US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. Capitol Police officer slain by motorist; Reuters names Alessandra Galloni as its next editor-in-chief and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'A big momma's boy': Floyd's brother offers 'spark of life' testimony at Chauvin murder trial

Prosecutors on Monday neared the end of their case in the murder trial of former Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin, calling George Floyd's younger brother to the stand for emotional testimony about how his sibling grew up obsessed with basketball and doting on his mother. "He was a big momma's boy," Philonise Floyd said after jurors looked at a picture of his older brother in his mother's arms while Chauvin sat across the courtroom, writing notes on a yellow legal pad with his head down.

U.S. Capitol Police officer slain by motorist to lie in honor

The U.S. Capitol Police officer killed when a motorist rammed a car into two police officers and brandished a knife early this month will lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday. William Evans, an 18-year veteran of the Capitol Police force and father of two children, died at the hospital on April 2 after he was struck by the vehicle, the district's Metropolitan Police Department said.

Student shot dead at Knoxville high school after police say he fired on them

Police shot and killed a Knoxville, Tennessee, high school student on Monday after they said he opened fire on them in a campus bathroom, wounding an officer. The gunfire, which erupted at about 3:15 p.m. at Austin-East Magnet High School on the east side of Knoxville, marked the latest in a rash of shootings in the United States since mid-March.

U.S. calls for pause to J&J COVID-19 vaccine over rare blood clots

(Reuters) - U.S. federal health agencies on Tuesday recommended pausing the use of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after six recipients developed a rare disorder involving blood clots, in a fresh setback to global efforts to tackle the pandemic. The move comes a week after European regulators said they had found a possible link between AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine and a rare blood clotting problem that had led to a small number of deaths.

Unrest flares again in Minnesota after fatal police shooting of Black motorist

A suburban Minneapolis police officer apparently drew her gun by mistake, instead of her Taser, when she shot a young Black man to death during a traffic stop, a police chief said on Monday, hours before a second night of unrest sparked by the killing. Family members of the slain motorist, Daunte Wright, 20, rejected the notion that a mere accident was to blame for Sunday's shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with Wright's grieving brother denouncing the police as "trigger happy."

Crowd of 23 candidates floods special congressional election in Texas

The race to succeed the only sitting U.S. congressman to have died from COVID-19 has drawn a free-for-all of 23 candidates in a Republican-leaning district of north Texas, where Democrats have made gains in recent years. Representative Ron Wright, a Republican, died of COVID-19 in February. The May 1 special election to replace him will be the first test of the Texas electorate, where Democrats hope to advance, since President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

How computer mapping could help Biden find and fix polluted neighborhoods

Diagnosed with asthma at 8 years old, Karlaine Francisco grew up thinking everyone had it. Her friends in south Stockton, California, also carried inhalers and suffered coughing and wheezing fits. "I would tell people, 'Oh yeah, I have asthma,'" said Francisco, now a 17-year-old high school senior. "And then, my friend would be like, 'Yeah, I have asthma too.'"

AstraZeneca shot is good if safety issues can be overcome, U.S. official Fauci says

U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci said AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine had good efficacy, but safety concerns needed to be straightened out and it might not be needed for Americans because of supplies of other shots. "I think that the AstraZeneca vaccine from a standpoint of efficacy is a good vaccine, and if the safety issue gets straightened out in the European Union ... the efficacy of that vaccine is really quite good," he told BBC radio on Tuesday.

Reuters names Alessandra Galloni as its next editor-in-chief

Reuters News has named one of its top editors, Alessandra Galloni, as its next editor-in-chief, the first woman to lead the globe-spanning news agency in its 170-year history. A native of Rome, Galloni, 47, will replace Stephen J. Adler, who is retiring this month after leading the newsroom for the past decade. Under his leadership, Reuters has received hundreds of journalism awards, including seven Pulitzer Prizes, the industry's highest honor.

Citizens lead the call for police reform since George Floyd's death

Last summer, millions of ordinary Americans took to the streets to protest racism, police violence and the killing of George Floyd. In the year since, many transformed their energy and anger to action. Across the country, civilians on task forces and elected officials in state legislatures are pushing for changes that experts say address the root causes of police misconduct targeting minority communities. Reforms at state and local levels in the past year include the creation of oversight boards that are not beholden to police departments or unions.