Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

More US employers to drop weight-loss drugs in 2027, as healthcare costs increase

About 14% of employers in the United States have already or plan to drop GLP-1 drugs in 2027, as companies see rising healthcare costs, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the Business Group on Health. Healthcare costs are set to increase 9.2% if employers do not make changes to manage costs in 2027, up from 8.5% in 2026, the group said. Two-thirds of employers surveyed said they saw rising utilization ​of the drugs.

Is Fed communication broken — and can Warsh fix it?: McGeever

Whoever said talk is cheap wasn't speaking to a central banker. When it comes to monetary policy, what officials say can often be just as — if not more — important than what they do. As Kevin Warsh looks to shake up the Federal Reserve's communication strategy, it's useful to consider how "Fedspeak" has evolved ​and what risks the new chair may be taking. "Monetary policy is 98% talk and 2% action," Ben Bernanke was known to remark during his 2006-2014 tenure at the helm of the Fed. That’s a far cry from the ‌stance of his predecessor Alan Greenspan, who famously ​quipped in 1987: "Since I've become a central banker, I've learned to mumble with great incoherence. If I seem unduly clear to you, you must have misunderstood what I said."

Judge blocks rule implementing Trump plan to restrict mail-in voting

A federal judge on Thursday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from implementing core parts of a new rule it adopted at President Donald Trump's direction that would tighten mail-in voting requirements ahead of the November congressional elections. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston issued a temporary restraining order at the behest of Democratic-led states and voting rights groups after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that led to the lifting of earlier injunctions blocking Trump's plans to restrict mail-in voting.

Thousands march in Washington as leaders warn of voting and civil rights rollbacks

More than six decades after Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and declared his dream for a more just America, thousands gathered in Washington on Friday to warn that voting rights and other freedoms he fought and died for are once again under threat. Civil rights leaders invoked the same demands he made from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial two and a half generations ago: that the fight ‌for equality remains unfinished.

US academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism allowed to resume some work

Nathan Cofnas, the U.S. academic who accused late Cambridge University professor Jason Arday of plagiarism, has been allowed to resume some of his work at Ghent University while a disciplinary probe continues, the Belgian entity said on Friday.

Arday, once hailed as Cambridge's youngest Black professor, was found dead at the age of 41 in London this month, days after resigning from his post. Arday had denied the allegation of plagiarism but acknowledged making mistakes.

Judge deals blow to Trump moves to deport pro-Palestinian activists

A federal judge on Friday ruled that laws that President Donald Trump's administration used to cancel visas and initiate deportation proceedings against noncitizen college students based on their pro-Palestinian advocacy and criticism of Israel are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Noel Wise in San Jose, California in a blistering ruling chastised the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Homeland Security for how they had deployed provisions of federal immigration law to target non-citizens for deportation for expressing views they wanted to suppress.

US judge weighs challenge to restore Trump's name to Kennedy Center

An attorney for a U.S. lawmaker on Thursday urged a federal judge to again block the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington from inscribing President Donald Trump’s name on the facade. The hearing before U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper marks the second time the court has been asked to stop the Kennedy Center from putting Trump’s name on the building that Congress named as a "living memorial" to Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, who was assassinated in 1963.

India wanted red flags on chip packets and soda. Big Food fought back

A can of Fanta sold in London has 63 calories. Buy ‌the same brand in India, and it contains three times as much sugar. It also includes artificial dye, whose presence in food products in Europe requires a prominent health warning. In India, the colorant’s presence is noted merely in small print on the back of the can. That suits some of the world’s biggest companies, which have long resisted Indian efforts to mandate nutritional warnings on the front of packaged products.

Dolly Parton's legacy lives on through book deliveries to kids

For 3-year-old Simon Dockery, a trip to the mailbox can mean a new adventure. Since he was a baby, books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library have arrived at his family’s Georgia home each month. Now his younger brother, 11-month-old Samuel, also receives books of his own.

US ICE grants $16.7 million contract to buy thousands of electric ‌shock gloves

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency granted a $16.7 million contract to buy 6,000 pairs of electric shock gloves for officers in the field despite human rights advocates having raised alarm about the plans when they were revealed earlier this month. A notice on a federal database said that ICE, which has been the face of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, entered into a no-bid contract to purchase the gloves from Kentucky-based firm Compliant Technologies.

