Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. White House panel: Build new tech infrastructure for future jobs

A White House advisory panel on Tuesday will call for the government and private industry to work together to build new technological infrastructure to support future jobs and provide the underpinnings critical to a solid economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, an official briefed on the plans said. The White House American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which is co-chaired by White House adviser Ivanka Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and includes Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Marillyn Hewson and IBM Executive Chairman Ginni Rometty, plans to call for "an unprecedented investment in digital infrastructure." Crowded field vies to replace Oregon's only Republican congressman

The only Republican member of the U.S. Congress from Oregon is retiring, setting off a mad scramble to replace him that may be largely resolved in a Tuesday primary election. In Oregon's second congressional district, 11 Republicans and five Democrats are competing for their party's nomination to succeed Representative Greg Walden, a moderate Republican who has served the area since 1999. Exclusive: CDC plans sweeping COVID-19 antibody study in 25 metropolitan areas

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans a nationwide study of up to 325,000 people to track how the new coronavirus is spreading across the country into next year and beyond, a CDC spokeswoman and researchers conducting the effort told Reuters. The CDC study, expected to launch in June or July, will test samples from blood donors in 25 metropolitan areas for antibodies created when the immune system fights the coronavirus, said Dr. Michael Busch, director of the nonprofit Vitalant Research Institute. Crucial Latino voters seek more attention from Biden

Like many Puerto Ricans, Wilson Rivera holds President Donald Trump responsible for what he sees as the U.S. government’s inadequate response to Hurricane Maria, the 2017 storm that devastated the island and forced Rivera to relocate to central Florida. “He has to go,” he said of Trump. Trump awards deal to company to manufacture COVID-19 drugs in U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has awarded a $354 million contract to U.S.-based Phlow Corp to manufacture drugs being tested or used to fight the new coronavirus as well as some medicines that are in shortage. Virginia-based Phlow Corp said it had started making pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms for over a dozen essential medicines to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19-related illnesses. U.S. states press on with reopenings, markets boosted by virus vaccine potential

Nearly all 50 U.S. states were at some stage of reopening on Monday as authorities eased restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the new coronavirus and stock markets opened higher on optimism about a potential vaccine trial. Markets were also encouraged by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks over the weekend on a gradual economic recovery, and his affirmation that more monetary stimulus was on the way if required. Powell, Mnuchin to face Senate grilling on U.S. coronavirus response

The U.S. government's handling of its massive economic response to the coronavirus pandemic will come under scrutiny on Tuesday as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testify before the Senate Banking Committee. Senators are expected to grill Mnuchin and Powell about actions still needed to keep the world's largest economy afloat and about missteps in rolling out some $3 trillion in aid so far. (See graphic https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-SAFETY-NET/rlgpdwwjjvo/index.html showing how the money moved.) U.S. guitar maker PRS resumes hand-building instruments - at a safe distance

Maryland's decision to reopen non-essential businesses came just in time for high-end guitar maker PRS Guitars, which kept 374 workers on its payroll during an eight-week shutdown that has gouged a deep hole in revenues, executives said. About 90 PRS employees came back to a very different workplace on Monday, their work stations spaced six feet apart, with one-way "traffic lanes" drawn on the factory floor and a 55-gallon drum of hand sanitizer on hand. Coronavirus deadliest in New York City's black and Latino neighborhoods, data shows

Some New York City neighborhoods have seen death rates from the novel coronavirus nearly 15 times higher than others, according to data released by New York City's health department on Monday, showing the disproportionate toll taken on poor communities. The data shows for the first time a breakdown on the number of deaths in each of the city's more than 60 ZIP codes. The highest death rate was seen on the edge of Brooklyn in a neighborhood dominated by a large subsidized-housing development called Starrett City. Trump threatens to halt WHO funding, review U.S. membership

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to permanently halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) if it did not commit to improvements within 30 days, and to reconsider his country's membership of the agency. Trump suspended U.S. contributions to the WHO last month, accusing it of promoting Chinese "disinformation" about the novel coronavirus outbreak, although WHO officials denied the accusation and China said it was transparent and open.