US Domestic News Roundup: Jay-Z sues Mississippi prison officials ; Delta flight dumps fuel on L.A. school and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump administration moves closer to rolling back U.S. vehicle fuel economy increases

New rules enacting President Donald Trump's reductions in fuel efficiency standards for new vehicles through 2026 moved closer to reality on Tuesday when U.S. agencies sent proposals to the White House for final review. After more than 17 months of discussion, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted proposed rules for 2021 through 2026 model year fuel efficiency to the White House Office of Management and Budget, the agencies said.

Texas to execute man convicted of shooting estranged wife to death in 2005

A 64-year-old man is scheduled to be put to death in Texas on Wednesday, 15 years after authorities say he fatally shot his estranged wife who told her friends she did not expect to get out of the abusive marriage alive. John Gardner is set to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT (2300 GMT) at the state's death chamber in Huntsville for the murder of his wife Tammy Gardner, 41, in 2005.

Michael Avenatti, a former lawyer for Stormy Daniels, arrested in California

Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti was arrested on Tuesday on accusations that he violated the terms of his release from custody while awaiting trial on charges that he sought to extort millions of dollars from Nike Inc., federal prosecutors said. Avenatti, 48, whose trial in the Nike case is set to start next week, was taken into custody by agents from the Internal Revenue Service, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

F-35 logistics system to be reinvented and renamed, official says

The computer-based logistics system of the F-35 stealth fighter jet made by Lockheed Martin, which has been plagued by delays, will be replaced by another network made by the same company, a Pentagon official said on Tuesday. The Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) was designed to underpin the F-35 fleet's daily operations, ranging from mission planning and flight scheduling to repairs and scheduled maintenance, as well as the tracking and ordering of parts.

U.S. judge puts on hold House lawsuit seeking Trump tax returns

A federal judge put on hold a bid by a U.S. House of Representatives committee to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, saying on Tuesday that he would wait for a much-anticipated appeals court decision relating to congressional subpoenas before issuing a ruling. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington issued a stay in a case the House Ways and Means Committee brought in July that sought to force the Treasury Department to hand over years of Trump’s individual and business federal tax returns.

Puerto Rico to be given access to $8.2 billion in blocked disaster aid funding: Politico

Puerto Rico will be allowed access to $8.2 billion in blocked disaster aid funding by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Politico reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. territory has undergone hundreds of earthquakes and aftershocks since Dec. 28 that have caused structural damage to thousands of buildings and homes.

Trump criticizes Apple's encryption stance on Pensacola phones

President Donald Trump lashed out at Apple Inc on Tuesday, castigating the iPhone maker for what he said was its refusal to unlock phones used by criminals while benefiting from government help on trade. Trump's tweet came amid the investigation into the fatal shooting of three Americans by a Saudi Air Force officer at the U.S. Naval Station in Pensacola, Florida, last month, which Attorney General William Barr called “an act of terrorism” on Monday.

Delta flight dumps fuel on L.A. school, 26 treated for minor injuries

A Delta Airlines jet making an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport dumped fuel on the playground of an elementary school in the flight path on Tuesday, inflicting minor injuries on 17 children and nine adults, local and federal authorities said. All of the injuries at Park Avenue Elementary School in suburban Cudahy were said to be minor and none of the victims needed hospitalization, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter.

Trump ex-adviser Flynn seeks to withdraw a guilty plea

Lawyers for Michael Flynn, U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, on Tuesday said in a court filing that he would seek to withdraw his guilty plea in former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Flynn pleaded guilty in late 2017 to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia’s ambassador to the United States in the weeks before Trump took office, but has since argued that prosecutors violated his rights and duped him into a plea agreement.

Jay-Z sues Mississippi prison officials over unfair conditions: NBC News

Rapper Jay-Z on Tuesday sued two Mississippi prison officials on behalf of 29 inmates who say authorities did nothing to stop the violence that has killed five prisoners in the last two weeks, NBC News reported. The lawsuit, filed by Jay-Z's lawyer Alex Spiro in the U.S. District Court in Greenville, Mississippi, says "these deaths are a direct result of Mississippi's utter disregard for the people it has incarcerated and their constitutional rights," according to the report https://nbcnews.to/2tmTUm7.

(With inputs from agencies.)