Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Exclusive-Ford F-150 truck production down for nearly a week at Michigan plant, memo says

Production of Ford Motor's best-selling F-150 pickup truck has been halted for nearly a week at a Detroit-area plant, according to a memo viewed by Reuters. All production crews at Dearborn Truck Plant were canceled starting Thursday, through Tuesday, September 29, the memo said. A person familiar with the matter said the outage was because of a supply problem.

Hurt by Trump, Senate Republicans plan ​to bolster affordability credentials before midterms

US Senate Republicans aim to improve their election prospects by voting on legislation that seeks to protect consumers from rising electricity bills caused by data centers, hoping to win over voters struggling with inflation stoked by President Donald Trump's war with Iran. Republicans had the option to depart Washington on Thursday and stay ​out until after the November 3 midterm election. But they chose to return next week to take up the Ratepayer Protection Act at the behest of Senator Jon Husted, who is trailing the Democratic candidate, former Senator Sherrod ‌Brown, in Ohio, a state Trump ​won by more than 11 points in 2024.

New York and New Jersey declare states of emergency, bracing for flooding and outages from nor'easter

A strong nor'easter is expected to bring flooding, powerful wind gusts, heavy rain and rip currents to areas along the East Coast from Maine to Washington, D.C., over the weekend. Upcoming shows in New York City and Massachusetts where Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys and Lenny Kravitz were scheduled to perform before tens of thousands of attendees were canceled due to weather. The governors of New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency in counties expected to see the worst of the storm, including New York City.

Fear of democratic socialists drives November turnout plans for some Trump voters

Don Jernigan, a retiree in Virginia Beach, is disappointed by most politicians, Democrat and Republican. That includes President Donald Trump, whom he helped elect in 2024. But Jernigan, 76, says he plans to “hold his nose” and vote for Republican candidates in November’s midterm elections. In his view, "the Democrats are now being controlled by the democratic socialists," he said, "and we’ve fought wars to keep that away from us.”

US Supreme Court bars Republican-drawn map ‌in Missouri for third time

The US Supreme Court, acting for a third time in a fierce battle over the makeup of Missouri's congressional districts, barred the state on Friday from using a redrawn map designed to favor Republicans in November's elections, a setback for President Donald Trump's party as it fights to keep control of Congress. The justices granted a request by the map's challengers, including a group called People Not Politicians, to suspend lower court decisions that had required the reconfigured US House of Representatives district boundaries to be used in the November 3 midterm elections.

White House pushes for speedy review of voter rolls in hunt for noncitizen voters

The White House has pushed federal agencies to accelerate their review of at least 47 state voter rolls obtained by the Department of Homeland Security, according to an internal email seen by Reuters, part of an unprecedented effort to find noncitizens among registered voters as midterm elections near. DHS has surged hundreds of officers from across the US security and immigration apparatuses in recent months to comb the rolls for evidence of voter fraud under its Unlawful Voter Initiative, current and former officials said.

US appeals court upholds Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic

A federal appeals court upheld on Friday the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic from military contracts, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in their battle with the AI startup over safety guardrails on its technology. The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. came in a lawsuit by Anthropic challenging its March designation by the Pentagon as a national security supply chain risk, which ‌the startup says has cost it billions of dollars in lost business and damaged its reputation ahead of a highly anticipated initial public offering.

TV networks resume covering White House as press access fight continues

US television networks resumed coverage of President Donald Trump’s White House events on Friday, providing the first live pool access for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit, as a legal battle continues over restrictions on CNN, MS NOW and Politico. Trump last week banned the three outlets from the White House, before a judge ordered the administration to restore their access.

Exclusive-Trump administration to meet Ukraine assistance deadline

The Trump administration has made legally binding commitments to spend almost all of the $400 million Congress approved for military aid to Ukraine late last year, ‌ensuring that the money will not expire on September 30, according to three sources familiar with the plan. As of early this week, $307 million of the $400 million of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funding had been obligated, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, and the administration plans to lock in the remaining $93 million before the fiscal year ends on September 30.

