Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Arizona voters put tax to fund education, recreational marijuana on November ballot Voters will decide in November whether to pump $940 million into education by taxing Arizona’s highest earners and make the state the 11th in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, election officials said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Pence previews Republican counterattack after Democrats savage Trump at convention

After hearing Democrats brand President Donald Trump a threat to U.S. democracy, Republicans will paint his challenger Joe Biden as beholden to the radical left at a convention of their own next week, Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday. This week's Democratic National Convention, held virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic, for four days showcased scathing criticism of Trump's character and the more than 170,000 people who have died from the outbreak under his watch. U.S. postmaster promises timely election mail, 'dramatic' changes after

U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy on Friday told lawmakers the Postal Service would deliver ballots "securely and on time" in the November presidential election, but indicated he would pursue dramatic operational changes after that date. DeJoy faced pointed questions at a Senate hearing from Democrats, who have accused the wealthy Republican donor of trying to tilt the election to President Donald Trump. U.S. House takes on Postal reforms seen as threat to mail-in ballots

The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives will vote on Saturday on providing the cash-strapped Postal Service with $25 billion and block policies that have stirred concerns about mail-in balloting ahead of the Nov. 3 election. The Democratic-led chamber is widely expected to pass the bill, dubbed the "Delivering for America Act," at a rare Saturday session called by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the congressional August recess. But it is unlikely to be taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate. Three arrested in Portland amid scuffles with police

About 100 people blocked traffic, vandalized an immigration building, set fires to dumpsters, and threw rocks and glass bottles at police in the Oregon city of Portland on Thursday night, police said, adding they had arrested three people. The gathering, declared unlawful by the police, followed successive nights of the police declaring a riot in parts of the northwestern city, including on Wednesday around the same Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. Two storms head for U.S. Gulf in rare hurricane season event

A pair of tropical cyclones forecast to become hurricanes early next week are headed for the U.S. Gulf Coast and will spin over the Gulf's warm waters simultaneously, a rare weather event that could cause massive disruption as they make landfall. There have never been two hurricanes in the U.S Gulf of Mexico at the same time, according to the National Hurricane Center. The closest event was in 1933, when a major hurricane made landfall in south Texas while a separate hurricane weakened to a tropical storm after crossing the Florida Peninsula, the NHC said. Arizona voters put tax to fund education, recreational marijuana on November ballot

Voters will decide in November whether to pump $940 million into education by taxing Arizona’s highest earners and make the state the 11th in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, election officials said on Friday. The two measures cleared all legal challenges and met signature requirements to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot, said Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state. 'The bogeyman gone': California's 'Golden State Killer' sentenced to life in prison

A former California police officer who lived a double life as the "Golden State Killer" was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for a string of 1970s and '80s murders and rapes that were solved through the use of public genealogy websites. A Sacramento County judge granted prosecutors' request that Joseph James DeAngelo, 74, serve life in prison without the possibility of parole following emotional statements from victims or their family members in open court. 'Pure joy': Giant panda at U.S. National Zoo gives birth to healthy cub

Giant panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a healthy cub on Friday at the National Zoo in Washington, and immediately began nursing and cuddling the tiny new arrival, animal care staff said. It was too early to tell whether the infant is male or female but the baby marks the fourth successful pregnancy for Mei Xiang, a 22-year-old panda who, because of her advanced age, had a slim chance of having a healthy cub, zoo officials said. California governor calls wildfires 'deadly moment,' urges residents to flee

Hundreds of wildfires burning across Central and Northern California that have already killed six people more than doubled in size on Friday, becoming some of the largest in state history and threatening small towns in the path of the flames. The conflagrations, which broke out over the last week, have blackened an area larger than the U.S. state of Rhode Island and destroyed more than 500 homes and other structures. In addition to the fatalities, 43 firefighters and civilians have been hurt. Lori Loughlin apologizes for college scam as actress, husband get prison sentences

"Full House" actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli were sentenced on Friday to respective prison terms of two months and five months for participating in a vast U.S. college admissions fraud scheme. Loughlin, 56, choked up as she apologized to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston for the "awful decision" she made to help her daughters gain an "unfair advantage" in the college admissions process and get into their preferred school.