Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of Colts Neck, New Jersey, was sentenced in the District of Columbia on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his actions during the Capitol attack, the Justice Department said in a statement. U.S. drops charges against Massachusetts judge in immigration arrest case U.S. prosecutors on Thursday said they reached an agreement to drop criminal charges filed during the Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge accused of impeding a federal immigration arrest of a defendant in her courtroom.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Georgia county validates thousands of voters challenged by Trump allies

A Georgia county has validated 15,000 to 20,000 registered voters whose status was challenged ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm election, officials said on Wednesday, leaving another 16,000 pending cases to resolve, according to the group leading the challenge. The voter challenge campaign in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, is led by VoterGA, which backs Donald Trump's false claims that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election. Supported by prominent allies of the former president, VoterGA has contested 37,000 voter registrations in the county of about 562,000 active voters.

NRA free speech lawsuit against New York regulator is dismissed

A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered the dismissal of a National Rifle Association lawsuit accusing a New York regulator of stifling its speech by pressuring banks and insurers to stop doing business with the gun rights group. In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the NRA failed to prove that Maria Vullo, the former superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services (DFS), "crossed the line between attempts to convince and attempts to coerce."

Trump's path to stall documents probe narrows after legal setbacks

Donald Trump's bid to impede a criminal investigation into his possession of documents taken from the White House has begun to unravel, legal experts said, after courtroom setbacks including doubts expressed by judges about the former U.S. president's claim that he declassified records seized at his Florida home. Trump has experienced disappointments on multiple fronts this week as his lawyers try to slow down the Justice Department investigation that kicked into high gear with an Aug. 8 court-approved search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in which FBI agents found 11,000 documents including about 100 marked as classified.

Tesla countersues California agency behind race bias lawsuit

Tesla Inc on Thursday countersued the California agency that has accused the electric carmaker of tolerating widespread race discrimination at its flagship assembly plant. Tesla in a complaint filed in state court in Alameda County said the California Civil Rights Department (CRD), which sued the company in February, adopted "underground regulations" allowing it to file the lawsuit without first notifying Tesla of the claims or giving the company a chance to settle.

Judge blocks Indiana abortion ban during Planned Parenthood challenge

An Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state from enforcing its new law banning most abortions while Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers challenge it in court.

Circuit Court Judge Kelsey Hanlon ruled that Planned Parenthood and the other providers had shown a "reasonable likelihood" that the law's "significant restriction of personal autonomy" violates the Indiana constitution.

Alex Jones lashes out at critics at trial over Sandy Hook hoax claims

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ignited a courtroom shouting match on Thursday, railing against critics as he testified in a trial to determine how much he owes families of victims who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, which he falsely claimed was a hoax. Tensions boiled over after roughly four hours of testimony in the Waterbury, Connecticut courtroom, not far from Newtown, the town where the massacre took place. Jones fulminated against "liberals" and refused to apologize to a packed gallery of victims' families.

With U.S. midterm elections approaching, Democrats score bipartisan win on public safety bills

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a series of bipartisan policing and public safety bills, as Democrats worked to burnish their crime-fighting credentials before the Nov. 8 midterm elections. The "Invest to Protect Act" aims to beef up federal funding for community policing activities in smaller jurisdictions, which often lack the money for officer body cameras and "de-escalation" training aimed at avoiding death or injury during law enforcement activities.

U.S. House Democrats release framework for bill to restrict members trading stocks

U.S. House Democrats on Thursday released a framework for legislation that would restrict lawmakers and other senior government officials, including the Supreme Court, from trading in stocks. The bill would also restrict lawmakers' spouses and dependent children from trading stock and holding certain other investments, as well as require public officials to divest from such holdings or place them in a blind trust, according to the framework.

Alleged Nazi sympathizer gets four years in prison over U.S. Capitol attack

A New Jersey man, who was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer and in May was found guilty of charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, the Justice Department said. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 32, of Colts Neck, New Jersey, was sentenced in the District of Columbia on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his actions during the Capitol attack, the Justice Department said in a statement.

U.S. drops charges against Massachusetts judge in immigration arrest case

U.S. prosecutors on Thursday said they reached an agreement to drop criminal charges filed during the Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge accused of impeding a federal immigration arrest of a defendant in her courtroom. Federal prosecutors said they had agreed to dismiss the obstruction charges filed against Newton District Court Judge Shelley Joseph in exchange for the judge referring herself to a state commission tasked with investigating judicial misconduct.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)