Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US Democratic congressional candidate Lander detained by Israeli authorities in West Bank

Brad Lander, an ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani who is a Democratic candidate for the US Congress, was among 90 volunteers detained by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, according to American and Israeli rights groups. Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli organization, said in a statement that Lander and other volunteers ​were accompanying Palestinian farmers harvest olives close to a village near Bethlehem before Israeli forces arrived and detained the group.

Trump warns Kansans that US will 'burn' like France if Democrats win

US President Donald Trump on Monday used violent unrest in France as an argument against Democrats in his battle to defend a ​Kansas Senate seat long held by Republicans but in danger of falling to his political opponents. Trump's rally on behalf of Republican incumbent Roger Marshall was his latest foray into conservative states where Republican candidates are ‌on defense due to voter ​frustrations over the Iran war and rising prices.

Trump to rally for Graham in tight South Carolina Senate race amid Russia rift

President Donald Trump travels to South Carolina on Wednesday to bolster Republican Darline Graham in a surprisingly competitive Senate race, even as his recent moves toward Russia have put him at odds with the sister of his late ally Lindsey Graham. Less than two weeks before the November 3 election, Darline Graham is running about even in the polls against Democrat Annie Andrews in a state Republicans typically win handily, another sign of the political headwinds confronting Trump's party amid high gasoline prices and the war in Iran.

Trump administration says it has revoked over 300,000 visas

President Donald Trump's administration has revoked over 300,000 US visas during his second term, the State Department said on Tuesday as the federal government continues its sweeping immigration crackdown. The number showed an acceleration in the pace of visa revocations in recent weeks.

OpenAI president urges AI safeguards as group he funds opposes regulation

As OpenAI executives step up their ‌public calls for federal AI safety rules, a political group the company’s president helped fund is spending millions to elect members of Congress who oppose restrictions on the technology. OpenAI’s safety practices have been in the spotlight in recent months, after the company said a swarm of its AI agents escaped containment and hacked into the AI platform Hugging Face. OpenAI President Greg Brockman was among the group of six tech executives who later signed US President Donald Trump’s voluntary AI safety agreement on behalf of their companies, agreeing to work with "independent auditors" and to ensure their AI tools do not "hack or access technical systems in unintended ways."

Trump to tout crackdown on overseas crypto scams

President Donald Trump will highlight his administration’s efforts on Wednesday to crack down on foreign criminal networks that lure Americans into fraudulent crypto investments, a White House official told Reuters, as part of a broader event about cyber crime prevention. Speaking at a White House event, Trump and members of his cabinet are expected to highlight the government's seizure of fraudulent crypto investment websites and efforts to stop online impersonation scams, the official said.

US judge dismisses Sam Altman's sister's sexual abuse lawsuit

Sam Altman on Tuesday won the dismissal of a civil lawsuit filed by his sister accusing the OpenAI co-founder and chief executive of repeated sexual abuse more than two decades ago, an accusation he denies. In dismissing Annie Altman's lawsuit, US District Judge Zachary Bluestone wrote that she had refused to appear ‌for an independent medical examination despite warnings that failure to do so would result in the case's dismissal.

Ahead of elections, Bessent says a Democrat-led Congress could do little to stop Trump agenda

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that there was not much a Democrat-led House of Representatives could do to stop the Trump administration's agenda. "I think there's very little," Bessent said in an interview on 2Way TV two weeks ahead of November's midterm elections.

Explainer-Three issues defining the 2026 US midterm elections

President Donald Trump’s record-low popularity, voter frustration over the cost of living and a fierce immigration fight are shaping the November 3 midterm elections, which will determine whether Republicans keep ‌control of Congress or Democrats gain the power to challenge his administration. Republicans hold narrow majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take control of each chamber.

US single-family housing starts plunge; building permits hit 3-1/2-year low

US single-family homebuilding fell sharply in September and permits for future construction tumbled to a 3-1/2-year low as higher mortgage rates suppressed demand, suggesting residential investment resumed its declining trend in the third quarter. The report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday followed on the heels of a National Association of Home Builders survey on Monday showing sentiment among single-family homebuilders plunged in October to the lowest level since June 2012.

The races that will decide control of the US Senate

Democrats need to pick up at least four seats in November's midterm elections to win control of the 100-seat US Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority. That was seen as unlikely at the beginning of the year, but President Donald Trump's unpopularity and voter frustrations over the Iran war and rising prices have made many races competitive even in states that he won handily in 2024. Here are the races that will determine control of the Senate:

Exclusive-US aims to loan about a third of heating oil reserve in bid to tame prices

The Trump administration is offering to loan up to nearly a third of the 1-million-barrel US emergency heating oil reserve, the Department of Energy said on Wednesday, in a bid to tame prices, which have surged on diesel shortages due to the wars in Iran and Ukraine. The move, reported first by Reuters, came after senators from both political parties urged the administration to release heating oil from the reserve as prices for diesel, a ⁠fuel from the same refining stream, hit ​records above $6.50 per gallon on disruptions across the Middle East caused by the Iran war.

USDA plans to resume imports of Mexican cattle at more ports of entry

The US Department of Agriculture plans ⁠to resume cattle imports from Mexico at two additional US ports of entry, after halting shipments last year in an attempt to keep out the flesh-eating parasite New World screwworm, the agency said on Tuesday. The USDA plans to restart imports in Columbus, New Mexico, on October 26 and, if conditions for safe trade are in place, in Nogales, Arizona, on November 30, according to a post on X.

