Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Death penalty tensions flare again on divided U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court's internal divisions over the death penalty were on full display again on Monday in fresh wrangling over how the justices handled recent attempts by two convicted murderers in Alabama and Texas to put off their executions. In both cases, there are signs that tensions over the death penalty - especially skepticism by the court's conservative majority over last-minute bids by death row inmates to block executions - are coming to a boil after simmering for years. Tearful Felicity Huffman admits role in U.S. college admissions scandal

Actress Felicity Huffman tearfully pleaded guilty on Monday to paying to rig a college entrance exam for her daughter, part of a wide-ranging scandal in which wealthy parents used fraud to secure their children spots at prominent U.S. universities. The onetime star of the television series "Desperate Housewives" pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to a conspiracy charge related to her payment of $15,000 to have someone secretly correct her daughter's answers on the SAT exam. U.S. measles outbreak grows with 75 new cases, mostly in New York

U.S. health authorities recorded 75 new cases of the measles in the latest week, mostly in New York state, bringing the nationwide total to 839 cases in the country's worst outbreak of the virus since 1994, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 9.8% increase in measles cases as of May 10, a resurgence that public health officials have attributed to the spread of misinformation about the measles vaccine. Data are updated every Monday. New York mayor threatens to fine Trump Organization over pollution

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is considering a run for the White House in 2020, on Monday threatened to fine the Trump Organization $2.1 million a year starting in 2030 unless the president's business reduces emissions from its buildings. "It doesn't matter who you are, even the president of the United States, you have to obey the laws of New York City," de Blasio said at a rally in the lobby of Trump Tower, the site of President Donald Trump's private home and business headquarters. Ex-president Jimmy Carter breaks hip ahead of turkey hunt

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter fell and broke his hip on Monday as he was preparing to leave his home in Georgia for a turkey-hunting trip, and underwent successful surgery to repair the injury, a representative said. Carter, 94, a Democrat who was elected president in 1976, was accompanied by his wife, Rosalynn, 91, while recovering from the operation, which doctors said was successful, according to a statement from his nonprofit organization, the Carter Center. Man charged in deadly attack on Appalachian trail hikers in Virginia

A Massachusetts man was charged on Monday with murder and assault for allegedly killing one person and severely injuring another in a machete attack on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, according to papers filed in federal court. The suspect, James Jordan, 30, of West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was charged with one count of murder and one count of assault with intent to murder. Jordan was scheduled to appear in court on Monday morning in the U.S. District Court in Abingdon, Virginia. California jury hits Bayer with $2 billion award in Roundup cancer trial

A California jury on Monday awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed Bayer AG's glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused their cancer, in the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical. The large punitive damages award is likely to be reduced due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings that limit the ratio of punitive to compensatory damages to 9:1. The jury awarded a total of $2 billion in punitive damages and $55 million in compensatory damages. Sturm Ruger directors get backing, may start shareholder talks

All director nominees at gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co received a majority of support from investors, including three criticized by a top proxy adviser, a securities filing showed on Monday. Institutional Shareholder Services had recommended investors withhold support from three of nine director nominees at the company's annual meeting held May 8, including then-chair Michael Jacobi. ISS cited the company's "limited response" to a shareholder resolution last year calling for a safety report and its unusual policy of not engaging with investors. Victims of alleged N.Y. sex cult seemed 'broken,' former member testifies

Several women members of an alleged New York sex cult, including "Smallville" actress Allison Mack, became dangerously thin after following near-starvation diets at the direction of the group's leader, a 12-year veteran of the group testified on Monday. The longtime member, filmmaker Mark Vicente, is a key prosecution witness at the criminal trial of Keith Raniere, whom authorities have accused of forcing female "slaves" within his Nxivm organization to have sex with him, lose weight and get branded with his initials. New York police weigh officer's conduct in 2014 'I can't breathe' death

The disciplinary trial of the New York City policeman who fatally choked an unarmed black suspect in 2014 opened on Monday with the officer's lawyer shredding a copy of the autopsy report that concluded the man, Eric Garner, was killed by a chokehold. The trial of the white officer, Daniel Pantaleo, comes nearly five years after widely seen video of Garner's death sparked a national outcry about the treatment of black suspects by law enforcement. The clips, recorded on the cellphones of bystanders, showed Garner saying "I can't breathe" 11 times before he died.