Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Pandemic pushes California bookstores to find innovative ways to keep customers

Peer past the sign declaring that Beers Books is closed due to coronavirus restrictions, and you can see boxes stacked high on pallets and bins waiting to be filled with orders, as the 85-year-old Sacramento institution prepares to reopen on Friday. Manager Andrew Naify was busy trying to buy disinfectant and masks for his employees, a ritual repeating itself across the state as California began to nudge its economy back into gear after more than six weeks of mandatory shutdowns. Bookstores, flower shops and other retail businesses will be allowed to partially open on Friday by offering curbside service to customers. Special Report: For cops who kill, special Supreme Court protection

Sick with pneumonia, agitated and confused, Johnny Leija refused to return to his hospital room. Moments later, with three police officers pinning him on the floor, Leija was dead at age 34. Trump, Pence test negative after White House valet contracts coronavirus

U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after a member of the U.S. military who works at the White House as a valet came down with the virus. During a meeting with the governor of Texas in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump told reporters he had little contact with the man and would be tested daily going forward. U.S. Post Office board meets as COVID takes its toll and funding dries up

The U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors meets on Friday at a critical juncture as it faces accusations from the White House that it charges package shippers such as Amazon.com too little and as the new coronavirus cuts its revenue by about $13 billion. The meeting also comes two days after the governors announced that they had selected Republican donor Louis DeJoy to be the next postmaster general to replace a retiring Megan Brennan. CDC reports 1,219,066 coronavirus cases, 73,297 deaths

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday reported 1,219,066 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 25,253 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 2,495 to 73,297. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on May 6, compared with its count a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2WfXuu1) White House shelved CDC guidance on easing of virus restrictions

The White House shelved a step-by-step guide prepared by U.S. health officials to help states safely reopen mass transit, restaurants, daycare centers and other public places closed by the coronavirus pandemic, an administration official said on Thursday. The 17-page document prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was put off to avoid giving "overly prescriptive" guidance, said the official, a member of President Donald Trump's White House task force, confirming a news report by the Associated Press that the guidance was shelved. U.S. moves to drop case against Trump ex-adviser Flynn, who admitted lying to FBI

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday abruptly asked a judge to drop criminal charges against Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn following mounting pressure from the Republican president and his political allies on the right. The move drew furious criticism from congressional Democrats and others who accused the department and Attorney General William Barr of politicizing the U.S. criminal justice system by bending to Trump's wishes and improperly protecting his friends and associates in criminal cases. Whistleblower offers window into HHS’s flawed COVID-19 response

A new whistleblower complaint has drawn attention for its allegations that the Trump administration retaliated against a scientist who sent early coronavirus warnings. The case also provides an insider account of the dysfunction critics say paralyzed the Department of Health and Human Services at the dawn of the COVID-19 response. The complaint by Dr. Rick Bright, who headed a federal agency called the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, until April 20, says HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his top aides dismissed experts’ warnings about the impending epidemic, failed to implement vital procedures and got sidetracked with political backbiting. White Georgia man, son charged with murder in shooting of unarmed black man

A white former police officer and his son were arrested on Thursday in Georgia and charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man, an incident that touched off a furor in the community and among civil rights activists nationwide. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were taken into custody by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with aggravated assault as well as murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in the town of Brunswick, the agency said in a statement. Exclusive: Biden allies told to attack Trump's stimulus as 'cronyism'

Allies of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are being told to sharpen attacks on President Donald Trump's stimulus efforts as thinly veiled "cronyism," according to a memo being sent to Democratic officeholders and supporters on Friday. The memo, which was seen by Reuters, gives Biden campaign representatives new language to use in their attacks on Trump and shows a campaign honing an increasingly aggressive tone ahead of the Nov. 3 election.