US Domestic News Roundup: College grads, baby boomers big winners in Trump's economy; Four ship passengers hospitalized for coronavirus screening and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Blue collar boom? College grads, baby boomers big winners in Trump's economy

U.S. President Donald Trump rolled out an eye-catching statistic in his State of the Union address Tuesday: the wealth held by the poorest half of American households increased three times as fast as the wealth held by the "1%" since he became president. That's true, according to Federal Reserve data.

Four New Jersey cruise ship passengers hospitalized for coronavirus screening

About two dozen passengers aboard a Caribbean cruise ship that docked in Bayonne, New Jersey, on Friday morning were screened for coronavirus and four were sent to a local hospital for further screening, the city's mayor said. Mayor Jimmy Davis of Bayonne, about 10 miles from New York City, described the hospitalizations as "an abundance of caution" and said officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had indicated there seemed to be little threat.

Colorado transgender teen pleads guilty to murder in school revenge case

A transgender teenager accused of opening fire with a friend in a Denver-area charter school in May to exact revenge on classmates who bullied him pleaded guilty on Friday to murder and attempted murder charges, prosecutors said. Alec McKinney, 16, who has been held without bond since the May 7 rampage that left one student dead and eight others wounded, pleaded guilty to 17 criminal counts, including conspiracy and weapons charges, said Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler.

House panel to hold hearing on future of self-driving cars

A U.S. House panel will hold a hearing Tuesday on autonomous vehicles as lawmakers try to hammer out legislation to advance self-driving cars. An Energy and Commerce subcommittee overseeing automotive issues will hear from officials of trade groups representing automakers and tech companies, as well as safety advocates and a San Francisco transit official.

Five killed in Alaska commuter air crash

Five people were killed on Thursday when a commuter aircraft crashed in rural southwestern Alaska, killing all aboard, officials said. The plane, a Piper PA32, crashed "under unknown circumstances," Allen Kenitzer, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said in an email.

U.S. House approves $4.7 billion disaster aid, tax breaks for Puerto Rico

The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, reeling from severe earthquakes last month and still struggling to recover from devastating hurricanes in 2017, would get nearly $4.7 billion in new aid under legislation passed on Friday by the House of Representatives. The Democratic-controlled House, by a vote of 237-161, approved the bill that also contains tax breaks for the bankrupt Caribbean island and its 3.2 million people, who are American citizens.

New York drinkers toast rise in booze-free craft cocktails

John DeBary has spent more than a decade working in New York's cocktail scene, helping to spearhead the craft cocktail movement as a bartender at PDT (Please Don't Tell) and then as beverage director with the Momofuku Restaurant Group. In search of what he called "undiscovered country," DeBary began thinking about what would happen if he stopped using alcohol for cocktails, while still searching for the same flavor intensity.

Former UAW official pleads guilty to corruption charges

A former United Auto Workers official, charged for conspiring with other union leaders to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars of workers' dues, pleaded guilty on Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said. Vance Pearson, 58, was arrested in September after a criminal complaint against him showed vast sums being spent on lavish entertainment by labor leaders - including $440 bottles of champagne originally created to please a Russian czar and scantily clad women to light union leaders' cigars.

New York threatens to sue Trump administration over access to traveler programs

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Friday threatened to sue the Trump administration over its decision to restrict New Yorkers' access to some programs that allow faster security checks at ports of entry, part of a dispute about the state's limits on cooperation with current U.S. immigration policy. U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican who was born and raised in New York, has criticized the Democratic-run state and other states and cities his administration deems "sanctuary jurisdictions" because of their policies limiting information sharing between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Pimco ex-CEO sentenced to prison in U.S. college admissions scam: prosecutor

The former head of asset management firm Pimco was sentenced on Friday to nine months in prison for his part in a scheme in which privileged parents paid bribes to get their children into U.S. colleges, federal prosecutors said. Douglas Hodge, who retired as chief executive of Allianz SE's California-based Pimco in 2016, also was sentenced to two years of supervised release, a $750,000 fine and 500 hours of community service, a spokeswoman for Boston U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in an email.

(With inputs from agencies.)