US Domestic News Roundup: Judge reinstates New York presidential primary canceled by state; U.S. may require masks at airports in changes to limit coronavirus and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Trump renews partisan pandemic commentary as Texas moves to further ease shutdown

President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Democrats of hoping his coronavirus response fails "so they can win the election," as the Republican governor of Texas moved to further relax business shutdowns aimed at quelling the pandemic. Trump's latest partisan commentary on the public health crisis and resulting economic meltdown engulfing his presidency came hours before he visited a face-mask factory in Arizona, where he defied infection-control guidelines by not wearing a mask himself.

Judge reinstates New York presidential primary canceled by state

A U.S. judge has reinstated a presidential primary canceled last week by New York state, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, over concerns that voting would have been an unnecessary risk. Former Vice President Joe Biden is already the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, which led Douglas Kellner, a co-chair of the New York Board of Elections, to say the New York primary was "unnecessary and frivolous."

U.S. may require masks at airports in changes to limit coronavirus

The lead U.S. airport security agency is weighing the possibility of requiring masks or face coverings for passengers who pass through checkpoints, according to a U.S. official and two people familiar with the deliberations. The move is part of a broader rethinking of how to limit the spread of the new coronavirus during air travel, an effort that could bring some of the most significant changes to the industry since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Five-year-old stopped on U.S. highway wanted to buy Lamborghini, police say

A trooper stopping a car with a suspected "impaired driver" on a U.S. highway on Monday was bemused to find a 5-year-old in the driver's seat, the Utah Highway Patrol tweeted. After seeing a vehicle driving slowly and weaving in the left lane of the Interstate 15 freeway, the trooper turned on his siren, and the driver neatly pulled over to the side of the road.

Trump tours new face-mask factory in Arizona but does not wear one

Without wearing a face-covering himself, President Donald Trump toured a new medical mask factory in Arizona on Tuesday, taking a rare trip out of Washington to visit a state he hopes to win in the November election even as Americans avoid travel to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Touching down in Phoenix in midafternoon, Trump visited a Honeywell International Inc factory making N95 face masks for healthcare workers. The facility was rushed into service in less than five weeks because of a shortage of the protective equipment and is producing face masks for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

U.S. Supreme Court hears Obamacare contraception mandate dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear a bid by President Donald Trump's administration to implement federal rules allowing employers to obtain religious exemptions from an Obamacare requirement that health insurance that they provide to employees covers women's birth control. At issue is a challenge by the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the administration's 2018 rule that permits broad religious and moral exemptions to the contraception mandate of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, and expands accommodations already allowed.

U.S. Senate to consider Trump pick for powerful D.C. court

U.S. Senators on Wednesday will consider whether to confirm a judge nominated by President Donald Trump for an influential federal appeals court in Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a confirmation hearing for Justin Walker, 37, who would sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit if approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.

Illinois county to probe earlier deaths from heart attacks, pneumonia for COVID-19

Health officials in the U.S. state of Illinois' Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago, will probe deaths involving heart attacks and pneumonia for indications of COVID-19 as far back as November, a county spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Chicago recorded its first death from the coronavirus on March 16 but the medical examiner's office from Cook County is planning to review case records from earlier deaths for COVID-19 signs, Cook County spokeswoman Natalia Derevyanny told Reuters in an emailed statement.

U.S. graduates turn regalia into PPE: Wear the cap, donate the gown

In this year's mostly virtual commencement ceremonies, thousands of American graduates are adorning their mortarboards with the slogan "Gowns 4 Good" after donating their gowns to healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic to use as personal protective equipment. Gowns 4 Good is the name of a charity started three weeks ago by Nathaniel Moore, a front-line physician assistant in Burlington, Vermont, who is asking graduates to donate their gowns to more than 75,000 front-line responders and others who have registered for the regalia on Gowns4Good.net.

Ousted U.S. whistleblower says Trump health official played down coronavirus threat

The ousted director of a U.S. agency responsible for developing drugs to fight the coronavirus pandemic filed a whistleblower's complaint on Tuesday accusing President Donald Trump's administration of retaliating when he raised concerns. Rick Bright says in the complaint filed with a government watchdog that he warned about the virus in January and was met with hostility from Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and other high-ranking officials in the agency.