Reuters US Domestic News Summary
In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell said, "I think that will be something we’ll need to do right at the beginning of the year, targeted particularly at small businesses that are struggling and hospitals that are now dealing with a second wave of the coronavirus." U.S. judge orders 'extraordinary measures' to ensure ballot deliveries A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to adopt "extraordinary measures" at some processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday's presidential election.
Reuters | Updated: 31-10-2020 05:21 IST | Created: 31-10-2020 05:21 IST
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Biden farms for crucial votes in Trump Country
By planting a sign in early October supporting Joe Biden on a country road near her Minnesota dairy farm, Meg Stuedemann initially stood out from her neighbors. The 54-year-old, who runs Derrydale Farm in Belle Plaine with her husband, supports the former vice president, a Democrat, for president because of his pledges to combat climate change and promote renewable energy. Walmart returns firearms, ammunition to U.S. store floors ahead of election
Walmart Inc said on Friday it has begun returning firearms and ammunitions to the floors of its U.S. stores a day after the world's largest retailer said it had removed these products to protect customers and employees as tensions across the country rise. "After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores ... we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor .... As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today," the company said. Why the U.S. military would welcome a decisive 2020 election win
Politics aside, there is one outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election that could bring some relief to Pentagon planners: a clear-cut victory. By either candidate. In the months preceding the election on Tuesday, U.S. military officials have been forced to contemplate the possible fallout from a contested election, including protests like those in June over racial injustice that brought the National Guard to the streets. NYC's Staten Islanders vote for return to 'normal' in U.S. election
As U.S. Election Day approaches, residents of a New York City enclave agree that they want to make America "normal" again. They just don't agree on how to get there. Judge rules U.S. teenager should return to Wisconsin to face shooting charges
An Illinois judge on Friday ordered the extradition of a teenager accused of fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third during demonstrations in August in Wisconsin. Paul Novak, a judge in Lake County, Illinois, where 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse is being held, handed down a six-page ruling denying the teen's request for release and ruled he must raise his self-defense claims in a Wisconsin court. U.S. Senate leader says coronavirus aid bill should advance in early 2021
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday said that any new coronavirus aid package should be considered in early 2021, possibly closing the door to such legislation shortly following the Nov. 3 elections. In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell said, "I think that will be something we’ll need to do right at the beginning of the year, targeted particularly at small businesses that are struggling and hospitals that are now dealing with a second wave of the coronavirus." U.S. judge orders 'extraordinary measures' to ensure ballot deliveries
A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to adopt "extraordinary measures" at some processing locations to ensure the timely delivery of millions of ballots before Tuesday's presidential election. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he was ordering the measures in places where election mail processing scores for completed ballots returned by voters were below 90% for at least two days from October 26-28. Trump derides doctors as COVID surges, Biden says Trump 'giving up' on virus
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden on Friday sought support in Midwestern states where the coronavirus has roared back, with Trump falsely accusing doctors of profiting from COVID-19 deaths while Biden said Trump had surrendered to the pandemic. In Wisconsin, where new cases doubled last week, Trump urged the state's Democratic governor to lift restrictions that aim to slow the virus's spread. Most in the crowd of several thousand did not wear masks. U.S. CDC reports 228,100 deaths from coronavirus
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 8,924,548 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 90,155 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,055 to 228,100. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on Oct. 29, compared with its previous report released a day earlier. (https://bit.ly/3mA7Hfa) Minnesota opts against asking Supreme Court to block mail-in ballots ruling
Minnesota officials decided on Friday not to seek emergency intervention from the conservative-majority Supreme Court over an appeals ruling that questioned the legality of their decision to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day. Thursday's ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Republicans in the battleground state indicated that ballots received after Election Day, which is on Nov. 3, would not be counted if the extended deadline was ultimately found to be unlawful.