British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos detained by ICE

British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who has called for ICE checkpoints at supermarkets in the United States, with summary deportation of anyone failing to prove legal U.S. residency, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, agency records showed on Friday. Yiannopoulos, 41, was arrested on Thursday at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and is subject to a final order of removal from the U.S., ICE's parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement describing him as "an illegal alien from the United Kingdom."

Trump loses bid to move already-decided criminal hush money case to US court

A federal judge denied Donald Trump's attempt to move his already decided New York state hush money case to federal court, in a setback on Friday for the U.S. president's effort to erase his criminal conviction. Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein's ruling came after a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals directed him to review more closely how the Supreme Court's decision in July 2024 giving Trump broad immunity from prosecution affected the New York case.

Factbox-Bear encounters are on the rise. Here's what to do if you meet one

A drought in the western U.S. has devastated wildlands, dried up food sources and sent bears wandering along city sidewalks and into homes and shops in search of food. What should you do if you meet a bear? Reuters turned to BearWise, which bear biologists started in the southeastern United States in 2018 and that grew into a national program of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies.

Trump renames Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' amid Canada trade war

U.S. ⁠President Donald Trump renamed Lake Ontario "Lake America" on Thursday, ​escalating a feud with Canada that has already spawned tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade. Trump's executive order on Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, applies to U.S. federal usage ⁠about the lake, and does not govern what Canada, international bodies or other organizations call the lake.

Measles cases in Pennsylvania rise to 460 amid ongoing outbreak

Pennsylvania's health department said on Friday the confirmed number of cases linked to a measles outbreak has reached 460 this year, an increase of 36 over its update two days ago. Two Pennsylvania residents have died after contracting the highly contagious disease — the first such deaths reported in the United States in 2026 — as cases reach their highest level in more than three decades.

Trump administration appeals $16 billion Hudson Tunnel funding order

The Trump administration on Friday appealed a court order requiring it to make payments for the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel project after losing its latest bid to halt funding for the New York - New Jersey rail link. The project aims to build a new commuter rail tunnel connecting Manhattan and New Jersey and repair a century-old tunnel used by more than 200,000 travelers and 425 trains daily.

Walmart settles US government's opioid lawsuit, which sought billions, for $50 million

Walmart ⁠will pay $50 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the nation's largest retailer of fueling a nationwide opioid epidemic by unlawfully dispensing prescriptions from its pharmacies, the Department of Justice said on Friday. The payout is far less than the billions of dollars in civil penalties that the Justice Department had said Walmart could owe when the lawsuit began in December 2020, near the end of President Donald Trump's first White House term.

Hungry bears wander into US West homes, shops in record numbers

Matt Errico was sitting on the toilet when he heard noises in his Colorado home. The roofer got up and found two young bears about the size of golden retrievers standing in his hallway. After a staring match, they bolted out of the front door.

US officials revise claims that government agencies were hacked by Chinese, now say they were targets

U.S. officials are correcting earlier statements that several government agencies were hacked by Chinese hackers, now saying that ​the organizations were among the hackers' targets. In a newly edited statement, the Department of Justice said on Friday that the U.S. Senate, the Federal Reserve, NASA and others were "among the targets of QTFY," a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group that officials identified on Wednesday during an internet domain seizure operation.

Detective in Tupac case says he could not verify that defendant participated in rapper's shooting

A former Las Vegas police detective told jurors on Thursday he could not corroborate the story of an ex-gang leader who said he was involved in the drive-by killing of Tupac Shakur but now denies being responsible for the shooting. Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, is charged in Nevada's Clark County with a single count of murder using a deadly weapon. ⁠He has pleaded not guilty. Davis is accused of leading a group of men to kill Shakur, 25, who was one of rap's most commercially successful and influential artists, in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

US employment growth only modestly lower than thought in BLS revision

U.S. employment grew slightly less than previously estimated in the 12 months through March, the government said on Friday, suggesting the modest pace of job creation that has prevailed since President Donald Trump returned to the White House was even weaker through at least the first months of 2026. The preliminary annual benchmark revision estimate to the closely watched payrolls data from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was released weeks after it reported a surprise drop in employment in July, but was nothing like the massive revisions that have become the norm since the COVID-19 pandemic. BLS will issue a final benchmark revision for the period in February 2027 with the publication of the employment report for January.

