Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. 'He was not on our radar': authorities search for motive in Nashville blast

Federal, state and local law enforcement officers on Monday were searching for the motive behind a bombing that rocked Nashville on Christmas morning, with no concrete clues yet emerging as to why the 63-year-old suspect carried out his suicide mission. The FBI on Sunday identified the suspect as Anthony Q. Warner and said he died in the blast, which damaged more than 40 businesses in downtown Nashville, Tennessee's largest city and the United States' country music capital. Mudslides a risk from season's first 'real' rain in Southern California

A winter storm dropping as much as 1.5 inches of rain in lowland areas and as much as 16 inches of snow in the hills and mountains hit Southern California on Monday and brought high wind gusts, lightning and the threat of mudslides. The storm, which chilled Los Angeles to a low 46 degrees Fahrenheit - about 5 degrees colder than the same December day in New York City, will not taper off until overnight, said Brian Hurley, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Biden: Trump aides setting 'roadblocks' for his transition team

President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday many of America's security agencies had been "hollowed out" under President Donald Trump and the lack of information being provided to his transition team by the outgoing administration was an "irresponsibility." "We've encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the Department of Defense and the Office of Management and Budget," Biden said after a meeting with his foreign policy team. Over 11.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines distributed, 2.1 million administered: U.S. CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had administered 2,127,143 first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country as of Monday morning and had distributed 11,445,175 doses. The tally of vaccine doses distributed and the number of people who received first dose are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, COVID-19 vaccines as of 9:00 a.m. ET on Monday, the agency said. U.S. SEC says Trump has designated Roisman acting chairman

President Donald Trump has designated Elad Roisman as the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the top U.S. securities regulator said on Monday. The official announcement comes after Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce congratulated Roisman on Twitter for ascending to the top role temporarily. U.S. appeals court blocks NY governor's limits on religious gatherings

The federal appeals court in Manhattan on Monday blocked New York state restrictions on the size of religious gatherings put in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America and two synagogues in enjoining New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's Oct. 6 attendance caps at "houses of worship." Ohio police officer fired for fatally shooting unarmed Black man

A white Columbus, Ohio, police officer was fired on Monday for fatally shooting an unarmed Black man last week in what the city's police chief deemed an act of "senseless violence," according to a statement posted online by the Columbus Department of Public Safety. U.S. COVID-19 deaths and new cases drop over Christmas week

The United States recorded more than 15,000 deaths from COVID-19 and over 1.2 million new cases in the last week, though those numbers may be artificially low due to reporting gaps over the Christmas holiday. Reported deaths fell 17% in the week ended Dec. 27 and new cases fell 16%, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county reports, the first declines in both figures since the week after the Thanksgiving holiday in late November. Weekly cases and deaths have otherwise been rising since early October. U.S. Congress set to vote on higher relief checks, $740 billion defense bill

Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Monday will try to push through pandemic relief payments of $2,000, in an effort to increase aid for Americans that has put the lawmakers in a rare alignment with President Donald Trump. The Republican president last week threatened to block a $2.3 trillion pandemic aid and spending package if Congress did not boost stimulus payments from $600 to $2,000 and cut other spending. U.S. House will take second vote on stimulus checks if first one fails -Pelosi

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the chamber would take a second vote to approve an increase in stimulus checks to $2,000 from $600 requiring just a simple majority if it fails to approve the measure in an initial vote requiring support from two-thirds of the chamber's lawmakers. Pelosi said the House would approve the bill in either event.