Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Solo was arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Winston-Salem and charged with impaired driving (DWI), resisting arrest and misdemeanor child abuse, Winston-Salem Police Department said. COVID weighing less and less on the U.S. job market The coronavirus pandemic's grip on the U.S. job market notably loosened in March, two years after a state of emergency was declared, as the number of people homebound by COVID-19 concerns hit a new low and fewer people reported having to work remotely.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

No new trial for Ghislaine Maxwell despite juror's false statement

Ghislaine Maxwell on Friday lost her bid to overturn her U.S. sex trafficking conviction, even after a juror acknowledged having falsely stated before the trial that he had not been sexually abused. U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan said the juror, a man known in court papers as Juror 50, testified truthfully at a hearing last month, after Maxwell's lawyers said his false answers on a pretrial questionnaire justified granting a new trial.

At California gas station, Republicans woo voters angry over fuel prices - but it's complicated

A half-dozen mostly young Republican activists stood gamely outside of a Chevron station at a busy Southern California intersection, jumping up and down and holding a big sign reading, "Gas too high? Register Republican." The demonstration in Garden Grove, Orange County this week drew beeps of support, and was successful in getting a few motorists to pull over to talk about gas prices.

Bill to legalize marijuana passes U.S. House, but faces dim prospects in Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill to end the federal ban on marijuana, which has created legal headaches for users and businesses in the states that have legalized it, though the measure was seen as unlikely to pass the Senate. It passed by 220-204, with few Republicans supporting the measure.

Former U.S. goalkeeper Solo arrested on suspected DWI

Former United States goalkeeper Hope Solo was arrested in North Carolina on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Thursday, a spokesperson for the police department said on Friday. Solo was arrested in a Walmart parking lot in Winston-Salem and charged with impaired driving (DWI), resisting arrest and misdemeanor child abuse, Winston-Salem Police Department said.

COVID weighing less and less on the U.S. job market

The coronavirus pandemic's grip on the U.S. job market notably loosened in March, two years after a state of emergency was declared, as the number of people homebound by COVID-19 concerns hit a new low and fewer people reported having to work remotely. In all, the government's benchmark monthly nonfarm payrolls report out Friday showed that by several metrics - including the total number of unemployed dropping below 6 million and a 3.6% unemployment rate - the U.S. job market had all but recovered from the devastating hit delivered in the first two months of the pandemic when 22 million people were thrown out of work.

First missing, murdered indigenous alert system created in U.S.

Washington state has become the first in the United States to pass a law that creates an alert system for missing indigenous people. Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, on Thursday signed the bill, which calls on the Washington State Patrol to create the alert system.

Exclusive-U.S. cancels ICBM test due to Russia nuclear tensions

The U.S. military has canceled a test of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile that it had initially aimed only to delay in a bid to lower nuclear tensions with Russia during the war in Ukraine, the Air Force told Reuters on Friday. The Pentagon first announced a delay of the test on March 2 after Russia said it was putting its nuclear forces on high alert. Washington said at the time it was important both the United States and Russia "bear in mind the risk of miscalculation and take steps to reduce those risks."

Man who brought 'small armory' ahead of U.S. Capitol riot gets almost four-year sentence

An Alabama man found with a "small armory" of guns, ammunition and Molotov cocktails in his pickup truck ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced to almost four years in prison, one of the stiffest sentences so far handed down. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the 46-month sentence reflected the seriousness of the charges against Lonnie Coffman, 72, who had pleaded guilty to possessing unregistered firearms.

U.S. to end COVID order blocking asylum seekers at border with Mexico

The United States will end a sweeping, pandemic-related expulsion policy that has effectively closed down the U.S. asylum system at the border with Mexico, U.S. health officials said on Friday, arguing it was no longer needed to protect public health. The Title 42 order will remain in effect until May 23 to allow border officials time to prepare for its termination and to ramp up COVID-19 vaccines for arriving migrants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a 30-page order.

Jury handed case of 4 men charged in Michigan governor kidnapping plot

A jury will begin deliberations on Monday in the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, as one of the most closely watched trials in recent memory involving allegations of domestic terrorism neared its conclusion. The 12-person jury was presented with dueling narratives during closing arguments that concluded late on Friday afternoon. Granted the option by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker, jurors chose to start discussing the case on Monday.