Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Protesting U.S. athletes receive 12-months probation

U.S. athletes Race Imboden and Gwen Berry have been placed on probation for 12 months for their political protests at the Pan Am Games, USA Today reported on Tuesday. Fencer Imboden took a knee and hammer thrower Berry raised her fist when the U.S. national anthem played during their medal ceremonies earlier this month, violating an agreement U.S. athletes sign before competing internationally. Louisiana university gun scare linked to apparent mistaken identity

A gun scare that jolted Louisiana State University's Baton Rouge campus on Tuesday apparently stemmed from an off-duty policeman in plain clothes seen walking around with a pistol on his belt being mistaken for an armed intruder, a school spokesman said. The incident was the latest in a spate of similar false alarms that have rippled across the United States following several recent deadly mass shootings and high-profile arrests of suspected would-be gunmen accused of contemplating attacks. Texas shale towns grapple with growth as oil-bust fears fade

In west Texas, the center of the U.S. oil boom, about 3,800 students at Permian High School are crammed into a campus designed for 2,500, with 20 portable buildings to help with the overflow. School officials had expected enrollment to fall after the last oil price crash, starting in 2014, but it kept rising - one sign of a growing resilience in the region's oil economy as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and other majors continue pouring billions of dollars into long-term investments here. Trump says White House discussing gun legislation; Democrats say talks low-level

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration was in "meaningful" talks with Democrats about gun legislation after the latest mass shootings, but congressional aides downplayed the discussions as low-level and not very productive. Democrats have accused Trump of reversing course after he initially voiced support for tougher background checks following the latest shootings to rock the United States, so that "sick people don't get guns." Trump looking at possible tax cuts amid economic jitters

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his administration was considering potential tax cuts on wages as well as profits from asset sales, and sought to play down market anxieties that the world's top economy could be heading for a recession. Speaking to reporters during a White House visit by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Trump said "we're looking at various tax reductions," adding that a "payroll tax is something that we think about." Thousands of Central American migrants take free rides home courtesy of U.S. government

More than 2,000 Central American migrants seeking to settle in the United States have given up and accepted free rides home under a 10-month-old program funded by the U.S. government and run by a United Nations agency, according to a U.N. official. The "Assisted Voluntary Return" program has paid for buses or flights for 2,170 migrants who either never reached the United States or were detained after crossing the border and then sent to Mexico to await U.S. immigration hearings, according to Christopher Gascon, an official with the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM). Explainer: What early U.S. presidential polls tell us about the 2020 race

Anyone paying the slightest attention to the Democratic presidential campaign has likely seen headlines on the latest "horse race" opinion polls, highlighting one candidate's rise or another's decline. Campaigns trumpet, or minimize, the numbers depending on how they fared. But with the first nominating contest in Iowa still five months away, what do these surveys really tell us about will happen in the November 2020 presidential election? Philadelphia police commissioner abruptly resigns

Philadelphia's police commissioner resigned on Tuesday over what the city mayor said was his department's failure to address accusations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination in the ranks. Commissioner Richard Ross, who joined the Philadelphia police force in 1989, tendered his resignation after serving for two years in the department's top job, Mayor Jim Kenney said in a written statement. Texas to execute man convicted of abducting, strangling college student

A man who has maintained his innocence and whose lawyers have argued the state ignored key evidence that would exonerate him is scheduled to be put to death in Texas on Wednesday for the kidnapping, rape and murder of a 19-year-old college student. Larry Swearingen, 48, who faced five previous execution dates over the past two decades, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. Trump White House seeks to assuage farmer unrest over biofuel policy: sources

President Donald Trump's administration has been scrambling to stem the tide of rising anger in Farm Belt states after its decision this month to allow numerous oil refiners to mix less ethanol into their gasoline, sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Trump held a two-hour meeting on Monday with members of his Cabinet after hearing blowback from farmers after the decision to grant exemptions from the nation's biofuel laws to 31 refineries, two sources familiar with the discussions said. Trump's re-election campaign team also took notice of Democratic presidential candidates seizing on the unrest, the sources said.