Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Democratic presidential contenders demand action on guns
Democratic presidential contenders on Saturday urged Congress to take action to curb gun violence following mass shootings last weekend in Texas and Ohio that left 31 dead. Speaking at a hastily convened forum in Iowa, they called for the imposition of universal background checks on gun buyers, so-called "red flag" laws, and ultimately a ban on military-style assault weapons.
Epstein found dead in jail, was not on suicide watch
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead on Saturday after an apparent suicide in the New York jail cell where he was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges, and a source said he was not on suicide watch at the time of his death. Epstein, 66, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which operates the lower Manhattan jail, said in a statement. It declined to comment further.
U.S. service member killed in Iraq: coalition statement
A United States service member advising Iraqi security forces on a mission was killed on Saturday in the northern Nineveh province, the U.S.-led international coalition fighting Islamic State said in a statement. "One U.S. service member died today during an Iraqi Security Force mission in Ninewah province, Iraq, while advising and accompanying the (Iraqi security forces) during a planned operation, the statement said.
Trump thumbs-up photo with orphaned baby in El Paso sparks controversy
A photo of U.S. President Donald Trump smiling broadly and giving a thumbs-up as his wife, Melania, cradles a baby orphaned in the El Paso, Texas mass shooting has become a social media talking point days after the first lady posted it on Twitter. The image was taken on Wednesday at the University Medical Center of El Paso during Trump's visit to the West Texas border city to meet with first responders, medical personnel and surviving victims from Saturday's gun violence at a Walmart store.
Between gun massacres, a routine, deadly seven days of U.S. shootings
A boy accidentally killed by his father during a fishing trip in Montana. A woman dead and her husband behind bars after a single gunshot in a Dallas hotel room. A teenager cut down on his porch on a warm day in Washington state. During the week bookended by mass shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio, in which gunmen killed 34 people, hundreds of others were shot to death across 47 U.S. states, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that uses local news and police reports to track gun incidents.
A week after Texas massacre, El Paso marchers condemn racism
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rouke on Saturday joined a march in the Texas border city of El Paso to condemn last week's mass shooting there, telling the crowd that President Donald Trump was partly responsible for the hatred that inspired it. The gunman, identified by authorities as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, killed 22 people, most of them Hispanic, when he opened fire at a Walmart store last Saturday. He confessed while surrendering and told police he was targeting "Mexicans," according to an El Paso police affidavit released on Friday.
Parade of Democratic 2020 hopefuls push for momentum in Iowa
A cavalcade of Democratic presidential hopefuls on Friday tried to turn a few precious minutes before Iowa voters into the momentum needed to catapult their campaigns in the pivotal state. A rite of passage for Democratic presidential candidates, the annual "Wing Ding Dinner" featured five-minute speeches from almost two dozen contenders seeking the party's nomination to take on Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
Exclusive: Robert Durst's attorneys take aim at filmmakers behind 'The Jinx' in murder case
Attorneys for real estate scion Robert Durst, charged in Los Angeles with murdering his confidante Susan Berman in 2000, have asked a judge to declare that prosecutors "consulted, coordinated and collaborated" with filmmakers behind an HBO documentary series who uncovered key evidence in the case. Authorities arrested Durst in New Orleans on March 14, 2015, one day before the airing of the finale of the HBO documentary series, "The Jinx." In the final episode, Durst is heard muttering to himself off-camera in the bathroom, "There it is, you're caught" and "Killed them all, of course," after the filmmakers confronted him with potential evidence. Prosecutors contended he killed Berman because she knew too much about the 1982 disappearance of his wife.
Allegations of labor abuses dogged Mississippi plant years before immigration raids
Long before U.S. immigration authorities arrested 680 people at agricultural processing facilities in Mississippi this week, one of the five targeted companies faced allegations of serious labor violations including intimidation, harassment and exploitation of its largely immigrant work force, according to a federal lawsuit. Last August, Illinois-based poultry supplier Koch Foods settled a multi-year lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of more than 100 workers at the Morton, Mississippi, plant over claims the company knew - or should have known - of sexual and physical assaults against its Hispanic workers.
Texas shooting suspect told police he targeted 'Mexicans'
The suspected gunman accused of killing 22 people in a shooting rampage at Walmart in El Paso, Texas last weekend confessed while surrendering and told police he was targeting "Mexicans," according to an El Paso police affidavit released on Friday . The suspect, Patrick Crusius, 21, came out of his vehicle, stopped at an intersection, "and stated out loud 'I'm the shooter'", Detective Adrian Garcia said in the affidavit on Sunday, a day after the shooting.
