US Domestic News Roundup: Trump ally Scott Hall agrees to plea deal in Georgia elections case; New Mexico man charged with attempted murder in protest shooting and more

Infighting among Republicans who control the House of Representatives has pushed the United States to the brink of its fourth partial shutdown in a decade, as the chamber has been unable to pass legislation that would keep the government open beyond the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year. California's Newsom promoting Biden in '24 - and perhaps himself in '28 Shortly after Wednesday's second Republican presidential debate concluded, California Governor Gavin Newsom was holding court in the so-called "spin room," bouncing from one network to another to tout Democratic President Joe Biden as the real winner of the evening.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

New Mexico man charged with attempted murder in protest shooting

A New Mexico man was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting a demonstrator at a protest over plans to reinstall a statue of a Spanish conquistador in the north of the state, police said. Twenty-three-year-old Ryan Martinez of Sandia Park was arrested on Thursday after he shot a 42-year-old man while attempting to disrupt a peaceful protest at a civic center in Espanola, state police said in a statement.

Trump ally Scott Hall agrees to plea deal in Georgia elections case

Donald Trump ally and former Republican poll watcher Scott Hall on Friday pleaded guilty to conspiring to interfere with Georgia's elections as part of the former U.S. president's attempts to overturn his 2020 defeat. Hall so far is the only one of 19 defendants, including Trump, to plead guilty in Fulton County, Georgia's conspiracy case, one of four criminal prosecutions that have ensnared the frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination.

Trump, DeSantis court Republican activists in California

Donald Trump campaigned in California on Friday, just two days after skipping the Republican presidential debate there, looking to build support in the state with the biggest prize in his party's 2024 White House nominating race. "With your help, we're going to win the California primary," the former president said to a crowd of Republican activists and party members who gave him a raucous standing ovation when he took the stage at the California Republican Party convention in Anaheim, 25 miles (40 km) south of Los Angeles.

New York deluge triggers flash floods, brings chaos to subways

Torrential downpours after a week of mostly steady rainfall brought flash flooding to New York City on Friday, disrupting subway service, inundating ground-level apartments and turning some streets into small lakes. Almost eight inches (20 cm) of rain fell in some parts of the most populous city in the U.S., enough to enable a sea lion at Central Park Zoo to swim briefly out of the confines of her pool enclosure. Another few inches could fall in the region before the storm system pushed out to sea later on Friday, forecasters said.

US Congress tees up votes in last-minute scramble to avert shutdown

Lawmakers return to the U.S. Congress on Saturday with no clear path to resolving a squabble that appears likely to close wide swaths of the federal government, from national parks to financial regulation, in less than 18 hours. Infighting among Republicans who control the House of Representatives has pushed the United States to the brink of its fourth partial shutdown in a decade, as the chamber has been unable to pass legislation that would keep the government open beyond the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.

California's Newsom promoting Biden in '24 - and perhaps himself in '28

Shortly after Wednesday's second Republican presidential debate concluded, California Governor Gavin Newsom was holding court in the so-called "spin room," bouncing from one network to another to tout Democratic President Joe Biden as the real winner of the evening. It was an increasingly familiar position for Newsom, who has emerged as perhaps the Biden re-election campaign's most visible representative.

Suspect in rapper Tupac Shakur's 1996 slaying charged with murder in Las Vegas

An admitted former street gang leader was arrested on Friday on a charge of murder in the Las Vegas shooting death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur nearly three decades ago, a long-unsolved crime that became a defining moment in the history of rap music. Duane "Keffe D" Davis, who police said was long suspected and began implicating himself in a series of public statements in recent years, was taken into custody outside his home a day after a grand jury in Clark County, Nevada, returned an indictment against him.

Robert Kennedy Jr to run as independent, could complicate Trump, Biden 2024 contest

U.S. presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will announce he is running as an independent instead of pursuing his long-shot bid to oust President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party nominee, a shift that could complicate the 2024 election. Anti-vaccine activist Kennedy, a member of a storied U.S. political dynasty, posted a video on YouTube on Friday asking Americans to join him for a "major announcement" in Philadelphia on Oct. 9.

Idaho can enforce abortion ban in medical emergencies, court rules

Idaho can fully enforce its near-total abortion ban after a U.S. appeals court lifted a lower court order that had partially blocked it. A unanimous panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the state ban on abortion, which includes a narrow exception for abortions that are necessary to prevent the mother's death, does not conflict with a federal law on emergency care.

Analysis-Feinstein's death poses two big questions for US Senate Democrats

The death of trailblazing U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein presented her fellow Democrats with two key questions on Friday: Who will replace her in the chamber and who will take her seat on the committee that approves federal judges. The answer to the first question is easy: California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom will name a successor, who he has promised will be a Black woman.

(With inputs from agencies.)