Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Opening arguments set for trial of U.S. teen charged in fatal protest shootings
The prosecution and the defense will make opening arguments on Tuesday in the trial of a U.S. teenager charged with fatally shooting protesters in Wisconsin last year, launching the most high-profile civilian self-defense case in nearly a decade. Kyle Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with reckless and intentional homicides in the killing of two men and the wounding of a third with an AR-15-style rifle on a chaotic night of protests on Aug. 25, 2020, in the city of Kenosha. Rittenhouse has pleaded not guilty and says he acted in self-defense.
U.S. CDC advisers to vote on COVID-19 vaccine in young children
The United States could begin administering Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11 as soon as Wednesday after a panel of outside experts votes on Tuesday on how broadly the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should recommend its use in the age group. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization of the vaccine in the age group on Friday, but CDC Director Rochelle Walensky must make her recommendations before it can be rolled out.
California farm town lurches from no water to polluted water
The San Joaquin Valley farm town of Teviston has two wells. One went dry and the other is contaminated. The one functioning well failed just at the start of summer, depriving the hot and dusty hamlet of running water for weeks. With temperatures routinely soaring above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), farm workers bathed with buckets after laboring in the nearby vineyards and almond orchards.
Too-close-to-call Virginia governor's race headlines U.S. elections
Virginia voters will elect their next governor on Tuesday in an unexpectedly close race that carries national implications for both Republicans and Democrats ahead of next year's congressional elections. Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a party fixture who served as governor from 2014 to 2018, has seen his lead over Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin in opinion polls evaporate in recent weeks.
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson in hospital with injury
U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has been admitted to hospital for an injury suffered while attending a meeting at Howard University, officials of the historically Black college said on Monday. Jackson, 80, has been a leader of the U.S. civil rights movement since the mid-1960s and was with Martin Luther King when he was assassinated in 1968.
COVID-19 still rages, but some U.S. states reject federal funds to help
As the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic burns through the rural U.S. state of Idaho, health officials say they don´t have enough tests to track the disease´s spread or sufficient medical workers to help the sick. It´s not for want of funding.
From Boeing to Mercedes, a U.S. worker rebellion swells over vaccine mandates
In Wichita, Kansas, nearly half of the roughly 10,000 employees at aircraft companies Textron Inc and Spirit AeroSystems remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, risking their jobs in defiance of a federal mandate, according to a union official. "We're going to lose a lot of employees over this," said Cornell Adams, head of the local Machinists union district. Many workers did not object to the vaccines as such, he said, but were staunchly opposed to what they see as government meddling in personal health decisions.
The U.S. Federal Reserve's take on greening the economy: Not our job
The U.S. Federal Reserve trails other major central banks in tackling climate change, even as President Joe Biden pledges a "whole of government" approach and fights to salvage his ambitious climate agenda as global leaders meet in Glasgow to hash out responses to rising world temperatures. In recent years the Fed has only begun to look at how changing weather patterns impact its ability to do its job, which includes safeguarding the financial system through bank regulation, and combating economic shocks through monetary policy.
U.S. Senate sets Wednesday procedural vote on election reform bill
The U.S. Senate will vote on Wednesday on whether to begin debate on legislation that would restore state voting requirements that were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013, the top Senate Democrat said on Monday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would set up the procedural vote for a bill known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which Republicans are expected to block from consideration.
U.S. Supreme Court leans toward allowing challenge to Texas abortion law
Two months after letting a near-total ban on abortion in Texas take effect, conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled they are reconsidering their positions and could let abortion providers pursue a bid to invalidate the law. The court on Sept. 1 declined to halt the law https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/texas-six-week-abortion-ban-takes-effect-2021-09-01 in a 5-4 decision with all but one of its six conservative justices in the majority. During three hours of oral arguments on Monday, at least two of the justices who had allowed the law to be enforced - Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - appeared to lean toward permitting abortion providers to proceed with their legal challenge.
