Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. California puts one-year halt on insurers dropping customers in wildfire-prone areas

California on Thursday ordered a one-year halt on insurance companies dropping customers in wildfire-prone areas at a time when state insurers are trying to limit spiraling costs from climate change. The moratorium, the first of its kind in the state, affects about 800,000 homeowners in areas hit by 2019 wildfires. State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara also asked insurers to voluntarily stop cancelling clients in other areas at risk to wildfire. Four people killed in failed robbery shootout in Florida

Four people died in a shootout following the theft of a United Parcel Service Inc truck and an attempted jewelry store robbery in a Miami suburb, the FBI and police said late on Thursday. Police said the two thieves and two by-standers were killed. U.S. Democratic contender Sanders proposes $150 billion for 'high-speed internet for all'

U.S. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders launched a plan on Friday to provide high-speed broadband for every U.S. household at a cost of $150 billion, pledging to use antitrust powers to take on internet, telecom and cable companies. Sanders, a leading candidate in the crowded field seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election, said the funding would go toward infrastructure grants and technical assistance to local governments to build out publicly owned networks. Black Hawk helicopter goes down in Minnesota, killing three

A Black Hawk helicopter went down in central Minnesota on Thursday, killing all three soldiers on board, after it lost contact with the Minnesota National Guard during a maintenance test flight, Governor Tim Walz said on Thursday. Emergency crews gathered at the scene. The names of the crew were not released, but Walz told a news briefing an investigation would be launched into the reasons for the crash. Uber says it received over 3,000 reports of sexual assault in U.S. in 2018

Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc said it received over 3,000 reports of sexual assault related to its 1.3 billion rides in the United States last year, in a report aimed at ensuring drivers and the public it was serious about safety. The figure represents a 16% fall in the rate of incidents from the previous year in the five most serious categories of sexual assault reported, Uber said on Thursday in its first biennial U.S. Safety Report https://www.uber-assets.com/image/upload/v1575580686/Documents/Safety/UberUSSafetyReport_201718_FullReport.pdf. Indiana judge grants stay of execution for federal inmate

A convicted murderer set to become the first federal inmate to be executed in 16 years was granted a stay of execution on Thursday by a judge in Indiana. Daniel Lewis Lee, a white supremacist convicted in Arkansas of murdering a family of three, was granted the stay by U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon. GM, LG Chem to build $2.3 billion electric vehicle battery plant in Ohio

General Motors Co and South Korea's LG Chem said on Thursday they will invest $2.3 billion to build an electric vehicle battery cell joint venture plant in Ohio, creating one of the world's largest battery facilities. The plant, to be built near GM's closed assembly plant in Lordstown in northeast Ohio, will employ more than 1,100 people, the companies said. Construction is to begin in mid-2020 and the plant will have an annual capacity of more than 30 gigawatt hours with the flexibility to expand. California asks Trump administration to release money to fight homelessness

In the latest skirmish over California's homeless crisis, the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, asked President Donald Trump on Thursday to stop withholding federal housing vouchers that could benefit 50,000 homeless people. Newsom told Trump he could "immediately order" the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to issue federal housing vouchers, a program to assist low-income families, the elderly and the disabled find affordable homes in the private market. Second evacuation order lifted in Texas city hit by explosion, chemical fire

Authorities on Thursday lifted a second evacuation order in a week for thousands of people in a Texas city as U.S. safety officials began examining what caused the latest in a series of chemical plant fires in the state. The about 14,000 residents of Port Neches 95 miles (153 km) east of Houston were told to flee late on Wednesday when air monitors detected high levels of cancer causing petrochemicals butane and butadiene following an explosion last week. Disappearing frontier: Alaska's glaciers retreating at record pace

Alaska will soon close a year that is shaping up as its hottest on record, with glaciers in the "Frontier State" melting at record or near-record levels, pouring waters into rising global seas, scientists said after taking fall measurements. Lemon Creek Glacier in Juneau, where records go back to the 1940s, had its second consecutive year of record mass loss, with 3 meters erased from the surface, U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist Louis Sass told Reuters.