Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Las Vegas businessman gets 50 years prison in $1.5 billion Ponzi scheme

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former Las Vegas medical billing company operator who prosecutors called the ringleader of a $1.5 billion Ponzi scheme that bilked thousands of Japanese residents to 50 years in prison. Edwin Fujinaga, 72, the former chief executive of MRI International Inc, was sentenced by Chief Judge Gloria Navarro of the Nevada federal court, following his conviction last November on 20 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Bank CEO charged in Manafort bribery scheme designed to get Trump post

The head of a Chicago-based bank was charged in an indictment unsealed on Thursday with bribery and accused of approving $16 million in high-risk loans to President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort in a scheme to land a top Trump administration post such as secretary of the U.S. Army. Stephen Calk, who was chairman and CEO of Federal Savings Bank though is now on a leave of absence, was charged by federal prosecutors in New York with one count of financial institution bribery, which carries a maximum prison term of 30 years. FBI increases focus on domestic terrorism threat: official

The FBI, focused intently for years on combating terrorism from abroad, is turning more attention to home-grown, U.S. domestic violent extremists, a senior FBI counterterrorism official said on Thursday. Arrests related to domestic terrorism in the current fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, are at 66, exceeding international terrorism arrests, now at 63. Pompeo slams release of "American Taliban" as unconscionable: Fox

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the pending release on Thursday of John Walker Lindh, the American captured in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, and said he believed the decision needed to be reviewed. "Unexplainable and unconscionable," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. Pompeo said Lindh "still is threatening the United states of America, still committed to the very jihad that he engaged in that killed a great American and a great CIA officer. There's something deeply troubling and wrong about it." Swimming, s'mores and shots: Camps harden vaccine rules in U.S. measles outbreak

As the United States battles its worst measles outbreak in 25 years, summer camps are tightening their policies on vaccines, with some prepared to turn away children whose parents opted not to vaccinate them against the disease. With more than 10 million American children attending summer day and overnight camps, camp owners and industry associations said they are urging parents to follow medical experts' advice to prevent their camps from becoming transmission sites for the highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness. Trump says U.S. to keep close eye on 'American Taliban' Lindh after release

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States would be closely watching John Walker Lindh, the American captured in Afghanistan in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, after his release from prison. Trump told reporters at the White House that he had asked government lawyers whether the release could be stopped, noting that Lindh had not given up on his views, but said there was nothing that could be done to prevent Lindh's release. New York state regulator investigating pension transfer deals: sources

New York state's financial regulator has subpoenaed four insurance brokers as part of a broad investigation into an industry in which life insurers take over corporate pension plans from companies that want to offload them, according to two people familiar with the matter. At issue is whether brokers, who help put such deals together, solicited insurers who are not licensed in New York to take on the pension transfers, the people familiar with the matter said. Sanders, other U.S. Democratic 2020 candidates back workers in dispute with McDonald's

As a part of a push to increase the minimum wage for American workers, Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator and Democratic presidential candidate, on Thursday waded into a dispute between McDonald's Corp and its employees. Sanders, one of the two dozen Democrats running for the Democratic presidential nomination, held a virtual town hall, taking questions from McDonald's workers in Dallas who protested the company's annual shareholders’ meeting. Florida to execute man convicted of abducting, killing eight women in 1984

A 65-year-old man known as one of Florida's most notorious serial killers who was convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and killing eight women in 1984 is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. Robert Long is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. U.S. Senate committee proposes $301 million for military housing reform plan

The Senate Armed Services Committee has proposed $301 million in new funding to enhance housing safety and oversight on U.S. military bases, following Reuters reports documenting squalid conditions in privately run military homes, senior committee staff said Thursday. The funding recommendations, along with dozens of new provisions aimed at improving base housing for thousands of service families, are included in the bipartisan committee markup of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the military budget proposal, which will now be sent to the full U.S. Senate.