US Domestic News Roundup: Black 'lynching' ad, Catholic Church sex abuse, elections

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is expected to sign legislation on Friday raising the maximum penalty for fraternity hazing to a felony, carrying up to seven years in prison.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Russian charged with conspiring to interfere in U.S. congressional elections

The U.S. government on Friday charged a Russian national with playing a key financial role in a Kremlin-backed plan to conduct "information warfare" against the United States, including ongoing attempts to influence next month's congressional elections. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, became the first person charged with a crime for attempting to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, according to a government official with knowledge of the investigation.

Justice Department probes Catholic Church sex abuse in Pennsylvania

The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into child sex abuse by priests in Pennsylvania, six Roman Catholic Church dioceses said on Thursday. The investigation is the first statewide probe by federal authorities of allegations of sex abuse and cover-up by the Catholic Church in the United States, according to groups representing abuse victims.

Black 'lynching' ad illustrates race overtones, anger in U.S. campaign ads

Many political ads in this year's U.S. elections pack an unusually harsh and personal punch - some with racial overtones. In Arkansas, a radio ad this week suggests white Democrats might start lynching black men. In New York, a congressman's supporters drew attention to his black rival's history as a rapper. In California, Ohio and Virginia, candidates and their supporters cast their opponents as terrorists. In Pennsylvania, a Republican state senator threatened to "stomp all over" his Democratic rival's face with golf spikes.

Judge orders U.S. to review asylum for separated migrant families

A federal judge ordered the U.S. government on Thursday to begin processing asylum claims for dozens of migrant parents and children that had been separated at the southern border under the Trump Administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy. The order directs the government to begin the process of reviewing asylum claims for about 60 detained parents and children, even if their claims had previously been denied.

Florida's Republicans feel brunt of hurricane in upcoming election

Two days after Katherine Shimonis returned to her home in the Florida Panhandle to find it destroyed by Hurricane Michael, she went to her local post office, which was empty and without power, and shouldered her way through the front door. To her shock, the 69-year-old retired teacher found her mail-in absentee ballot sitting in her post office box in the town of Port St. Joe.

U.S. Mega Millions jackpot nears $1 billion hours before drawing

The U.S. Mega Millions lottery reached nearly $1 billion on Friday, the day of the drawing of what is now the second-largest lottery in U.S. history. New Yorkers queuing up to buy tickets for Friday's lottery said they would use the prize money to go on a shopping spree, quit their jobs and donate to charity. Still, with winnings from the largest-ever $970 million Mega Millions jackpot, they might have a lot left over.

Pennsylvania law to make hazing punishable as felony

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is expected to sign legislation on Friday raising the maximum penalty for fraternity hazing to a felony, carrying up to seven years in prison. Named the “Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law” after a Penn State freshman who died during hazing activities at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house in February 2017, the bill unanimously passed the Legislature.

Trump criticized for praising congressman who body-slammed reporter

President Donald Trump reiterated his support for a Montana congressman who body-slammed a reporter last year, even as he came under criticism on Friday from U.S. lawmakers and press organizations. Trump's praise for Greg Gianforte, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who pleaded guilty to an assault charge for the incident involving the reporter, coincides with an international outcry over the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Texas toddler left at stranger's house, instead of with dad

A woman who intended to drop off a 2-year-old boy with his father instead left the toddler at the wrong address in suburban Houston and ran off after ringing the bell, police said late Thursday. The woman who left the child, a friend of the mother, was initially suspected of child abandonment after video, shared widely on social media, showed her hoisting the toddler by the arm to a stranger's house in the northern Houston suburb of Spring on Thursday, authorities said.

USC agrees to $215 million settlement in California gynaecologist case

The University of Southern California has reached a $215 million proposed settlement with former patients of a gynaecologist at the school who was accused of sexual abuse, the president of the university said in a letter on Friday seen by Reuters. The settlement centres on the conduct of George Tyndall, who practised at USC until he was suspended in 2016 after a complaint from a health worker accusing him of making sexually inappropriate comments to patients. More than 400 women have since accused Tyndall of sexual abuse, some in a federal lawsuit covered by the settlement and others in state lawsuits that are still pending.

(With inputs  from Reuters)

(With inputs from agencies.)