Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been rocked by civil unrest and violence since Sunday, when police shot Blake, 29, in the back at close range in an incident captured on video.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. ACLU sues Trump administration alleging illegal arrests of vets, others in Portland

The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday sued the Trump administration, saying it illegally detained military veterans and other protesters in Portland, Oregon, and used excessive force to try to silence supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is the latest in a series of lawsuits the ACLU has filed over the federal response to weeks of anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests in Portland that at times erupted in arson and vandalism. President Donald Trump's administration sent in federal agents to respond to the protests. Hurricane Laura takes aim at Texas-Louisiana coast, expected to become Category 4

Hurricane Laura was expected to rapidly strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday on a steady track to hit the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast after dark, causing catastrophic damage, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm, already a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale for measuring hurricane intensity early Wednesday, was about 290 miles (465 km) southeast of Galveston, Texas, with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles (185 km) per hour, the Miami-based forecaster said. Category 4 hurricanes can pack winds of up to 156 miles (250 km) per hour. NBA postpones playoff games after Bucks boycott to protest racial injustice

The U.S. National Basketball Association has postponed three playoff games scheduled for Wednesday after the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against Orlando Magic in protest over racial injustice. The action by the Wisconsin-based team follows the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in the city of Kenosha, also in Wisconsin, on Sunday. Pence to make economic pitch at RNC as Trump wades into Wisconsin protests

Vice President Mike Pence was set to make an economic pitch to re-elect President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday while his boss waded into the latest flare-up of unrest over the police shooting of a Black man. The convention's first two nights featured grim claims about how the United States would suffer if Trump loses in November to Democrat Joe Biden, who is leading in national opinion polls. On Wednesday Trump weighed in on protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where three people were shot, two fatally, on the third night of unrest there. A 17-year-old was arrested on homicide charges. Teenager charged with homicide in shootings at Wisconsin protests; National Guard troops doubled

A teenager was arrested and charged with homicide on Wednesday in connection with gunfire that killed two people and wounded a third during protests over the police shooting of a Black man in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha. Civil unrest has rocked the city of about 100,000 that lies between Chicago and Milwaukee, since Sunday, when police shot Jacob Blake, 29, multiple times in the back at close range. Fired White House lawyer alleges retaliation by Trump: Democratic lawmakers

A former White House lawyer contends he was fired for reporting concerns about President Donald Trump’s efforts to have Ukraine investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and about alleged legal and ethical breaches by Trump's national security adviser, Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday. Army Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman filed an Aug. 18 complaint making the allegations with the Pentagon watchdog, the chairs of three U.S. House of Representatives committees said in a letter to acting Pentagon Inspector General Sean O'Donnell. Biden calls for justice, end to violence after speaking with Jacob Blake's family

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday with the family of the Black man shot by police in Wisconsin, and emerged from the conversation calling for justice and condemning violent protest in Jacob Blake's name. Kenosha, Wisconsin, has been rocked by civil unrest and violence since Sunday, when police shot Blake, 29, in the back at close range in an incident captured on video. Blake is paralyzed and is being treated for his injuries. California's home losses and deaths in wildfires expected to rise: governor

California firefighters made progress on Wednesday containing some of the largest wildfires in state history, as Governor Gavin Newsom said he expected a big jump in the number of homes destroyed and a rise in deaths in a disaster tied to climate change. Cooler temperatures for the second straight day helped firefighters battle the largest blazes in the San Francisco Bay Area, as state wildfire authority Cal Fire reported 1,700 houses and other structures burned across the state in fires that have killed seven people. U.S. executes only Native American on federal death row

The United States executed the only Native American on federal death row on Wednesday over opposition from the Navajo Nation, which accuses the government of violating tribal sovereignty. Lezmond Mitchell, a 38-year-old Navajo and convicted murderer, was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. EDT (2229 GMT) after being administered lethal injections of pentobarbital in the Department of Justice's execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, according to a media witness. U.S. officials see no evidence of foreign meddling with mail-in ballots

American intelligence and law enforcement agencies have not found evidence indicating that foreign governments are trying to interfere with mail-in balloting ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, officials said on Wednesday. Intelligence officials previously have said Russia, China and Iran were employing disinformation campaigns and other means to interfere in U.S. politics before the election in which President Donald Trump is seeking a second term in office.