US Domestic News Roundup: Porn actor Ron Jeremy found mentally incompetent to stand trial for rape; Husband of missing Massachusetts woman charged with murder and more

The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed at least 20 people while tens of thousands remained under evacuation orders as of Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said in an executive order that reinforced the state's response to storm damage. U.S. Supreme Court mulls Turkish lender Halkbank's bid to avoid charges U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with thorny questions of sovereign immunity as they weighed a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Porn actor Ron Jeremy found mentally incompetent to stand trial for rape

Porn star Ron Jeremy was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in Los Angeles on rape and other sex charges involving 21 women, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said on Tuesday. Jeremy, 69, pleaded not guilty in August 2021 to more than 30 counts of sexual assault, including 12 of rape, in the Los Angeles area over a 23-year period. He has been in prison since his arrest in June 2020.

Husband of missing Massachusetts woman charged with murder

The husband of a Massachusetts woman who has been missing since New Year's Day was charged on Tuesday with her murder after authorities earlier said they had found a knife and blood in the basement of their home, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. Brian Walshe, 47, was already being held on $500,000 bail after being arrested on Jan. 8 on a charge of misleading a police investigation into the disappearance of Ana Walshe in a case that has garnered national headlines.

$10,000 reward posted in murder of six people at California home

Law enforcement officials in California on Tuesday offered a $10,000 reward and asked for the public's help in solving the "deliberate, intentional and horrific" murders of six people at a home in the state's Central Valley. Investigators believe a gang or drug cartel targeted the family, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told a news conference. Deputies had conducted a drug-related search warrant at the same home recently.

Trump to make first 2024 campaign appearance in South Carolina

Republican former President Donald Trump on Jan. 28 will make the first public appearance of his 2024 presidential run in the early voting state of South Carolina since announcing his candidacy in November, his campaign announced on Tuesday. Two well-known South Carolina Republicans - U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's most loyal backers, and Governor Henry McMaster - will join Trump at the State House in Columbia as he unveils his campaign's state leadership team, according to the announcement.

U.S. asks court to reverse order banning airplane mask mandate to combat COVID

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked an appeals court panel to reverse an April 2021 ruling that declared unlawful a government order requiring masks on airplanes, buses, trains, ridesharing services and at airports and other transportation hubs. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on the government's appeal of a ruling by a U.S. district court judge in Florida that found the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lacked legal authority to issue a nationwide travel mask mandate to combat COVID-19.

U.S. prosecutors will not seek death penalty against accused Texas Walmart shooter

Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing 23 people and injuring dozens more in a hate crime targeting people of Mexican descent at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, a court document filed on Tuesday showed. Prosecutors say Patrick Wood Crusius drove 11 hours to El Paso, which sits on the U.S. border with Mexico, from his hometown of Allen, near Dallas, on Aug. 3, 2019, and then fired at shoppers with an AK-47 rifle inside the Walmart store. He surrendered to officers who confronted him outside.

Texas electrical grid still at risk in extreme weather -Dallas Fed

The Texas electrical grid is still vulnerable to severe weather despite safeguards following a deadly February 2021 deep freeze that brought widespread power outages, the Dallas Federal Reserve said on Tuesday. Since the freeze roughly two years ago, which caused key components of the state's electrical system to fail, Texas has introduced regulations to weatherize its grid.

Reversing abortion drug's approval would harm public interest, U.S. FDA says

President Joe Biden's administration is urging a judge to reject a request by abortion opponents for a court order withdrawing federal approval for the drug used in medication abortions - which account for more than half of U.S. abortions - citing potential dangers to women seeking to end their pregnancies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's filing to U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, made available online on Tuesday, came in a lawsuit in Texas by anti-abortion groups challenging the agency's approval of the drug mifepristone in 2000 for medication abortion.

California rainstorm death toll reaches 20, Biden plans visit

The parade of atmospheric rivers that pounded California for three weeks finally faded on Monday, enabling the state to begin lengthy repairs to roads and levees as the White House announced President Joe Biden planned to survey the damage. The nine consecutive rainstorms that inundated California in succession since Dec. 26 killed at least 20 people while tens of thousands remained under evacuation orders as of Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom said in an executive order that reinforced the state's response to storm damage.

U.S. Supreme Court mulls Turkish lender Halkbank's bid to avoid charges

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with thorny questions of sovereign immunity as they weighed a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions. The nine justices heard arguments in Halkbank's appeal of a lower court's ruling in favor of the U.S. government that allowed the prosecution of the bank to proceed.

The case tests Halkbank's contention that it is shielded from prosecution because, as an entity majority owned by the Turkish government, it should enjoy the same legal protections as Turkey. Sovereign immunity generally protects countries from facing legal action in another country's courts. The justices raised numerous concerns about curbing the U.S. government executive branch's authority to make decisions involving national security, as well as the potential consequences of criminally prosecuting one of a foreign government's entities. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said it would be "pretty bizarre" and "huge" for the court to tell a U.S. president that "this court is going to prohibit your exercise of national security authority." Halkbank, charged in New York in 2019, has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges over its alleged use of money servicers and front companies in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to evade U.S. sanctions. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch raised concerns that allowing the federal prosecution to proceed might open the door to U.S. states targeting foreign nations as well. States, Gorsuch said, could be "free to try to bring lawsuits against Mexico for this or that, or perhaps China because of COVID, or who knows what a creative state prosecutor might come up with?" Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned against giving federal or state prosecutors "the right to insult another nation by giving them this unbridled power to initiate suits."

(With inputs from agencies.)