US Domestic News Roundup: Food workers, rural Americans go hungry; Fame or blame? What lies ahead for 'the Squad' and more

President Donald Trump, who nominated Barrett, has said he expects the court to ultimately decide the result of the election between him and Democrat Joe Biden.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Food workers, rural Americans go hungry despite U.S. government farm aid

Yessenia Cendejas pulled up to a moving truck filled with donated food in northeastern Wisconsin, arriving at the mobile food bank straight from her job at a pizza-crust factory, to get sustenance for herself and five children. Cendejas, 35, took a second job at a fast-food restaurant in Green Bay - whose county has Wisconsin's highest number of COVID-19 cases per capita - after her factory employer reduced her hours, but says her income is now half of what it was.

Fame or blame? What lies ahead for 'the Squad', as they eye second terms in U.S. Congress

They came to Washington to shake things up and in their first two years in the U.S. House of Representatives the four lawmakers popularly known as 'the Squad' achieved stardom but also discovered that life in the political fast-lane can be perilous. New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Massachusetts' Ayanna Pressley, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar stand to see their influence grow if Democrats win big on Nov. 3 by capturing the White House and a Senate majority.

The Rust Belt boom that wasn't: Heartland job growth lagged under Trump

The voters of Monroe County, Michigan, may have expected an economic windfall when they flipped from supporting Democrat Barack Obama to help put Donald Trump in the White House in 2016. But it went the other way: Through the first three years of the Trump administration the county lost jobs and brought in slightly less in wages in the first three months of 2020 than in the first three months of 2017 as Trump was taking over. Explainer:

Can Trump call in troops to quell Election Day unrest?

U.S. President Donald Trump has declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he decides the Nov. 3 presidential election results are fraudulent and has proposed mobilizing troops under the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to put down unrest if he won. "Look, it’s called an insurrection. We just send them in and we do it very easy," Trump told Fox News in September.

Pandemic transforms some Americans into voting rights activists in raft of lawsuits

Fear of the novel coronavirus has cast some Americans into an unfamiliar role: litigants in an unprecedented wave of court battles over voting procedures. For Regina Root, 53, the journey to suing Virginia's election officials began during the state's nomination contest in June when the university professor cast her ballot in person before the voting day to avoid potential crowds at her polling place.

NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere to face sentencing

Keith Raniere, the founder of a cult-like group where women were kept on starvation diets, branded with his initials, and ordered to have sex with him, faces possible life in prison when he is sentenced on Tuesday in Brooklyn for crimes of which he maintains his innocence. Federal prosecutors say they want Raniere, 60, to remain behind bars for life as punishment for the "immeasurable damages" to victims he exploited as head of NXIVM, a purported self-help group headquartered near Albany, New York.

White House says COVID-19 aid deal seen 'in coming weeks'

The White House said on Tuesday a potential deal on COVID-19 relief could come in "weeks," casting doubt on whether an accord could be struck with Congress before the Nov. 3 election even as U.S. cases of the disease have swelled. "We're confident that we can get something in the coming weeks," White House spokeswoman Alyssah Farah told Fox News in an interview, pointing to continuing disagreement over additional aid for state and local governments, and over direct financial aid to individuals.

Spared early on, 'Trump country' now leads in coronavirus cases, deaths

In the early days of what became a historic public health crisis, the novel coronavirus was, in the lexicon of U.S. politics, a "blue state" problem - centered in East and West Coast areas, particularly New York and New Jersey, that voted against President Donald Trump in 2016. It remained so for weeks, and that fact defined what became battle lines between mask wearers and skeptics, and between those convinced restrictions on commerce were needed to save lives versus those who wanted less government intervention.

'Baptism by fire' for newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Barrett

Newly confirmed conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett faces a barrage of politically fraught cases in her first days on the job, as the court weighs election disputes and prepares to hear a challenge to the Obamacare health law. The Republican-controlled Senate on Monday pushed through the confirmation over Democrats' objections to an appointment so close to the Nov. 3 presidential election. President Donald Trump, who nominated Barrett, has said he expects the court to ultimately decide the result of the election between him and Democrat Joe Biden.

Protests flare in Philadelphia after police fatally shoot Black man

Street protests broke out on Monday night in the western part of the U.S. city of Philadelphia, injuring four police, after police had shot and killed a Black man they said had been armed with a knife. The violence is the latest in months of anti-racism protests across the United States since the May death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

(With inputs from agencies.)