US Domestic News Roundup:Biden to meet with local leaders to rev up fight against gun violence; U.S. $4.7 billion grant program's tech woes take toll on justice groups and more

(2000 GMT) on Sunday, although a National Park Service ranger said it typically measured higher than the official reading. Charlottesville removes Confederate statue at center of deadly 2017 protest A statue of Confederate General Robert E.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden to meet with local leaders to rev up fight against gun violence

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with local law enforcement leaders, elected officials and an expert on community violence intervention at the White House on Monday as he seeks to bolster support for his plans to crack down on gun violence. Biden, who has pledged to push for sweeping changes to firearms laws https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-laws-factbox/factbox-decades-of-calls-for-gun-control-in-u-s-but-little-action-idUSKBN2BG0CG, last month unveiled measures to stem the flow of firearms used in crimes, building on executive orders signed in April that include a push by the Justice Department to better control self-assembled "ghost guns https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-proposal-would-crack-down-anonymous-ghost-guns-2021-05-07. "

U.S. $4.7 billion grant program's tech woes take toll on justice groups

Glitches in a new system used to manage the U.S. Justice Department's $4.7 billion grant program are causing delays in funding programs from victim services to criminal justice research, say more than a dozen staffers and grant recipients. The problems with the system, known as "JustGrants," are the subject of complaints to Congress and internal government watchdogs, according to documents seen by Reuters.

Pfizer, U.S. health officials to discuss COVID boosters on Monday -company

COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer Inc will meet with federal health officials as soon as Monday to discuss the need for a booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine as it prepares to seek authorization, the company said on Sunday. The meeting comes days after the drugmaker and its partner BioNTech SE announced plans to seek U.S. and European regulatory approval for a third dose of their COVID-19 shot amid the spread of variants and data they said showed heightened risk of infection six months after initial inoculation.

U.S. Senate braces for 'hell of a fight' over Biden's infrastructure plan

The U.S. Senate returns on Monday to one of its most ambitious agendas in years as Democratic President Joe Biden seeks trillions of dollars in infrastructure spending and Republicans promise "a hell of a fight" against raising taxes to pay for it. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer aims to stage debates and votes this summer on both a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-us-senates-12-trillion-infrastructure-plan-2021-06-24 and the first step toward a second measure that would pass with only Democratic votes.

U.S. West scorches under heat wave, Death Valley reaches 130 degrees

A brutal heat wave punishing the U.S. West pushed temperatures toward all-time records for a third day on Sunday, as Death Valley in California, scorching at 130-degrees Fahrenheit (54 Celsius), was again one of the hottest spots on the planet. A thermometer outside Furnace Creek Visitors Center in the heart of Death Valley showed 134 degrees Fahrenheit shortly before 4 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Sunday, although a National Park Service ranger said it typically measured higher than the official reading.

Charlottesville removes Confederate statue at center of deadly 2017 protest

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was taken down in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday, nearly four years after white supremacist protests over plans to remove it led to clashes in which a woman was run down by a car and killed. Shortly after the removal of the Lee statue, a statue of Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was also removed from its base in another city park. Onlookers who had gathered hours earlier cheered as the statues were loaded onto trucks and driven away.

On an Alaskan island, a mayor fights for fur seals - and a new future

Fifty years ago, Patrick Pletnikoff spent his summers stripping blubber from the carcasses of seals clubbed to death in Alaska's annual harvest, competing with other young men to show who wielded the fastest blade. Now he's fighting for a bigger prize: to transform his native St. George Island's fortunes and protect dwindling colonies of northern fur seals by creating Alaska's first marine sanctuary in the surrounding waters - a move that would empower local people to limit fishing for the seals' prey.

Florida condominium collapse death toll rises to 90, with 31 missing

The death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium rose to 90 on Sunday from 86, as crews continued their grim search for human remains in the building's wreckage, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Another 31 people were still "potentially unaccounted for," Levine Cava said at a briefing.

Musk to testify in defense of Tesla's $2.6 billion deal for SolarCity

Elon Musk is expected to take the stand on Monday to defend Tesla Inc's 2016 acquisition of SolarCity against a lawsuit by shareholders seeking to recoup the $2.6 billion the company paid for the ailing solar panel maker. His testimony will kick off a two-week trial in Wilmington, Delaware, before Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights, who will decide whether the SolarCity deal was fair to Tesla stockholders.

'Wither away and die:' U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops

An unprecedented heat wave and ongoing drought in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is damaging white wheat coveted by Asian buyers and forcing fruit farm workers to harvest in the middle of the night to salvage crops and avoid deadly heat. The extreme weather is another blow to farmers who have struggled with labor shortages and higher transportation costs during the pandemic and may further fuel global food inflation.