Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The Memphis Police Department identified the officer as Preston Hemphill, saying in a statement that Hemphill violated department policies on personal conduct, truthfulness, and compliance with regulations regarding the use of a Taser, among other violations. Arctic blast grips U.S. Northeast, bringing frostbite-threatening temperatures A powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures to perilously low levels across the region, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Ban on marijuana users owning guns is unconstitutional, U.S. judge rules

A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights. U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump in Oklahoma City, on Friday dismissed an indictment against a man charged in August with violating that ban, saying it infringed his right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

U.S. fighter jet shoots down suspected Chinese spy balloon with missile

A U.S. military fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, a week after it entered U.S. airspace and triggered a dramatic -- and public -- spying saga that worsened Sino-U.S. relations.

President Joe Biden said he had issued an order on Wednesday to take down the balloon, but the Pentagon had recommended waiting until it could be done over open water to safeguard civilians from debris crashing to Earth from thousands of feet (meters) above commercial air traffic.

'Four more years': Democratic loyalists embrace Biden 2024 plan

Establishment Democrats gathered this weekend in Philadelphia have one message for U.S. President Joe Biden as he weighs running for a second term: Run, Joe, run. "I am looking forward to supporting the president," Sharif Street, head of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party, said at the party's conference in this political battleground state that helped secure Biden's victory against former President Donald Trump in 2020.

Memphis police fire another officer in Tyre Nichols' death

Memphis police on Friday fired a sixth officer involved in the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was beaten by officers in the Tennessee city last month. The Memphis Police Department identified the officer as Preston Hemphill, saying in a statement that Hemphill violated department policies on personal conduct, truthfulness, and compliance with regulations regarding the use of a Taser, among other violations.

Arctic blast grips U.S. Northeast, bringing frostbite-threatening temperatures

A powerful arctic blast swept into the U.S. Northeast on Friday, pushing temperatures to perilously low levels across the region, including New Hampshire's Mount Washington, where the wind chill dropped to 105 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-79 Celsius), forecasters said. Wind-child warnings were posted for most of New York state and all six New England states - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine - a region home to some 16 million people.

Good-bye Iowa! Democrats approve Biden's revamped primary calendar

The Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved President Joe Biden's shakeup of the party's 2024 primary calendar, giving Black voters a greater say in the nominating process and carving an easier path for Biden's expected re-election bid. The party's vote on Saturday replaces the famed Iowa caucuses as the first in the nation with South Carolina, a state with significantly more Black voters and one that saved Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. It would be followed by New Hampshire and Nevada one week later, and then by primaries in Georgia and Michigan.

Train derailment causes massive fire in Ohio - media

A train derailed near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday night, causing a massive fire in the area, local media reported. Multiple train cars can be seen on fire in images posted on social media from East Palestine, a town northwest of Pittsburgh. Smoke can be seen rising from the blaze and filling the atmosphere.

Brutal cold seizes northeast U.S., shattering record lows

A dangerous combination of record-setting cold temperatures and powerful winds buffeted the northeastern United States on Saturday, creating life-threatening conditions and causing the death of an infant in Massachusetts. New Hampshire's Mount Washington overnight recorded a wind chill – a measure of how the combined effect of air and wind feels to the skin – of minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit (-78°Celsius), which appeared to be the lowest ever in the United States. The air temperature at the peak reached minus 47 degrees F (-44 C), with winds gusting near 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour), according to the Mount Washington Observatory.

Small California town wonders if restored floodplain prevented disaster

When devastating floods swept California last month, the community of Grayson - a town of 1,300 people tucked between almond orchards and dairy farms where the San Joaquin and Tuolumne rivers converge - survived without major damage. In the minds of some townspeople and experts, that was thanks partly to the 2,100 acres (850 hectares) of former farmland just across the San Joaquin that have been largely restored to a natural floodplain.

Family of Amir Locke files wrongful-death lawsuit in Minneapolis

The family of Amir Locke, a Black man who was killed by Minneapolis police during a no-knock raid on an apartment last year, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and the officer who fired the fatal gunshots. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Minnesota on behalf of the parents of the 22-year-old Locke, was announced on Friday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and other lawyers representing the family.

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