Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The federal district passed a police reform law in July after weeks of protests in the nation's capital and across the globe against systemic racism and police brutality, sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Washington, D.C., police union moves to block release of body cam footage

The Washington, D.C., police union said on Monday it asked a court to block the mandatory release of body camera footage and names of police officers involved in shootings. The federal district passed a police reform law in July after weeks of protests in the nation's capital and across the globe against systemic racism and police brutality, sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Judge gives U.S. three weeks to detail Dakota Access pipeline options

A federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) to detail options by the end of the month for resolving the loss of a permit that allows the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline to operate on U.S. land. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last month voided an easement that allowed a portion of the pipeline to cross federal property in South Dakota, citing violations of environmental requirements. Trump escorted from briefing after shooting outside White House

U.S. President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted from the White House briefing room on Monday shortly after a shooting outside the fence surrounding the complex. Trump returned to the media room after several minutes and said a person had been shot by law enforcement and to the hospital. He said he understood the suspect had been armed. U.S. COVID-19 deaths drop for first time in four weeks

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 fell 16% to about 7,200 people last week, the first decline in deaths after four weeks of increases, according to a Reuters tally of state and county reports. The country posted more than 376,000 new COVID-19 cases for the week ended August 9, or an average of roughly 53,000 per day. New cases have now fallen for three straight weeks, though the United States still accounts for a quarter of the global total of 20 million cases. Trump weighs blocking U.S. citizens coming home if coronavirus infection feared

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a measure to block U.S. citizens and permanent residents from returning home if they are suspected of being infected with the new coronavirus, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Reuters. The official said a draft regulation, which has not been finalized and could change, would give the government authorization to block individuals who could “reasonably” be believed to have contracted COVID-19 or other diseases. U.S. coronavirus aid talks stalled, as parties trade jibes

U.S. congressional leaders and Trump administration officials said on Monday they were ready to resume negotiations on a coronavirus aid deal, but talks remained deadlocked as Democrats said Republicans needed to meet them in the middle. After a bid by President Donald Trump at the weekend to sidestep Congress, it was unclear whether Democrats and Republicans would be able to bridge their differences to provide relief to workers, businesses and local governments devastated by a pandemic that has killed at least 162,000 Americans. Mass looting breaks out in Chicago; shots fired, 100 arrested

Chicago police exchanged gunfire with looters and arrested more than 100 people after crowds swarmed Chicago's luxury commercial district early Monday, looting stores, smashing windows and clashing with officers for hours, police said. Police Superintendent David Brown called the outbreak "pure criminality," and Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought to distance the incident from the "righteous uprising" in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25. Gas explosion tears through Baltimore homes, at least one person killed

A gas explosion ripped through a Baltimore neighborhood on Monday, killing at least one person, injuring six and trapping children as the blast destroyed at least three homes, firefighters said. Fire officials described it as a natural gas explosion but said the exact cause was under investigation. California's public health officer resigns after COVID-19 undercount problem

California's top public health officer has resigned following data-collection failures that led to an undercount of coronavirus cases as the state was reporting a downward trend in COVID-19 infections, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Monday. Dr. Sonia Angell offered in a letter to step down as the director of the Department of Public Health over the weekend, and "I accepted her resignation," Newsom told a news conference in Sacramento, the state capital. COVID-19 cases in U.S. children soared in late July, report says

The number of new COVID-19 cases among children in the United States rose 40% in the last two weeks of July, according to a report released just weeks before tens of millions of American students are scheduled to begin the new school year. Health experts are keeping an eye on coronavirus infections among kids and teenagers as officials struggle with the thorny question of whether to reopen schools for in-person classes, adopt a virtual learning model or a hybrid of the two.