Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Trump lawyers challenge legitimacy of post-presidency impeachment trial Former President Donald Trump's lawyers said on Tuesday the U.S. Senate lacks the authority to conduct his impeachment trial now that he has left office, while the Democratic lawmakers due to serve as prosecutors called him singularly responsible for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Super Bowl-bound healthcare workers tout vaccination as ticket to normalcy

Onika St. Louis, a nurse at Tampa General Hospital, said her decision to get the COVID-19 vaccine was a "no-brainer" once she did her research and considered the immunity benefits it would offer her on the pandemic front line. At the time, she had no idea an additional benefit from the shot would be her chance at a free ticket to the Super Bowl. Three teens charged with murder in Denver fire that killed 5 Senegalese immigrants

Two of three teenage boys will be tried as adults for charges of murder and arson in a Denver house fire that killed five Senegalese immigrants, including two young children, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Kevin Bui and Gavin Seymour, both 16, are charged with five dozen counts of murder, arson, conspiracy, attempted murder and related offenses stemming from the deadly blaze on Aug. 5, 2020, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said in a written statement. Biden team in talks with utilities, car companies about emissions: climate adviser

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has started discussions with the utility and automobile sectors about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, White House domestic climate change adviser Gina McCarthy told Reuters. The talks are part of a broad effort by the Biden administration that McCarthy will spearhead to engage every federal agency to decarbonize the U.S. power sector by 2035 and the whole economy by 2050. Trump lawyers challenge legitimacy of post-presidency impeachment trial

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers said on Tuesday the U.S. Senate lacks the authority to conduct his impeachment trial now that he has left office, while the Democratic lawmakers due to serve as prosecutors called him singularly responsible for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Trump's legal team and the nine House of Representatives Democrats set to prosecute him filed briefs with the Senate one week before the trial is scheduled to begin. White House plans to send millions of vaccine doses to retail pharmacies

The White House next week will start shipping coronavirus vaccines directly to retail pharmacies alongside ongoing deliveries to states, increasing weekly supplies of shots nationwide to 11.5 million, a top aide said on Tuesday. U.S. President Joe Biden's COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeff Zients, said the program will launch on Feb. 11 and will make 1 million doses available to 6,500 stores. As supply grows, the program could expand to as many as 40,000 stores, he said. In visit to Capitol, Biden honors police officer killed in Jan 6 assault

U.S. President Joe Biden made a late-night visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to pay his respects to Brian Sicknick, the Capitol police officer killed when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol last month. In a solemn ceremony, the cremated remains of Sicknick, who died of his injuries the day after the Jan. 6 attack, arrived on Tuesday night to lay in honor in the Capitol Rotunda until midday Wednesday. U.S. rescuers brave cracking ice to pull two from sinking truck

U.S. firefighters battled crumbling ice in Long Island Sound to rescue two people trapped after a truck broke through and sank in the frigid waters beneath, authorities said on Tuesday. Social media images of the incident near the Connecticut city of Stamford showed rescuers extending an aerial ladder over the ice to reach the couple in the sinking vehicle. U.S. Senate confirms Mayorkas as homeland security secretary over Republican opposition

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security, making him the first Latino and immigrant to hold the position and further solidifying President Joe Biden's Cabinet. The Senate approved Mayorkas by a vote of 56-43 amid strong opposition from Republicans. Biden moves to reverse Trump immigration policies, too slowly for some

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered a review of asylum processing at the U.S.-Mexico border and the immigration system as he seeks to undo some of former President Donald Trump's hardline policies. Biden also created a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the border by Trump's 2018 'zero tolerance' strategy. Fox News marks 19-year U.S. ratings streak, CNN sets record in January

Rupert Murdoch's Fox News ended January with a 19-year streak as the top U.S. cable news network but ceded ground to CNN, according to Nielsen Media Research on Tuesday. Fox News averaged 1.8 million viewers across the total day and 3.5 million viewers in primetime for the Nielsen ratings year from January 2020 to February 2021, according to Nielsen.