Details on US, China trade talks to come on Monday, says Greer

The United States is expected to release details on the outcome of trade negotiations with China on Monday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday. US President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday but there was little sign of a breakthrough on a host of sensitive issues.

US lawmakers aim to keep China's datacenter tech out of sensitive government systems

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers introduced legislation on Friday to bar the federal government from equipping sensitive government systems with Chinese-made components used to transmit data in AI data centers. The devices, known as optical transceivers, allow data to travel over fiber-optic cables at the speed of light and are at the heart of the US AI infrastructure rollout, with some data centers requiring millions of them.

US appeals court rules against Kalshi, says states can regulate prediction markets

A US appeals court on Friday ruled against the prediction markets operator Kalshi, saying Ohio and Tennessee can regulate its so-called event contracts under their gambling laws. The decision by the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati deepens a split among federal appeals courts over whether state regulators or the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission should have authority to regulate the fast-growing industry. This raises the potential that the US Supreme Court may decide to settle the matter.

US Fed plans to raise bank oversight thresholds, sources say

The US Federal Reserve is working on a plan to raise the asset thresholds that trigger stricter oversight of ⁠big banks, four people with knowledge of the matter ​said, which would allow some lenders to avoid costly additional regulation and potentially spur consolidation. The central bank is expected to soon propose reindexing the thresholds where banks become subject to stress tests of their balance ⁠sheets, liquidity, capital and other more stringent rules, to account for inflation and economic growth, the people said. Three of the people said they expect the Fed to propose the changes later this year.

Supreme Court restores Trump's mass voter verification system

The US Supreme Court revived on Friday an expanded immigration database that President Donald Trump's administration said aims to combat voting by noncitizens but critics contend could disenfranchise eligible voters. The justices granted the Justice Department's request to block a judge's order that had stopped state officials from using Social Security numbers and other information to conduct sweeping checks of the citizenship status of registered voters against federal records.

TikTok settles with Alabama ahead of first state trial over claims of teen harms

TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have reached a settlement with Alabama over allegations they designed the platform to addict children and misled consumers about its safety, marking the company's first deal with a state as it fights ⁠similar claims nationwide. Under the settlement, Alabama will receive a minimum of $100 million, due to the state within 45 days, with the potential to receive up to $300 million if certain conditions are met, the Alabama Attorney General's office said on Friday.

Americans navigate 'wild West' of health insurance options after dropping Obamacare plans

When Stacy Cox, a self-employed photographer in Kanab, Utah, dropped her Obamacare health insurance plan this year, routine preventive care became a financial dilemma. Now she finds herself weighing $1,200 for a mammogram against survival of her business. "It's scary," the 49-year-old Cox told Reuters. "Every month we come to the table and we have a discussion. Is it time to close a business? Is it time to seek employment somewhere in the hopes of gaining health insurance?"

US immigration crackdown hits Kansas, disrupts beef processing

US immigration agents fanned out across southwest Kansas, home to a large concentration of feedlots ​and slaughterhouses, this week in an operation that had immediate effects on the beef industry, community organizers and local officials said. The prospect of arrest kept much of the largely immigrant labor force away from work, forcing beef processing plants to slow down and backing up cattle, according to two community organizers and three groups representing livestock producers.

Olympics-USOPC anticipating participation surge in US from LA28, 2034 Games

The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee expects two domestic Games in the span of six years will prompt a surge of interest in Olympic sport, CEO Sarah Hirshland said on Friday, with LA28 around the corner and Salt Lake City due to host in 2034. The Atlanta Games in ⁠1996 preceded a double-digit uptick in participation in some Olympic sports in the US, Hirshland told reporters, expecting a similar boost when the country hosts for the first time since Salt Lake City had the 2002 Winter Games.

Rush of money, campaign stops show Republicans feel vulnerable in Iowa, Kansas

With midterm elections just over a month away, Republican heavyweights have been jetting across the country to campaign and outside groups have been pouring money into races in what is normally the party’s safest territory -- Farm Belt states like Iowa and Kansas. The influx of money and attention shows just how vulnerable Republicans are as high costs, especially for gasoline and diesel, have disappointed the party’s usual supporters, according to campaign strategists and political scientists. Republican voters have increasingly soured on President Donald Trump's handling of the economy, part of why his approval rating fell to 32% in a September 21 Reuters/Ipsos poll, the lowest of his political career.

