US News Roundup: U.S. Census Bureau to miss year-end deadline for first set of 2020 numbers; Republican senator says he will challenge Biden victory in Congress and more

"We continue to process the data collected and plan to deliver a complete and accurate state population count for apportionment in early 2021, as close to the statutory deadline as possible", the Census Bureau said in a statement https://bit.ly/380TCTg. Republican senator says he will challenge Biden victory in Congress Republican Senator Josh Hawley on Wednesday pledged to challenge Democrat President-elect Joe Biden's victory when Congress convenes to officially tally the electoral votes, which could trigger a lengthy debate in the Senate but has virtually no chance of overturning the results.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Census Bureau to miss year-end deadline for first set of 2020 numbers

The U.S. Census Bureau will miss a year-end deadline to produce the population count used to divide seats in Congress between the states, it said on Wednesday. "We continue to process the data collected and plan to deliver a complete and accurate state population count for apportionment in early 2021, as close to the statutory deadline as possible", the Census Bureau said in a statement https://bit.ly/380TCTg.

Republican senator says he will challenge Biden victory in Congress

Republican Senator Josh Hawley on Wednesday pledged to challenge Democrat President-elect Joe Biden's victory when Congress convenes to officially tally the electoral votes, which could trigger a lengthy debate in the Senate but has virtually no chance of overturning the results. Hawley, the junior senator from Missouri who was elected in 2018, said in a statement, that "some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws."

Fauci sees U.S. gaining control over pandemic by next autumn

The leading U.S. infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Wednesday he foresees America achieving enough collective COVID-19 immunity through vaccinations to regain "some semblance of normality" by autumn 2021, despite early setbacks in the vaccine rollout. Fauci made his remarks during an online discussion of the pandemic with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who announced at the outset that a more infectious coronavirus variant originally found in Britain has been detected in his state, a day after the first known U.S. case was documented in Colorado. Exclusive-Dialysis clinics provide new path for delivery of stockpiled COVID-19 antibody drugs in U.S.

Dialysis centers in the United States are rolling out COVID-19 antibody treatments this week, a new path for delivery of Eli Lilly and Regeneron drugs approved for emergency use but facing skepticism and logistical problems in some hospitals. Supplies of the drugs are piling up as hospitals grapple with overflowing wards and mass vaccinations. Kidney dialysis patients are among those most at risk from COVID-19, which is especially deadly among people with chronic illnesses. U.S. vaccinations in 2020 falling far short of target of 20 million people

Only about 2.6 million Americans had received a COVID-19 vaccine going into the last day of December, putting the United States far short of the government's target to vaccinate 20 million people this month. About 14 million doses of Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines have been distributed to states so far, federal officials told reporters on Wednesday, shy of its goal to ship 20 million doses this month. McConnell thwarts Trump bid for $2,000 coronavirus economic relief checks

U.S. Senate leader Mitch McConnell dealt a likely death blow on Wednesday to President Donald Trump's bid to boost coronavirus aid to Americans, declining to schedule a swift Senate vote on a bill to raise relief checks to $2,000 from $600. McConnell said on the Senate floor that a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which sought to meet fellow Republican Trump's demands for bigger checks, "has no realistic path to quickly pass the Senate." Cyber attack on U.S. government may have started earlier than initially thought - U.S. senator

The unprecedented cyber attack on U.S. government agencies reported this month may have started earlier than last spring as previously believed, a U.S. senator involved in cybersecurity said on Wednesday. U.S. investigators originally thought that the attack on government agencies and private industry targets began in March or April, including breaches of Treasury, State, Commerce and Energy Departments. State-backed Russian hackers were identified as the suspects. Russia has denied involvement. Man shot dead in gunfire exchange with Minneapolis Police

Minneapolis Police shot and killed a man in an exchange of gunfire during a traffic stop in the southern part of the city late on Wednesday, in the first killing by a member of the department since the death of George Floyd, authorities said. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was called in to handle the investigation. Details about the identity, background or race of the man who was shot were not immediately known. Most prolific U.S. serial killer, who confessed to 93 murders, dies in California hospital

Convicted murderer Samuel Little, who confessed to strangling 93 people and was considered by the FBI to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, died on Wednesday at a California hospital, the state corrections department said. He was 80. Little had been serving three consecutive sentences of life without parole for the killing of three women in Los Angeles County during the late 1980s, murders to which he was linked through DNA that matched samples found at the crime scenes. Local funding crisis threatens U.S. vaccine rollout

Seattle public health officials have so little COVID-19 funding on hand they worry they will have to shut down some virus testing sites as they mount a campaign to dose their 2.3 million residents with Pfizer Inc's and Moderna Inc's vaccines. King County, which represents greater Seattle, has $14 million of COVID-19 funding for 2021, roughly what it spends in a month to run public testing sites and other services, and a fraction of the $87 million emergency COVID-19 aid it received in 2020, said Ingrid Ulrey, the public health policy director for King County.