Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. As Biden weighs 2020 bid, Democrats ask: 'Does he meet the moment?'

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said this week he was "very close" to deciding whether to make a 2020 White House bid and will run only if he thinks he can win the Democratic Party's nomination. He is not alone in questioning if he is the man for the moment. Flooded California towns still mostly cut off despite receding waters

Low-lying communities along the swollen Russian River in Northern California wine country remained largely cut off by flooding on Thursday, even as waters began receding and sun peeked through after days of non-stop rain. With water rising to rooftops and submerging cars as the river overflowed its banks, authorities in Sonoma County, about 70 miles (100 km) north of San Francisco, ordered 3,600 people to evacuate on Tuesday. Puerto Rico oversight board to appeal appointments ruling

A recent U.S. Appeals Court ruling that found Puerto Rico's federally created fiscal oversight board was unconstitutionally appointed will be appealed to the Supreme Court, the board announced on Thursday. The board, which was authorized under a 2016 federal law known as PROMESA, also said it is seeking to put on hold the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' decision to set a 90-day period to allow President Donald Trump and the Senate to constitutionally validate the appointments or reconstitute the board. Republican Party chair says primary challengers to Trump would 'lose horribly'

The chair of the Republican National Committee said on Thursday that any Republican primary challenge to President Donald Trump in next year's presidential election is doomed to fail. “They have the right to jump in and lose, that’s fine,” Ronna McDaniel said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual political gathering of Republicans near Washington. “They will lose horribly.” U.S. House takes aim at loose gun-sale checks; passes second bill

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a second bill in as many days to toughen background checks for gun purchases, but both bills were likely to face opposition from the Republican-controlled Senate and the White House. The bills are the first major gun control measures approved in Congress in many years. They are an early move to address gun violence by Democrats after capturing majority control of the House in the November 2018 congressional midterm elections. U.S. Senator Sanders urges FDA to allow older versions of $375,000 drug

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders this week urged regulators to allow pharmacies and manufacturers to resume distributing unbranded, lower-cost versions of a drug used to treat a rare neuromuscular disorder, according to a letter provided by his office to Reuters. The drug is now sold at a list price of $375,000 a year by Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc under the brand name Firdapse. It is used to treat Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS), which affects about one in 100,000 people in the United States. Texan gets 15 years for shooting after white nationalist rally

A Texan who shot at counter-protesters after a white nationalist rally at the University of Florida in 2017 has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, court records showed. Tyler Tenbrink, 30, pleaded no contest to charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a felon during a hearing on Wednesday in Alachua County, Florida. U.S. agencies vow closer scrutiny of China-funded learning centers

U.S. agencies on Thursday promised stricter monitoring of China-funded Confucius Institutes, cultural centers at U.S. universities that have been criticized for serving as propaganda arms of the Communist government in Beijing. Officials from the Departments of State and Education told a Senate hearing they would more closely police visas granted to the institutes' staff and do more to ensure that schools meet requirements to report large donations from foreign governments. Texas set to execute man convicted of 1989 murder of three in-laws

A man convicted of murdering his estranged wife's parents and brother in 1989 was due for execution in Texas on Thursday, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition seeking a reprieve on grounds he received inadequate defense at his trial. The high court's action cleared the way for the Texas Criminal Justice Department to proceed in putting Billie Wayne Coble, 70, to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST (0000 GMT), as scheduled, at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. Cohen 'fully cooperative' in Day 3 of Capitol Hill questioning

U.S. President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was "fully cooperative" during closed-door testimony before a congressional committee investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S election, the panel's chairman said on Thursday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, said Cohen would return for further questioning on March 6 to give lawmakers another chance to follow up on allegations of wrongdoing that Cohen leveled at his former boss this week.