Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Senator Maria Cantwell, top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, said at a hearing that National Transportation Safety Board findings on the crash showed the "failures of the FAA and what it needs to do to change its culture." Trump administration moves to fire new US attorney appointed by judges The Justice Department moved to fire the new U.S. attorney for the northern district of New York on Wednesday, the same day that federal judges unveiled his appointment to replace a prosecutor allied with President Donald Trump's administration.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Mercedes-Benz to recall 11,895 vehicles in the US over fire hazard, NHTSA says

Mercedes-Benz is recalling 11,895 vehicles in the U.S. over high-voltage batteries that can fail internally and pose a fire risk while parked or driving, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday. Vehicle owners are being told to park outside, limit charging and seek a free battery replacement, the NHTSA notice said.

US Senate committee advances bill to speed approvals for new satellites

The U.S. Senate ​Commerce Committee on Thursday passed legislation aimed at speeding approval of new satellites to extend broadband internet service to more of the United States. The approval comes less than two weeks after Elon Musk's SpaceX filed for approval to launch a constellation of 1 million satellites that will orbit Earth and harness the sun to power AI data ​centers.

US senators criticize FAA for failures before fatal helicopter collision

U.S. Senators on Thursday criticized the Federal Aviation Administration over a litany of failures before the January 2025 collision of a American Airlines regional jet and Army helicopter that ‌killed 67 people near Reagan ​Washington National Airport. Senator Maria Cantwell, top Democrat on the Commerce Committee, said at a hearing that National Transportation Safety Board findings on the crash showed the "failures of the FAA and what it needs to do to change its culture."

Trump administration moves to fire new US attorney appointed by judges

The Justice Department moved to fire the new U.S. attorney for the northern district of New York on Wednesday, the same day that federal judges unveiled his appointment to replace a prosecutor allied with President Donald Trump's administration. Trump has drawn criticism from rights and political experts for what they call his administration's targeting of political opponents in efforts that have faced legal challenges and protests.

Trump revokes basis of US climate regulation, ends vehicle emission standards

The administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks. It is the most sweeping climate change policy rollback by the administration to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development and stymie the rollout of clean energy.

US judge blocks Pentagon's ‌effort to punish Senator Mark Kelly

A U.S. judge blocked the Pentagon on Thursday from reducing Senator Mark Kelly's retired military rank and pension pay as punishment after he urged troops to reject unlawful orders. The preliminary ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington is the latest setback in court for President Donald Trump's historic campaign of vengeance against his perceived political enemies, which has drawn pushback from judges across the ideological spectrum.

US Congress names press gallery for abolitionist Frederick Douglass

Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday named its press gallery after Frederick Douglass, 150 years after the famed 19th-century orator and abolitionist became the first Black member of the congressional press corps. Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a new sign reading "Frederick Douglass Press Gallery" over the door to rooms where reporters work. Johnson was flanked by a handful of guests and some lawmakers who had pushed to honor Douglass.

US senators sharply question Trump officials about Pretti shooting, use of force

The top Republican and Democrat on a U.S. Senate committee played video showing the lead-up to the shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti to Trump immigration officials at a hearing on Thursday, sharply questioning whether the use of force was appropriate. The committee's Republican chairman, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, said the video clearly showed Pretti was backing away when a border officer doused him with pepper spray at close range during the January encounter, which sparked nationwide scrutiny of Trump administration immigration tactics.

U.S. judge rejects BBC's stay application in Trump defamation case

A U.S. judge has rejected the BBC's application to stay discovery in the $10 billion lawsuit brought ‌by U.S. President Donald Trump over its editing of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, court documents showed on Thursday. Trump has accused Britain's publicly owned broadcaster of defaming him by splicing together parts of a January 6, 2021, speech, including one section where he told supporters to march on the Capitol and another where he said "fight like hell".

Two US Navy ships collide, no major injuries, US Southern Command says

A U.S. warship and a Navy supply vessel collided during refueling Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Southern Command told Reuters in an emailed statement on Thursday. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply collided during a replenishment at sea, ‌said the statement from the Southern Command, whose areas of responsibility include Central and South America and the Caribbean. It did not specify the location of the collision.

