Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Palestinians from Gaza rebuild in Mexico City through food

Loud noises still cause anxiety for Mohammed Abed, a Palestinian systems engineer from Gaza. The planes that crisscross the skies of Mexico City and the rumble of summer thunder evoke memories of the 2025 Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza, where an air strike killed his 4-year-old daughter. The 36-year-old arrived in ​Mexico last spring with 17 family members seeking asylum. These days, Tuesday mornings begin not with fear of bombardment but with work. Before sunrise, he loads his motorized tricycle with Palestinian food to sell at an open-air market in Condesa, one of the capital's most cosmopolitan ​neighborhoods.

Judge bars building of Texas-Mexico border barrier in Big Bend National Park

A federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from building a US-Mexico border barrier through Big Bend National ‌Park in Texas while ​courts consider an environmental lawsuit challenging the project. The ruling came nearly seven weeks after US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott paused construction amid bipartisan criticism of the border project and its potential impact on the park's landscape and wildlife.

Trump push to end US clock switching hits dead end

Efforts in the US Senate to mandate year-round daylight saving have stalled despite significant pressure from President Donald Trump. Early Friday, Trump again urged the Senate to approve the bill that passed the House in July by a 308-117 vote. The measure would end the twice-yearly practice of changing clocks observed across most of the nation since the 1960s.

US appeals court blocks Minnesota law barring 'nudified' photos in XAI lawsuit

Elon Musk's xAI on Friday persuaded a US federal appeals court to halt Minnesota's first-in-the-nation ban on AI-generated fake nude images as the technology and social media company pursues a lawsuit alleging that the law is unconstitutional. The St. ‌Louis-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals in its order put the law on hold for now, granting a request for an injunction by xAI. A lower court judge last month had rejected Musk's bid for an order stopping the law.

Exclusive-Trump visa policies weigh on Columbia journalism program as admissions pause

The Trump administration's changing visa policies caused a sharp drop in international applications to Columbia University and contributed to the university pausing admissions to one of its journalism programs, four people familiar with the matter said. The journalism school announced on Thursday it was pausing admissions to its Master of Arts offering to conduct a "critical evaluation," without giving further details about the reasons.

New term gives US Supreme Court's Thomas and Alito more chances to wield power

The new US Supreme Court term that begins on Monday presents opportunities for its two eldest and most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, to help push US law further rightward on contentious issues such as gun rights, religion in public schools and voting restrictions. Thomas, 78, has served on the top US judicial body since 1991, making him the second-longest-serving justice in American history. Alito, 76, has served since 2006.

Analysis-Vance's fraud crackdown may raise costs for US health insurers, enrollees

A crackdown on Obamacare health insurance could raise ‌prices for US consumers and insurers by removing healthy, low-cost enrollees, adding pressure to a shrinking marketplace. The 2010 Affordable Care Act created income-based government-subsidized health plans for individuals, with 19 million people now enrolled. Millions have dropped out this year as extra COVID-19 pandemic subsidies expired.

Kennedy Center Honors to be held at Capital One Arena amid demolition fight

This year's Kennedy Center Honors will be held at Washington's Capital One Arena as the Trump administration faces legal and congressional challenges over plans to demolish the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a center spokesperson said on Friday. This ‌will be the first time the honors are not held at the center's Opera House since the awards' inception in 1978.

Christa Pike getting 'life-saving medical care' after surviving Tennessee execution

Christa Pike was critically ill and receiving "life-saving medical care" in a Nashville hospital on Thursday hours after she survived two attempts by Tennessee to execute her with lethal injections, her lawyers said, renewing scrutiny of capital punishment in the US. Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in the 1990s after being convicted of a murder she carried out as a teenager. Her botched execution on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the second this year in Tennessee, highlights the difficulties US states face in carrying out lethal injections and finding suitable alternative methods of capital punishment.

Former US congressman sentenced to 10 years for secretly lobbying for Venezuela

Former US Congressman David Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for illegally lobbying US officials to ease pressure on ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government. Rivera, a Republican who represented southern Florida in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013, was convicted at trial in May of lobbying US officials on Venezuela's behalf in 2017 without registering as a foreign lobbyist as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

With a mixed scorecard, Trump poised to test his powers again at US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court begins its new nine-month term on Monday much as it ended its last one, confronted with more cases involving President Donald Trump's far-reaching policies and aggressive uses of power that will ⁠keep testing how far the justices will ​let him expand his authority. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, wrapped up its last term in June, one dominated by legal battles centered on Trump's exertion of ⁠presidential powers. The justices gave the Republican president several major wins and a few big losses.

Democratic surge predicted to hit Republican states hardest, scrambling Senate strategy

Kentucky Democrats say they have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to flip a US Senate seat in a Republican stronghold. But a couple of things are missing: their governor and money. Kentucky is one of several states that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024 where Republicans are significantly trailing the president's performance, an indication that Democrats have expanded their pathway to a majority in November's midterm elections. It's not clear, however, that the party will invest its limited resources into flipping seats once considered to be out of reach.

