Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Charlottesville neo-Nazi sentenced to life, judge says 'too great a risk' to release

A federal judge imposed a life sentence on the self-described neo-Nazi who killed Heather Heyer by crashing his car into a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a white supremacist rally, saying release would be "too great a risk." The 22-year-old neo-Nazi, James Fields of Maumee, Ohio, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He had sought a lesser sentence, apologizing after the court viewed video of him plowing his car into a crowd after the Aug. 12, 2017, "Unite the Right" rally, also injuring 30 people. Trump administration declares emergency in violence-plagued rural Alaska

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Friday declared a public-safety emergency in rural Alaska and pledged $10.5 million in federal funds to combat some of the nation's worst rates of sexual assault, child abuse and other violent crimes. Barr's announcement followed a visit to Alaska last month, where the country's top law enforcement official was told about extraordinary high rates of rape and domestic violence and a lack of police officers. Few migrants seeking U.S. asylum successfully claim fear of waiting in Mexico

About 1% of the migrants sent to wait in Mexico pending the outcome of their U.S. asylum claims have successfully claimed that they would face danger if they had to stay in Mexico, a top U.S. immigration official said on Friday. Those who prove they face danger in Mexico can be allowed to pursue their asylum claims while living in the United States. Reuters found similar numbers after analyzing immigration court data. Mother, wife of drowned Salvadoran migrants awaits their repatriation

Days after she lost her small daughter and husband to the treacherous currents of the Rio Grande, Tania Vanessa Avalos, 23, arrived back in El Salvador to await her family's return -- in coffins. Oscar Martinez, 25, and, Angie Valeria, just shy of 2 years old, died on June 23 as they were attempting to cross the river between Mexico and the United States. Florida governor signs law allowing felons to vote but there's a price

Florida's Republican governor on Friday signed a bill to restore the voting rights for felons who have served their time but he wants them to pay all fines and restitution before casting a ballot, a hurdle that immediately drew a lawsuit from civil rights groups. Governor Ron DeSantis opposed a ballot measure that Florida voters overwhelmingly approved in November allowing felons to vote after they complete their sentence, with exceptions for those convicted of murder and sexual offenses. Lady Gaga fires up LGBTQ rally for Stonewall anniversary

Lady Gaga electrified thousands of revelers who gathered in New York on Friday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LGBTQ rights movement, exhorting the crowd to honor the past by using its "power" to extend and defend a half-century of progress. Her warm-up speech and a subsequent rally, part of a series of World Pride events in New York this week, commemorated the so-called Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969. Electoral map bias may worsen as U.S. gerrymandering battle shifts to states

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that federal judges have no power to police partisan gerrymandering - the practice of manipulating electoral district boundaries for political gain - likely will embolden politicians to pursue more extreme efforts free from the fear of judicial interference, experts said. "We'll see more states doing more bad stuff," said University of California at Irvine election law expert Rick Hasen. Defense rests in war crimes trial of U.S. Navy SEAL platoon leader

Defense lawyers in the murder trial of a U.S. Navy SEAL rested their case on Friday after three days of testimony contesting accusations that the platoon leader had fatally stabbed a wounded Iraqi captive and shot innocent civilians. The last defense witness called by lawyers for Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was Navy Lieutenant Commander Robert Breisch, who testified that no one made a report to him accusing Gallagher of war crimes while his platoon was in Iraq. U.S. federal judge blocks use of some funds for border wall

A U.S. federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration's use of $1 billion in funds to construct a wall along the southern border with Mexico, but declined to issue a permanent injunction. The Trump administration has sought to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but has so far proven unsuccessful at receiving congressional approval to do so. Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, top deputy ordered to stand trial in 2020

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her former second-in-command at the Silicon Valley blood-testing startup were ordered on Friday to stand trial next year on fraud charges stemming from their claims about the company's technology, court documents show. During a hearing in federal court in San Jose, California, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set jury selection to begin in the trial of Holmes, 35, and former Theranos President Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, on July 28, 2020, according to minutes of the proceedings.