Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. judge approves Ruth Madoff $594,000 settlement with court-appointed trustee

A federal judge has approved Ruth Madoff's $594,000 settlement with the court-appointed trustee who is liquidating her husband Bernard Madoff's firm and raising money for the swindler's victims. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein in Manhattan authorized the settlement on Tuesday. Louisiana lawmakers pass bill to ban abortions as early as six weeks

The Louisiana House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to prohibit abortion after detection of an embryonic heartbeat, which can occur as early as six weeks from conception, often before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. The 79-23 vote by the Republican-controlled House sends the bill to the state's Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, who has indicated that he would sign it. Democratic presidential hopefuls push for impeachment after Mueller remarks

Democratic presidential candidates ratcheted up the pressure on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to start the process of impeaching President Donald Trump after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s first public comments on his two-year Russia probe. Mueller, who was assigned to investigate Moscow's interference in the 2016 election, on Wednesday reaffirmed that his team did not consider filing charges against Trump for obstruction of justice because U.S. Justice Department policy bars the indictment of a sitting president. Tornado threat eases but will resume next week across U.S. Plains states

The tornadoes and heavy rains sweeping across the United States from the southern Plains into New Jersey will ease by late Thursday but resume early next week, forecasters said. Rain, hail, thunderstorms and the threat of tornadoes will return from east Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and on into Illinois and parts of the East Coast, David Roth, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said early on Wednesday. Democrats slam McConnell's stance on election-year Supreme Court opening

Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for promising to fill a Supreme Court vacancy if one occurs during the 2020 presidential election year, after he refused to do so in 2016 because of that year's upcoming election. "We'd fill it," McConnell declared when asked during a speech on Tuesday what he would do if Republican President Donald Trump had the opportunity next year to pick a third Supreme Court justice. Missouri governor says politics plays no role in abortion clinic licensing fight

Missouri Governor Mike Parson on Wednesday renewed his intention to close Missouri's sole abortion clinic for failing to meet state licensing standards, a move that would make it the only U.S. state with no legal abortion provider. Planned Parenthood, the national women's health provider that operates the clinic, sued the Missouri department of health on Tuesday after the department told the clinic it could not approve a license until it interviewed seven doctors that worked there. Democrats toughen qualifying standards for third presidential debate

Seeking to cull its crowded 2020 presidential field, the Democratic Party will make it tougher for candidates to qualify for a third debate scheduled for September. The party will require contenders to meet both a higher polling standard and a larger fundraising target, the Democratic National Committee said on Wednesday. Ashton Kutcher 'freaking out' after date found slain, Los Angeles court told

Actor Ashton Kutcher told a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday that he was "freaking out" after learning that a young woman was found dead in Hollywood the day after he called at her home for a date. The former "Two and a Half Men" star was testifying as a witness at the trial of a man dubbed the Hollywood Ripper who is charged with the murder of the young woman and two others. Overdose victim's father to testify in Oklahoma opioid trial of J&J

The father of a university football player who died of a drug overdose is expected to testify on Wednesday on the second day of trial in a lawsuit by the state of Oklahoma accusing the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic. The trial in a state court in Norman, Oklahoma, in the first to result from more than 2,000 similar lawsuits against opioid manufacturers nationally. Mueller says he could not charge Trump as Congress weighs impeachment

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller said on Wednesday his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election was never going to end with criminal charges against President Donald Trump but he did not clear him and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached. In his first public comments since starting the investigation in May 2017, Mueller said Justice Department policy prevented him from bringing charges against a sitting president or filing sealed charges, telling reporters it was "not an option we would consider."