US Domestic News Roundup: Texas law sparks hundreds of U.S. protests against abortion restrictions; Pharmacy chains face first trial over U.S. opioid epidemic and more

The measure, which went into effect last month, is the most restrictive in the country. Pharmacy chains face first trial over U.S. opioid epidemic The first trial of four large pharmacy chains over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic was set to begin on Monday, as two Ohio counties seek to convince jurors the companies are responsible for flooding their communities with addictive pain pills.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Texas law sparks hundreds of U.S. protests against abortion restrictions

Women marched by the thousands on Saturday on the Supreme Court, the Texas Capitol and cities across the United States to protest increasing state restrictions on abortion and advocate for maintaining a constitutional right to the procedure. The 660 demonstrations around the United States were largely sparked by a Texas law that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The measure, which went into effect last month, is the most restrictive in the country.

Pharmacy chains face first trial over U.S. opioid epidemic

The first trial of four large pharmacy chains over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic was set to begin on Monday, as two Ohio counties seek to convince jurors the companies are responsible for flooding their communities with addictive pain pills. The Ohio counties of Lake and Trumbull allege that oversight failures at pharmacies run by Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, CVS Health Corp, Walmart Inc and Giant Eagle Inc led to excessive amounts of opioid pills flooding their communities.

Back in black: U.S. Supreme Court returns from COVID-19 telework

U.S. Supreme Court justices are set to don their black robes and sit once more behind a mahogany bench in their grand courtroom on Monday as they resume in-person oral arguments for the first time since COVID-19 pandemic disruptions started last year. In a tentative step toward normalcy, the nine justices will be joined by lawyers, court staff and journalists in their spacious column-lined courtroom as they begin their new nine-month term. No members of the public will be present.

U.S. Democrats to pare climate, social spending; no clear target

Congressional Democrats face the hard work of paring back the White House's sweeping infrastructure and social agenda in the week ahead, but have yet to agree on a target size for their multi-trillion-dollar spending bill. Democrats said on Friday that their sweeping bill intended to bolster the social safety net and fight climate change will need to be trimmed from a $3.5 trillion goal, perhaps to closer to $2 trillion, following a visit by the president to Capitol Hill to sell his agenda.

Two Americans win Medicine Nobel Prize for sensory findings

American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch which the award-giving body said could pave the way for new painkillers. Their findings "have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world around us," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said.

A few skeptical U.S. hospital workers choose dismissal over vaccine

Jennifer Bridges loved her job as a nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she worked for eight years, but she chose to get fired rather than inoculated against COVID-19, believing that the vaccine was more of a threat than the deadly virus. Bridges was among about 150 employees who were fired or resigned rather than comply with the requirement at Methodist, which was the country's first large health system to mandate vaccinations. About 25,000 other employees at the hospital system complied.

Senator Schumer: Goal is to get both bills done in next month

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday the goal would be to get both an infrastructure bill and a multi-trillion-dollar social spending bill passed in the next month, overcoming divisions between moderate and progressive Democrats. "Our goal is to get it done in the next month, both bills, get them passed," Schumer told reporters.

Biden struggles to secure his 'New Deal' to transform U.S. economy

Last October, presidential candidate Joe Biden flew to Warm Springs, Georgia just days before the national election, to compare his ambitions with those of the United States' longest-serving president. Franklin Delano Roosevelt "would come back to Warm Springs often to think about how to heal the nation and the world," Biden said, adding that FDR was "the kind of president our nation needs right now."

'Catastrophic' California oil spill kills fish, damages wetlands

A large oil spill off the southern California coast left fish dead, birds mired in petroleum and wetlands contaminated, in what local officials called an environmental catastrophe. The U.S. Coast Guard, heading a clean-up response involving federal, state and city agencies, on Sunday announced an around-the-clock investigation into how the spill occurred.

Analysis: Global natgas price surge looms for United States this winter

Regional natural gas markets in the United States are seeing prices for this winter surge along with global record highs - suggesting that the energy bills causing headaches in Europe and Asia will hit the world's top gas producer before long. Gas prices in Europe and Asia have more than tripled this year, causing manufacturers to curtail activity from Spain to Britain and sparking power crises in China.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)