Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger told Reuters on Wednesday it would be "very difficult" for the media company to keep filming in Georgia if a new abortion law takes effect because many people will not want to work in the U.S. state. Disney has filmed blockbuster movies in Georgia such as "Black Panther" and "Avengers: Endgame," and it would be a blow to the state's efforts to create production jobs if the entertainment giant stopped filming there. New Mexico town gets death threats after halting crowd-funded border wall

A New Mexico mayor on Thursday said he and his staff received multiple death threats after they briefly halted construction of a crowd-funded, private border wall by a group that then urged supporters to tell the city to "stop playing games," and alleged it was tied to drug cartels. Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said his email and voicemail were clogged with thousands of messages, some calling him racist slurs and others threatening to "come down and shoot us all." R. Kelly charged with new felony sex assault, abuse counts: Chicago Sun Times report

Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly was charged on Thursday with 11 new felony counts of sexual assault and abuse that could, if he is convicted, send the R & B singer to prison for 30 years, the Chicago Sun Times reported. Kelly was indicted by a Cook County Grand Jury on four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, documents posted on the newspaper's website showed. Major Hollywood studios may reconsider Georgia business over abortion law

The producer of the hit television series "The Walking Dead" and other major Hollywood film and TV studios said on Thursday they would reconsider locating productions in Georgia if a new state law restricting abortions takes effect. WarnerMedia, CBS Corp, Viacom Inc, NBCUniversal and "Walking Dead" producer AMC Networks Inc weighed in a day after Walt Disney Co's chief executive, Bob Iger, told Reuters that many people will not want to work in Georgia if the law is implemented, making it "very difficult" for the company to film there. More asylum seekers sue Trump administration over prolonged U.S. detention

A group of detained asylum seekers sued the U.S. government on Thursday claiming immigration officials in five southern states are systematically denying them parole. In the second lawsuit of its kind filed against the Trump administration, legal advocacy groups representing 12 plaintiffs are seeking class action status on behalf of hundreds of asylum seekers being held in detention centers in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In addition to Central American migrants, the plaintiffs include a member of a Cameroonian opposition party and Cuban and Venezuelan political dissidents. U.S. measles cases in 2019 highest since 1994

The United States recorded 971 cases of measles in the first five months of 2019, surpassing the total for any year since 1994, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said http://bit.ly/2Wc5UEd on Thursday. There were a total of 963 U.S. cases of measles in 1994, the CDC said in a statement. Attorney General Barr says Mueller 'could've reached a decision' on obstruction

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who led a probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, could have reached a decision on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, but chose not to. Mueller said this week that he could not indict Trump because of a Justice Department policy that prohibits indicting a sitting president, and was not even willing to conclude if a crime was committed out of fairness to the president. Central U.S. faces high risk of river flooding even as rains ease

Rain-swollen rivers threatened more flooding on Thursday in Arkansas, Louisiana, Illinois and Oklahoma, as Tulsa's mayor warned that the decades-old levee system in his city would be at risk even as waters receded through the weekend. Since early last week, a spate of deadly tornadoes has caused widespread damage across the central United States while torrential downpours unleashed record floods, turning highways into lakes and submerging all but the roofs of some homes. U.S. judge rejects Trump administration move to start wall construction

A federal judge rejected on Thursday an effort by the Trump administration to begin construction on a wall on the border with Mexico while it appeals a ruling that found funding for the wall was likely not authorized by Congress. U.S. District Court Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, California said in a written order the government was unlikely to prevail on the merits of its appeal, and therefore failed to justify a stay of a preliminary injunction issued last Friday. New evidence of deceit alleged in U.S. census citizenship fight

The Trump administration concealed evidence that its proposal to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 U.S. census was intended to help Republicans draw favorable electoral maps, according to immigrant advocacy groups that sued the administration over the question last year. In a filing in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, the groups said that the administration hid the fact during the course of the lawsuit that went to trial last year that Thomas Hofeller, a longtime Republican specialist on drawing electoral districts, played a "significant role" in planning the citizenship question.