US Domestic News Roundup: WhatsApp instructions, Mexican struggles: How Haitians ended up in Texas camp; U.S. FDA advisers recommend COVID-19 boosters for 65 and older after rejecting broad approval and more

Earnest and the government will jointly recommend that he receive a life term in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 28, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. Biden admin looks to revive Trump-era order on migrant expulsion The Biden administration on Friday moved to revive an order put in place by then-President Donald Trump directing the expulsion of migrant families caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after a U.S. judge blocked it.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Multimillionaire real estate heir Robert Durst is convicted of murder in L.A

A California jury on Friday found multimillionaire real estate heir Robert Durst guilty of murdering his best friend Susan Berman in 2000, the first homicide conviction for a man suspected of killing three people in three states over the past 39 years. Durst, 78 and frail, will likely die in prison as the jury also found him guilty of the special circumstances of lying in wait and killing a witness, which carry a mandatory life sentence. Superior Court Judge Mark Windham, who oversaw the trial, set a sentencing hearing for Oct. 18.

WhatsApp instructions, Mexican struggles: How Haitians ended up in Texas camp

Haitians camped out under a Texas bridge followed instructions circulated on WhatsApp to get there, according to a dozen migrants who said the tips delivered to their phones helped them evade checks by Mexican authorities. Over 10,000 migrants, most of them Haitians, were as of Friday sleeping on the ground in a squalid camp under the Del Rio International Bridge connecting Ciudad Acuña, Mexico to Del Rio, Texas, hoping to apply for U.S. asylum.

U.S. FDA advisers recommend COVID-19 boosters for 65 and older after rejecting broad approval

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted on Friday to recommend COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans 65 and older and those at high risk of severe illness, after overwhelmingly rejecting a call for broader approval. The panel also recommended that the FDA include healthcare workers and others at high risk of occupational exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19, such as teachers.

Some U.S. hospitals forced to ration care amid staffing shortages, COVID-19 surge

Surges in coronavirus cases in several U.S. states this week, along with staffing and equipment shortages, are exacting a mounting toll on hospitals and their workers even as the number of new admissions nationwide ebbs, leading to warnings at some facilities that care would be rationed. Montana, Alaska, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kentucky experienced the biggest rises in new COVID-19 hospitalizations during the week ending Sept. 10 compared with the previous week, with Montana's new hospitalizations rising by 26%, according to the latest report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 14.

Gunman convicted in deadly Colorado school shooting gets life without parole

A Colorado man convicted in June of murdering a classmate during a 2019 school shooting that wounded eight others was sentenced on Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Devon Erickson, 20, was also sentenced by a Douglas County District Court judge to an additional 1,282 years for attempted murder and other charges stemming from the 2019 shooting at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

U.S. Capitol on high alert as pro-Trump demonstrators converge for rally

Hundreds of police officers will be on duty around the U.S. Capitol on Saturday braced for a rally by supporters of the hundreds of people who breached the building on Jan. 6 trying to overturn former President Donald Trump's election defeat. A black eight-foot-high (2.44 m) fence which surrounded the white-domed building for about six months after the attack is back, 100 National Guard troops are on standby and security officials are performing additional checks on travelers arriving at Washington's nearest airport in an effort to prevent violence.

Magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattles Los Angeles area

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook Los Angeles shortly before 8 p.m. Pacific time on Friday (0300 GMT on Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said. It was felt widely across the area. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

California gunman pleads guilty to hate crimes in synagogue murder, mosque arson

A man accused of killing one worshiper and wounding three others in a shooting spree inside a California synagogue about a month after setting fire to a nearby mosque pleaded guilty on Friday to federal hate crimes contained in a 113-count indictment. Under the terms of his plea agreement with federal prosecutors, attorneys for John T. Earnest and the government will jointly recommend that he receive a life term in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 28, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.

Biden admin looks to revive Trump-era order on migrant expulsion

The Biden administration on Friday moved to revive an order put in place by then-President Donald Trump directing the expulsion of migrant families caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a day after a U.S. judge blocked it. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an appeal with a Washington-based appellate court of Thursday's ruling https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-judge-blocks-expulsions-migrant-families-under-title-42-order-2021-09-16 by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who said the public health law the policy is based on, Title 42, does not authorize the expulsion of migrants.

U.S. says Kabul drone strike killed 10 civilians, including children, in 'tragic mistake'

A drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the U.S. military said on Friday, apologizing for what it called a "tragic mistake". The Pentagon had said the Aug. 29 strike targeted an Islamic State suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to U.S.-led troops at the airport as they completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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