Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Ex-University of Texas tennis coach to plead guilty in college admissions scandal

The former head coach of the men's tennis team at the University of Texas at Austin is scheduled to plead guilty on Wednesday to accepting a bribe to help a wealthy father secure admission for his son at the school, as part of the U.S. college admissions scandal. Michael Center, 54, is among several sports coaches at universities including Yale and Georgetown who federal prosecutors in Boston say took bribes to designate students as fake athletic recruits as part of a $25 million scheme. After drug distributor charged, Trump sets speech on opioid fight

President Donald Trump is expected to tout his fight against opioid abuse in remarks in Atlanta on Wednesday, a day after his administration brought its first related criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives. America's opioid epidemic, especially damaging in rural areas where Trump is popular, has been a focus for the Republican president. Leader of U.S. border armed militia group attacked in jail: attorney

The leader of an armed militia group that spent the past two months detaining migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been hospitalized after he was attacked in the prison where he was awaiting trial on federal firearms charges, his attorney said. Larry Hopkins, 69, was in hospital with broken ribs after being attacked on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, in southern New Mexico, attorney Kelly O'Connell said. U.S. brings first criminal case against major drug distributor over opioids

The U.S. government on Tuesday filed its first criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives over their alleged roles in fueling the nation's opioid epidemic by putting profits ahead of patients' safety. Rochester Drug Co-operative Inc (RDC), one of the 10 largest U.S. drug distributors, agreed to pay a $20 million fine and enter a five-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioids. Ex-USC soccer coach to plead guilty in college admissions scandal

A former University of Southern California assistant women's soccer coach has agreed to plead guilty to engaging in a racketeering scheme in which she accepted bribes to help wealthy parents get their children into the school as part of the largest college admissions scandal in U.S. history. She becomes the 20th person to agree to plead guilty to participating in the more than $25 million fraud, where parents including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were accused of using bribes to win their children spots at universities that also included Yale and Georgetown. White supremacist to be executed in Texas for dragging death of black man

A white supremacist convicted of killing James Byrd Jr. in 1998 by dragging the 49-year-old black man behind a truck in one of the most notorious hate crimes in modern times is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Wednesday. John William "Bill" King, 44, is scheduled to die at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) by lethal injection at the state’s death chamber in Huntsville. Former U.S. vice president Biden to announce 2020 election run on Thursday

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday that he is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination for the 2020 election, a source familiar with the plans said on Tuesday. Biden, 76, a longtime senator who served for eight years under Democratic President Barack Obama, would join a crowded field of nearly 20 other candidates seeking to defeat Republican President Donald Trump. ST Engineering wins up to $1.9 billion contract to build icebreakers for U.S. Navy

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd said on Wednesday it has won a contract worth up to $1.94 billion to build as many as three icebreaker ships for the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Department of the Navy awarded VT Halter Marine, ST Engineering's shipbuilding business in Mississippi, a $746 million contract for the detail design and construction of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) polar security cutter, the Singapore-based company said in a statement. U.S. federal judge to block Trump's new abortion rule: media, activists

A federal judge in the U.S. state of Oregon will block a move by the Trump administration to cut off federal money to family planning clinics that offer abortion or refer women to abortion providers, activists and media reports said late on Tuesday. President Donald Trump's new Title X rule, set to take effect in May, would halt government funds for Planned Parenthood clinics that subsidize birth control for low-income women, and other clinics that provide abortions. Some 156 people in 10 states infected with E. coli from ground beef: CDC

A total of 156 people in 10 states have been infected with E. coli after eating tainted ground beef at home and in restaurants since the beginning of March, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday. No deaths have been reported but 20 people have been hospitalized after they were infected with the strain E. coli O103 since March 1, the CDC said on its website.