US Domestic News Roundup: R&B singer R. Kelly to be sentenced for luring women, girls for sex; Trump wanted to join Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel: aide and more

In three decisions in the past eight weeks, the court has ruled against government officials whose policies and actions were taken to avoid violating the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on governmental endorsement of religion - known as the "establishment clause." U.S. mass shooting insurance rates jump as incidents rise The cost of buying insurance protection against mass shootings has spiked more than 10% in the United States this year following a string of deadly events, insurers said.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 29-06-2022 19:09 IST | Created: 29-06-2022 18:31 IST
US Domestic News Roundup: R&B singer R. Kelly to be sentenced for luring women, girls for sex; Trump wanted to join Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel: aide and more
Former US President Donald Trump (File photo) Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

R&B singer R. Kelly to be sentenced for luring women, girls for sex

Multiplatinum R&B singer R. Kelly will be sentenced on Wednesday for exploiting his stardom and wealth over decades to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex. Kelly, 55, was convicted last September in Brooklyn federal court following a 5-1/2 week trial that amplified accusations that had dogged the singer of the Grammy-winning hit "I Believe I Can Fly" since the early 2000s.

Trump wanted to join Capitol riot, tried to grab limo steering wheel: aide

Donald Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential limousine on Jan. 6, 2021, when his security detail declined to take him to the U.S. Capitol where his supporters were rioting, a former aide testified on Tuesday. The then-president dismissed concerns that some supporters gathered for his fiery speech outside the White House that day carried AR-15-style rifles, instead asking security to stop screening attendees with metal-detecting magnetometers so the crowd would look larger, the aide testified.

Mexican families fret over fate of migrants trapped in Texas truck

Before he began the journey that ended in disaster, Jose Luis Vasquez lived in a remote mountainous community in southern Mexico, where a single telephone connects a few indigenous families to the outside world, local residents said. Now the 31-year-old is in a hospital in San Antonio, Texas, after becoming severely dehydrated in a sweltering tractor-trailer truck in which at least 51 migrants died in the deadliest human trafficking tragedy in recent U.S. history.

Two Mexicans charged after death of 51 migrants in sweltering Texas truck

At least 51 migrants have died after being trapped inside a sweltering tractor-trailer truck found abandoned in Texas, authorities said on Tuesday, as two Mexican nationals tied to the unprecedented smuggling tragedy were charged in U.S. federal court. The deceased migrants, 39 men and 12 women, most of them citizens of Mexico, were discovered on Monday in an industrial area on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, about 160 miles (250 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Americans look north and south for abortion access in post-Roe world

Some Americans without access to safe local abortions in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling are looking to the country's northern and southern neighbors for access to reproductive care. While most Americans are likely to first try to access abortion in other states, providers in Mexico and Canada told Reuters they expect some people - especially from border states - will make the cross-border trek for reproductive care.

Eli Lilly to supply additional doses of COVID antibody drug to U.S.

Eli Lilly and Co said on Wednesday it will supply additional doses of its COVID-19 antibody drug to the U.S. government in order to meet demand through late August. As per the modified supply agreement with the government, Lilly will provide an additional 150,000 doses of bebtelovimab for about $275 million. The drug has also shown effectiveness against the Omicron variant.

Ex-Giuliani associate to be sentenced for campaign finance violations

Lev Parnas, a onetime associate of Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, will be sentenced on Wednesday for violating U.S. campaign finance laws during the 2018 elections. Parnas, 50, was convicted in October of seeking funds from Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev to donate to candidates Parnas believed could help secure licenses to operate cannabis businesses. U.S. law bars foreign individuals from contributing to campaigns.

U.S. Supreme Court allows Louisiana electoral map faulted for racial bias

The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a Republican-drawn map of Louisiana's six U.S. House of Representatives districts that had been blocked by a judge who found that it likely discriminates against Black voters, a setback for Democrats as they try to retain control of Congress in November's elections. The justices granted a request by Louisiana's Republican secretary of state to put on hold U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick's injunction requiring a new map that has a second district where Black voters represent the majority of voters rather than just one in the version adopted by the Republican-led state legislature.

U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at separation of church and state

The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court has chipped away at the wall separating church and state in a series of new rulings, eroding American legal traditions intended to prevent government officials from promoting any particular faith. In three decisions in the past eight weeks, the court has ruled against government officials whose policies and actions were taken to avoid violating the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on governmental endorsement of religion - known as the "establishment clause."

U.S. mass shooting insurance rates jump as incidents rise

The cost of buying insurance protection against mass shootings has spiked more than 10% in the United States this year following a string of deadly events, insurers said. The United States witnessed 293 mass shootings so far this year, according to a report by the Gun Violence Archive https://www.gunviolencearchive.org that defines https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/methodology them as any event involving the shooting of four or more people other than the assailant. That compares with 309 the same period last year, but is sharply up from 240 in 2020.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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