Bad Bunny's show offers cultural lifeline to a besieged Hispanic community

Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, which celebrated Latino culture in Spanish, offered an uplifting moment of cultural pride for many Hispanic residents in Aurora, Colorado, where daily life has been reshaped by fears of immigration raids and deportations. The diverse Denver suburb has been in the crosshairs of U.S. President Donald Trump. On the campaign trail and since returning to office, Trump has claimed the city has been taken over by Venezuelan gang members, an assertion local citizens and leaders dispute.

NY Fed report says Americans pay for almost all of Trump's tariffs

Americans are shouldering almost all of President Donald Trump's import tax surge, a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Thursday. The bank said 90% of the tariffs imposed by the president on imported goods are borne by American consumers and companies. The report pushes back against the Trump administration's argument that the levies are paid by foreigners.

US Senate blocks Homeland Security funding, raising likelihood of shutdown

The U.S. Senate on Thursday blocked legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security past a Friday deadline, as Democrats pressed to rein in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The 52-47 vote, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill, raises the likelihood the embattled agency would face a shutdown if funding expires on Saturday, though any real-world impact could be minimal.

Guthrie doorbell video delayed by difficult data recovery, but privacy advocates still worry

Finding security camera footage in the high-profile abduction of Nancy Guthrie may have been delayed because it probably was stored as unorganized data on Google's servers, experts told Reuters. But the fact that the data existed at all despite her not having a subscription to its doorbell camera service ⁠has some privacy advocates worried. Nancy Guthrie, mother of ​NBC "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was abducted from her Arizona home on February 1, according to law enforcement officials. Although the home has a Google Nest doorbell camera installed, officials initially said no footage of the incident ⁠existed because Nancy Guthrie lacked a subscription, which is required if users want to store video data from the device for more than a few days.

Senior US health official Oz invited Epstein to Valentine's Day party, documents show

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, emailed an invitation to a Valentine's Day party in 2016 to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, U.S. Justice Department documents show. The Justice Department has released millions of Epstein-related files over the past few weeks to comply with an act of Congress passed on a bipartisan basis. The files have revealed new details of Epstein's ties to prominent people in politics, finance, business and academia.

FBI increasing reward for information in Guthrie case to $100,000, releases new photos

The FBI said on Thursday it was increasing the reward for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of TV news anchor Savannah Guthrie, ⁠to $100,000 from $50,000. The agency also released new visuals, including photos of a backpack the suspect could be seen wearing in video footage, and an updated description of the suspect.

Wall Street regulator to restore some jobs after cuts, chair says

Wall Street's top regulator is working to restore some of its workforce following last year's deep cuts at the behest of the White House, the agency's chief told Congress on Thursday. "We have gaps in different divisions, so we will fill that," Paul Atkins, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said during Senate testimony.

US FDA approves labeling changes to menopause hormone therapies

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it has approved labeling changes to six menopause hormone therapies to remove references to risks of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and probable dementia. The FDA had initiated the removal of the strictest "black box" warnings in November in a move to ​boost access to these treatments long shunned by patients and doctors over safety fears.

Trump cannot end deportation protections for South Sudanese nationals, US judge rules

A federal judge on Thursday blocked U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from ending temporary protections from deportation that had allowed hundreds of South Sudanese nationals to live and work in the United States. U.S. District Judge Patti Saris in Boston concluded that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had likely acted unlawfully by providing a "pretextual" reason for terminating South Sudan's Temporary Protected Status designation and not disclosing the real factor motivating her action.

New York tunnel project expects to receive frozen US funding after court order

The commission overseeing the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project ⁠in New York said on Thursday it expected to soon receive $205 million in frozen federal funding after a U.S. appeals court did not undo a lower court order. The funding freeze forced a halt to construction last week, putting 1,000 workers out of work.

