Reuters US Domestic News Summary

U.S. aviation groups urge White House against COVID-19 tests for domestic flights A coalition of airline, travel and aerospace industries and union and airport groups on Friday urged U.S. President Joe Biden not to impose new COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers on domestic flights.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Biden says action on COVID-19 stimulus needed 'now'

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that Congress needs to take immediate action on his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal, adding that most economists believe additional economic stimulus is needed. "We have to act now," Biden told reporters at the White House. "There is an overwhelming consensus among economists ... that this is a unique moment and the cost of inaction is high." 'Bomb-making manuals' found in home of Proud Boy who stormed U.S. Capitol

U.S. law enforcement agents found bomb-making instructions inside the home of a member of the Proud Boys right-wing extremist group who was charged with participating in the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, prosecutors said on Friday. Dominic Pezzola, 43, had "weapons- and bomb-making manuals" on a thumb drive device found within his home near Rochester, New York, prosecutors said in a court filing arguing that he should be jailed pending trial. CDC orders sweeping U.S. transportation mask mandate as COVID-19 rages

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a sweeping order late Friday requiring the use of face masks on nearly all forms of public transportation Monday as the country continues to report thousands of daily COVID-19 deaths. The order, which takes effect at 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday (0459 GMT Tuesday), requires face masks to be worn by all travelers on airplanes, ships, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares and at transportation hubs like airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations and seaports. Chicago teachers, district says COVID-19 safety plan talks to continue over the weekend

Chicago teachers and the school district said on Friday talks will continue this weekend in hopes of reaching an COVID-19 safety plan agreement that would avoid work stoppages and allow in-person classes to resume for thousands of elementary and middle school students. The Chicago Teachers Union, representing 28,000 public school educators, has been locked in negotiations with Chicago Public Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, for months over a plan to gradually reopen schools for in-person learning. California's Coachella music festival canceled for third time

The Coachella music festival due to be held in southern California in April 2021 was canceled on Friday by local health officials because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It was the third time the outdoor event, one of the largest music festivals in the world, had been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic. Restaurant dining to resume in New York City on Valentine's Day

New York City's famed restaurant scene will re-open for indoor dining on Valentine's Day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday, the latest announcement by a U.S. state to ease public health restrictions as a deadly surge of COVID-19 begins to abate. The flattening of hospitalization rates has led several states to loosen public health restrictions, even as officials caution that cases could surge again, and highly contagious strains of the virus from other countries appear in the United States. At Oklahoma COVID ward, staff fight to prevent lonely deaths

The patient alarms ping constantly in the COVID-19 ward at a hospital in Oklahoma City, signaling to pulmonologist Dr. Syed Naqvi and the rest of the ICU team that yet another person needs help. The sheer volume is exhausting, Naqvi said, but the emotional toll is even more draining, given that each time he puts a patient on a ventilator he knows there is little chance that person will recover. At the funeral of man executed by U.S., family prays it is the last of its kind

By the grave dug for Dustin Higgs, the 13th and final prisoner executed by former President Donald Trump's administration, a woman began to wail, doubling over and stomping her right foot as his coffin was lowered into the frozen ground. "They killed my brother!" Alexa Cave said, heaving with tears. Relatives circled around to steady her, and she said it again, loud even above the bitter winds slapping at the green canvas canopy raised over the grave. U.S. aviation groups urge White House against COVID-19 tests for domestic flights

A coalition of airline, travel and aerospace industries and union and airport groups on Friday urged U.S. President Joe Biden not to impose new COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers on domestic flights. The federal government has been mulling additional measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus and officials said this week health agencies are "actively looking" at such testing. Congresswoman urges Biden team to involve more distributors in COVID vaccine shipments

A Democratic U.S. lawmaker urged the Biden administration to involve additional major healthcare distributors in the shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to speed vaccinations, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The Trump administration signed an exclusive deal with healthcare distributor McKesson Corp to ship COVID-19 vaccines for the government. That distribution system has broadly worked, but it will face new demands as vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and other companies are expected to be added.