US Domestic News Roundup: Renewed debate on corporate donations; L.A. mayor asks for aid on homeless and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

As Amazon.com flexes its muscle, Seattle moves to curb corporate political donations

Seattle, the Pacific Northwest city where home-grown online retailer Amazon.com has increasingly flexed its political muscle, is expected to approve on Monday legislation banning political contributions by companies with at least 5% foreign ownership. The move is likely to trigger renewed debate on the legality of corporate donations in U.S. elections while drawing an immediate court challenge.

L.A. mayor asks Trump administration for aid on homeless, two sides talking

The mayor of Los Angeles has written to the Trump administration to formally request federal assistance with the growing numbers of homeless on the city's streets, a letter that shows he and Housing Secretary Ben Carson have had negotiations on the issue. The letter from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to President Donald Trump, dated Jan. 9 and made public on Friday, seeks federal aid to "move our unhoused neighbors into shelter, build permanent housing" and supply services to the homeless.

Desperate to defeat Trump, Democrats grapple with 'electability'

Kristen Marttila braved sub-freezing temperatures on Saturday to knock on doors in Mason City, Iowa, trying to convince voters to cast their lot with Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren in the state's nominating contest on Feb. 3. Time after time, Marttila said, she heard the same message: People loved the senator from Massachusetts but were concerned her liberal stances would not draw enough broad support to defeat U.S. President Donald Trump in November.

Four dead, flights canceled, power knocked out as winter storms hit the U.S.

At least four people died, more than 1,000 flights were canceled in Chicago, hundreds more across the Central Plains and Northeast and thousands were without power in parts of seven states, as a massive winter storm dumped snow, freezing rain and hail from Texas to Michigan on Saturday. Hurricane-force wind gusts, golf-ball-sized hail and between 2-to-5 inches (5-13 cm)of snow fell on Friday night and early Saturday as the storms pushed from Texas, the Southeast and up to Great Lakes and into Maine, forecasters with the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

Relatives of massacre victims torn over future in Mexico as most flee

Two months after tragedy struck, beefed-up security has helped calm the holdout residents of a tight-knit community of U.S.-Mexican families of Mormon origin. But with only a few families staying put, at least one village is being hollowed out. The gangland ambush by cartel gunmen in November on a dusty road in northern Mexico left three mothers and six children dead, their charred vehicles riddled with bullets, and a once-strong faith deeply shaken in the picturesque hamlets the families have called home for generations.

Sanders leads, with Warren, Buttigieg, Biden chasing in Iowa Democratic poll

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders has taken a narrow lead among Democratic presidential candidates in the important early-voting state of Iowa in a tight battle with three rivals, a poll released by the state's largest newspaper showed on Friday. Iowa voters cast ballots in Feb. 3 party caucuses in the first contest in the state-by-state process of selecting a Democratic challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 general election. Thirteen Democrats are in the race.

Epstein's estate projects most accusers who sued will settle

A lawyer for the estate of late accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein said on Friday he expects most accusers who have sued the estate to take part in a fund to compensate victims. In a letter filed in Manhattan federal court, Bennet Moskowitz, who represents the estate's executors, said five plaintiffs have already put their lawsuits on hold pending participation in the fund, and the "vast majority" of plaintiffs with cases pending in that court "will or are very likely to participate."

Warren, Sanders campaigns spar in rare show of discord between progressive Democratic contenders

A rare sign of discord emerged on Sunday between progressive Democratic presidential contenders Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders over a report that Sanders' campaign volunteers had called her a candidate of the elite in conversations with voters. "I was disappointed to hear that Bernie is sending his volunteers out to trash me," Warren told reporters after a campaign event in Marshalltown, Iowa, which will hold the nation's first nominating contest on Feb. 3.