US Domestic News Roundup: New York to pay millions to protesters arrested at George Floyd demonstration; U.S. House panel approves bill giving Biden power to ban TikTok and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

New York to pay millions to protesters arrested at George Floyd demonstration

New York City has agreed to pay millions of dollars to demonstrators who sued the police department, saying they had been mistreated during a June 2020 racial justice protest that followed the killing of George Floyd. The proposed settlement would award $21,500 to each of the more than 300 people arrested in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the city's Bronx borough if it is approved by a federal judge.

U.S. House panel approves bill giving Biden power to ban TikTok

The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted on Wednesday along party lines to give President Joe Biden the power to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, in what would be the most far-reaching U.S. restriction on any social media app. Lawmakers voted 24 to 16 to approve the measure to grant the administration new powers to ban the ByteDance-owned app - which is used by over 100 million Americans - as well as other apps considered security risks.

Murdaugh's lawyers to deliver closing arguments in South Carolina murder trial

Lawyers for disbarred South Carolina attorney Richard "Alex" Murdaugh will deliver closing arguments on Thursday, their last chance to convince the jury that their client was not involved in the grisly murders of his wife and youngest son. Murdaugh, the 54-year-old scion of an influential legal family in an area west of Charleston, has been charged with fatally shooting his wife Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, at dog kennels on their estate on the night of June 7, 2021.

Biden admin offers $1.2 billion for distressed, shut nuclear plants

The Biden administration said on Thursday it is offering a fresh round of $1.2 billion in aid to extend the life of distressed nuclear power plants which, for the first time, could offer funding to a plant that has recently closed. President Joe Biden's climate team believes nuclear power is a crucial source of virtually carbon-free electricity needed to be maintained and expanded to reach his pledge of what it calls 100% clean electricity by 2035.

Robert Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan denied parole for 16th time

A California review board on Wednesday denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian refugee serving a life sentence for assassinating U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Sirhan was denied parole for another three years by a panel of California parole board members, who said he was not suitable for release. The decision marks a change from a different panel's conclusion two years ago that the 78-year-old should be paroled.

Biden aims billions in taxpayer money at companies' labor, supply practices

U.S. President Joe Biden is using $1.5 trillion in new federal spending to continue his push to reshape the U.S. economy, redirect corporate profits and reverse a decades-old decline in the benefits that go to workers. With a new team of progressive-leaning economic advisers and a fiscal war chest of three massive spending bills, the Biden administration is using new guidelines to pressure companies to expand childcare, produce more in the United States and hire more equitably.

Biden seeks $1.6 billion to tackle COVID relief fraud ahead of Republican probes

President Joe Biden plans to ask Congress to provide $1.6 billion in new funding to tackle fraud tied to U.S. pandemic relief programs and help victims of identity theft, the White House said. The push, led by White House adviser Gene Sperling, will seek to demonstrate renewed toughness on pandemic fraud ahead of promised investigations by House of Representatives Republicans on the trillions of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic aid approved under both former President Donald Trump, a Republican, and Biden, his Democratic successor.

U.S. unveils new cybersecurity strategy with tighter regulations

The White House on Thursday announced a new cybersecurity strategy in the latest effort by the U.S. government to bolster its cyber defenses amid a steady increase in hacking and digital crimes targeting the country. The strategy, which is intended to guide future policy, urges tighter regulation of existing cybersecurity practices across industries and improved collaboration between the government and private sector.

U.S. Congress votes to block ESG investing, Biden veto expected

A Republican bill to prevent pension fund managers from basing investment decisions on factors like climate change cleared Congress on Wednesday, setting up a confrontation with President Joe Biden, who is expected to veto the measure. The U.S. Senate voted 50-46 to adopt a resolution to overturn a Labor Department rule making it easier for fund managers to consider environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, issues for investments and shareholder rights decisions, such as through proxy voting.

US Supreme Court doubt over student debt relief looms over Biden agenda

The skepticism expressed by conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices toward President Joe Biden's move to forgive $430 billion in student debt not only cast doubt on the plan's fate but also signaled trouble ahead for the use of executive power to get things done in his remaining time in office. Questions posed by the conservative justices during arguments on Tuesday over Biden's debt relief indicated that the conservative-majority court could strike down the plan as an unlawful overreach of executive power.