US Domestic News Summary: Delta crew failed to warn controllers about Los Angeles fuel dump - FAA

Delta crew failed to warn controllers about Los Angeles fuel dump - FAA

A Delta Air Lines flight crew that dumped fuel on several Los Angeles area schools before making an emergency landing, causing minor injuries to schoolchildren, did not inform air traffic controllers it planned to do so, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Wednesday. Delta Flight 89, which was turned back for an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport after departing for Shanghai, dumped fuel on the playgrounds of at least four elementary schools in its flight path, causing minor injuries to at least 44 children and adults on the ground, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter.

Warning of 'serious threats' Virginia governor bans weapons at gun-rights rally

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Wednesday said he would ban all firearms and other weapons around the state capitol building this weekend, ahead of a major gun-rights demonstration expected to draw thousands of people. Northam, who is leading the push for stronger gun laws in his state, said he wants to avoid a repeat of violence that erupted at a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, when a march by white nationalists erupted and led to the death of a counterprotester.

Jeffrey Epstein's estate is sued by U.S. Virgin Islands over alleged widespread sex abuse

Jeffrey Epstein's estate was sued on Wednesday by the U.S. Virgin Islands, which claimed that the late accused sex offender raped and trafficked in dozens of young women and girls on a private Caribbean island he owned. The complaint filed by Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George significantly broadens the scope of the financier's alleged misconduct, saying it spanned from 2001 to 2018 and targeted girls who appeared to be as young as 11 or 12.

Democratic senators seek to force vote to block Trump border wall funding plan

Senior Democratic senators said on Wednesday that they would try to force another vote to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from taking billions of dollars from the Department of Defense budget to pay for a wall on the border with Mexico. According to multiple media reports this week, Trump plans to divert $7.2 billion from military construction and other projects to build his wall, far more than the $1.375 billion for the barrier Congress allotted in a spending bill passed last year.

Virginia vote sets up fight over women's rights constitutional amendment

Legislators in Virginia on Wednesday backed a long-gestating amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would guarantee equal rights for women, setting up a fight over whether the deadline to finalize it has passed. Backers say the vote by the Democratic-controlled state Senate and House of Delegates makes Virginia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which under the Constitution is the required number of states required to ratify an amendment.

Quake-hit Puerto Rico to get $8.2 billion in delayed U.S. aid

Puerto Rico will be allowed access to $8.2 billion in delayed disaster-aid funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the island's non-voting member of the U.S. Congress said. Jennifer Gonzalez announced the disbursement of another chunk of funds the U.S. territory's recovery from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017 after hundreds of earthquakes and aftershocks rattled the island since Dec. 28, collapsing hundreds of homes.

Trump antagonist Avenatti's bail is revoked; unhappy NY judge delays Nike extortion trial

A federal judge on Wednesday revoked Michael Avenatti's bail after the celebrity lawyer and critic of U.S. President Donald Trump was accused of hiding money from creditors, triggering a delay in a separate trial where Avenatti is charged with trying to extort Nike Inc. U.S. District Judge James Selna remanded Avenatti to federal custody at a hearing in Santa Ana, California, where prosecutors had charged him last March with stealing millions of dollars from clients, defrauding a bank and lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a bankruptcy court.

U.S. lawmakers propose sanctions over Chinese exit bans on Americans

A bipartisan group of senators has proposed legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved in enforcing exit bans on U.S. officials in China. Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Ed Markey introduced the legislation after writing President Donald Trump to urge him to press Beijing to free detained Americans and U.S. residents, including those targeted by exit bans.

Courts approved more than 2,400 reduced sentences under new law - Justice Department

More than 2,400 federal inmates have won court approval for reduced prison sentences while another 124 seriously ill prisoners have been approved for early compassionate release under a criminal justice law passed in late 2018, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. The prison release statistics were provided by the Justice Department as part of an update on implementation of the First Step Act, a law that won broad bipartisan support in Congress.

U.S. judge blocks Trump order requiring local officials' consent to take refugees

A U.S. federal judge ruled on Wednesday to block an executive order by President Donald Trump that only allows refugees to be resettled if state and local officials agree to accept them. In November, a coalition of refugee resettlement groups filed a lawsuit in Maryland to halt the executive order signed by Trump in September.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)