US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. investigates aborted FedEx landing in Texas, two planes cleared for same runway; 'Four more years': Democratic loyalists embrace Biden 2024 plan and more

The mountain lion, called P-22 and thought to be about 12 years old, became a Los Angeles celebrity after living in the shadow of the Hollywood Hills for over a decade, traversing busy highways to take up residence in and around Griffith Park. Arctic blast grips U.S. Northeast, bringing frostbite-threatening temperatures A powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures to perilously low levels across the region, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. investigates aborted FedEx landing in Texas, two planes cleared for same runway

The Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board are investigating an aborted landing in Austin, Texas, on Saturday morning by a FedEx cargo plane that had been set to land on a runway on which a Southwest Airlines jet was also cleared to depart from, the agencies said. The two planes came close to colliding when the FedEx plane was forced to overfly the Southwest plane to avoid a crash, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

'Four more years': Democratic loyalists embrace Biden 2024 plan

Establishment Democrats gathered this weekend in Philadelphia have one message for U.S. President Joe Biden as he weighs running for a second term: Run, Joe, run. "I am looking forward to supporting the president," Sharif Street, head of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, said at the party's conference in this political battleground state that helped secure Biden's victory against former President Donald Trump in 2020.

Ban on marijuana users owning guns is unconstitutional, U.S. judge rules

A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights. U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump in Oklahoma City, on Friday dismissed an indictment against a man charged in August with violating that ban, saying it infringed his right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

U.S. fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon with missile

A U.S. military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it first entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic -- and public -- spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations. President Joe Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing to Earth from thousands of feet (meters) above commercial air traffic.

Famed California mountain lion celebrated at Los Angeles event

A famed California mountain lion was celebrated at a sold-out event at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday, with thousands of fans honoring the big cat's life and contribution to urban wildlife. The mountain lion, called P-22 and thought to be about 12 years old, became a Los Angeles celebrity after living in the shadow of the Hollywood Hills for over a decade, traversing busy highways to take up residence in and around Griffith Park.

Arctic blast grips U.S. Northeast, bringing frostbite-threatening temperatures

A powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures to perilously low levels across the region, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said. Wind-child warnings were posted for most of New York state and all six New England states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine - a region home to some 16 million people.

Good-bye Iowa! Democrats approve Biden's revamped primary calendar

The Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved President Joe Biden's shakeup of the party's 2024 primary calendar, giving Black voters a greater say in the nominating process and carving an easier path for Biden's expected re-election bid. The party's vote on Saturday replaces the famed Iowa caucuses as the first in the nation with South Carolina, a state with significantly more Black voters and one that saved Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. It would be followed by New Hampshire and Nevada one week later, and then by primaries in Georgia and Michigan.

Train derailment causes massive fire in Ohio - media

A train derailed near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday night, causing a massive fire in the area, local media reported. Multiple train cars can be seen on fire in images posted on social media from East Palestine, a town northwest of Pittsburgh. Smoke can be seen rising from the blaze and filling the atmosphere.

Brutal cold seizes northeast U.S., shattering record lows

A dangerous combination of record-setting cold temperatures and powerful winds buffeted the northeastern United States on Saturday, creating life-threatening conditions and causing the death of an infant in Massachusetts. New Hampshire's Mount Washington overnight recorded a wind chill – a measure of how the combined effect of air and wind feels to the skin – of minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78°Celsius), which appeared to be the lowest ever in the United States. The air temperature at the peak reached minus 47 degrees F (-44 C), with winds gusting near 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour), according to the Mount Washington Observatory.

Small California town wonders if restored floodplain prevented disaster

When devastating floods swept California last month, the community of Grayson - a town of 1,300 people tucked between almond orchards and dairy farms where the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers converge - survived without major damage. In the minds of some townspeople and experts, that was thanks partly to the 2,100 acres (850 hectares) of former farmland just across the San Joaquin that have been largely restored to a natural floodplain.