US Domestic News Roundup: Stingy trade-war aid irks U.S. farmers; Facebook encryption case; California privacy law

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. rights groups seek secret documents in Facebook encryption case

Two civil rights groups asked a judge on Wednesday to release documents describing a secret U.S. government effort to force Facebook Inc to decrypt voice conversations between users on its Messenger app. A joint motion by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in U.S. District Court in Fresno, California argued that the public's right to know the state of the law on encryption outweighs any reason the U.S. Justice Department might have for protecting a criminal probe or law-enforcement method.

Penny for your corn? Stingy trade-war aid irks U.S. farmers

Iowa corn farmer Bob Hemesath jokes that the government check he expects as compensation for his trade-war losses will soon allow him to splurge on upscale coffee in town instead of his usual burnt gas-station brew. Rob Sharkey, an Illinois farmer, hopes his corn trade aid check will be big enough for that margarita machine he and his wife have been eyeing – but they doubt they'll be any left over for the booze.

Man sues Hawaii, blaming false missile alert for heart attack

A Hawaii man who had a heart attack after a false alert about an incoming ballistic missile flashed on cellphones in January has sued the state, accusing it of negligence in the incident that panicked thousands of people. James Sean Shields was driving to the beach with his girlfriend on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 13, when the state flashed out alerts onto phones across the islands: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

Bobby Brown sues Showtime, BBC over Whitney Houston documentary

Whitney Houston's former husband Bobby Brown and the estate of their daughter Bobbi Kristina have sued Showtime Networks and the BBC over alleged unauthorized footage used in a 2017 documentary about the late singer, "Whitney: Can I Be Me." According to a complaint filed on Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Brown, the R&B singer formerly of New Edition, and Bobbi Kristina's estate never consented to the airing of footage used in the documentary.

Ailing Central American migrants in dire conditions dig in at U.S. border

Thousands of Central American migrants are digging in for the long haul at a filthy, overcrowded sports complex in sight of the United States, while a small number have opted to return home after clashes with border forces dimmed hopes of crossing. The bedraggled men, women and children of a caravan of mostly Hondurans began cramming into the complex in Tijuana about three weeks ago. They now number more than 6,000 in a space the city government first prepared for a third as many.

Texas Southern University ends evacuation after bomb threat

A bomb threat at Texas Southern University, one of the largest historically black universities in the United States, triggered an evacuation of the campus on Wednesday, but students were allowed back after a sweep, officials said. The threat to the school in Houston was made in a call to emergency dispatchers, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said by phone.

California assessing legal action against use of force on Mexico border

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is assessing whether the state can take legal action over the Trump administration's use of force against a caravan of migrants or a decision and future threats to shut the border with Mexico, he said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. "We have been approached by folks who have expressed complaints," Becerra, who is the son of Mexican immigrants, said. "We are monitoring what's occurring."

U.S. Congress shouldn't preempt California privacy law: state official

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned on Wednesday that the U.S. Congress should not pass a relatively weak online privacy bill to protect consumer data and use it to take precedence over a new California law. Big tech companies are pushing for a federal bill to preempt California's law, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law in June but whose provisions are not due to go into effect until 2020.

Group close to pope urges California's Brown to commute all death sentences

A Catholic group close to Pope Francis and representatives of 25 countries on Wednesday appealed to outgoing California Governor Jerry Brown to commute all the state's 742 death sentences before laving office. The Sant' Egidio peace group made the appeal together with the justice ministers of South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe and Malaysia, and 21 lower-ranking officials from other countries at a conference on the death penalty held in Italy's parliament.

Offices of Texas Catholic archdiocese searched in sex-abuse case

Texas authorities searched the offices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston on Wednesday looking for documents related to a priest who was charged in September with sex crimes. Agents of the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office and officers from the Texas Rangers and the City of Conroe police force executed a search warrant of the archdiocese's Houston offices seeking information on the priest, Father Manuel LaRosa-Lopez, prosecutors said.

(With inputs from Reuters)