Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Fauci says reopening U.S. economy too soon could lead to needless deaths: NYT

A senior U.S. health official set to testify on Tuesday before the U.S. Senate will warn against the risks of reopening the economy too soon, saying it could lead to "needless suffering and death", the New York Times said. The comments came as the United States has recorded more than 1.35 million infections and over 80,000 deaths, according to Reuters' figures, while worldwide the number is nearly 4.2 million infections and more than 285,000 deaths. Top U.S. health officials to testify in Senate on coronavirus, economic reopening

Top U.S. health authorities will testify on Tuesday to a Senate committee looking into plans for reopening the nation's businesses, schools and other sectors of the economy closed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as experts recommend doing so cautiously. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci plans to warn against the risks of reopening the economy too soon, saying states that forge ahead without meeting administration guidelines for declining cases first will risk lives and economic recovery, the New York Times reported. U.S. Supreme Court to hear Trump bid to keep his finances secret

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday hears arguments in a major showdown over presidential powers arising from President Donald Trump's attempts to prevent Democratic-led congressional committees and a New York City prosecutor from getting his financial records. Three months after Trump avoided removal from office in a Senate impeachment trial, Trump's lawyers want the Supreme Court to endorse their expansive view of presidential powers that would severely limit the ability of Congress to conduct oversight of presidents and of prosecutors to investigate them. U.S. auto industry workers return to jobs amid concerns of second virus wave

Factory workers began returning to assembly lines in Michigan on Monday, paving the way to reopen the U.S. auto sector but stoking fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections as strict lockdowns are eased across the country. With millions of Americans out of work and much of the economy at a virtual standstill, a growing number of states are relaxing tough restrictions on commerce and social life put in place to slow the outbreak. Biden warns against coronavirus stimulus corruption

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden warned on Tuesday he would scrutinize any "big company or political insider" who received federal stimulus money they were not supposed to get from the government's trillion-dollar relief package. The presumptive Democratic nominee took aim at Republican President Donald Trump's administration's handling of the stimulus funds after a number of large publicly traded companies with plenty of cash on hand were able to tap into money aimed at helping small businesses ride out the coronavirus lockdown. After surviving wars, pestilence, religions use technology to beat pandemic

Throw a global pandemic at the world's religions, and you get confessions via Skype, virtual seders and recitations of the Koran over Facebook. The world's three leading religions have survived famines, plagues, pestilence and wars. Now, in the 21st century shutdown, New York-area Jewish, Islamic and Christian clerics are turning to technology to help their followers through the coronavirus. Watchdog reports record number of anti-Semitic incidents in U.S. last year

Jews in the United States suffered the largest number of anti-Semitic incidents last year since the Anti-Defamation League began collecting records 40 years ago, the racism watchdog said on Tuesday. The 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2019 in the United States included deadly attacks by gunmen at a California Synagogue and a New Jersey kosher grocery store, and a fatal stabbing at a rabbi's home in New York. In one Florida school district, virtual school is not a virtual vacation

Many U.S. schools have stopped taking attendance since the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online, but one South Florida district has remained committed to the scholastic task, saying it is a way to keep students safe and productive while learning at home. Broward County, outside Miami, has used daily attendance as a tool to quickly find students who were unable to participate in online classes because their households lacked laptops or internet access. Checking attendance has also helped officials identify those children in families particularly hard hit by the pandemic, whether through illness or financial setbacks. Pandemic complicates California election to replace U.S. House member who quit after sex scandal

Democrats will try to hold on to a hotly contested congressional seat in California on Tuesday in a special election that could provide clues about which party Americans believe can better handle the coronavirus epidemic and how they think President Donald Trump is dealing with it. Republicans hope to recapture a seat north of Los Angeles that became vacant after Democrat Katie Hill resigned following a scandal in which intimate photos were published of her online and she faced accusations of sexual relations with her staffers. Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams endorses Biden for U.S. president

Former Georgia state minority leader Stacey Abrams, a possible Democratic vice presidential pick, endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden for U.S. president on Tuesday, citing his stance on climate chance, economic recovery and voting rights. Abrams, a rising Democratic Party star, gained a national profile in her failed bid to become Georgia's governor in 2018 and is a leading voting rights advocate in the southern state.