US Domestic News Roundup: California farmers hit by drought change planting plans; Major rulings including Obamacare loom for U.S. Supreme Court and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'Big risk': California farmers hit by drought change planting plans

Joe Del Bosque is leaving a third of his 2,000-acre farm near Firebaugh, California, unseeded this year due to extreme drought. Yet, he hopes to access enough water to produce a marketable melon crop. Farmers across California say they expect to receive little water from state and federal agencies that regulate the state's reservoirs and canals, leading many to leave fields barren, plant more drought-tolerant crops or seek new income sources altogether.

Biden to host Republican Capito Wednesday for infrastructure talks -White House

President Joe Biden will host Republican U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito on Wednesday for infrastructure talks, the White House said, as the Democratic administration works with lawmakers this week to try to hammer out a deal.

U.S. cities hire specialists to counter climate change as impacts worsen

Tucson hired a forester. Miami named a heat officer. And Los Angeles appointed a climate emergency mobilization director.

Across the United States, cities have launched new programs focused on dealing with extreme weather, reflecting the growing impacts of climate change on local communities, according to experts.

Cruise urges Biden to back autonomous vehicle deployment boost

Cruise LLC, the autonomous vehicle (AV) company majority-owned by General Motors Co, has urged President Joe Biden to back efforts to speed thousands of self-driving cars to U.S. roads, saying the country risks lagging behind China, according to a previously unreported letter seen by Reuters. The chief executive of Cruise, Dan Ammann, in a letter to Biden dated May 17, asked him to back legislation raising the cap on the number of vehicles that a company can seek to have exempted from safety standards that do not meet existing federal requirements that assume human drivers are in control.

Biden to visit Tulsa massacre site as U.S. confronts racial legacy

Joe Biden on Tuesday will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the massacre of hundreds of Black Americans by a white mob in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as he marks one of the worst chapters in the country's history of racial violence. Biden, a Democrat, will meet with the handful of surviving members of the Greenwood community on the 100th anniversary of the killings, and announce steps to combat inequality, White House officials said.

Major rulings including Obamacare loom for U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court heads into the last month of its current term with several major cases yet to be decided including a Republican bid to invalidate the Obamacare healthcare law, a dispute involving LGBT and religious rights, and another focused on voting restrictions. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has 26 cases in total left to decide. There also is speculation about the potential retirement of its oldest justice, Stephen Breyer. Some liberal activists have urged Breyer, who is 82 and has served on the court since 1994, to step down so President Joe Biden can appoint a younger liberal jurist to a lifetime post on the court.

Biden eyes grants, federal purchasing to narrow racial wealth, homeownership gaps

President Joe Biden will announce steps on Tuesday to narrow the large and persistent racial wealth gap that divides Black, Latino and white Americans, although he will stop short of canceling of student loan debt demanded by civil rights groups. Biden, a Democrat, will call for billions of dollars in grants and investments to benefit poor minority communities, as well as a big increase in federal procurement from small, disadvantaged businesses, and a crackdown on housing discrimination, administration officials told reporters.

New York police charge man with hate crime for assault on Asian woman

New York City police have charged a man with a hate crime after he was arrested for an unprovoked assault on a 55-year old Asian woman in the Chinatown area, police said. Alexander Wright, 48, was charged with "Assault", "Assault as a Hate Crime" and "Criminal Possession of Controlled Substance," Detective Annette Shelton told Reuters by email.

Native American tribes revive horse heritage with bareback races in Oklahoma

Native American tribes from the United States and Canada converged on Oklahoma for the Indian Relay Horse Race this weekend, helping to revive horse heritage in the state and symbolizing a return to normal after pandemic restrictions. The setting in Oklahoma was particularly apt, given the state's Native American population of nearly 10% and the 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling re-affirming that about half the state's territory falls under American Indian jurisdiction.

Americans hit the road on Memorial Day holiday, a year after pandemic slammed travel

With half the country at least partially protected against the coronavirus, Americans escaped their pandemic doldrums over the three-day holiday weekend that traditionally unleashes the country's pent-up wanderlust at the doorstep of summer. A year after Memorial Day weekend travel was depressed by fears of the spreading virus, Americans took to the skies and roads.

(With inputs from agencies.)