US Domestic News Roundup: Hurricane-ravaged Florida, Carolinas face daunting recovery; Elon Musk to provide Florida with Starlink satellites in response to Hurricane Ian and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Hurricane-ravaged Florida, Carolinas face daunting recovery

The largely innocuous but soggy remnants of Hurricane Ian drifted through Virginia early on Sunday, leaving in their wake storm-ravaged residents in Florida and the Carolinas facing a disaster recovery expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. The storm's toll on human life also was expected to rise as floodwaters receded and search teams pushed farther into areas initially cut off from the outside world, seeking stranded survivors and the remains of anyone who may have perished.

Elon Musk to provide Florida with Starlink satellites in response to Hurricane Ian

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk agreed to provide the company's satellite internet service, Starlink, for help in response to Hurricane Ian in areas of Southwest Florida still without connectivity. "We are working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite. They are positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas," DeSantis told reporters on Saturday. "We are expecting 120 additional large Starlink units to deploy to Southwest Florida."

Trump is accused of stonewalling rape accuser to avoid Oct. 19 deposition

The writer suing Donald Trump for defamation after he denied having raped her in the mid-1990s accused the former U.S. president of stonewalling and trying to avoid a scheduled deposition as he tries to delay the case indefinitely. In a letter filed on Friday in federal court in Manhattan, a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll also said Trump was "mistaken" in arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed altogether because the U.S. government, and not he, was the proper defendant.

U.S. House passes crucial stopgap government funding bill, avoiding partial shutdown

A bill funding the federal government through Dec. 16 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, avoiding an embarrassing partial shutdown less than six weeks before the midterm elections when control of Congress is at stake. With government funding for federal agencies due to expire at midnight, House lawmakers sent the legislation on to the White House, where President Joe Biden signed the measure into law.

Weighty U.S. Supreme Court term dawns with environmental and race cases

The U.S. Supreme Court's nine justices are poised on Monday to open a new nine-month term packed with major cases including disputes centered on race that give members of its conservative majority fresh opportunities to flex their muscles, with an environmental case up first. The top U.S. judicial body annually kicks off its term on the first Monday of October, and the justices have important cases on the schedule right away. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. President Joe Biden's appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson - America's first Black woman justice - joins the court's liberal bloc after being confirmed by the Senate in April to succeed now-retired Justice, Stephen Breyer.

U.S. Justice Dept seeks expedited ruling in Trump special master case

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday moved to expedite its appeal of an order appointing a special master to review records the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate. In a court filing late on Friday, the Justice Department said its inability to access the non-classified documents is still hampering significant aspects of its investigation on the retention of government records at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

White House meets oil industry over Hurricane Ian price-gouging concerns

Top White House officials met on Friday with oil executives to discuss Hurricane Ian and low gasoline inventories as President Joe Biden warned the industry not to price-gouge consumers, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The White House requested the meeting with eight oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Marathon Petroleum Corp, late on Thursday, the sources said.

U.S. sailor found not guilty of fire that destroyed ship

A U.S. Navy sailor was found not guilty on Friday of starting a fire that destroyed the amphibious assault ship, Bonhomme Richard, in San Diego in 2020. Seaman Recruit Ryan Mays was acquitted of charges of arson and the willful hazarding of a ship, Commander Sean Robertson, a spokesman for the U.S. 3rd Fleet, said in a statement.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson, embarking on first term, says her appointment inspires pride among Americans

Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said on Friday that her appointment as the first Black woman to serve on the court has inspired pride among Americans she has encountered She hears arguments for the first time as the Supreme Court opens its new term on Monday and the conservative-dominated judicial body has shown an increasing willingness to exert its power on a range of issues.

Tillerson to be called as witness in Trump ally's foreign agent trial

Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be called as a witness by federal prosecutors in the trial of Tom Barrack, a one-time fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, on charges of illegally acting as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, a court filing showed on Saturday. Barrack's defense revealed the plans in a letter to U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan in which it requested that Tillerson take the stand on Monday. The defense said prosecutors had confirmed that they would be calling Tillerson, but informed the defense he would be unavailable after Oct. 4 due to "personal plans."