US Domestic News Roundup:Trump says speaking to NRA over background checks on gun sales; Puerto Rico's new governor says she intends to remain in office

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Midwest farm economy hit hard by record floods: Fed banks

U.S. farm incomes in the Midwest and Mid-Southern states declined yet again in the second quarter of 2019, as record floods devastated a wide swath of the Farm Belt, according to banker surveys released on Thursday by the Federal Reserve Banks of St. Louis and Kansas City. Nearly two-thirds of the bankers surveyed by the St. Louis Fed said a majority of their farm customers were either significantly or modestly impacted by the flooding and other adverse weather earlier this year.

Petition by Walmart employee to protest gun sales gathers over 45,000 signatures

A petition started by a junior Walmart Inc worker in California to protest the retailer's sale of firearms, following two mass shootings over the weekend left 31 people dead in Texas and Ohio, has gathered more than 45,000 signatures. Thomas Marshall, a 23-year-old category manager in San Bruno began his protest by emailing fellow employees and asking them to call in sick on Tuesday, leave work early on Wednesday, and to sign a Change.org petition.

Alaska's hottest month portends transformation into 'unfrozen state'

July 2019 now stands as Alaska's hottest month on record, the latest benchmark in a long-term warming trend with ominous repercussions ranging from rapidly vanishing summer sea ice and melting glaciers to raging wildfires and deadly chaos for marine life. July's statewide average temperature rose to 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit (14.5 degrees Celsius), a level that for denizens of the Lower 48 states might seem cool enough but is actually 5.4 degrees above normal and nearly a full degree higher than Alaska's previous record-hot month.

Puerto Rico's new governor says she intends to remain in office

The revolving door at the governor's office in Puerto Rico may finally stop with Wanda Vazquez, the newly sworn-in chief executive of the bankrupt U.S. territory, who said on Thursday she has no plans to resign. In a series of interviews with local media, Puerto Rico's former justice secretary denied reports that she had agreed to resign soon to allow Jenniffer Gonzalez, the Caribbean island's nonvoting representative in the U.S. Congress, to take over.

Man armed with loaded rifle, body armor arrested at Missouri Walmart

Police arrested a man in body armor, with a loaded rifle and 100 rounds of ammunition, who walked into a Walmart store in Springfield, Mo., on Thursday, alarming customers within in a week of back-to-back shootings that shocked the nation. A national debate on gun safety was reignited by Saturday's shooting in Texas that killed 22 in a Walmart store in El Paso on the border with Mexico, hours before another in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday that killed 9 people and the suspect.

Texas shooting suspect's mother alerted police about his gun ownership: CNN

The Dallas-area mother of the young man arrested in the mass shooting that killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas, had called police weeks earlier expressing concern about his fitness to own an assault-style rifle, CNN said on Wednesday. The mother contacted the Allen Police Department because she worried whether her son, aged 21, was mature or experienced enough in handling such a weapon to have purchased an "AK"-type firearm, CNN said, citing lawyers for the suspect's family.

NRA criticizes presidential candidates after mass shootings

The National Rifle Association accused U.S. presidential candidates on Thursday of trying to politicize the deadly mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, warning against enhanced background checks for gun buyers a day after Republican President Donald Trump embraced the idea. "Unfortunately, aspiring presidential candidates immediately took to the airwaves this past weekend to politicize these tragedies, and to demonize the NRA and its 5 million law-abiding members," the gun rights lobby said in a statement without mentioning candidates' names or party affiliations.

Trump says speaking to NRA over background checks on gun sales

President Donald Trump on Friday said he has been speaking with the National Rifle Association to ensure that the gun lobby's "very strong views" are considered as congressional leaders weigh possible gun legislation after two-weekend mass shootings. Trump also said serious discussions between the leadership of the House of Representatives and Senate were taking place over expanding background checks for guns sales after the shootings left 31 people dead.

Police say California man killed four in string of 'savage' stabbings

A 33-year-old felon accused of killing four people and wounding two others in a stabbing spree in two Southern California cities "savagely attacked" his victims seemingly at random and unprovoked, police said on Thursday. The suspect, Zachary Castaneda, was taken into custody on Wednesday evening outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Santa Ana, California, moments after stabbing to death a security guard there, police said.

Stopping America's next hate-crime killers on social media is no easy task

The pattern is clear: Hate-filled manifestos posted on websites populated by white supremacists, followed by gun attacks against blacks, Jews, Muslims, or Latin American immigrants. In some cases, the killers use their internet posts to praise previous attacks by other white nationalists. And after new assaults, the manifestos get passed around, feeding the cycle of propaganda and violence.