US News Roundup: Biden pushes elusive 'Buy American' goal with new federal contract guidelines; U.S. to escalate tracking of COVID variants as confirmed cases top 25 million and more

Biden will sign an executive order aimed at closing loopholes in existing "Buy American" provisions, which structure the $600 billion in goods and services the federal government buys each year, making any waivers more transparent, and creating a senior White House role to oversee the process Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan: White House There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in its last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, said on Sunday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Online merchants linked to QAnon down, but not out, following platform bans

Since last year, entrepreneur Dustin Krieger has faced bans by an expanding list of big tech companies: four blocked PayPal accounts, half a dozen Twitter deactivations, de-listed merchandise by Shopify and most recently Amazon's removal of his widely reviewed book promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. But he's not giving up.

Many U.S. utilities plan to hang on to their coal plants for a decade: Sierra Club

The most coal-dependent U.S. utilities plan to keep around 75% of their coal-fired power plants running for another decade, according to an analysis by the environmental group Sierra Club released on Monday, posing a threat to the climate. The report https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/blog/Final%20Greenwashing%20Report%20%281.22.2021%29.pdf, which reviewed the plans of the 50 U.S. utilities most invested in coal and gas generation, reflects some of the obstacles President Joe Biden will need to overcome to achieve his administration's goal to decarbonize the power sector by 2035.

'We can't wait:' Biden administration fights for $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan

Officials in President Joe Biden's administration tried to head off Republican concerns that his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief proposal was too expensive on a Sunday call with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, some of whom pushed for a smaller plan targeting vaccine distribution. Lawmakers from both parties said they had agreed that getting the COVID-19 vaccine to Americans should be a priority, but some Republicans objected to such a hefty package only a month after Congress passed a $900 billion relief measure.

Dominion Voting Systems sues Trump lawyer Giuliani over election claims

Dominion Voting Systems Inc has filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of defamation for making false claims of fraud about the November 2020 U.S. presidential election, court documents on Monday showed. Dominion earlier filed lawsuits against the Trump campaign and former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, whom the company also accused of spreading false conspiracy theories about the election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

U.S. House to bring Trump incitement charge to Senate, launching second impeachment trial

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday will formally charge ex-President Donald Trump with inciting insurrection in a fiery speech to his followers before this month's deadly attack on the Capitol, signaling the start of his second impeachment trial. Nine House Democrats who will serve as prosecutors will proceed through the building where hundreds of Trump supporters fought with police, leaving five dead, at about 7 p.m. on Monday (0000 GMT), carrying the article of impeachment to the Senate where Trump will face trial.

U.S. to escalate tracking of COVID variants as confirmed cases top 25 million

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is stepping up efforts to track coronavirus mutations and keep vaccines and treatments effective against new variants until collective immunity is reached, the agency's chief said on Sunday. Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke about the rapidly evolving virus during a Fox News Sunday interview as the number of Americans known to be infected surpassed 25 million, with more than 417,000 dead, just over a year after the first U.S. case was documented.

Biden pushes elusive 'Buy American' goal with new federal contract guidelines

President Joe Biden will take steps on Monday to harness the purchasing power of the United States government, the world's biggest single buyer, to increase domestic manufacturing and create markets for new technologies, a senior administration official said. Biden will sign an executive order aimed at closing loopholes in existing "Buy American" provisions, which structure the $600 billion in goods and services the federal government buys each year, making any waivers more transparent, and creating a senior White House role to oversee the process Trump administration had no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan: White House

There was no distribution plan for the coronavirus vaccine set up by the Trump administration as the virus raged in its last months in office, new President Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain, said on Sunday. "The process to distribute the vaccine, particularly outside of nursing homes and hospitals out into the community as a whole, did not really exist when we came into the White House," Klain said on NBC's "Meet the Press." California to lift stay-at-home orders on Monday: report

California is expected to lift its regional stay-at-home orders across the state on Monday, moving counties back into the tier-based reopening framework, local media reported. California Governor Gavin Newsom's office has decided to lift the orders as ICU availability in the regions that remained under the stay-at-home order, including the Bay area and Southern California are projected to rise above the 15% threshold that triggered the lockdown measures, according https://bit.ly/3sSPOfp to San Francisco Chronicle. Chicago teachers vote for remote classes only, claim schools are unsafe amid COVID-19

Chicago teachers have voted in favor of a resolution to stay out of their classrooms in the third-largest school system in the United States, claiming the district has not done enough to keep them and their students safe amid the pandemic. A total of 71% of teachers who cast a vote on the measure were in favor of not returning to their classrooms and to continue to teach remotely, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) said in a statement announcing the results on Sunday.