Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. Postal Service investigates mail backlog in Florida, but few ballots

The U.S. Postal Service said Monday it had discovered a backlog of 180,000 pieces of undelivered mail in south Florida but few ballots for Tuesday's presidential election. The Postal Service said in a court filing that the review was prompted by video posted on Twitter of delayed mail at the Princeton Station in Miami-Dade County. Bail for Illinois teen charged in Kenosha killings set at $2 million

A Wisconsin court on Friday set bail at $2 million for an Illinois teenager accused of fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third during demonstrations in August in Wisconsin. It was the first court appearance in Wisconsin for Kyle Rittenhouse since he was ordered extradited from Illinois on Friday. In setback to Republicans, judge rules ballot-counting measures in Nevada legal

A Nevada judge ruled that ballot-counting measures in the state's largest county, home to Las Vegas, were legal, a setback to U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican officials in a battleground state ahead of Tuesday's election. The suit claimed the counting process in Clark County was plagued by several issues, including observers not being able to get to where they needed to observe the count and ballots being handled in a way observers deemed improper. As U.S. COVID-19 cases break records, weekly deaths rise 3%

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States hit another record high last week, rising 18% to more than 575,000, while deaths inched up 3%, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports. The number of new cases reported each week has risen for four straight weeks, with the biggest increases seen in the last two weeks. Mississippi state, federal lawmakers seek inquiry after Reuters report of jail beating death

A Mississippi legislator and veteran Congressman are seeking criminal charges after Reuters exposed previously unreported details in the 2018 death of inmate Harvey Hill at the Madison County Detention Center. The 36-year-old died in May 2018 after a violent altercation with guards. His family believes he was suffering an emotional breakdown when he lashed out, striking a guard with a lunch tray. Guards kicked and punched Hill, then slammed him into a concrete wall, previously unpublished jail surveillance video obtained by Reuters showed. On last day, Trump and Biden scour battleground states for votes

U.S. President Donald Trump will hunt for support in four battleground states on Monday while Democratic rival Joe Biden focuses on Pennsylvania and Ohio during the final day of campaigning in their long, bitter race for the White House. The Republican Trump trails Biden in national opinion polls ahead of Tuesday's Election Day. But the race is seen as close in enough swing states that Trump could still piece together the 270 votes needed to prevail in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner. Texas drive-through voting upheld as judge blocks Republican bid to reject ballots

A federal judge in Texas on Monday denied an attempt by Republicans to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast in the U.S. presidential election at drive-through voting sites in Houston, a Democratic-leaning area. The plaintiffs had accused Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins, a Democrat, of acting illegally when he allowed drive-through voting as an alternative during the coronavirus pandemic. 'You are no longer my mother': How the election is dividing American families

When lifelong Democrat Mayra Gomez told her 21-year-old son five months ago that she was voting for Donald Trump in Tuesday's presidential election, he cut her out of his life. "He specifically told me, 'You are no longer my mother, because you are voting for Trump'," Gomez, 41, a personal care worker in Milwaukee, told Reuters. Their last conversation was so bitter that she is not sure they can reconcile, even if Trump loses his re-election bid. Southwest pilots seek changes to 737 MAX runaway stabilizer procedure

The union representing pilots at Southwest Airlines on Monday urged U.S. regulators to simplify the procedure recommended to address an emergency that can force down the nose down of the Boeing 737 MAX, an issue in both of two fatal crashes and the plane's grounding. Monday was the deadline for submitting public comments to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which on Oct. 6 released a draft report on revised training procedures for the MAX that has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people. In Senate races, Democrat leads Republican in Arizona, North Carolina a dead heat: Reuters/Ipsos

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly held a big lead over Arizona Republican incumbent Martha McSally on the eve of the election while Republican and Democrat vying for Senate seat in North Carolina were running neck-and-neck, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Monday. The outcome of about 14 of 35 U.S. Senate races is anyone's guess in Tuesday's election, 12 with vulnerable Republican incumbents and two with vulnerable Democrats. To have a majority in the Senate, Democrats need to pick up three seats if they also win the White House, which gives the vice president a tie-breaking vote, and four if not.