Trump administration seeks to restrict internships for international students

President Donald Trump's administration has issued a memo for ⁠universities that ​seeks to restrict issuance of certain internship work authorizations for international students as the federal government warned that colleges not complying with the regulations may lose certification to enroll foreign students. The federal memo dated August 24 said the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which is part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, has "observed a rise in Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorizations that appear to violate regulatory requirements which permit CPT only where the training is an integral part of an established curriculum."

CFTC fines former White House aide $172,000 for trading on Trump speech information

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay $172,539 for using advance access to President Donald Trump's speeches to make illegal trades on a prediction-market platform. Perez must repay $107,539.02 in profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty under a settlement with the CFTC. He also agreed to a three-year trading ban and to cease and desist from further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.

Trump signs order to create a US Space Academy

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order on Friday creating a U.S. Space Academy, billing it as a new military and civilian institution modeled after West Point and other military service academies. The proposed academy would build on Trump's space agenda, which he and White House officials have described as a key component of his legacy. Trump launched the U.S. Space Force as a sixth branch of the military during his first term, has attended multiple NASA launches and now aims to return Americans to the moon and eventually reach Mars.

Prosecutors say seven charged with damaging Trump Scottish golf course had 'terrorism connection'

Seven protesters accused of ⁠daubing pro-Palestinian graffiti on U.S. President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last year could face longer sentences if found guilty due to what prosecutors have described as a "terrorist connection". Activists from the now-banned group Palestine Action were charged last year with criminal damage for spray-painting walls at the course with the slogans "Free Gaza" and "Free Palestine" as well as insults against Trump.

California sues Trump administration over offshore wind lease cancelation

California on Friday sued the Trump administration and an offshore wind developer over a deal that canceled a planned project off the state's Central Coast in exchange for a $120 million federal reimbursement and a commitment to invest in fossil fuel projects. California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the northern district of California against the ⁠U.S. Department of the Interior and Golden State Wind, arguing the April agreement violated federal law and should be invalidated.

Tennessee intends to name Nashville airport after Dolly Parton, Governor says

Tennessee intends to name Nashville International Airport after country music icon ⁠Dolly Parton, according to a statement on Friday, after the singer died in the country music capital at age 80 earlier this week. The decision comes after a social media campaign by fans to change the airport's name to honor Parton after her death. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee spoke with Parton's team about the move this week, according to statements from the airport and Lee's office.

US judge blocks Pentagon's Anthropic blacklisting

A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, the latest turn in the Claude maker's high-stakes fight with the military over AI safety on the battlefield. Anthropic's lawsuit in California federal court alleges that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth overstepped his authority when he designated Anthropic a national security supply-chain risk, a label the government can apply to companies that expose military systems to potential infiltration or sabotage by adversaries.

Kalshi cannot block Nevada oversight of prediction markets, US appeals court rules

A federal appeals court said Kalshi cannot block Nevada gaming regulators from overseeing its prediction markets platform, raising the stakes in a nationwide battle over whether such platforms allow illegal gambling and who may regulate them.

In a 3-0 decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Kalshi ‌was unlikely to show that the federal Commodity Exchange Act preempted Nevada from requiring a gaming license to offer contracts that let people bet on ‌the outcomes of sports events.

ICE agent freed from Texas jail in defiance of Minnesota extradition request

A U.S. immigration agent was freed from a Texas jail on Thursday hours after a federal judge refused to order his extradition to Minnesota to face assault charges for shooting an unarmed Venezuelan man during last winter's deportation surge in Minneapolis. Christian Castro, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer wanted by Minnesota authorities, was released at about 7 ​a.m. local time from the lockup where he had been held since his May 29 arrest in the Gulf Coast border city of Brownsville, according to a Cameron County Sheriff's Department spokesperson.