US News Roundup: Alaska lawmakers clash over education cuts; Epstein sex-abuse case and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Alaska lawmakers near showdown with governor over education cuts

Alaska lawmakers were heading for a showdown with Governor Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday to try and stop his bid to slash spending on higher education - a move the state's main university has warned could force it into bankruptcy. Minority Democrats and some Republicans said they were still working to get the votes to override the 41% cuts by the Republican at a special sitting of the state legislature.

Trump defends cabinet member Acosta embroiled in Epstein sex-abuse case

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, who is under pressure from Democrats to resign over his handling of a decade-old sex abuse case against financier Jeffrey Epstein, but said he, too, would look into it. Federal sex trafficking charges were brought against Epstein on Monday, raising new questions about Acosta's handling of a related case in Florida in 2008. Federal prosecutors including Acosta reached a plea deal with Epstein that has since come under scrutiny as being too lenient.

Death of man under vehicle believed due to California quake -officials

A Nevada man found dead and pinned underneath his Jeep is believed to have been a victim of one of the recent earthquakes in southern California that ranked among the most severe in two decades, sheriff's officials said on Wednesday. An earthquake of magnitude 7.1 shook the remote town of Ridgecrest in the Mojave desert on Friday, 1-1/2 days after one of 6.4 magnitude, both of which were felt as far as Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Justice Department trying to quash Mueller team testimony: report

The Justice Department is trying to prevent two former members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team from testifying behind closed doors as Mueller prepares to make a public appearance before lawmakers next week, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The department said last week it opposed testimony by Aaron Zebley and James Quarles before the Democratic-led House of Representatives' Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, a senior congressional official told the paper. A Justice Department official confirmed the account and had instructed the men not to appear, the paper said.

Most perpetrators in 2018 mass attacks made threats: U.S. Secret Service

Most of those responsible for mass attacks in public areas in the United States in 2018 made prior threats or sent messages that sparked concern, the Secret Service said on Tuesday, in a study highlighting advance clues to such violence. Two-thirds of the attackers also had a history of mental health issues and half were motivated by workplace or personal grievances, the agency said in a report published by its National Threat Assessment Center.

Financier Epstein goes from luxury life to confined jail cell after sex trafficking charges

Wealthy American financier Jeffrey Epstein, charged with sex trafficking in underage girls, is now confined to a cell in a fortress-like concrete tower jail that has been criticized by inmates and lawyers for harsh conditions. After his arrest on Saturday at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport on arrival from Paris in his private plane, Epstein was likely put in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan, according to defense lawyers and others familiar with the jail.

Air quality plummets as wildfire smoke hits Alaska's most populous cities

Smoke and soot from central Alaska wildfires have afflicted the subarctic city of Fairbanks with some of the world's worst air pollution in recent days, forcing many residents indoors and prompting one hospital to set up a "clean air shelter." Fine particulate matter carried by smoke into the Fairbanks North Star Borough over the past two weeks has been measured at concentrations as high as more than double the minimum level deemed hazardous to human health, borough air quality manager Nick Czarnecki said.

Judge's order on government lawyer shake-up adds hurdle for Trump in U.S. Census dispute

A judge in New York on Tuesday denied the U.S. Department of Justice's request to shake up the legal team that was handling cases on the 2020 Census, adding another hurdle to the Trump administration's bid to put a contentious citizenship question on the survey. U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman said in a court order the 11th-hour request to change lawyers handling the case is "patently deficient" and provides no "satisfactory reasons."

Online conservatives expect to vent social media frustrations at White House summit

When conservative meme-maker Carpe Donktum got an invite to a White House summit, he thought the email might be spam. "I asked around because I wasn't sure if it was a mass marketing thing," said the stay-at-home dad who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, declining to give his real name for fear of harassment against his family.

U.S. appeals court signals sympathy to bid to strike down Obamacare

A federal appeals court panel appeared sympathetic on Tuesday to Republican efforts to overturn Obamacare, expressing skepticism to Democratic calls to overturn the ruling of a Texas judge who found the landmark U.S. healthcare reform law unconstitutional. Two Republican-appointed members of the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sharply questioned lawyers for a group of Democratic state attorneys general and the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives defending the Affordable Care Act.

Also Read: Financier Jeffrey Epstein arrested on sex charges