By Jon Herskovitz COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Reuters) - A master distiller and a crop scientist who specializes in corn breeding are working on a project they hope one day will help bring local identities to American whiskeys. Seth Murray, a top corn breeder at Texas A&M University, and Rob Arnold, working on a doctorate at the school while making whiskey for a Fort Worth distiller, are trying to develop commercially viable strains of corn with identifiable flavors, in the same way as specific grapes define the taste of wine from California's Napa Valley or a Bordeaux produced in southwest France. If the project proves successful, it might not be until the middle of the next decade that it will produce a commercial whiskey.

(Reuters) - A suspected gunman was fatally shot after multiple people opened fire at an all-night arts festival in New Jersey, wounding 20 people including a boy who is in critical condition, authorities said on Sunday. Prosecutors said a 33-year-old man was killed and a second suspect arrested after gunfire erupted at 3 a.m. EDT (0700 GMT) at the event in the city of Trenton, about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of New York City. ... Multiple weapons have been recovered," Angelo Onofri, prosecutor for Mercer County, told a news conference.

Deputy Theresa King, 44, who was with Kansas City Kansas Police Department for 13 years, died a little after midnight local time at the University of Kansas Medical Center, the department said in a statement. Another deputy, Patrick Rohrer, was also killed during the incident, officials said. The deputies were shot on Friday after a suspect overpowered at least one of them and perhaps took a weapon, said Major Kelli Bailiff of the Wyandotte Sheriff's Department said during a press conference.

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Heavy thunderstorms and widespread rains expected on Saturday in the U.S. Southwest could help douse the numerous unrelenting wildfires crews are battling in the parched region. "Water can rise quickly downstream of heavy rain, even when thunderstorms and heavy rain are miles away," the service said in an advisory. "When an area has burned, soil become hydrophobic, or water resistant, which causes water to rush over soil instead of soak in," The Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team said in an advisory, noting that crews are in place to perform water rescues.

By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Firefighters battling several unrelenting wildfires in the U.S. Southwest will likely get a reprieve thanks to heavy thunderstorms and widespread rains this weekend after facing yet another day of windy and dry weather on Friday. Although the wet weather could help efforts to battle two dozen wildfires that are currently burning in the region, it could also cause flash floods, the National Weather Service added. The largest and most threatening blaze is the 416 Fire, which has scorched nearly 33,000 acres (13,000 hectares) of drought-parched grass, brush and timber at the edge of the San Juan National Forest near the southwestern Colorado town of Durango.

By Sarah N. Lynch and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's former election campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was sent to jail pending trial on Friday after being charged with witness tampering, the latest episode in his long fall from grace. Manafort, a long-time Republican operative and businessman, is a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election, and has been indicted on mostly financial-related charges, including conspiring to launder money and defraud the United States. Mueller last week charged him with witness tampering in the case.