NY governor attacks law enforcement's handling of 2024 Cornell rape ⁠investigation

New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday faulted police and prosecutors for failing to fully investigate an alleged gang rape in 2024 at Cornell University, saying she was "deeply disturbed" by how the incident was handled. Hochul was speaking at a press conference alongside state Attorney General Letitia James, whom she appointed on Thursday night as a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations.

Fed may skip October but pull rate hike trigger in December

Federal Reserve policymakers were already leaning against delivering a second straight rate hike this month to give them time to sift through more economic data before pulling the trigger again, and a cooler than expected job market report Friday leaves that approach intact. Still-to-come data, particularly the closely-watched ​consumer price index measure of inflation coming just before the Fed's October 27-28 policy meeting, could yet shift that calculus.

At Cornell, rape allegations spark outrage, soul-searching over campus culture

Cornell University student Sophia Riley Sim skipped classes this week, consumed by allegations in a lawsuit that several members of a fraternity raped a young woman in 2024 and troubled by how her university handled the case. "Cornell has failed our community through its lack of accountability, transparency, and failure to address the state of the Cornell student body at this time," Sim, a ⁠junior, said at a public hearing on sexual assault organized by Cornell's Student Assembly on Thursday.

Tennessee execution survivor Christa Pike unconscious on ventilator, lawyers say

Convicted killer Christa Pike was left gravely ill, unconscious and hospitalized on life support after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers said on Friday, providing the first detailed account of the injuries she suffered. Hospital staff were working to save Pike's life and clear the drug pentobarbital from her system, her attorneys said in an emergency motion, which seeks a court order for Tennessee's Department of Correction to preserve evidence from Wednesday night's botched execution.

Aboard the USS George Washington, young sailors adjust to war with Iran

An emergency alert blares from a loudspeaker, and Damon Dennard and other sailors on the deck of the ⁠aircraft carrier USS ​George Washington are scrambling. Dennard, 23, is readying bombs for loading onto aircraft as his crewmates race to their positions. "It has been eventful," says Dennard, an aviation ordnanceman airman apprentice. Once the alert ends, he takes a breath, sits on one of the bombs and jokes that he probably expected an easier deployment.

Trump says he did not 'jump the gun' on South Korea Alaska LNG investment announcement

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he did not "jump the gun" on announcing a South Korean investment in Alaska LNG, a liquefied natural gas project that has been planned for decades but still lacks binding commitments. Trump unveiled plans on Wednesday for South Korea to invest $200 billion in US projects, but Seoul quickly suggested one key element, a $54 billion pipeline for a long-planned LNG project in Alaska, was not yet set in stone.

The Fed's building renovations and Trump's push to oust Powell

President Donald Trump began publicly attacking Jerome Powell -- and privately musing about firing him -- just months after Trump elevated Powell in 2018 to the top job at the US central bank. Trump was unhappy that Powell did not deliver the interest-rate cuts the president felt were called for. But it wasn't until 2025, soon after Trump began his second term ⁠in the White House, that the president and key members of his administration zeroed in on cost overruns for renovations of the Fed's Washington headquarters as a focal point for efforts to oust Powell, or at least to pressure him into easier monetary policy.

Bipartisan members of Congress move to block demolition of Kennedy Center

When President Donald Trump took a wrecking ball to the East Wing of the White House, it took Washington by surprise. Now, there is a move in the US Congress to avoid a second such surprise with legislation to prohibit him from demolishing ⁠the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The maneuver comes on the heels of a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to provide at least 30 days' notice ⁠before taking steps to demolish the building. Trump himself had told reporters in mid-September that unless his name was on the Kennedy Center, "It's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down."

Pennsylvania measles cases near 1,000 as outbreak spreads

Pennsylvania's health department reported 977 measles cases as of Friday, according to its website, as the state continues to battle a fast-growing outbreak of the disease. Here are more details:

US looks to expand use of canoe-sized drones to deter migrant crossings

The Pentagon may expand its use of autonomous surveillance boats on the Rio Grande and in the Gulf of Mexico after the canoe-sized vessels helped authorities detect and deter illegal border crossings and narcotics trafficking during a pilot program that began in January, a US official said. The unmanned surface vessels, built by San Diego-based startup Seasats, patrol the river for long periods without crews and are part of a growing push by the ‌military and law enforcement agencies to use relatively inexpensive, autonomous systems for surveillance and security missions.

Massachusetts governor asks ‌Trump administration to speed natgas pipeline review

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey called on the Trump administration to expedite the review of a natural gas pipeline that a unit of Canadian energy firm Enbridge is developing in New England. After opposing most new fossil fuel projects over the past decade or so, several states in ​the US Northeast region have become more accepting of fossil fuel projects in recent years in an effort to help reduce soaring consumer energy bills.