Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. House passes $500 billion coronavirus bill and oversight panel

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill on Thursday, funding small businesses and hospitals and pushing the total spending response to the crisis to an unprecedented near $3 trillion. The measure passed the Democratic-led House by a vote of 388-5, with one member voting present. House members were meeting for the first time in weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. coronavirus deaths top 48,000, averaging 2,000 lives lost a day: Reuters tally

U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 48,000 on Thursday as the number of lives lost in April rises by an average of 2,000 a day, according to a Reuters tally. At current rates, U.S. deaths will reach 50,000 later this week. U.S. agency ICE to test some immigrants for coronavirus before deportation

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to begin testing some migrants in detention for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, before deporting them to other countries, a U.S. official familiar with the effort said on Thursday. ICE will acquire 2,000 tests per month from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to screen deportees, the official said, without mentioning the timing. The agency is unlikely to have enough tests for all deportees and will need to prioritize, the official said on condition of anonymity. Lawyers for ousted U.S. health official say he will file whistleblower's complaint

Lawyers for Rick Bright, the ousted director of a U.S. agency responsible for the development of drugs to fight the coronavirus pandemic, said on Thursday he will file a whistleblower's complaint with two government offices over his reassignment. "In our filing we will make clear that Dr. Bright was sidelined for one reason only -- because he resisted efforts to provide unfettered access to potentially dangerous drugs, including chloroquine, a drug promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which is untested and possibly deadly when used improperly," his lawyers said in a statement. Governor worries cooped-up Californians will hit beaches on warm weekend

Californians locked down for weeks during the coronavirus pandemic have trickled back to local beaches as the weather warms, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday to plead for social distancing during a heat wave expected this weekend. Newsom, in his daily remarks on the response to the outbreak, appeared to concede that the state's famous golden beaches would be an irresistible lure to residents who have been largely confined to their homes since mid-March. More than 5,000 U.S. meat, food-processing workers exposed to coronavirus: union

More than 5,000 U.S. meat and food-processing workers have been infected with or exposed to the new coronavirus, and 13 have died, the country's largest meatpacking union said on Thursday. The statistics reflect how the contagious respiratory illness has spread widely through slaughterhouses where large groups of employees often work shoulder to shoulder in difficult conditions. Illinois governor to extend stay-at-home order: local media

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker was expected on Thursday to extend his state's stay-at-home order, which was to expire on April 30, to stem the spread of COVID-19, local media reported. The state saw 2,049 new cases on Wednesday, the largest one-day increase since the outbreak of the pandemic began. In win for Trump, U.S. Supreme Court makes deporting immigrants for crimes easier

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for federal authorities to deport certain immigrants who have committed crimes in a victory for President Donald Trump's administration. The court ruled 5-4 to uphold a lower court decision that found a legal permanent resident from Jamaica named Andre Martello Barton ineligible to have his deportation canceled under a U.S. law that lets some longtime legal residents avoid expulsion. The conservative justices were in the majority, with the liberal justices dissenting. Some Americans going back to work, even as virus erases more jobs

Some workers in Georgia and other U.S. states prepared to go back to work for the first time in a month, as data released on Thursday showing soaring unemployment claims reaffirmed the grim economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic. A Reuters tally shows more than 840,000 Americans have been infected and nearly 48,000 have died in the outbreak. New York survey suggests nearly 14% in state may have coronavirus antibodies

A preliminary survey of New York state residents found that nearly 14% of those tested had antibodies against the novel coronavirus, suggesting that some 2.7 million may already have been infected, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday. While noting the small sample size of 3,000 people and other limitations of the survey, Cuomo said the implied fatality rate of 0.5% of those infected was lower than some experts feared.