Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The case in federal court in Washington has been paused since December while Trump pursues the appeal. US unveils charges, seizures linked to Iranian oil network The United States on Friday announced terrorism and sanctions-evasion charges and seizures linked to a billion-dollar oil trafficking network that it says finances Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other militant groups.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Plane crashes into Florida mobile home, killing pilot, two others

A pilot and two people on the ground were killed after a small plane crashed into and demolished a mobile home in Clearwater, Florida, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday. A Beechcraft Bonanza V35B, a six-seat single engine aircraft, slammed into a large mobile home park on the east side of the city at about 7:10 p.m. local time on Thursday, causing a fire with smoke billowing from the scene. Clearwater is a city of about 117,000 people on the Gulf Coast about 24 miles (40 km) west of Tampa.

Harvard alumni backed by billionaires fail to make cut for board ballot

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman failed on Friday to get candidates they backed to join Harvard's board of overseers. The two billionaires, who were acting independently, threw support behind the candidates after Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned last month amid criticism of her handling of antisemitism on campus in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and claims of plagiarism in her earlier academic career.

Trump prosecutor Willis admits relationship with colleague, denies tainting case

The Georgia prosecutor trying former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat acknowledged on Friday having a personal relationship with another lawyer on the criminal case but denied it tainted the prosecution. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in a court filing said claims that threatened to upend her office’s historic prosecution had "no merit."

Carl Weathers, who lit up screen as Apollo Creed in 'Rocky,' dead at 76

Actor Carl Weathers, a former professional American football player who shot to stardom by playing the brash and charismatic boxer Apollo Creed in the "Rocky" movies, died on Thursday of undisclosed causes. He was 76. "We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Carl Weathers. He died peacefully in his sleep," his manager, Matt Luber, said in a statement on Friday.

US judge formally postpones Trump's 2020 election subversion trial

A U.S. judge on Friday formally postponed former President Donald Trump's trial on federal charges that he sought to overturn the 2020 election results, which was scheduled to begin next month. The delay, which was widely expected, stems from an appeal by Trump on claims that he is immune from prosecution for official actions taken while he was president. The case in federal court in Washington has been paused since December while Trump pursues the appeal.

US unveils charges, seizures linked to Iranian oil network

The United States on Friday announced terrorism and sanctions-evasion charges and seizures linked to a billion-dollar oil trafficking network that it says finances Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and other militant groups. The cases are in response to a series of aggressive actions by Iran over several years, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said. In August 2022, for example, the U.S. charged an IRGC member with plotting to murder John Bolton, who served as U.S. national security adviser under former President Donald Trump.

US judge won't shield Yelp from Texas lawsuit over crisis pregnancy center notices

A California federal judge has refused to shield Yelp from a lawsuit by the state of Texas accusing it of posting misleading notices about crisis pregnancy centers on its online review site. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson in Oakland, California, ruled Thursday that federal courts cannot interfere with state actions enforcing their laws unless they are brought in bad faith. She said that required her to dismiss a preemptive lawsuit Yelp had filed against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last September in an effort to stop him from suing the San Francisco-based company for posting notices warning users that the centers provided limited medical services.

Trump would not reappoint Powell as Fed chief

Former President Donald Trump said he would not reappoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell if Trump wins this year's presidential election, the Republican frontrunner told Fox Business in an interview aired Friday. "No I wouldn't," Trump said in response to a question on whether he would reappoint Powell, whose second four-year term as chair will expire in 2026.

A negligent parent or an unforeseeable crime? Trial nears end for Michigan school shooter's mother

Prosecutors told a jury that the mother of a Michigan boy who shot dead four classmates in 2021 should be found guilty of manslaughter, arguing on Friday that she and her husband were negligent in buying their son a handgun after he had shown signs of mental distress. Jennifer Crumbley, 45, has testified that she was not responsible for buying or storing the gun used in the murders by her son, Ethan. Her trial is believed to be the first to attempt to find a parent of a school shooter also to be criminally responsible for the deaths of their child's victims.

US Supreme Court won't halt West Point from considering race in admissions

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to block the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the prestigious Army school, from considering race as a factor in admissions decisions while a legal battle over the practice proceeds in lower courts. The justices denied a request from Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, after lower courts refused to halt the practice. The group was behind a successful Supreme Court challenge to race-conscious collegiate admissions policies in cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.