Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. 'Golden Spike' event marks 150th anniversary of Transcontinental Railroad

Thousands of visitors, many of them train enthusiasts, are expected to crowd onto a remote bluff in northern Utah for a day of speeches, music and a historical re-enactment marking the 150th anniversary of the first U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. The three-day "Golden Spike" celebration opens on Friday at Promontory Summit, 66 miles (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City, where the Central Pacific Railroad from the west was joined to the Union Pacific Railroad from the east on May 10, 1869. Tanker collision, gasoline spill closes portion of Houston Ship Channel

One barge was severely damaged and another capsized following a collision with a 755-foot (230-m) tanker in the Houston Ship Channel near Bayport, Texas, that spilled about 9,000 gallons of gasoline into waywater, officials said. No injuries were reported. Salvage teams were at the site on Saturday, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. Pentagon eyes longer-term support on U.S.-Mexico border

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan made his second trip to the U.S.-Mexico border on Saturday as the Pentagon looks to develop a longer-term plan to support President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Shanahan traveled to McAllen, Texas, to meet with officials and visit a migrant processing facility and Border Patrol station, two days after the White House announced Trump's intention to nominate the former Boeing Co executive as defense secretary. Defective fuel tube caused September F-35 crash in South Carolina: report

A failed fuel tube caused the first crash of an F-35 jet in September of last year, U.S. government investigators said in a report issued this week. "An investigation determined a manufacturing defect caused an engine fuel tube to rupture during flight, resulting in a loss of power to the engine," the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued this week. Exclusive: Philip Morris suspends social media campaign after Reuters exposes young 'influencers'

Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc has suspended a global social media marketing campaign in response to Reuters inquiries into the company’s use of young online personalities to sell its new "heated tobacco" device, including a 21-year-old woman in Russia. The company's internal "marketing standards" prohibit it from promoting tobacco products with youth-oriented celebrities or "models who are or appear to be under the age of 25." North Carolina man charged with 1985 murder of top Hollywood director

A North Carolina man has been charged in the long-unsolved murder of a top Hollywood television director and world-class bridge player who was found slain at his Los Angeles home in 1985, prosecutors said on Friday. The arrest came after more than three decades of mystery surrounding the bludgeoning and strangulation death of Barry Crane, known for his work in the 1960s, '70s and '80s on such hit shows as "Dallas," "Mission: Impossible" and "Hawaii Five-O." Teens accused of deadly Colorado school shooting face charges next week

The two Colorado teenagers accused of opening fire with handguns at their Denver-area charter school this week, killing one classmate and wounding eight others, are due to face formal charges in court next week, authorities said on Friday. Devon Erickson, 18, and Alec McKinney, 16, who was listed on the court docket by the name Maya Elizabeth McKinney but who identifies as male, were both arrested on suspicion of a single count of first-degree murder and 29 counts of attempted murder immediately after Tuesday's shooting. Lawyer for Nipsey Hussle's accused killer withdraws after threats

Prominent defense attorney Chris Darden, a onetime member of the O.J. Simpson prosecution team who was representing the accused killer of Los Angeles rapper-activist Nipsey Hussle, withdrew from the case on Friday, citing threats against his family. Darden had been defending Eric Ronald Holder, 29, who pleaded not guilty on April 4 to charges of killing the Grammy Award-nominated rapper and was ordered held on $5 million bail. U.S. states accuse Teva, other drugmakers, of price-fixing: lawsuit

U.S. states filed a lawsuit accusing Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc of orchestrating a sweeping scheme with 19 other drug companies to inflate drug prices - sometimes by more than 1,000% - and stifle competition for generic drugs, state prosecutors said on Saturday. Soaring drug prices from both branded and generic manufacturers have sparked outrage and investigations in the United States. The criticism has come from across the political spectrum, from President Donald Trump, a Republican, to progressive Democrats including U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for president. Harvard professor loses house dean role after joining Weinstein defense

A Harvard law professor who joined the legal team defending Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein against sexual assault charges will not be allowed to continue as dean of a residential house on campus, a university official said on Saturday. The Ivy League university's move to end the role of law professor Ronald Sullivan Jr and law school lecturer Stephanie Robinson, Sullivan's wife, at Winthrop House follows protests over his representation of Weinstein.