New Jersey's lieutenant governor resigns amid sexual harassment findings

New Jersey Governor Mikie ⁠Sherrill said ​on Friday that her lieutenant governor, Dale Caldwell, had resigned after an independent investigation found that he had behaved inappropriately with women and committed other ethical violations. Sherrill had called on Thursday for Caldwell to resign.

TikTok settles with Alabama ahead of trial over teen mental health harms

Alabama said on Friday it had reached a settlement with TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, days before a scheduled trial over allegations that they made the platform addictive and misled consumers about its safety, marking TikTok's first settlement with a state as it battles similar claims nationwide. Under the settlement, Alabama will receive a minimum of $100 million, due to the state within 45 days, with the potential to receive up to $300 million if certain conditions are met, the Alabama Attorney General's office said.

Evan Gershkovich says his arrest in Russia was carefully planned FSB sting

US reporter Evan Gershkovich, in his first detailed published account of his arrest in Russia in 2023, says he was the victim of an elaborate sting operation by the FSB security service. In an extract from his book "This Cursed Beautiful Land", Gershkovich says that while working on a story for the Wall Street Journal about Russian military production, he held two meetings with the union boss of a factory in Yekaterinburg, a major defence-industry hub.

Subway, soccer and spats: New York's Mamdani a UN week attraction

The United Nations wasn't the only New York attraction for visiting world leaders this week – Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged as a popular draw for like-minded politicians and a target for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The 34-year-old former state ⁠lawmaker, who took office on January 1 in New York City, rode the subway with Ireland's Prime Minister Micheal Martin, exchanged soccer jerseys with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and talked to students with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store about artificial intelligence.

Senate approves mental health legislation for US pilots, air traffic controllers

The US Senate approved bipartisan legislation to modernize regulations on mental health guidance for pilots and air traffic controllers to encourage early disclosure and treatment. Commercial airline pilots often conceal mental health conditions for fear that disclosing therapy or medication, or even just seeking help, could mean having their license pulled, putting themselves and their passengers at risk.

Rising sea destroys homes, erases beaches in California. ⁠Is worse to come?

In Malibu, the Pacific Ocean opened a sinkhole near the home of movie star Nicolas Cage and wreaked havoc on beachfront property. Along Beach Road in the city of Dana Point, waves destroyed one home ⁠and forced the city to vacate or restrict occupancy to 16 others. Such damage up and down Southern California this summer was provoked by a series of Eastern Pacific cyclones and hurricanes, enhanced by the weather phenomenon known as El Niño. Although the hurricanes did not make landfall in California, they generated swells that slammed into the coast, denuding beaches of sand and transforming a coastline that is as much a part of California's identity as Hollywood or Silicon Valley.

Exclusive-ShinyHunters hackers say they stole psychiatric and medical records of FBI staff

FBI personnel data recently stolen by the ShinyHunters hackers includes sensitive psychiatric and medical evaluation records, according to the hackers and documents reviewed by Reuters. ShinyHunters, one of the world's most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews, first said it had breached the FBI on Tuesday. In the hack, the group obtained granular details about bureau employees and their assignments, Reuters previously reported, including sensitive work against Chinese spies, Russian intelligence, drug cartels and others.

Jay-Z accuser recants rape allegation against the rapper

A woman who accused musician Jay-Z of rape in a 2024 lawsuit has recanted her claim and said she never ‌met the billionaire rapper. The woman, who was identified as Jane Doe in court papers, had accused Jay-Z and musician Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping her ‌in 2000, when she was 13 years old. She later dropped that civil lawsuit, and Jay-Z sued her and her law firm for defamation and malicious prosecution.

Explainer-Why the court fight over the White House media ban isn't over

US President Donald Trump's administration complied on Thursday with a judge's order to restore White House access to three media outlets he had banned last week — CNN, ​Politico, and MS NOW — but litigation over the ban is not over yet. Here is what to know about the next steps in the lawsuit filed by the three media outlets.