US News Roundup: Migrants die after Texas police chase; US records 1,000th case of measles

Opioid drugmaker Insys Chairman Steven Meyer quits after settlement with DoJ

Insys Therapeutics Inc said on Thursday Chairman Steven Meyer and board member Pierre Lapalme will resign, a day after the opioid drugmaker agreed to settle a kickback probe with the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ). Meyer and Lapalme, on Sunday, notified the company of their decision to resign, effective upon the execution of the DoJ agreement, the company said.

Six undocumented migrants die after Texas police chase

Six undocumented migrants were killed when their car crashed into an irrigation ditch after a police chase in rural South Texas, police said. Five others were seriously injured. The SUV had been packed with more than a dozen undocumented migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, Nueces County Sheriff J.C. Hooper said in an interview broadcast on local television networks.

U.S. records 1,000th case of measles, officials blame misinformation for outbreak

The United States has recorded 1,001 measles cases so far this year in the worst outbreak of the highly contagious disease in more than a quarter-century, federal health officials said on Wednesday as they issued a new plea for parents to vaccinate their children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 61 new cases have been reported since May 27 of the sometimes deadly disease. It is the highest number of cases since 1992 when the CDC recorded 2,126 cases.

Mexican church leader held on $50 million bail in Los Angeles for sex crimes

The head of a Mexican-based church, which claims over 1 million followers worldwide, was ordered held on $50 million bails in a Los Angeles court on Wednesday on charges that included human trafficking, child pornography and rape of a minor. La Luz Del Mundo (Light of the World) church leader Naason Joaquin Garcia, 50, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, prosecutors said.

Let the most popular win: Oregon backs change in presidential voting

Lawmakers in Oregon passed legislation on Wednesday to award its seven Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote nationwide, rather than the candidate who gets the most votes in the state. However, the legislation will not take effect until similar bills are passed by enough states to provide a majority of the Electoral College's 538 votes.

Trump administration suspends U.S. educational programs for migrant children

The Trump administration is suspending educational, legal and recreational programs for migrant children in its custody, saying an influx of children crossing the border without a parent or legal guardian was putting a "tremendous strain" on the resources of the agency tasked with housing them. The agency that houses migrant children - the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) - asked Congress for an additional $2.88 billion to increase shelter capacity, HHS spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said on Wednesday. ORR is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Sheriff's deputy charged with neglect in Florida school shooting has strong defense: legal experts

A sheriff's deputy charged with failing to protect students during a mass shooting in a Parkland, Florida high school has a simple defense, some legal experts said - he did not have a duty to save the victims. "There's no crime called refusing to die while a mass murderer is in your school," said Eugene O'Donnell, a former New York City police officer and prosecutor who teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

New Mexico blast involving fireworks injures several firefighters

Several firefighters were injured on Wednesday, two seriously, in an explosion at a building in Roswell, New Mexico, where fireworks were being stored for the city's annual July Fourth celebrations, police and city officials said. The blast occurred shortly after noon at a building on the grounds of the Roswell International Air Center, a commercial airport on the southern outskirts of the town, said Todd Wildermuth, a spokesman for the city.

In Ohio, Republicans leaving nothing to chance in Trump re-election bid

Dozens of Republican activists, county chairs and volunteers gathered at Franklin University in Columbus last month for the state's first-ever "Trump Victory Communication College." Soon after, Sean Spicer, President Donald Trump's former White House spokesman, swept through the state for a series of party events. A Trump Victory regional political director has already been announced. So, too, has a Republican National Committee field director for the state.

Family arrests at U.S.-Mexico border reach highest monthly level in over decade amid tariff threat

U.S. border officers apprehended more than 132,000 people crossing from Mexico in May, an increase over the previous month and the highest monthly level since 2006, reaching what U.S. officials said on Wednesday were "crisis" levels. U.S. President Donald Trump is frustrated with the rising number of mostly Central American migrants crossing into the United States and the new arrest numbers coincided with his threat to impose across-the-board tariffs on Mexican goods if Mexico does not do more to stem the flow of people.