US Domestic News Roundup: Sam Bankman-Fried's trial on FTX fraud charges heads to closing arguments; Biden kicks off rural America tour in Minnesota and more

Scott's letter to Powell, sent Monday, followed a barrage of letters he sent recently to the newest Fed board members - Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and governors Lisa Cook and Adriana Kugler - seeking their positions on the Fed's ongoing balance sheet reduction program. Donald Trump Jr. to testify at father's civil fraud trial Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. is set to testify on Wednesday afternoon in a New York civil fraud trial accusing the former U.S. president and his family businesses of inflating asset values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Sam Bankman-Fried's trial on FTX fraud charges heads to closing arguments

Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial is in the homestretch, with U.S. prosecutors and defense lawyers expected on Wednesday to present closing arguments to jurors over whether the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder stole billions of dollars from customers. Bankman-Fried, 31, may learn his fate just shy of one year after FTX filed for bankruptcy in a swift corporate meltdown that shocked financial markets and wiped out what had been his estimated $26 billion fortune. Prosecutors have accused him of stealing $8 billion in one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.

Biden kicks off rural America tour in Minnesota

U.S. President Joe Biden will tout $5 billion in new investments benefiting rural Americans during a visit on Wednesday to a family farm in Minnesota, the first stop in what the White House is billing as a two-week "barnstorming" tour. Thirteen top administration officials will visit rural places in 15 states, including election battlegrounds like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, to highlight investments in rural communities, where one in five Americans live.

US jury finds realtors liable for inflating commissions, awards $1.78 billion damages

A U.S. jury on Tuesday found the National Association of Realtors and some residential brokerages, including units of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, liable to pay $1.78 billion in damages for conspiring to artificially inflate commissions for home sales. The verdict by a federal jury in Kansas City, Missouri, could upend decades-old practices that have allowed real estate agents to boost commissions as home prices and mortgage rates rise, hurting consumers by making housing transactions more expensive.

California wildfire, fueled by desert winds, forces evacuations

A Southern California wildfire fueled by desert winds burned 2,487 acres (1,010 hectares) and prompted evacuation orders for more than 4,000 people in Riverside County, officials said on Tuesday. The Highland Fire nearly doubled in size from Monday night to Tuesday, blowing toward the west by Santa Ana winds. The seasonal phenomenon occurs when dry desert air blows toward the ocean, creating a fire hazard in Southern California.

US House Republicans' Israel-only aid bill opposed in Senate, by Biden

U.S. senators from both parties voiced doubts on Tuesday about House Republicans' plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting Internal Revenue Service funding, without providing aid to Ukraine, and Democratic President Joe Biden threatened to veto the bill were it to pass. In the first major legislative action under new Speaker Mike Johnson, House of Representatives Republicans unveiled a standalone supplemental spending bill only for Israel on Monday.

New US House Republican speaker faces early test on government funding

Republican Mike Johnson, the untried speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, faces an early test of how well he can unify his splintered majority as he tries to avoid a partial government shutdown a little more than two weeks away. The fourth-term lawmaker from Louisiana will try to pass three 2024 spending bills, which could help placate hardline conservatives, before turning to a stopgap measure to keep federal agencies funded past Nov. 17.

Republican US senator presses Fed officials on bond-buying policies

U.S. Senator Rick Scott, a fierce critic of the Federal Reserve's bond-buying program, has sent a new letter to central bank Chair Jerome Powell complaining about what the Florida Republican sees as slow progress in shedding assets from its balance sheet. Scott's letter to Powell, sent Monday, followed a barrage of letters he sent recently to the newest Fed board members - Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson and governors Lisa Cook and Adriana Kugler - seeking their positions on the Fed's ongoing balance sheet reduction program.

Donald Trump Jr. to testify at father's civil fraud trial

Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. is set to testify on Wednesday afternoon in a New York civil fraud trial accusing the former U.S. president and his family businesses of inflating asset values to dupe lenders and insurers. Donald Jr., an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and a co-defendant in the case, will be the first of Trump’s adult children to take the stand, followed by Eric and Ivanka Trump. Their father is set to testify on Monday.

New bar exam catches on in five states

Maryland, Missouri and Oregon are the first three states to say they will use the new version of the bar exam when it debuts in July 2026, the NCBE said on Wednesday.

US Supreme Court to determine legality of 'Trump Too Small' trademark

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to consider whether a California lawyer can own a federal trademark covering the phrase "Trump Too Small" over the objections of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in a legal fight over the interplay between trademarks and constitutional free-speech rights. The justices are set to hear arguments in the agency's appeal of a lower court's decision that reversed its denial of attorney Steve Elster's trademark application for "Trump Too Small" - an irreverent criticism of former President Donald Trump - to use on T-shirts.

(With inputs from agencies.)