Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity. Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencements, White House says U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencement ceremonies where he and other administration officials will speak, the White House said on Tuesday as pro-Palestinian protests spread around the country.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US soldier bucked Army rules before arrest in Russia

Before his arrest in Russia, U.S. soldier Gordon Black not only broke Army rules by traveling to the Russian city of Vladivostok without authorization, but he did so after passing through China, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. Details about Black started to emerge on Tuesday of risk-taking behavior that saw the 34-year-old Army staff sergeant's luck run out after he followed his girlfriend to Russia while he was on personal leave from military service.

Biden administration to miss deadline for report on Israeli weapons use, sources say

The Biden administration will miss a Wednesday deadline to report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza, four sources said on Tuesday, findings that could fuel concerns over its use of U.S.-supplied weapons against the Palestinian enclave. A National Security Memorandum, known as NSM-20, that U.S. President Joe Biden issued in February requires the State Department to report to Congress by May 8 on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.

Florida sues Biden administration over new transgender healthcare rule

Florida's top prosecutor and a Catholic medical group on Tuesday sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a rule that they say will force doctors to provide gender transition care against their judgment or face heavy penalties. The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity.

Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencements, White House says

U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes peaceful protests at college commencement ceremonies where he and other administration officials will speak, the White House said on Tuesday as pro-Palestinian protests spread around the country. Columbia University on Monday canceled its main graduation ceremony after weeks of unrest roiled the Ivy League college's campus, but it will still hold smaller, school-based events.

Stormy Daniels testifies she had sex with Trump, defense attacks her credibility

Porn star Stormy Daniels described her 2006 encounter with Donald Trump in unflattering terms at his criminal trial on Tuesday, testifying she tried not to think about the sex while it took place and feared it would become public. For several hours Daniels, 45, offered riveting details on the witness stand about her encounter with Trump, 77, and the hush money deal she reached to stay quiet about it ahead of the 2016 election when he won the White House.

Columbia Law voices confidence in grads in face of conservative judges' boycott

The head of Columbia Law School backed its graduates on Tuesday, saying they were "consistently sought out" as it responded to an announcement by 13 conservative federal judges that they would not hire students from the Ivy League university. The judges announced the boycott on Monday, citing the university's handling of pro-Palestinian protests and calling the Manhattan campus an "incubator of bigotry" in a letter to Columbia President Minouche Shafik and Law Dean Gillian Lester.

Explainer-The latest investigation into the Boeing 787

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to see whether some employees committed "misconduct" by claiming certain tests that were not performed had been completed. WHAT'S HAPPENING?

Biden compares Hamas attack to Holocaust in antisemitism warning

U.S. President Joe Biden warned on Tuesday that the threat of antisemitism is growing in the United States, including on college campuses, as his support for Israel's assault on Gaza divides Democrats and alienates some young voters. In a speech honoring the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust, Biden joined a heated American debate about Jewish security, Zionism, free speech and support for Israel, in the country with the largest Jewish population after Israel.

Trump documents trial start delayed indefinitely, judge orders

Donald Trump's trial in Florida on charges of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office has been indefinitely postponed, a judge decided on Tuesday, greatly reducing the odds he will face a jury in either of the two federal criminal cases against him before the Nov. 5 U.S. election. Trump, seeking to regain the presidency, previously had been scheduled to go to trial on May 20 in the documents case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, but the prosecution and defense had both acknowledged that date would need to be delayed.

Idaho seeks to revive 'abortion trafficking' law in US appeals court

A lawyer for the state of Idaho on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to revive a 2023 state law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an abortion without her parent's consent, which a lower court judge had blocked in November. "The law is narrow, and one would think, unobjectionable," Idaho Deputy Solicitor General Joshua Turner told the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

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