Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Republican state AGs ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear mail-in ballot dispute

A group of Republican attorneys general on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case challenging a lower court ruling that extended Pennsylvania's deadline to receive mail-in ballots. In separate filings, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, joined by nine others including from Texas and Louisiana, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the justices should overturn the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allowed mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and delivered through Friday to be counted. Analysis: How well-managed was the U.S. election? Scoring five key areas

Americans took to the polls last Tuesday for what many expected to be a contentious and possibly even violent general election. Republican President Donald Trump claimed beforehand, without evidence, that voter fraud could hand the presidency to Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Democrats sounded alarms that voter intimidation and efforts to cast suspicion on mail-in ballots by Republicans would discourage minorities, in particular, from voting. Trump campaign sues to halt Pennsylvania from certifying Biden win

U.S. President Donald Trump's campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking an emergency injunction to stop state officials from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the state. The lawsuit alleged Pennsylvania's mail-in voting system "lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters." Storm Eta drenches South Florida, forecast to strengthen over Gulf of Mexico

Tropical Storm Eta unleashed torrential rain on South Florida overnight and on Monday after making landfall in the Keys, flooding roads and residential neighborhoods and knocking out power for thousands as it moved back over the Gulf of Mexico. Eta, which was located 140 miles west-southwest of the Dry Tortugas and moving further into the Gulf, was expected to slow down and strengthen Monday night into Tuesday, a National Hurricane Center advisory said. Biden hails progress on COVID-19 vaccine, White House seeks credit

President-elect Joe Biden hailed Pfizer Inc's progress toward a COVID-19 vaccine on Monday but urged Americans to wear masks because it may not be widely available for many months, as President Donald Trump's administration tried to claim credit. Pfizer said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-pfizer/great-day-for-humanity-pfizer-says-covid-19-vaccine-over-90-effective-idUSKBN27P1CT as it disclosed the first successful interim data from a large-scale clinical test. That was major progress in the quest for a vaccine to combat a pandemic that has killed more than 237,000 Americans, thrown millions more out of work and contributed to Trump's defeat in last Tuesday's election. COVID-19 ensnares Trump housing secretary Ben Carson and aide challenging election loss

The coronavirus has further spread among U.S. President Donald Trump's top aides, ensnaring Housing Secretary Ben Carson, who is a retired neurosurgeon, and removing the man leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to his election loss from making decisions, officials and sources said on Monday. The infections of Carson, 69, and conservative political activist David Bossie, 55, renewed the focus on a Nov. 3 election night White House party and the administration's cavalier attitude toward public health guidelines encouraging Americans to wear masks and maintain a safe social distance. Fauci: U.S. could begin distributing COVID vaccine by end of year

Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on Monday greeted news about the vaccine against the deadly coronavirus that Pfizer Inc is developing as "a big deal" and said the United States could have vaccine doses ready to administer to people before the end of the year. In an interview with CNN, Fauci said he believes he will stay in his current role for the time being and he has no intention of leaving. President Donald Trump, who is attempting to contest his apparent loss in last week's presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden in the courts, has publicly criticized Fauci and has not spoken to the country's leader on fighting infectious diseases since early October, according to Fauci. Senate's McConnell says Trump has right to probe election 'irregularities'

The top Republican in the U.S. Congress on Monday said President Donald Trump was well within his rights to look into charges of "irregularities" in last week's election, which has been called for Democrat Joe Biden, but did not offer any evidence of fraud. Trump, a Republican, has yet to acknowledge defeat two days after Biden secured enough votes in the state-by-state Electoral College to win. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he backed Trump's launch of a legal fight into claims of voter fraud. U.S. extends air restrictions over Wilmington for Biden through Jan. 20

The U.S. government on Monday extended temporary flight restrictions through late January over Wilmington, Delaware, where President-elect Joe Biden is holding meetings on the transition. Restrictions in Wilmington were first put in place after Biden was declared the Democratic party nominee in August. The U.S. Secret Service and Federal Aviation Administration declined to comment Monday. El Paso, Texas, calls in ten morgue trucks as coronavirus cases surge

Officials in the county of El Paso, Texas, said on Monday they are bringing in 10 temporary refrigerated morgue trailers to contend with one of the worst surges in coronavirus in the United States. Six morgue trailers had already been deployed as of Monday, according to County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the most senior government executive in the county, which borders on Mexico. Four more have been requested from the Federal Emergency