US Domestic News Roundup: Britney Spears' calls and texts were monitored, new documentary says; Biden looks to avoid blocking requests for Trump records in Jan 6 probe -White House and more

Detectives said they ran out of leads, according to her mother Anita King. U.S. House passes abortion rights bill, outlook poor in Senate The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday to protect abortion services against growing Republican-backed state restrictions, including a Texas law that imposes a near-total ban on abortion, but the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Britney Spears' calls and texts were monitored, new documentary says

A security firm hired by Britney Spears' father monitored the pop singer's phone calls and text messages during the court-sanctioned conservatorship she has lived under since 2008, according to a New York Times documentary released on Friday. In "Controlling Britney Spears," Alex Vlasov, a former Black Box Security employee who said he worked with the singer's team for nearly nine years, said the company "mirrored" the pop singer's phone on an iPad by logging in to her iCloud account. A listening device also was placed in her bedroom, Vlasov said.

Biden looks to avoid blocking requests for Trump records in Jan 6 probe -White House

President Joe Biden's administration will work to avoid blocking requests for former President Donald Trump's records in an investigation into the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the White House said on Friday. "The president has already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. "And so, we will respond promptly to these questions as they arise."

PG&E charged with manslaughter for sparking California wildfire

Prosecutors in Northern California on Friday charged power utility Pacific Gas & Electric with four counts of manslaughter and other felonies, alleging it failed to cut down a sickly tree that fell onto power lines and sparked a deadly wildfire. The company denied it committed a crime.

Former Minneapolis officer in George Floyd case to appeal murder conviction

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has filed notice that he will appeal his conviction and sentence for the murder of George Floyd, arguing that the judge in his case abused his discretion and made multiple errors during the trial.

Chauvin, a white man convicted of killing Floyd by kneeling on the Black man's neck during a 2020 arrest, has no money to hire an attorney and is representing himself, according to court documents filed late on Thursday.

White House says millions of government contractors must be vaccinated by Dec. 8

The White House said on Friday that millions of federal contractors must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Dec. 8 and that the administration will add clauses to future government contracts mandating inoculations. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Sept. 9 requiring federal contractors to mandate vaccinations, but many U.S. companies with federal contracts have awaited formal guidance from the White House before moving forward.

Proud Boy known as 'Milkshake' pleads not guilty to U.S. Capitol riot charges

A self-identified member of the far right Proud Boys group nicknamed "Milkshake" pleaded not guilty on Friday to assaulting police and other charges stemming from the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot. Daniel Scott, 27, a Florida man who has also lived in the Seattle area, faces a total of 10 criminal charges, including civil disorder and obstructing an official proceeding.

'Truth is truth': Trump dealt blow as Republican-led Arizona audit reaffirms Biden win

Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden in Arizona's most populous county, a review of results by his allies in the Republican Party has reaffirmed, capping a widely panned effort spurred by Trump's false claims of voter fraud. Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, the Republican who paved the way for the so-called "full forensic audit" of 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County, said the review's overall vote tally matched the initial results in November.

Amid attention on Petito case, Native mother seeks justice

Pepita Redhair, a 27-year-old Navajo woman who dreamt of becoming an engineer and loved skateboarding, was last seen in March 2020 walking with her boyfriend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Redhair's disappearance was not reported in local media. Detectives said they ran out of leads, according to her mother Anita King.

U.S. House passes abortion rights bill, outlook poor in Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Friday to protect abortion services against growing Republican-backed state restrictions, including a Texas law that imposes a near-total ban on abortion, but the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate. The Democratic-controlled House voted 218-211 largely along party lines to pass the legislation called the Women's Health Protection Act. Just one Democrat, Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, voted against the proposal.

Newly signed Texas law restricts abortion-inducing medications

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday signed a new law that restricts access to abortion-inducing medications, just weeks after the state rolled out a near-total ban on abortion procedures. The law on medications prohibits mail-order abortion-inducing drugs and says doctors in the state are only allowed to prescribe them up to seven weeks after conception. Previously that restriction was set at 10 weeks.