US News Roundup: Trump jokes about impeachment; opioid makers' legal woes and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump jokes about impeachment probe at annual turkey pardon

President Donald Trump on Tuesday used the high power of his office to pardon "Butter," a 47 pound (21 kg) turkey, during a U.S. tradition at the White House where he also cracked jokes about Democrats' investigation into whether he should be impeached. Both Butter and his alternate "Bread" escaped the fate of becoming the main course of a Thanksgiving feast and were sent to a special reserve in Virginia.

U.S. prosecutors open criminal probe of opioid makers, distributors

Federal prosecutors are investigating six pharmaceutical companies for potential criminal charges in connection with shipping big quantities of opioid painkillers that contributed to a healthcare crisis, according to regulatory filings. Five companies have received subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York as part of the investigation: drugmakers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd , Mallinckrodt Plc, Johnson & Johnson and Amneal Pharmaceuticals Inc, and distributor McKesson Corp, regulatory filings showed.

U.S. House Judiciary Committee to hold first impeachment hearing December 4

The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing in the impeachment of President Donald Trump on Dec. 4, with legal experts as witnesses, a Democratic aide said. The aide declined comment on whether the Judiciary Committee expected it would have a report on the Intelligence Committee-led investigation into the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine before the hearing.

Judge partly vacates convictions of opioid maker Insys' founder, executives

A federal judge on Tuesday partially overturned the convictions of Insys Therapeutics Inc's founder and three former executives accused of bribing doctors to prescribe an addictive opioid, but declined to disturb the remainder of the jury's verdict. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston ruled the evidence prosecutors presented at trial did not support finding that John Kapoor and the others intended for doctors to prescribe the drug, Subsys, to patients who did not need it.

Two injured in TPC Port Neches, Texas chemical plant blast: official

Two workers were injured in an early Wednesday explosion at TPC Group's chemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, that felt more than 30 miles (48 kms) away from the plant, said a law enforcement official. KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas, quoted Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick saying all workers had been accounted for following the blast that shattered windows and blew doors of their hinges.

Bronx man, battling own legal woes, brings gun rights case to U.S. Supreme Court

Two weeks before Efrain Alvarez and his attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their challenge to a New York City regulation that limited where licensed handgun owners could transport their weapons, police officers showed up at his Bronx apartment and took away all his firearms. The officers walked past the bullet-making equipment in his cluttered entranceway and past the trophy deer head hanging on his living room wall. From two imposing steel vaults in the back bedroom, they confiscated around 45 firearms, including five handguns.

Trump administration wants order for McGahn testimony put on hold

Justice Department lawyers asked a U.S. judge on Tuesday to put on hold a ruling requiring former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify to lawmakers as part of the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday rejected the Trump administration's claim of broad immunity protecting current and former senior White House officials from being compelled to testify before Congress, saying no one is above the law.

Two shot at Washington state school in suspected domestic violence incident

A man shot two adults on Tuesday in the parking lot of a Vancouver, Washington, elementary school before being pursued by police and shooting himself in the head, in what authorities described as a domestic violence situation. No students or staff members were injured in the incident outside the Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School, the Clark County Sheriff's Office and Vancouver school authorities said.

Frozen harvest leaves bitter taste for U.S. sugar beet farmers

Weather during harvest season in the U.S. Red River Valley, a fertile sugar beet region in Minnesota and North Dakota, has to farmers felt like a series of plagues. Rain and snow pelted crops in September and October. That was followed by a blizzard, and then warm temperatures that left fields a boggy mess. Next came a deep freeze, ruining the underground sugar beet crop, and dealing a harsh blow to farm incomes.

Net support for impeachment grew steadily during U.S. congressional hearings, poll shows

Public support for impeaching President Donald Trump has tracked steadily higher over the past few weeks while a U.S. House of Representatives committee held a series of televised impeachment hearings, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. The latest poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, found that 47% of adults in the United States felt Trump "should be impeached," while 40% said he should not.