anger on Monday at the inquiry and vowed investigations into unnamed political enemies who did "evil" and "treasonous things." The Republican president and his allies in Congress went on the offensive a day after the release of a summary of Mueller's report gave him a political victory ahead of his 2020 re-election bid, with no allegations of criminal wrongdoing brought against him at the end of a nearly two-year-long inquiry. 'Apparent suicide' of Parkland student days after massacre survivor took her life

A student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has died in "an apparent suicide," police said on Sunday, less than a week after a 19-year-old survivor of the 2018 massacre at the school took her own life. The student's death occurred on Saturday evening and is under investigation, said Coral Springs Police spokesman Tyler Reik. The student's name, age and gender were not disclosed, he said. Petrochemical disaster still hampering efforts to clear Houston shipping bottleneck

The backlog of vessels waiting to traverse through the Houston Ship Channel grew on Monday while it remained closed to traffic for a third day as emergency workers attempted to clear a petrochemical spill from the Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) storage facility in Deer Park, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday. Thirty-one vessels waited to enter the Houston Ship Channel on Monday, while another 31 waited to leave, up from 26, respectively, on Sunday morning. The seven-mile section of the Houston Ship Channel from Light 116 to Tucker's Bayou remained closed, said Coast Guard Vessel Tracking Service Watch Supervisor Ashley Dumont. Duke University pays $112.5 million in fake research case sparked by whistleblower

Duke University agreed to pay $112.5 million to settle claims by a whistleblower that a former research technician knowingly submitted fake data in applications for federal research grants, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday. The accord resolves claims by a former Duke laboratory research analyst who said the Durham, North Carolina-based university knew that Erin Potts-Kant used fraudulent data to obtain grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies. Oklahoma top court clears way for Purdue, J&J, Teva to face opioid trial

Oklahoma's top court on Monday declined to delay a landmark trial set for May in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit accusing OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and two other drugmakers of helping fuel an opioid abuse and overdose epidemic in the state. The Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision was a win for the state's attorney general, whose case is set to be the first to face trial of roughly 2,000 lawsuits nationally seeking to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for contributing to the epidemic. Caravan of migrants in Mexico starts moving towards U.S.

A caravan of some 1,200 migrants from Central America and Cuba began moving towards the U.S. border from southern Mexico this weekend, migration authorities said on Sunday. The National Migration Institute said the migrants were already inside Mexico when they opted to form a caravan in the southern city of Tapachula on the border with Guatemala. Graffiti about New Zealand shooting left at U.S. mosque fire: media

Police are investigating a fire at a Southern California mosque on Sunday as a possible arson and hate crime after fresh graffiti on the driveway mentioned the mass shootings at two mosques in New Zealand, local media reported. Police and firefighters were called to the Islamic Center of Escondido, north of San Diego, about 3:15 a.m. (1015 GMT) on Sunday about a fire that blackened an outside wall, the San Diego Tribune and other media reported. Father of Sandy Hook victim found dead in apparent suicide: police

The father of one of the children killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was found dead of an apparent suicide on Monday morning at his office in Newtown, Connecticut, police said. Jeremy Richman, 49, was the father of Avielle Richman, one of 20 children, all 6 or 7 years old, killed along with six adult staff members by a man with a semi-automatic rifle at the school in Newtown. It stands as one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.