Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The justices took up an appeal by Joseph Kennedy, who served as an assistant football coach in the city of Bremerton, of a lower court ruling that rejected his claims that the school district's actions violated his free speech and religious rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. How Americans can get free COVID-19 tests promised by Biden Americans will be able to order free COVID-19 tests online beginning Jan. 19, part of a plan by President Joe Biden to distribute 1 billion at-home rapid kits to fight the spread of the Omicron variant.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. prosecutors recommend dropping case against MIT professor over China ties -source

Prosecutors have recommended that the U.S. Justice Department drop charges against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor accused of concealing his ties to China when seeking federal grant money, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. Federal prosecutors in Boston decided to seek dismissal of the case against Chinese-born mechanical engineer and nanotechnologist Gang Chen. It was the latest setback for a crackdown on Chinese influence within U.S. research.

Exhausted parents navigate a patchwork of U.S. school COVID-19 policies

Jennifer Pierre speaks for millions of American parents when she sums up how it feels to navigate a patchwork of school COVID-19 policies as the pandemic enters a third year. "It's so exhausting," the Sacramento, California, mother said this week.

New York braces for evictions with key renter protection set to lapse

A ban on housing evictions is set to expire on Saturday in New York, ending a critical economic support put in place at the start of the pandemic and setting the stage for a possible rush by landlords to try to oust low-income renters. New York instituted the eviction moratorium in March 2020 when it was the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States and extended it multiple times, even as a federal eviction ban and moratoriums in other states lapsed.

U.S. CDC recommends Americans wear 'most protective mask you can'

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late on Friday revised its guidance for Americans on wearing masks, recommending wearing "the most protective mask you can," although the agency stopped short of calling for nationwide N95 usage. The CDC clarified in its revised website "that people can choose respirators such as N95s and KN95s, including removing concerns related to supply shortages for N95s." It added that Americans should "wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently."

U.S. Supreme Court to hear dispute over football coach's on-field prayers

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by a Christian former high school football coach who was suspended from his job at a high school in Washington state for refusing to halt his practice of praying at mid-field after games - a case that could expand the religious rights of employees of public institutions. The justices took up an appeal by Joseph Kennedy, who served as an assistant football coach in the city of Bremerton, of a lower court ruling that rejected his claims that the school district's actions violated his free speech and religious rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

How Americans can get free COVID-19 tests promised by Biden

Americans will be able to order free COVID-19 tests online beginning Jan. 19, part of a plan by President Joe Biden to distribute 1 billion at-home rapid kits to fight the spread of the Omicron variant. Here's how the rollout will work.

U.S. seeks up to 46 months prison for ex-Giuliani associate Fruman

U.S. prosecutors said on Friday that Igor Fruman, a one-time associate of Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani who helped collect damaging information about Joe Biden, should spend 37 to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty in an unrelated campaign finance case. In a Manhattan federal court filing, prosecutors called the sentence sufficient to punish Fruman over his "lead role" in soliciting $1 million in foreign contributions "for the express purpose of using that money to influence U.S. elections."

U.S. households can order 4 free COVID-19 tests starting Jan. 19 -White House

U.S. households can order four free at-home COVID-19 tests from the website COVIDTests.gov starting on Jan. 19 with shipping expected within seven to 12 days of ordering, the White House said on Friday. The batch of free tests are aimed at easing a shortage of COVID-19 tests across the country amid increased demand during the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

U.S. judge bars Martin Shkreli from drug industry, orders $64.6 million payment

A U.S. judge on Friday barred Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life and ordered him to pay $64.6 million after he famously raised the price of the drug Daraprim and fought to block generic competitors. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan ruled after a trial where the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and seven states had accused Shkreli, the founder of Vyera Pharmaceuticals, of using illegal tactics to keep Daraprim rivals out of the market.

Fed scrambled to make sense of Trump's 2016 election, transcripts show

The election of Donald Trump threw Federal Reserve officials into a scramble to determine what it meant for the American economy, the world, and the U.S. central bank's own standing, according to transcripts of Fed meetings from 2016. At the Fed's policy meeting a month after Trump's Nov. 8, 2016 victory, there were jokes about the unexpected outcome, warnings of the deep fissures it showed in the U.S. economy and the challenges it might pose to the central bank's independence.