US Domestic News Roundup: Trump rule restricting asylum seekers struck down; Gunman kills 20 in rampage at Walmart store in Texas


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 04-08-2019 07:10 IST | Created: 04-08-2019 05:20 IST
US Domestic News Roundup: Trump rule restricting asylum seekers struck down; Gunman kills 20 in rampage at Walmart store in Texas
United States President Donald Trump (File photo) Image Credit: ANI
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Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Gunman's death in mass shooting at Northern California food festival ruled suicide

The teenager who opened fire with an assault rifle at a weekend food festival in Northern California, killing three people, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, autopsy results announced on Friday found. Police had originally asserted that the gunman, Santino William Legan, 19, was shot dead by police officers who were on patrol at Sunday's Gilroy Garlic Festival and confronted Legan when he began his rampage.

With Puerto Rico leader set to quit, successor still unknown

With only hours before Puerto Rico's disgraced governor was set to step down on Friday, the bankrupt U.S. territory still did not know who would succeed him. Over a week ago, Governor Ricardó Rossello bowed to 12 days of mass protests sparked by offensive chat messages and said he would resign at 5 p.m. on Friday.

No signs of trauma found on body of Robert F. Kennedy's granddaughter

An autopsy conducted on the 22-year-old granddaughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy found no trauma to her body, leaving the cause and manner of her death to be determined following toxicology tests, the local district attorney's office said on Friday. Saoirse Kennedy Hill was rushed to Cape Cod Hospital in Massachusetts shortly after 3 p.m. EDT on Thursday after she was found unresponsive at the Kennedy family's compound in nearby Hyannis Port, the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office said in a written statement.

Biden mounts fierce defense of Obama legacy after debate attacks

Democratic presidential front-runner and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden mounted a fierce defense of Barack Obama's legacy on Saturday after several of his White House rivals attacked that record in debates this week. Biden, appearing at a union forum in Nevada with 18 Democratic rivals, appeared fired up as he forcefully defended former U.S. Democratic President Obama and his signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Trump rule restricting asylum seekers struck down by court

A U.S. federal judge on Friday struck down one of President Donald Trump's initiatives to curtail asylum claims, ruling that the government could not reject migrants who had crossed the border illegally. A different federal judge had already put a temporary block on the policy, which would have rejected asylum claims from people who entered the United States between legal ports of entry. The ruling on Friday by U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, D.C. went further by finding the Trump rule violated immigration law.

Trump administration considers September unveiling of healthcare plan: WSJ

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering unveiling, as early as September, his healthcare plan as part of his presidential re-election campaign strategy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The plan would lay out an alternative to former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which has been challenged by Republicans in court, and could include coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and a variety of insurance options, the Wall Street Journal said, citing unnamed sources.

Gunman kills 20 in rampage at Walmart store in Texas

A gunman armed with a rifle killed 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso on Saturday and wounded more than two dozen before being arrested, authorities said, after the latest U.S. mass shooting sent panicked shoppers fleeing. Many of those in the busy store were buying back-to-school supplies when they were caught up in the rampage, which came just six days after a teenage gunman killed three people at a food festival in Northern California.

One killed, at least three hurt after bluff collapses onto California beach

A woman was killed and at least several other people hurt on Friday when a chunk of a sandstone bluff overlooking a Southern California beach collapsed onto them, local police and fire officials said. One person suffered critical injuries when the slab of rock and debris fell onto Grandview Surf Beach in Encinitas, north of San Diego, shortly before 3 p.m., Captain Larry Giles of the city's Lifeguard Department said.

NYC police officer who killed Eric Garner should be fired, police judge rules

A white New York City police officer who killed an unarmed black man with a banned chokehold in 2014 should be fired, a police judge recommended on Friday in a case that stoked the Black Lives Matter movement and reverberated in the U.S. presidential campaign. Officer Daniel Pantaleo had been on desk duty since widely viewed cellphone videos showed him using the chokehold on Eric Garner during an attempted arrest on a sidewalk in Staten Island, one of five boroughs in the most populous U.S. city. Police believed Garner was selling loose, untaxed cigarettes.

Exclusive: PES may report toxic chemical release in June refinery blast -sources

Philadelphia Energy Solutions was expected to report to government officials on Friday that the toxic chemical hydrofluoric acid may have been released from its refinery in June, when a series of blasts and fire damaged the plant, two sources familiar with the plan said. It was unclear how much of the chemical might have been released from the refinery or if the PES report would be made public, the sources said. PES officials were not immediately available for comment.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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