US lawmakers accuse Bondi of hiding names of Epstein associates

A Republican U.S. lawmaker on Wednesday accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of concealing the names of powerful associates of the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as she faced questions about the Justice Department's handling of investigative files in a charged hearing before a House of Representatives panel. Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, who helped lead the effort to require the files' release, accused the Justice Department of a "massive failure" to comply with the law as he questioned why billionaire Leslie Wexner's name was redacted in an FBI document listing potential co-conspirators in the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein.

Texas airport shutdown shows troubling FAA-Pentagon disconnect, senators say

U.S. senators on Thursday criticized the ⁠brief shutdown of ​El Paso airport over safety concerns around the use of a military laser-based anti-drone system, saying at a hearing that the incident exposed an unacceptable lack of coordination between the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pentagon. Air travelers in Texas were stranded and medical evacuation flights were disrupted late on Tuesday, the FAA abruptly said it was shutting down the airport for 10 days, an unprecedented action involving a single airport. After about eight hours, the agency reversed course and lifted the shutdown early on Wednesday.

Investigators fan out in search of Nancy Guthrie, analyze discarded glove

Sheriff's deputies and FBI agents fanned out along highways, vacant lots and remote dwellings of southern Arizona on Wednesday, combing the desert landscape for clues to the fate of U.S. television journalist Savannah Guthrie's abducted elderly mother. As the search for 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie stretched into its 11th day, a law enforcement official briefed on the case told Reuters that investigators were running forensic tests on a newly discovered black latex glove, looking for fingerprints and possible DNA samples.

Factbox-A timeline of Trump's Minnesota immigration crackdown

White House border czar Tom Homan announced on Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to end an immigration-enforcement surge in Minnesota, drawing down thousands of federal agents whose presence provoked tumultuous protests for weeks. Here's a timeline of events in the operation:

Cartel drones become flashpoint between US and Mexico

The chaotic closure of the El Paso airport overnight Tuesday, which U.S. authorities initially blamed on an incursion by a Mexican cartel drone, brought into sharp focus the growing use of unmanned aircraft by ⁠crime groups and the crackling tensions between the countries over how to deal with it. Over the past year U.S. security officials have increasingly expressed concern about the use of drones by Mexican cartels, which mostly employ crudely adapted versions of off-the-shelf models to drop drug packages or surveil trafficking routes. There have also been cases, in parts of Mexico further away from the U.S. border, of cartels using the remotely controlled aircraft to drop explosives in deadly attacks.

Trump putting an end to deportation surge in Minnesota, border czar says

U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to end his unprecedented and hotly protested deportation surge in Minnesota, White House border czar Tom Homan said on Thursday, with many immigration enforcement agents ⁠set to return to their home states over the next week. Under Operation Metro Surge, Trump, a Republican, had deployed about 3,000 armed immigration agents by late January to deport migrants in Minnesota. He has touted it as the ⁠largest deportation operation in U.S. history, and it came over the objections and condemnations of Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, and local people who filled the streets of the state's biggest cities in protest, sometimes by the thousands.

Republican to oppose Trump nominee for senior diplomatic post over remarks on Israel, Jews

President Donald Trump's pick to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations hit a major stumbling block on Thursday when a Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he would oppose the appointment. Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah said he did not believe Jeremy Carl is the right person to represent the country's best interests at international organizations. The position manages the U.S. relationship with international organizations including the United Nations.

Trump's Justice Department antitrust head Gail Slater stepping down

The Trump administration's head of the Justice Department's antitrust division said Thursday she is stepping down less than a year after being appointed by President Donald Trump. Gail Slater was confirmed in March to head the division, which enforces laws against illegal monopolies and anticompetitive business behavior. She said on X it was "with great sadness and abiding hope" that she was ‌leaving on Thursday. "It was indeed the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role," she added.

RFK Jr's vaccine agenda faces Boston judge ‌who has handed Trump setbacks

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s sweeping efforts to upend U.S. immunization policies are set to go before a federal judge in Boston who already has drawn President Donald Trump's ire for impeding his administration's policies on multiple fronts. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy on Friday is due to hold a hearing in a legal challenge by medical groups that ​assert that Kennedy and the agencies he oversees are unlawfully reshaping federal policies in ways that will increase barriers to getting vaccinated, fuel distrust in shots and lower immunization rates.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)