US News Roundup: Trump campaign will again ask U.S. high court to upend election results; U.S. COVID-19 vaccination drive heads to nursing homes and more

Trump campaign will again ask U.S. high court to upend election results President Donald Trump's campaign said on Sunday it would again ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn results from the Nov. 3 election, its latest long-shot effort to subvert the electoral process and sow doubt over the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Amazon shuts New Jersey facility till Dec. 26 on virus spike among workers

Amazon.com Inc said on Sunday it had closed one of its warehouses in New Jersey out of caution till Dec. 26, after seeing an increase in asymptomatic positive cases amongst workers. "Through our in-house COVID-19 testing program, we detected an increase in the number of asymptomatic positive cases at our PNE5 facility in northern New Jersey and have proactively closed the site until December 26th out of an abundance of caution," an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.

Sacklers cited fear of OxyContin lawsuits before transferring $10 billion from their company, documents show

Members of the wealthy Sackler family, owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, have long denied that the $10 billion they transferred from their company over the course of a decade was an unlawful attempt to shield assets in anticipation of litigation over their role in the opioid crisis. But a review of emails, memos, depositions, legal motions and other documents unsealed late on Friday in Purdue's bankruptcy proceedings show Sackler family members discussed potential litigation exposure at least as early as 2007, a full decade before they faced a new wide-ranging legal attack and significant financial transfers stopped. The documents were unsealed in response to legal actions from Reuters and other news organizations seeking to remove their heavy redactions.

Trump campaign will again ask U.S. high court to upend election results

President Donald Trump's campaign said on Sunday it would again ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn results from the Nov. 3 election, its latest long-shot effort to subvert the electoral process and sow doubt over the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden's victory. In a statement issued by the campaign, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the campaign had filed a petition asking the high court to reverse three rulings by a Pennsylvania state court interpreting the state's rules for mail-in ballots.

U.S. COVID-19 vaccination drive heads to nursing homes

The U.S. government and two of the nation's largest pharmacy chains kick off a nationwide campaign to vaccinate nursing home residents against COVID-19 on Monday, a week after the first vaccines authorized in the country began being administered to healthcare workers. The program is the latest effort to control a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people in the country and is straining the capacity of healthcare systems in some states.

Biden to receive coronavirus vaccine on Monday as U.S. inoculation effort mounts

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to publicly receive a COVID-19 vaccine injection on Monday in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its wide distribution next year. Biden has vowed to make the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 300,000 Americans and infected more than 17 million, his top priority when he takes office on Jan. 20. At age 78, he is in the high-risk group for the highly contagious respiratory disease.

U.S. Senate votes to extend government funding to avoid shutdown

The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Sunday to extend federal funding through Dec. 21 to avoid a government shutdown, giving lawmakers more time to pass a $900 billion COVID-19 aid package tied to a larger government spending bill. The measure has already passed the House of Representatives and now heads to President Donald Trump to sign into law. Current funding is due to expire at midnight Sunday.

As Trump pushes baseless fraud claims, Republicans pledge tougher voting rules

Republican state lawmakers have begun to use President Donald Trump's baseless charges of voter fraud to push for new restrictions on voting. Although the claims have failed in court to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's Nov. 3 election win, Republican lawmakers, party officials and Trump's allies in some of the hardest-fought states have begun discussing new rules that rights advocates say could suppress votes in future elections.

U.S. asked to prioritize frontline essential workers as distribution of Moderna shots begins

An advisory panel on Sunday recommended U.S. frontline essential workers and people 75 and older should be next in line to get inoculated as the distribution of Moderna Inc's vaccine, the second approved coronavirus vaccine, began across the country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13 to 1 to recommend 30 million frontline essential workers, which include first responders, teachers, food and agriculture, manufacturing, U.S. Postal Service, public transit, and grocery store workers, have the next priority for the vaccines.

Kilauea volcano erupts on Hawaii's Big Island

The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island erupted on Sunday night, according to an advisory from the United States Geological Survey, followed by an earthquake that struck at the volcano's south flank. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded an earthquake of magnitude 4.4 located beneath Kīlauea Volcano's south flank at 10:36 pm local time, according to the advisory.

After months of delay, Congress to vote on massive coronavirus aid package

After months of inaction, the U.S. Congress was poised on Monday to vote on a $900 billion stimulus package that would provide new assistance for individuals and businesses battered by the surging coronavirus pandemic. The bill would see direct payments made to most Americans and provide enhanced payments to unemployed people. It would expand a small-business lending program and steer money to schools, airlines, transit systems, and vaccine distribution.