Reuters US Domestic News Summary

A lack of detailed federal guidelines has forced U.S. states and counties to create their own plans for distributing initially limited doses of COVID-19 vaccines in hopes of curbing a raging pandemic that has killed more than 332,000 Americans.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. congressman-elect Letlow dies of COVID-19

U.S. Representative-elect Luke Letlow of Louisiana died on Tuesday of COVID-19, his campaign said. Letlow, 41, announced on Dec. 18 that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. California coronavirus lockdowns extended as hospitals teeter on brink of crisis

Strict stay-at-home orders were renewed indefinitely on Tuesday for much of California, a leading U.S. hot spot of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the state's top health official said that many hospitals were teetering on the brink of crisis. Tough restrictions imposed earlier this month on social and economic life were extended in densely populated Southern California - home to more than half of the state's 40 million people - based on data showing intensive care units there likely to stay filled at or near capacity for weeks to come. Louisville police officer who shot Breonna Taylor told he will be fired

One of the Louisville police officers who shot Black emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, and the officer that prepared the warrant for the botched raid during which she was killed, were told on Tuesday that the department aimed to fire them. Taylor's death when police entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, early on March 13 was one of a string of killings of African Americans that fueled mass protest demonstrations across the United States in 2020. 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 discovered in Britain was detected in Colorado on Tuesday as President-elect Joe Biden warned it could take years for most Americans to be vaccinated against COVID-19 at current distribution rates. Biden's prediction of a grim winter appeared aimed at lowering public expectations that the pandemic would be over soon after he takes office on Jan. 20, while putting Congress on notice that he wants to significantly increase spending to expedite vaccine distribution, expand COVID testing and help reopen shuttered schools. California nurse tests positive over a week after receiving Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine: ABC

A 45-year-old nurse in California tested positive for COVID-19 more than a week after receiving Pfizer Inc's coronavirus vaccine, an ABC News affiliate reported https://bit.ly/2L8iBel on Tuesday. Matthew W., a nurse at two different local hospitals, said in a Facebook post on December 18 that he had received the Pfizer vaccine, telling the ABC News affiliate that his arm was sore for a day but that he had suffered no other side-effects. Federal probe ends without charging Cleveland police in Tamir Rice shooting

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it has closed its civil rights investigation into the fatal 2014 shooting by Cleveland police of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Black youth, and that no federal criminal charges would be brought in the case. The announcement came five years after an Ohio grand jury cleared two Cleveland officers, Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback, of state charges of wrongdoing in the death of Rice, who was shot in a playground while holding a toy gun capable of shooting pellets. Trump pardon of Blackwater Iraq contractors violates international law - UN

U.S. President Donald Trump's pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 violated U.S. obligations under international law, U.N. human rights experts said on Wednesday. Nicholas Slatten was convicted of first-degree murder, while Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were convicted of voluntary and attempted manslaughter, over the incident in which U.S. contractors opened fire in busy traffic in a Baghdad square and killed 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians. U.S. Congress inches closer to Trump veto override as Republican tensions grow

The U.S. Senate was due on Wednesday to hold a procedural vote that could pave the way for Congress to override President Donald Trump's veto of a key defense bill, as tension between the outgoing Republican president and party leaders grows. Trump on Tuesday ramped-up pressure on his fellow Republicans to support his decision to veto the bill because it does not repeal certain legal protections for tech giants, and to back $2,000 one-time stimulus checks for struggling Americans. Waiting for mass vaccines, California cafe will 'have to hang on'

The months leading up to widespread COVID-19 vaccinations will be difficult for Farley's East, a cafe in Oakland, and other small businesses in California slammed by new state restrictions to fight record numbers of cases, pushing back any prospects for office workers returning to downtown buildings. With vaccine shipments reaching local hospitals this month and a new round of government aid on offer in a $892 billion relief package signed into law Sunday, co-owner Chris Hillyard says he's more hopeful than he has been in a while. Do U.S. firefighter medics get early COVID-19 vaccines? Depends on the state

U.S. emergency medical personnel are getting quick access to COVID-19 vaccines in some parts of the United States while fire chiefs in other areas forecast a delay of weeks or months, highlighting the chaotic nature of a rollout that relies on states and counties to plan and administer distribution. A lack of detailed federal guidelines has forced U.S. states and counties to create their own plans for distributing initially limited doses of COVID-19 vaccines in hopes of curbing a raging pandemic that has killed more than 332,000 Americans.