Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump seeks delay of trial on mishandling classified documents

Donald Trump appeared in federal court in Florida on Friday to ask a judge to push back his criminal trial on charges of mishandling classified documents until the thick of the U.S. presidential campaign. The frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination looked on as his lawyers told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon that the trial should be pushed back from May 20 to Aug. 12, which would have him in court in the weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Colorado judge sentences paramedic to five years in prison for McClain killing

A Colorado court sentenced paramedic to five years in prison on Friday after he was convicted in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after police put him in a chokehold and medics injected him with a powerful sedative.

Jurors in December found emergency medical worker Peter Cichuniec, 51, guilty of criminally negligent homicide and also of assault in the second degree in a rare trial of paramedics in such a case.

More than 100 US Capitol rioters' sentences could be shortened, under court ruling

More than 100 people convicted of joining the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters could have their sentences shortened, following a federal appeals court ruling on Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said defendants who were implicated in obstructing the work of the U.S. Congress should not have been given longer sentences for having interfered with the "administration of justice."

Trump lawyer says Georgia election interference case's prosecutor should be disqualified

A lawyer for Donald Trump on Friday told a Georgia judge that the lead prosecutor who charged the former U.S. president with election interference should be disqualified because she may have lied to the court about her undisclosed affair with a top deputy. The lawyer, Steve Sadow, said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' claim under oath that her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade did not begin until after she hired him was not credible.

NASA to discontinue $2 billion satellite servicing project on higher costs, schedule delays

NASA said on Friday it is shutting down a more than $2 billion project to test satellite servicing like fueling in space, citing higher costs and schedule delays. The space agency said in October that the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project continues to face an increase in costs and is expected to exceed its $2.05 billion price tag and the December 2026 launch date.

Police reports, adultery claims: inside the tumult ripping Michigan Republicans apart

A threat of dueling party conventions to choose a presidential nominee this weekend. Accusations of adultery, corruption and incompetence. A barrage of social media attacks and a police investigation. The Michigan Republican Party is in turmoil, raising fears among some Republicans that support for former President Donald Trump's re-election bid could suffer in a battleground state that Democratic President Joe Biden won by 2.8 percentage points in 2020.

Biden signs stopgap spending bill to avert government shutdown, White House says

U.S. President Joe Biden has signed into law a short-term stopgap spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown, the White House said on Friday. The bill was approved by the Democratic-majority U.S. Senate on Thursday after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives backed it with less than 36 hours before funding would have begun to run out.

Judge blocks Texas attorney general's demands for LGBT group's records

PFLAG, a leading U.S. LGBTQ advocacy group, on Friday won a temporary restraining order blocking demands from Texas' Republican attorney general for information about the group's work with families of transgender minors seeking gender-affirming treatments, such as puberty blockers and hormones. The order, which will remain in effect for at least two weeks, from Travis County District Court Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel came in a lawsuit PFLAG filed Wednesday against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Hexsel set a hearing for March 25 on whether to block Paxton's demands for as long as the case is pending.

California approves Waymo robotaxi services in LA, SF neighboring cities

A California regulator has approved a proposal from Alphabet's Waymo to expand its fared, completely driverless robotaxi services to Los Angeles and some cities near San Francisco, effective on Friday. Waymo, which already operates in San Francisco and Phoenix, applied on Jan. 19 to expand its driverless services, saying it would work with policymakers, first responders and community organizations. Last month, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) suspended the application "for further staff review."

Texas Panhandle firefighters battle blaze before wind gusts return

Fire crews in the Texas Panhandle on Friday were battling to get a tighter grip on the state's largest wildfire on record, hoping to capitalize on a lull in incessant wind gusts that have fanned an inferno that has devastated the cattle-ranching region. The deadly wildfire, dubbed the Smokehouse Creek Fire, has scorched more than 1 million acres (404,685 hectares), according to the latest figures from the Texas A&M Forest Service, provided on Thursday.

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