US Domestic News Roundup: Hurricanes churn towards Hawaii; HHS unveils action plan for importing drugs into U.S.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Three tourists found dead in frigid waters of Alaskan lake

Three tourists were found dead on Tuesday in a boating accident in the glacial waters of an Alaskan lake, famous for its spectacular views, police said. The victims, all in their 60s, appeared to have been paddling a single inflatable boat on Valdez Glacier Lake, about 120 miles east of Anchorage, police in Valdez said. All three were wearing life jackets.

Bulk of Trump's U.S. farm aid goes to biggest and wealthiest farmers: advocacy group

More than half of the Trump administration's $8.4 billion in trade aid payments to U.S. farmers through April was received by the top 10% of recipients, the country's biggest and most successful farmers, a study by an advocacy group showed on Tuesday. Highlighting an uneven distribution of the bailout, which was designed to help offset effects of the U.S.-China trade war, the Environmental Working Group said the top 1% of aid recipients received an average of more than $180,000 while the bottom 80% were paid less than $5,000 in aid.

Back-to-back hurricanes churn towards Hawaii

Back-to-back hurricanes churned in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday towards Hawaii, with one set to lose punch when it reaches the U.S. archipelago state even as its mate gains might. The closest to Hawaii was Hurricane Erick, which swelled from a tropical storm on Monday to a Category 4 hurricane on Tuesday on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale.

Biden and Harris to square off in Round two of Democratic presidential debate

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and rival Kamala Harris will stage a rematch of last month's explosive debate confrontation during Round 2 on Wednesday, with a re-energized Biden promising a more aggressive approach. On the second of back-to-back nights of Democratic debates, Biden will be flanked at center stage by Harris and Cory Booker, U.S. senators who are the most prominent black contenders in a Democratic nominating contest in which race has played a prominent role.

U.S. abortion rights groups sue over Missouri law

Prominent U.S. abortion rights groups Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit late on Tuesday in an effort to stop a new Missouri law that bans almost all terminations of pregnancies after eight weeks. The new law was signed by Republican Governor Mike Parson in May and is set to go into effect on Aug. 28.

Police seek motive for shooting at California garlic festival

Police continued on Tuesday to look into what motivated a teenager to shoot visitors attending a popular California food festival over the weekend, killing three people, including a 6-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl. Santino William Legan, 19, cut through a fence at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on Sunday and shot people, seemingly at random, with an assault-style rifle, according to the Gilroy police department. Police officers on the scene fatally shot the gunman within about a minute of him opening fire.

Over 900 children separated at U.S. border since policy halted: ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday asked a federal judge to stop the Trump administration's ongoing separation of families at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the government had taken more than 900 children from their parents since the policy officially ended last year. In June 2018, the government said it would end its "zero tolerance" policy of prosecuting those who illegally cross the border and separating them from their children after a public outcry and a legal challenge by the ACLU.

HHS unveils action plan for importing drugs into U.S.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday it was working on an action plan for importing drugs that could lower out-of-pocket costs. Under the plan, the HHS and U.S. Food and Drug Administration will propose authorizing pilot projects related to importing certain drugs from Canada.

Outgoing Puerto Rico governor nominates Pierluisi as successor

Embattled Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló will nominate the island's former representative in the U.S. Congress Pedro Pierluisi as his new secretary of state and next in line to succeed him when he steps down, he said on Wednesday. Rosselló said last week he would resign on Friday in the face of 12 days of mass street protests and public outrage over the release of profane chat messages and federal corruption charges against two former administration officials.

U.S. restores Yellowstone grizzlies to protected species list

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday restored federal protections to grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, abiding by a court ruling last year that removal of the bears' threatened status violated the Endangered Species Act. Reinstatement of Yellowstone-area grizzlies to the U.S. threatened species list capped years of legal wrangling over one of the most iconic animals roaming a region of the Northern Rockies that encompasses parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.