US Domestic News Roundup: Uvalde school district suspends entire police force after May shooting; U.S. Treasury sets new tax credit rule to expand affordable housing and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Uvalde school district suspends entire police force after May shooting

The school district in Uvalde, Texas, suspended its entire police force on Friday, pending the outcome of a probe following the mass shooting in May that killed 19 students and two teachers, the district said in a statement. The district said it suspended all activities of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department "for a period of time." The police force consisted of five officers and one security guard, according to its website.

Sandy Hook jurors end first day of deliberations in Alex Jones damages case

A Connecticut jury on Friday ended its first full day of deliberations without a decision on how much conspiracy theorist Alex Jones must pay families of victims for falsely claiming the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012 was a hoax. Deliberations will resume on Tuesday in Waterbury, Connecticut state court, not far from where a gunman killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. Jones claimed for years that the massacre was staged with actors by the government as part of a plot to seize Americans' guns.

U.S. Treasury sets new tax credit rule to expand affordable housing

The U.S. Treasury moved to preserve and expand the supply of affordable housing on Friday by finalizing a new tax credit income rule that may qualify more housing projects and extending deadlines for when they must be placed in service. The finalized income-averaging rule for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit now allows a broader mix of income levels among residents of qualifying projects, by using an average, rather than fixed limits for all units.

OPEC+ oil output cut shows widening rift between Biden and Saudi royals

The OPEC+ organization's decision this week to cut oil production despite stiff U.S. opposition has further strained already tense relations between President Joe Biden's White House and Saudi Arabia's royal family, once one of Washington's staunchest Middle East allies, according to interviews with about a dozen government officials and experts in Washington and the Gulf. The White House pushed hard to prevent the OPEC output cut, these sources said. Biden hopes to keep U.S. gasoline prices from spiking again ahead of midterm elections in which his Democratic party is struggling to maintain control of the U.S. Congress. Washington also wants to limit Russia's energy revenue during the Ukraine war.

Columbia University reaches $165 million deal with victims abused by former doctor

Columbia University and its affiliated hospitals said that a $165 million settlement was reached with nearly 150 patients of a former gynecologist, who was accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women. Robert Hadden, the former gynecologist, pleaded guilty in 2016 to two New York state charges of a criminal sex act in the third degree and forcible touching. Hadden is now awaiting trial in federal court on eight criminal counts of bringing women across state lines for alleged sexual abuse from 1993 to 2012.

Kevin Spacey accuser testifies at sex abuse trial about 'alarming' encounter

Anthony Rapp, who has accused Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of making an unwanted sexual advance in 1986 when Rapp was 14, testified on Friday at a civil trial that he felt like a "deer in the headlights" when Spacey climbed on top of him at a party. Rapp, who sued Spacey in November 2020 and is seeking $40 million in damages for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, said on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court that he was able to "swerve my way out" from under an intoxicated Spacey, who was then 26 and acting on Broadway.

Factbox-Voters in five U.S. states to decide on legalizing marijuana in November midterms

Voters in five states will decide whether to legalize adult-use marijuana in November's midterm elections, as 19 other states and the District of Columbia have done. Public support for legalizing the drug has risen in recent years, and President Joe Biden on Thursday announced he was pardoning thousands of people who had been convicted of federal marijuana possession charges.

'Big shrimping family' in Florida left homeless by Hurricane Ian

Ricky Moran, a shrimper who worked and slept on the boat he captained out of Fort Myers Beach, lost both a secure livelihood and a safe place to live when Hurricane Ian roared into southwest Florida and smashed the trawler he calls home. The Category 4 storm lifted the craft from its moorings like it was a toy and left it in a twisted heap on shore along with a half dozen other battered boats, most flipped on their sides or with the hulls facing the sky. Moran now finds himself without a safe place to live or a means to make a living.

NYC mayor declares state of emergency amid migrant busing crisis

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Friday in response to thousands of migrants bused to the city in recent months from the U.S. southern border in a political dispute over border security. The city expects to spend $1 billion to manage the influx of the migrants, Adams said in a speech at City Hall. More than 17,000 have arrived in New York since April; an average of five or six buses each day since early September, with nine buses pulling into the city on Thursday, said Adams, a Democrat, straining the city's homeless shelter system.

Oath Keepers founder spoke of 'bloody' war ahead of U.S. Capitol attack

Prosecutors in the trial of five Oath Keepers members on Friday showed a jury fresh evidence that the right-wing militia group's founder Stewart Rhodes told his followers ahead of last year's U.S. Capitol attack there would be a "bloody" war if then-President Donald Trump failed to reverse his 2020 election loss. In numerous text messages, online postings, and speeches shown as evidence, Rhodes promoted the use of force and implored Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, a 19th-century U.S. law that empowers presidents to deploy troops to quell civil unrest.

(With inputs from agencies.)