Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Trump says he would wear a mask in close quarter: Fox Business U.S. President Donald Trump, who has avoided being seen in public wearing a face covering, said on Wednesday he would wear a mask if he were in close quarters with other people in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump says he would wear a mask in close quarter: Fox Business

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has avoided being seen in public wearing a face covering, said on Wednesday he would wear a mask if he were in close quarters with other people in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. "I'm all for masks," Trump told Fox Business Network. "If I were in a tight situation with people I would absolutely" wear a mask, he added. American anxiety over coronavirus spikes along with record high cases

Anxiety over the coronavirus pandemic is rising among Americans along with an alarming acceleration of new COVID-19 cases, with concern about the health crisis reaching the highest level in more than a month, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Wednesday. As states in the south and west report daily records in the number of new infections, several governors - many of them Republicans who took heat from health experts for opening up without meeting government safety benchmarks - have moved to reverse or pause their orders, reclosing bars, gyms and water parks. Over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in Colombia-U.S. joint operation

Colombia and the United States seized over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine worth $286 million in a joint operation, the Colombian government said on Wednesday. The narcotics were mixed with a construction product and were being transported between the Colombian port city of Cartagena and Panama, the government said in a statement. Seattle police to clear out 'lawless and brutal' protest zone

Seattle police are working to clear out a protest zone in the city that has become "lawless and brutal" after weeks of violence, including four shootings and the deaths of two teenagers, the city's police chief said on Wednesday. The move came after Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan declared the gathering of people in and around the police department's East Precinct and Cal Anderson Park an "unlawful assembly", the city's police chief, Carmen Best, said in a statement. Exclusive: Hundreds of George W. Bush administration officials to back Biden, group says

Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said, the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump. The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race, three organizers of the group told Reuters. Bush was the country's 43rd president. L.A. school board cuts police department's budget

The Los Angeles board of education has slashed funding for the police department that patrols the nation's second-largest school district, joining other U.S. school systems that have made similar reforms after George Floyd's death. The board, which oversees 600,000 students, voted 4-3 on Tuesday night to cut the budget of the Los Angeles Schools Police Department (LASPD) by $25 million, a 35% reduction, and use the money to pay for staff who serve the needs of Black students and a task force to examine school safety. California rolls back reopening, steps up enforcement as coronavirus surges

California dramatically rolled back efforts to reopen its economy on Wednesday, banning indoor restaurant dining in much of the state, closing bars and stepping up enforcement of social distancing and other measures as COVID-19 infections surge. Indoor activities at restaurants, movie theaters, museums and other facilities will be banned in 19 counties where 70% of the population lives for at least three weeks, Governor Gavin Newsom said. Republicans weigh mandatory COVID-19 testing at convention: sources

The Republican National Committee plans to make coronavirus testing available to all attendees of the party’s convention in August and is discussing whether to make the testing mandatory, according to two people familiar with the matter. The RNC is scrambling to put together plans to hold a largely in-person convention in Florida and North Carolina amid mounting concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus that has so far killed more than 127,000 Americans. U.S. tech chief executives expected to testify before House panel in late July

The chief executives of the four U.S. tech giants -- Amazon.com, Facebook, Alphabet's Google and Apple -- will testify before the U.S. Congress in late July as part of an ongoing antitrust probe into the companies, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Apple's Tim Cook will appear as part of the probe by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, the sources said. Boston officials vote to remove statue of Lincoln and enslaved Black man

Boston officials have voted to remove "The Emancipation Group" statue depicting Abraham Lincoln and an enslaved Black man from a city square, saying the depiction reduced the role of African Americans in the abolition movement. The unanimous decision by the Boston Art Commission late on Tuesday followed a month of nationwide protests against racism that led to the toppling of Confederate monuments honoring figures from the pro-slavery side in the American Civil War.