US Domestic News Roundup: Prominent Democratic Party activist gets 30 years in 'party and play' drug deaths; Exclusive-White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy planning to step down -sources and more

The state of Chihuahua provided a plan that will allow Texas authorities to cease enhanced inspections that have led to backups of trucks from Chihuahua over the past week, Abbott said during a joint press conference with Chihuahua Governor Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan. Family of Black man killed by Michigan police demands criminal charges The family of an African refugee killed by a Michigan police officer during a traffic stop demanded on Thursday that authorities dismiss the officer from the force and file criminal charges against him, a day after a video of the fatal shooting was released.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Prominent Democratic Party activist gets 30 years in 'party and play' drug deaths

A wealthy former Democratic Party activist convicted of giving fatal doses of methamphetamine to two men he invited to his suburban Los Angeles home for sex was sentenced on Thursday to 30 years in federal prison. Ed Buck, 67, was found guilty on nine criminal counts in a in a U.S. District Court trial last July stemming from his role in soliciting men for sex games in which prosecutors said he gave out drugs or injected them into his partners.

Exclusive-White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy planning to step down -sources

White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy is planning to step down, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations, likely ending a tenure marked by ambitious emissions targets but failure in securing major U.S. carbon-cutting legislation. McCarthy, 67, had initially planned to remain in the White House for about a year, hoping to help federal agencies implement President Joe Biden's ambitious climate legislation, but those efforts stalled amid intraparty opposition from key Democratic senators.

Texas, Chihuahua governors agree on deal to return border truck traffic to normal

Commercial truck traffic from the Mexican state of Chihuahua to Texas will return to normal immediately after both sides reached an agreement on border security, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday. The state of Chihuahua provided a plan that will allow Texas authorities to cease enhanced inspections that have led to backups of trucks from Chihuahua over the past week, Abbott said during a joint press conference with Chihuahua Governor Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan.

Family of Black man killed by Michigan police demands criminal charges

The family of an African refugee killed by a Michigan police officer during a traffic stop demanded on Thursday that authorities dismiss the officer from the force and file criminal charges against him, a day after a video of the fatal shooting was released. Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee who is Black, was killed in a Grand Rapids neighborhood during a routine traffic stop after he struggled with the officer over a stun gun. The officer has not been publicly identified.

Planned Parenthood, ACLU sue to block Kentucky's abortion restrictions

Abortion providers including Planned Parenthood on Thursday sued to block a sweeping new Kentucky law that forces them to stop offering the procedure until they can meet certain requirements, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional ban on abortions. A Planned Parenthood affiliate and a clinic represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed separate lawsuits a day after the Republican-led legislature overrode a veto by the state's Democratic governor to enact the anti-abortion law.

China holds drills around Taiwan as U.S. lawmakers visit

China said it conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a U.S. Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their "provocative" trip. China's military sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes to the East China Sea and the area around Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command said, in a statement released as the lawmakers were holding a news conference in Taipei.

Republican Party withdraws from U.S. commission on presidential debates

The Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, saying the group that has run the debates for decades was biased and refused to enact reforms. "We are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people," the committee's chairperson, Ronna McDaniel, said in a statement.

In North Carolina, Biden defends handling of inflation

President Joe Biden on Thursday defended his handling of the U.S. economy amid a 40-year-high spike in inflation that he blamed in part on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Speaking at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, Biden promoted his efforts to strengthen U.S. supply chains, accelerate American production of semiconductors and ease dependence on foreign makers.

New York subway shooting suspect to remain in jail, undergo a psychiatric exam

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the man charged with this week's mass shooting in a New York subway to remain in custody and undergo a psychiatric exam as he awaits trial for one of the most violent attacks on the city's mass transit system. Frank James, 62, making his initial court appearance a day after his arrest in lower Manhattan, is accused of injuring 30 people by setting off smoke bombs and spraying the inside of a subway car with gunfire during Tuesday morning's rush-hour commute in Brooklyn.

U.S. Capitol rioter who said he followed Trump's orders found guilty

A jury on Thursday convicted an Ohio man who claimed he was following former President Donald Trump's orders when he looted items from U.S. Capitol during last year's riot, handing another notable win to prosecutors. A federal jury in the District of Columbia found Dustin Thompson, 38, guilty on all charges he faced, including obstruction of an official proceeding and theft of government property.