Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Political wrangling, controversy mark re-opening of U.S. states

Governors of about half a dozen U.S. states pushed ahead on Tuesday with plans to partially reopen for business despite warnings by some health officials that doing so could trigger a new surge in coronavirus cases. The easing of sweeping restrictions in Georgia, South Carolina and other mostly Southern U.S. states follows protests against rules imposed during the pandemic that shut down businesses and largely confined residents to their homes. Seven confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to Wisconsin's April elections

At least seven people contracted the coronavirus during Wisconsin's primary election on April 7, Milwaukee health officials said on Tuesday, confirming fears that holding in-person voting during the health crisis put people at risk. The seven cases include six voters and one poll worker in Milwaukee, the state's largest city, where nearly 200 voting locations were pared back to five and there were hours-long lines to cast ballots, the office of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik confirmed. Trump to sign executive order on immigration on Wednesday

U.S. President Donald Trump, said in a tweet he would sign an executive order later on Wednesday "prohibiting immigration" that he has said would protect U.S. workers amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. As of late Tuesday, some questions remained unanswered as the Trump administration continued to work on the order, which the Republican president has said would temporarily suspend immigration to the United States. How Trump allies have organized and promoted anti-lockdown protests

Republican politicians and individuals affiliated with President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign are organizing or promoting anti-lockdown protests across key electoral battleground states, despite the White House's own cautious guidance on relaxing restrictions, interviews with two dozen people involved show. In Michigan, the organizers of last week's rally against Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order aimed at combating the coronavirus pandemic are involved in the Republican president's re-election effort, a Reuters review of their profiles and interviews with them show. Pelosi says fourth U.S. coronavirus aid bill to pass Thursday

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she expects the House of Representatives to pass Congress' latest coronavirus aid bill on Thursday, paving the way for nearly $500 billion more in economic relief amid the pandemic. Pelosi, in an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday, said House lawmakers were ready to then move on to a fifth effort to continue tackling issues swelling from the nation's outbreak. Trump says U.S. states safely reopening despite warnings of virus resurgence

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that U.S. states are safely starting to reopen businesses, even as some public health officials warned that relaxing restrictions too quickly could trigger a new surge in cases of the coronavirus. His early morning tweet was a show of support for governors in a handful of mostly southern U.S. states who are loosening social distancing guidelines that had shut businesses and largely confined residents to their homes. New York's Cuomo says Trump agrees to help expand coronavirus testing

President Donald Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, two prominent figures in the U.S. coronavirus crisis who are often at odds, emerged from a White House meeting on Tuesday with mostly positive things to say and an apparent deal on testing. Cuomo, a Democrat whose state is the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic with nearly 20,000 deaths, said the Republican president agreed on a plan for doubling New York's coronavirus screening capacity to 40,000 tests per day. First U.S. coronavirus death occurred in early February in California

Health officials in California's Santa Clara County have identified two people who died from the new coronavirus in early and mid-February, making them the earliest known victims of the outbreak in the United States. It was previously thought that the first U.S. death from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, was a man in his 50s who died in Washington state on Feb. 29. Georgia residents torn between desire to return to work and fear of coronavirus resurgence

Rebecca Hardin is tired of stay-at-home restrictions that weeks ago shut down the Atlanta hair salon where she works, but she wondered if an order by the state's governor allowing some businesses to reopen this week was a little premature. Hardin, a 47-year-old hairdresser who also manages Salon Red in Atlanta's Candler Park neighborhood, said she needs to get back to work as soon as possible. Even so, she worried that the state is risking a fresh surge of coronavirus infections and loss of life. Mask fashionistas get creative in the age of coronavirus

In the weeks since the coronavirus pandemic put the world into a tailspin, the humble face mask has evolved into an American fashion statement. Now available in a myriad of styles and patterns, the now-ubiquitious facial covering has quickly replaced the T-shirt as the coolest way for nearly anyone - from firefighters and National Basketball Association fans to punk rocker and cat lovers - to tell the world about what they love. "People are getting creative with these masks. I love the individuality," said Johnny Pisano, a touring musician who has added masks to a line of T-shirts he sells online to his fans. His masks feature an image of Pisano performing his signature stage move - leaping into a split while playing bass guitar.In the United States, 55% of adults reported wearing masks out in public, according to an ABC/Ipsos survey released on April 10.