Critical Updates in US Domestic Affairs: Abortion Pills, Campus Protests, Election Violence, and More

Recent developments in US news include Louisiana reclassifying abortion pills, UCLA facing criticism over protest handling, a controversial sentencing of Baltimore's former top prosecutor, and heightened fears of post-election violence. These events reflect significant political, social, and legal dynamics shaping the nation.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Louisiana lawmakers vote to reclassify abortion pills as controlled substances

The Louisiana Senate gave final legislative approval on Thursday to a bill that would make the state the first in the U.S. to reclassify two abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances that carry the potential for abuse or addiction. The bill would make unprescribed possession of the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol a crime punishable by one to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000, though pregnant women are expressly exempt from prosecution.

UCLA should have immediately removed protesters, chancellor tells House

The head of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) told a U.S. House panel on Thursday that the school should have been ready to immediately remove an encampment of pro-Palestinian activists that became the site of a violent clash with counter-protesters last month. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block was one of three U.S. university leaders who testified at a hearing of the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives' Education Committee into the wave of protests against Israel's war in Gaza that has unfolded on American campuses over the past two months.

Baltimore's former top prosecutor avoids prison for perjury, mortgage fraud

Baltimore's former top prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, was sentenced on Thursday to one year of home confinement but no prison time for lying to improperly access her city employee retirement account, as well as for making a false statement on a mortgage application, according to local news reports. Mosby, 44, was the youngest chief prosecutor for any major U.S. city at the time of her election as Maryland's state attorney for Baltimore in 2014. A year later, she made national headlines by bringing criminal charges against six police officers for the death of a Black man, Freddie Gray, who sustained fatal injuries while in custody.

Golf-Officer who arrested Scheffler disciplined for not having body camera on

The officer who arrested world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler last week has been disciplined for not activating his body-worn camera during the incident, Louisville police said on Thursday. Scheffler was arrested ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky after he tried to drive around traffic congestion outside Valhalla Golf Club which was caused by a fatal accident in the area that morning.

US Supreme Court backs S. Carolina Republicans in race-based voting map fight

The U.S. Supreme Court made it harder on Thursday to prove racial discrimination in electoral maps in a major ruling backing South Carolina Republicans who moved out 30,000 Black residents when they redrew a congressional district. The 6-3 decision, with the conservative justices in the majority and liberal justices dissenting, reversed a lower court's ruling that the map had violated the rights of Black voters under the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote the decision.

Georgia prosecutor to appeal dismissal of some Trump election case charges

Georgia prosecutors on Thursday said they would appeal a judge's ruling dismissing some criminal counts in the 2020 election subversion case against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and several of his allies. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the case, said a state appeals court's decision to take up Trump's bid to disqualify her office from the case also allows the court to review other rulings.

Promising pipelines and fracking, Trump rakes in millions at Texas fundraisers

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised tens of millions of dollars during a fundraising swing through Texas this week, promising he would support the oil and gas industry by backing new pipelines and restoring fracking on federal land. Trump has courted support from the energy industry with a pro-fossil fuel and anti-regulation agenda and regularly criticizes President Joe Biden's policies to accelerate the energy transition toward a low-carbon economy.

Trump claims of FBI threat 'extremely dangerous,' US attorney general says

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday called former President Donald Trump's claims that the FBI was authorized to shoot him during its 2022 search of his Florida club "false" and "extremely dangerous." Garland told reporters that Trump and some of his allies were referring to a "standard operations plan" that limits when agents can use lethal force while executing search warrants.

Tennessee AG investigating company that tried to auction Graceland

Tennessee's attorney general said on Thursday that his office was investigating a company's effort to auction off Graceland, singer Elvis Presley's famed mansion in Memphis. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement that his office was investigating if any fraud was carried out by Naussany Investments & Private Lending, which on Wednesday abandoned its plan to auction Graceland.

Two-thirds in US fear violence could follow election, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

Two out of three Americans say they are concerned that political violence could follow the Nov. 5 election rematch between Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The survey of 3,934 U.S. adults found widespread worries that the U.S. could see a repeat of the unrest that followed Trump's 2020 election defeat, when the then-president's false claim that his loss was the result of fraud prompted thousands of followers to storm the U.S. Capitol.

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