Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Wealthy hospitals rake in U.S. disaster aid for COVID-19 costs

After collecting billions of dollars in U.S. coronavirus aid, many of the nation’s wealthiest nonprofit hospitals are now tapping into disaster relief funds that critics say they don’t need. The money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is going to some large health systems that have billions of dollars in cash reserves and investments, according to government records reviewed by Reuters. First known U.S. case of highly infectious coronavirus variant found in Colorado

Colorado has discovered a case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said on Tuesday, the first known case in the United States. "Today we discovered Colorado’s first case of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, the same variant discovered in the UK," Polis said on Twitter. U.S. detects first case of COVID-19 variant as Biden offers gloomy vaccine outlook

The first known U.S. case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant was detected in Colorado on Tuesday, and President-elect Joe Biden said that it could take years for most Americans to be vaccinated for the virus at current distribution rates. Biden's prediction of a grim winter appeared aimed at lowering public expectations that the pandemic will be over soon after he takes office on Jan. 20, while also sending a message to Congress that his administration will want to significantly increase spending to expedite vaccine distribution, expand testing and provide funding to states to help reopen schools. U.S. will not file charges against Cleveland police over Tamir Rice shooting

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had closed its investigation of the 2014 shooting by Cleveland police of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black youth, and that no federal criminal charges would be filed. Timothy Loehmann, a Cleveland police rookie, shot Rice as he played in a playground with a toy gun that fired pellets, one of a string of killings that fueled protests against the use of deadly force by U.S. police, particularly against minorities. U.S. appeals court upholds Trump health care price disclosure rule

A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a White House-backed rule to require hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurers for an array of common tests and procedures. The 2-0 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a victory for President Donald Trump's effort to make health care pricing more transparent so patients can be better informed when deciding on treatment. U.S. announces railroads, transit systems meet key safety deadline

The U.S. Transportation Department announced Tuesday that anti-derailment technology positive train control, or PTC, is in operation on all required railroad route miles ahead of a Dec. 31 deadline set by Congress. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has certified that each host railroad’s PTC system complies with the technical requirements and is in place on all 57,536 required freight and passenger railroad route miles. Defying Trump, McConnell delays vote on $2,000 checks, urges Senate to override defense veto

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday put off a vote on President Donald Trump's call to boost COVID-19 relief checks and urged the Senate to override his veto of a defense bill, in a rare challenge to his fellow Republican three weeks before he vacates the White House. McConnell acted shortly after Trump assailed Republican leaders on Twitter, calling them "weak" and "tired" in an apparent effort to get the Senate to increase COVID-19 relief checks to $2,000 from $600 and to support his defense bill veto. Indiana mattress maker loses sleep over new COVID-related supply chain delays

Lauren Taylor's small mattress factory in northern Indiana has managed to survive during the coronavirus pandemic, with the help of a federal emergency loan and a surge of purchases by cocooning customers after early shopping restrictions lifted. But as COVID-19 infections worsen again in the United States, the American-made parts her company, Holder Mattress Co., relies on are taking months to arrive, forcing customers to wait for their new beds. U.S. judge orders two Georgia counties to halt voter purge ahead of Senate runoff

A federal judge on Monday ordered two Georgia counties to reverse a decision removing thousands of voters from the rolls ahead of Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which political party controls the U.S. Senate. The counties seemed to have improperly relied on unverified change-of-address data to invalidate registrations, the judge, Leslie Abrams Gardner, said in her order filed late on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. U.S. State Department approves potential sale of 3,000 smart bombs to Saudi Arabia

The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale of 3,000 precision guided munitions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at up to $290 billion, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The sale comes in the final days of U.S. President Donald Trump's term. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East's biggest buyer of American weapons, in a bid to pressure Riyadh to end a war in Yemen that has caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis.