Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Pregnant woman sues to invalidate Kentucky's abortion bans
A pregnant woman and Planned Parenthood sued Kentucky on Friday, seeking to invalidate its near-total ban on abortion, saying the law violates rights to privacy and self-determination in the state constitution. The lawsuit was filed by an anonymous woman, who is eight weeks pregnant and wants an abortion, on behalf of a proposed class of similarly situated women in Kentucky. It comes after the state's court ruled in an earlier challenge brought by Planned Parenthood and another abortion provider that providers did not have standing to sue on patients' behalf.
Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocks woman from emergency abortion
The Texas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a pregnant woman from obtaining an emergency abortion on Friday, shortly after the state's attorney general requested the block. The legal battle is a major test case since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide constitutional right to abortion last year, enabling states like Texas to pass near complete bans.
Michigan teen gets life in prison for 2021 school shooting
A teenager who fatally shot four classmates two years ago at his high school outside Detroit was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday, following hours of harrowing testimony from his victims' grieving family members and friends.
Ethan Crumbley was 15 years old when he opened fire at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, with a semi-automatic handgun his father had bought him as a Christmas gift days earlier. Six other students and a teacher were also wounded.
US FDA approves two gene therapies for sickle cell disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology. Casgevy, developed by partners Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, and bluebird bio's Lyfgenia were approved for people aged 12 years and older.
US appeals court allows many New York restrictions on carrying guns
A U.S. appeals court on Friday ruled that New York state could bar gun owners from carrying weapons in "sensitive locations" like parks, zoos, bars and theaters, but it blocked enforcement of new restrictions on bringing firearms on private property open to the public. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision marked the first time a federal appeals court has ruled on where licensed gun owners can carry firearms since the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling last year expanding gun rights.
Hunter Biden says US Republican critics are 'trying to destroy a presidency'
U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden said critics of his father are "trying to destroy a presidency" through relentless attacks on him and "trying to kill me," in a podcast interview released on Friday. The interview, conducted by his friend, the musician Moby, was released one day after the U.S. Justice Department filed new criminal charges against Hunter Biden, accusing him of failing to pay taxes while funding a lavish lifestyle. It was not clear when the interview, which took place at the younger Biden's art studio in San Francisco, was recorded.
California high-speed rail faces challenges after US award
California's ambitious high-speed rail project that aims to move travelers from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin in under three hours still faces significant funding challenges despite a $3.1 billion federal award. The White House on Friday announced $8.2 billion in federal funding for rail projects across the country, including the California project billed at the first U.S. speed rail project with speeds of 220 miles per hour.
Exclusive-U.S. lawmakers demand Harvard, MIT, Penn remove presidents after antisemitism hearing
More than 70 U.S. lawmakers on Friday demanded the governing boards of three of the country's top universities remove their presidents, citing dissatisfaction with their testimony at a hearing about antisemitism on campuses, according to a letter seen by Reuters. In the letter, Republican Representative Elise Stefanik and Democratic Representative Jared Moskowitz demanded that the board of governors at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology oust their presidents or risk committing "an act of complicity in their antisemitic posture."
Biden mocks Trump during California fundraising trip
President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day, star-studded fundraising trip in California on Friday by mocking Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for claiming he would be a dictator just on his first day in office if he became president again. Trump said on Tuesday that he will not become a dictator if he becomes U.S. president again, except "on day one."
US appeals court narrows Trump gag order in federal 2020 election case
A U.S. appeals court on Friday narrowed but largely upheld a gag order that bars Donald Trump from assailing prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses in a federal criminal case that accuses him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit kept most of the restrictions imposed by the original order, but lifted the prohibition on Trump personally criticizing Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the prosecution.
