Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The move is the latest effort to roll back a land use decision made under then-President Donald Trump, reflecting a growing emphasis on conservation over commercial development. Biden to route U.S. border wall funds to military and construction site clean up President Joe Biden's administration will return more than $2 billion in funds allotted under his predecessor Donald Trump to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to the military and devote other remaining money to construction site clean up, the White House budget office said on Friday.


Reuters | Updated: 13-06-2021 05:22 IST | Created: 13-06-2021 05:22 IST
Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'Like magic': small emergence of cicadas thought to be extinct found in New York

Dr. Elias Bonaros, a cardiologist and cicada expert, thought the noise-making insects - which emerge from the ground every 17 years - might not return to his neck of the woods, New York state's Long Island, after very few showed up in 2004. But this week they came back.

U.S. has administered 308.1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, CDC says

The United States has administered 308,112,728 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed 374,397,205 doses in the country as of Saturday morning, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Those figures were up from the 306,509,795 doses of vaccine that the CDC said had been administered as of June 11, out of 373,413,945 doses delivered.

Biden moves to reverse Trump opening of Alaska forest to logging

The Biden administration on Friday began a process to reverse a Trump-era policy that opened vast swaths of the largest U.S. national forest, the Tongass in Alaska, to logging and mining. The move is the latest effort to roll back a land use decision made under then-President Donald Trump, reflecting a growing emphasis on conservation over commercial development.

Biden to route U.S. border wall funds to military and construction site clean up

President Joe Biden's administration will return more than $2 billion in funds allotted under his predecessor Donald Trump to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to the military and devote other remaining money to construction site clean up, the White House budget office said on Friday. The move will return funds to 66 military projects spanning 11 states, three U.S. territories and 16 countries, the White House said in a related fact sheet. The projects include $79 million to renovate a U.S. military school in Germany and $9 million for a firing range in Indiana.

Justice Dept watchdog to probe seizure of Democrats' communications data

The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog will probe efforts by the department during former President Donald Trump's administration to seize the communications data of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the watchdog confirmed. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his office was beginning a review of the department's "use of subpoenas and other legal authorities to obtain communication records of Members of Congress and affiliated persons, and the news media in connection with recent investigations of alleged unauthorized disclosures of information to the media by government officials."

Shooting in Texas capital leaves 14 wounded; one suspect still at large

Fourteen people were wounded after two men opened fire at each other in a busy entertainment district in downtown Austin, Texas early on Saturday, police said, adding that one of the suspected shooters remained at large. Gunfire erupted at about 1:30 a.m. in the Sixth Street area, a popular nightlife destination in the state capital, Austin Police Department Interim Chief Joseph Chacon said in a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

U.S. Supreme Court urged by 22 states to maintain eviction ban

The attorneys general of 22 states on Friday urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to end the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's pandemic-related residential eviction moratorium that has been challenged by landlord groups. The landlords asked the Supreme Court last week to issue an order stopping the national ban on evictions, which was first implemented last September and is due to expire on June 30. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky declined to say this week if the agency will again extend the moratorium, saying discussions are ongoing.

U.S. screens 2.02 million airport passengers Friday - highest since March 2020

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened 2.02 million passengers on Friday at U.S. airports, the highest number since March 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic slashed travel demand. It was the first time daily U.S. airport passengers screened had topped 2 million since March 7, 2020, the TSA said.

Pulitzers honor Darnella Frazier for cellphone video of George Floyd murder

A teenager who recorded the murder of George Floyd in a clear and unrelenting single shot with her cellphone was recognized on Friday by the arbiters of the highest honors in U.S. journalism. The Pulitzer Board awarded Darnella Frazier a special citation for a video she said has haunted her ever since, showing Floyd's death beneath the knee of Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis policeman. Chauvin was convicted of murdering Floyd in a trial during which Frazier's video was played repeatedly.

G7 source praises Biden after 'complete chaos' of Trump

U.S. President Joe Biden brought a sharply different tone to the Group of Seven summit from his predecessor Donald Trump by allowing frank and collaborative discussion of global issues without sowing disruptive chaos, a source with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. "It used to be complete chaos," said the source. "Before, we were on edge the entire, the whole time just trying to keep the G7 intact - and you don't have to worry about that now."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback