Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Biden's likely visit to the state next week involves meetings with members of the United Auto Workers Union and potential meetings with the Arab American community, the participants and sources said. Justice Dept to surge resources to fight crime in US capital The Justice Department plans to send additional law enforcement resources to help Washington, D.C., battle the perpetrators of violent crime and carjackings, the department said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump says he feels mentally sharp after Haley attacks his age, gaffes

Donald Trump on Saturday said he feels "sharper now than I did 20 years ago," reacting to recent attacks on his age and verbal gaffes by Republican presidential rival Nikki Haley. Trump also said presidential candidates should have to take a cognitive test, apparently a response to a challenge from Haley, who has advocated the same policy, citing the age of Trump, 77, and Democratic President Joe Biden, 81.

Donald Trump ordered to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million, will appeal verdict

Donald Trump was handed a stinging defeat on Friday by a Manhattan jury that ordered him to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll, who said he destroyed her reputation as a trustworthy journalist by denying he raped her. Jurors needed less than three hours to reach a verdict in Manhattan federal court following a five-day trial. The sum that the former U.S. president was ordered to pay far exceeded the minimum $10 million Carroll had sought. Trump plans to appeal.

Shunned in computer age, cursive makes a comeback in California

A generation of children who learned to write on screens is now going old school. Starting this year, California grade school students are required to learn cursive handwriting, after the skill had fallen out of fashion in the computer age.

Alabama will help bring nitrogen asphyxiation executions to other states

Alabama offered assistance on Friday to other U.S. states seeking to carry out executions using asphyxiation by nitrogen gas, a few hours after pioneering the new method to kill Kenneth Smith, a prisoner condemned for a 1988 murder. The state also promised more to come in Alabama: Attorney General Steve Marshall said 43 other people on death row had chosen asphyxiation over lethal injections since lawmakers approved the method in 2018.

US to announce billions in subsidies for advanced chips- WSJ

The Biden administration is expected to award billions of dollars in subsidies to top semiconductor companies including Intel, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in the coming weeks to help build new factories in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The forthcoming announcements are aimed at kick-starting manufacturing of advanced semiconductors that power smartphones, artificial intelligence and weapons systems, the WSJ reported, citing industry executives familiar with the negotiations.

Michigan's Arab American leaders shun Biden campaign, ahead of president's visit

A group of Arab American leaders in Dearborn, Michigan skipped a meeting on Friday with President Joe Biden's campaign manager that was organized ahead of a possible visit to the battleground state by Biden on Feb. 1, two participants and two sources said. Biden's likely visit to the state next week involves meetings with members of the United Auto Workers Union and potential meetings with the Arab American community, the participants and sources said.

Justice Dept to surge resources to fight crime in US capital

The Justice Department plans to send additional law enforcement resources to help Washington, D.C., battle the perpetrators of violent crime and carjackings, the department said on Friday. "This surge in law enforcement resources will build on the Department’s efforts to target the individuals and organizations that are driving violent crime in the nation’s capital," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Vince McMahon resigns from TKO, WWE over sex assault lawsuit

Vince McMahon resigned from wrestling giant TKO Group and the subsidiary WWE that he founded, over a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault and trafficking, which he said he will fight, the company said on Friday. "I have decided to resign from my executive chairmanship and the TKO board of directors, effective immediately," McMahon said in a statement released by TKO.

Biden returns to South Carolina to bolster support with Black voters

U.S. President Joe Biden visited South Carolina on Saturday for a dinner to celebrate elevating the state and its large base of Black voters to first place in the Democratic Party's calendar of contests to nominate a candidate for the November election. Biden, setting up for a likely rematch of the 2020 contest against Donald Trump, will make the case that the Republican former president is a threat to communities of color.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley targeted in swatting incident

Authorities responded to a fake emergency at the South Carolina home of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley last month after a man claimed to have shot a woman and threatened to harm himself at her home, according to town records obtained by Reuters. The previously unreported “swatting” incident is among a wave of violent threats, bomb scares and other acts of intimidation against government officials, members of the judiciary and election administrators since the 2020 election that have alarmed law enforcement ahead of this year’s U.S. presidential contest.