Kennedy says Trump administration aims for regulated market for peptides

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Tuesday the Trump administration aims to expand access to peptides by creating a regulated marketplace for the drugs promoted by social media influencers and by the health secretary. They have attracted consumers in a gray market, bolstered by social media claims for a host of unproven uses, and with scant safety and efficacy evidence from human studies.

Early ⁠US flu season, current strain may signal risk for younger people; doctors urge shots

Doctors are urging Americans aged 6 months and older to get vaccinated against the flu after an unusual early rise in cases on the West Coast that virologists are still working to understand. It could be the strain itself. The predominant flu strain this year is H1N1, which caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic and is now a standard part of the flu shot. But this year’s version of the virus has a new mutation called G155E.

One in three Americans back second execution attempt after failed one, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

One-third of Americans think the government should try a second time to put a convicted criminal to death if a first execution attempt fails, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after ​a botched lethal injection in Tennessee. The four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 39% of respondents thought the government should instead allow convicts to serve life in prison following a failed execution, while 26% were not sure which was a better approach.

Monitoring the monitors: US states prepare for surge of Justice Dept election watchers

When Justice Department staffers arrived in Minnesota this summer to monitor the state's primary election, they found themselves under scrutiny as well. Minnesota officials deployed about 40 state employees, working in pairs, to track the DOJ lawyers as they traveled through two counties during the August vote. The monitoring effort reflected mounting ⁠tensions between Minnesota and the Trump administration over elections and immigration. Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is likely to continue coordinating with the state attorney general's office to shadow federal monitors during the November 3 midterms, when control of Congress is at stake. California has launched a similar program.

Trump, Bloomberg ramp up spending ahead of midterms

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would spend more than $400 million on Republican campaign efforts, while the New York Times reported that former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was spending $80 million to help Democrats ahead of the November 3 midterm congressional elections. The financial commitments come as Democrats seek to win control of Congress from Trump's Republicans in the November 3 midterm elections.

Trump promises cash for fraud tips as he awards right-wing YouTuber

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would reward tipsters who uncover fraud in US government programs, launching the ⁠initiative by ​announcing a cash prize for a conservative online influencer. Speaking from the White House Oval Office, Trump said a new Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program would award people an unlimited 1% commission on the fraud reported.

Trump, in North Carolina, says Republicans will defy midterm odds

With his approval rating at record lows, President Donald Trump attempted to defy political gravity in a pep rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, urging voters to support his favored Senate candidate in a race some Republican groups have already given up on. Trump has embarked on a campaign blitz ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, traveling more than 29,000 miles (46,671 km) since late September to boost Republican candidates — and his second stop in North Carolina in as many months was a signal of how much is at stake in this southern state.

US Social Security Agency corrects nearly 15% of records in database cleanup

The US Social Security Administration said on Tuesday that it had corrected records for nearly 15% of all active Social Security numbers, adding missing death and citizenship information, as part of the Trump administration's effort to prevent fraud in the benefits program. In what the agency said was the most comprehensive cleanup in its 91-year history, the SSA added 17 million dates of death to records that previously lacked this information

US high court rulings have been 'destructive to democracy,' Justice Kagan says

US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday said the court's conservative ⁠majority has undermined democracy and "created a race to the bottom" in how congressional districts are drawn. Kagan, one of the court's three liberals, told students at Catholic University's law school that the conservatives have enabled increased political polarization by not reining in partisan gerrymandering, which involves states redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts based on the partisan leanings of voters to boost a political party's candidates.

Who is Stephen Hubbard, the US citizen released by Russia?

President Vladimir Putin announced the release of American citizen Stephen Hubbard from Russian detention on Wednesday, at the start of talks with US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Here are details of Hubbard's case:WHO IS STEPHEN HUBBARD?

At ⁠least 17 data center campuses proposed on US public lands, group says

At least 35 data center-related applications covering more than 24,000 acres of US federal land are pending or active across six Western states, ⁠according to an analysis by conservation group Center for Western Priorities. US Bureau of Land Management records show at least 17 proposed data center campuses and 13 related infrastructure projects, including transmission lines, pipelines, telecommunications facilities and access roads across Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming, according to the study.

Michigan Republican candidate and UAW, in rare alignment, blast GM

Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers and the United Auto Workers union found rare common ground on Tuesday, separately accusing General Motors of putting shareholders ahead of workers after the automaker unveiled a new $20 billion stock buyback plan. Rogers, a former US House member, accused GM of wrongly investing in electric vehicles.

Trump says companies should pay 'dividend' to communities to make data centers popular

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that companies building data centers should pay a "dividend" to the communities where they are sited if they want to make the developments popular. "I have watched the process closely, and data centers that were highly unpopular in a certain area, have become extremely popular when a financial ‌deal is struck," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

US agents investigate report incendiary device thrown at ICE office in Atlanta

US ‌federal agents are investigating reports that an incendiary device was thrown at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday night. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) personnel and evidence response technicians are on site collecting evidence, the agency's Atlanta public affairs department said in an emailed statement.

After generations in Central Park, horse-drawn carriages face a ban

To observers, the ​horse-drawn carriages driven by coachmen in black top hats, ferrying passengers through Central Park and nearby Manhattan streets, can seem like relics from another time. They soon may be.