Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Man arrested after boy falls from balcony at Minnesota's Mall of America

A 5-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries on Friday after being thrown or pushed by an apparent stranger from a third-floor balcony at Minnesota's Mall of America, and a man who fled the scene has been charged with attempted homicide, police said. The child was rushed to a hospital after officers and passersby provided aid at the scene, Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said. His condition was not immediately known. U.S. mayors decry Trump sanctuary city threat, 'prepared to welcome' migrants

Democratic U.S. mayors said on Friday their cities would welcome illegal immigrants, dismissing President Donald Trump's threats to transport people detained at the border to "sanctuary cities" as illustrating the White House's callous approach to the issue. Trump confirmed on Twitter that he wanted to transport people detained in his immigration crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border to sanctuary cities, an informal designation for localities that refrain from assisting federal immigration authorities in detaining people living in the country illegally. Patriots owner Kraft asks Florida judge not to release 'pornography' sting video

A lawyer for New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Friday asked a Florida judge not to make public a video that led to the billionaire being charged in a prostitution sting at a massage parlor, calling the evidence "basically pornography." Media companies including ABC and ESPN clashed with Kraft's defenders, saying the judge would violate Florida's public records laws by suppressing the video of Kraft receiving sexual services at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida. Phoenix man claimed family murders were justified in God's eyes, police say

A Phoenix man arrested on suspicion of killing his wife, two of their three young children and a man he believed was having an affair with his wife told police he believed the killings were justified "in God's eyes," police said on Friday. The 30-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was taken into custody on Thursday following the shooting spree that left his 29-year-old wife and 5- and 7-year-old daughters dead at their west Phoenix home, Phoenix police spokesman Sergeant Tommy Thompson told a news conference. Trump says he is considering placing illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was considering sending immigrants in the country illegally to so-called sanctuary cities. "Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only," Trump wrote on Twitter. U.S. CDC says ground beef possible source of E.coli outbreak

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday preliminary information suggested ground beef could be responsible for a recent E.coli outbreak that has spread across six states. No common supplier, distributor, or brand of ground beef has been identified yet and the CDC said the investigation was ongoing. (http://bit.ly/2KwyHhl) 'Smart guy' Florida test taker pleads guilty in U.S. college admissions scandal

A former counselor at a Florida private school pleaded guilty on Friday to secretly taking college placement tests for the children of wealthy parents as part of the largest admissions fraud scheme uncovered in U.S. history. Mark Riddell, 36, was charged from a role in the scheme that prosecutors said allowed wealthy parents including the actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin to use cheating and bribes to help their children secure spots at universities like Yale, Georgetown and the University of Southern California. Bitter divisions on death penalty in U.S. top court exposed in Alabama showdown

The U.S. Supreme Court exposed its bitter divisions over the death penalty yet again early Friday as the justices voted on ideological lines to reject an Alabama inmate's bid to delay his execution. On a 5-4 vote with the court's conservatives in the majority, the court reversed two lower court decisions that delayed the execution of Christopher Price, 46, for 60 days so he could proceed with his request to be executed by lethal gas instead of lethal injection. Man hospitalized after lighting jacket on fire outside White House

A man in a wheelchair-type electric scooter lit his jacket on fire outside the White House fence on Friday and was hospitalized with what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, the U.S. Secret Service said. Secret Service officers responded to the incident on the north side of the executive mansion, extinguished the fire and provided first aid, the agency said on Twitter. Trump administration seeks emergency court order to continue asylum policy

The Trump administration rushed to save its program of sending asylum seekers back to Mexico by filing an emergency motion with a U.S. Court of Appeals, asking it to block an injunction that is set to shut down the policy on Friday afternoon. The government told the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco the United States faced "a humanitarian and security crisis" at the southern border and needed immediate intervention to deal with surging number of refugees.