Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Judge weighs fate of Missouri's only abortion clinic after court hearing

A St. Louis judge said on Tuesday he will work quickly to decide whether Missouri's only abortion clinic can remain open after a hearing on a lawsuit aimed at forcing state health officials to renew the facility's license to perform the procedure. Women's healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood sued Missouri last week after state health officials refused to renew the license of the St. Louis clinic, called Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood, because, they said, they were unable to interview seven of its physicians over "potential deficient practices," according to court documents. Exploding danger: U.S. marijuana oil labs pose deadly, destructive hazard

On the afternoon of May 5, college student John Nothdurft was watching TV at his suburban San Diego home when a series of explosions shook the house. Around the corner, on Sunny Meadow Street, flames billowed from a neighbor's garage. A man was running down the street. He was on fire. South Carolina man found guilty of murdering his five children

A South Carolina man was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering his five children after he confessed to killing them at their mobile home in 2014 before driving their decomposing bodies through several states and dumping them in Alabama. Timothy Jones, a 37-year-old divorced software engineer who had legal custody of his children, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and did not testify at the jury trial in Lexington, South Carolina. House votes to protect 'Dreamer' immigrants amid White House opposition

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation to end the threat of deportation that has long hung over undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers" who entered the United States when they were children. By a vote of 237-187, the Democratic-controlled House approved the legislation despite opposition from the White House, which said the move would "reward illegal immigration." Little cat feet in New York come closer to first U.S. state declawing ban

New York crept closer to becoming the first U.S. state to outlaw cat declawing on Tuesday, after both chambers of the state legislature passed a ban on the feline surgery except for therapeutic reasons. Governor Andrew Cuomo has not yet decided if he will sign it into law, said gubernatorial spokesman Jason Conwall. Former officer charged for not responding to Florida school shooting

A former Florida sheriff's deputy was arrested on Tuesday on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his lack of response during the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead, the county sheriff said. Scot Peterson, 56, who was taken into custody, faces multiple counts of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury, Broward County State Attorney Mike Satz said in a statement. The charges carry a combined maximum prison sentence of nearly 97 years, he said. After massacre, Virginia governor takes on Republican legislature over gun control

Virginia's Democratic governor on Tuesday called for a special legislative session to consider new gun control laws following a massacre of 12 people, but a top Republican lawmaker immediately pushed back on a plan he called "hasty and suspect." Governor Ralph Northam has previously faced resistance from the legislature to increase restrictions on guns, with a package of gun controls he proposed as recently as January failing to pass before the legislative session ended in April. Illinois hangs on to low investment-grade credit rating from Moody's

Illinois avoided deterioration in one of its low investment-grade credit ratings on Tuesday when Moody's Investors Service affirmed the state at Baa3 with a stable outlook, citing recent steps taken to shore up the state's shaky finances. The rating, which affects about $30.2 billion of outstanding debt, remains the lowest among U.S. states at a notch above the junk level due largely to Illinois' huge unfunded pension liability and chronic structural budget deficit. House judiciary's top Republican urges hearings into Russian election meddling

The top Republican on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday called for hearings into interference by Russia and others in the 2016 election and beyond, on the heels of a statement https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-text/u-s-special-counsel-muellers-statement-on-russia-probe-idUSKCN1SZ23Q by former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller and ahead of presidential elections next year. Though there have been congressional probes into Russian meddling in the U.S. election and other lawmakers have called for more to be done on election security, Republicans have largely remained silent on the issue. Ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen 'loving' prison life, 'hates' the food: source

Michael Cohen, the convicted former personal lawyer to U.S. President Donald Trump, says he is making new friends in prison and enjoying time away from the spotlight, according to a person familiar with Cohen's first few weeks there. "He's loving it there," the person told Reuters. "Peace, quiet. He wants to stay there. He's in the gym every day. He's loving life."