US Domestic News Roundup: At trial, U.S. prosecutors to accuse Proud Boys of sedition in Jan. 6 Capitol assault; California is deluged by record rain with more storms coming and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

At trial, U.S. prosecutors to accuse Proud Boys of sedition in Jan. 6 Capitol assault

Federal prosecutors are expected to make opening arguments as early as Thursday in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys chairman Henry "Enrique" Tarrio and four other members of the far-right group, who are charged with planning to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to block Joe Biden's presidential victory. The case marks the third time that the Justice Department has charged members of extremist groups with plotting an assault on U.S. democracy that day, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump invaded the Capitol in a failed bid to prevent lawmakers from certifying his November 2020 election loss to Biden.

California is deluged by record rain with more storms coming

The seventh consecutive atmospheric river since Christmas dumped more rain on Northern California on Wednesday, offering little relief for a state already battered by floods, gale force winds, power outages and evacuations of entire towns.

While Wednesday's deluge was relatively minor, with less rainfall and mostly contained to northwestern California, another atmospheric river was expected to drench most of the state this weekend, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

Illinois bans semiautomatic gun sales, legal challenge expected

Illinois has banned the sale of many common kinds of semiautomatic guns with immediate effect in response to a massacre at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park last year and other mass shootings. The new law, which Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed on Tuesday evening, bans selling many kinds of weapons that automatically load the next bullet after a shot, including semiautomatic rifles and pistols with detachable magazines. The law lists dozens of popular gun brands made by U.S. gun makers.

Explainer-Why weeks of rain in California will not end historic drought

California has been deluged since Dec. 26 by seven atmospheric rivers that have dumped up to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain over some areas, but the drought that has gripped the western United States remains far from over. Virtually none of the storms has reached the Colorado River basin, which means the river that provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven states will continue to be endangered.

New York nurses end strike after reaching deals with hospitals on staffing

A strike involving over 7,000 nurses at two New York City hospitals has ended after three days, as they reached tentative deals with hospitals over staffing levels, the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) said on Thursday. Nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan head back to work on Thursday morning after reaching an agreement for "enforceable safe staffing ratios", the NYSNA said in a statement.

Airlines expect U.S. operations to rebound on Thursday as FAA investigates outage

U.S. airlines said they expect operations to return to normal on Thursday, as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambles to pinpoint the cause of a computer outage that grounded flights nationally and to prevent it from happening again. 511 U.S. flights, however, were delayed and 63 were canceled as of Thursday early morning, according to FlightAware.

Biden aides find second batch of classified documents at new location, reports say

Aides to U.S. President Joe Biden have discovered at least one more batch of classified documents in a location separate from a think tank office he used after serving as vice president, news outlets reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. Biden aides have been searching for additional classified materials that might be in other locations since a set of classified documents was found in November at the Washington-based think tank, according to a report in NBC News, which first broke the news, and CNN.

FAA has struggled to modernize computer, air traffic operations

The breakdown of a key computer system, which resulted in the suspension of U.S. flight departures on Wednesday, is not the first such issue to hinder Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operations, and happened amid efforts to upgrade technology. The 90-minute halt, which was caused by a problem with an alerting system that sends safety messages for pilots and others, occurred less than two weeks after a different critical air-traffic control system caused flight delays at major airports in Florida. The latest glitch disrupted more than 11,000 flights on Wednesday.

Embattled George Santos defies New York Republicans' call to step down

Embattled U.S. Representative George Santos said he had no plans to heed fellow New York Republicans' calls to step down, a plea they made on Wednesday due to what they called "lie after lie after lie" about his career and history. Top House of Representatives Republican Kevin McCarthy said he had no intention of pressuring Santos, part of his narrow 222-212 majority, despite the public plea by more than a dozen top Republicans, many of them from Santos' suburban New York City district.

U.S. first lady Jill Biden has surgery to remove cancerous skin lesions

U.S. first lady Jill Biden had cancerous skin lesions removed from her face and chest during surgery on Wednesday, and a third lesion was removed from her left eyelid and sent for examination, the White House physician said. The 71-year-old first lady, accompanied by President Joe Biden, spent more than eight hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for the outpatient procedure.

(With inputs from agencies.)