Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Former prosecutor Harris to target Trump's virus response in U.S. campaign push Kamala Harris joins presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the campaign trail for the second time in two days on Thursday in an appearance that will focus on hammering President Donald Trump's his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Texas, California governors take heat in battle over school reopenings

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday sought to reassure parents he is doing all he can to keep students safe as most schools in the state prepare to reopen next week. But a top adviser to Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden's campaign in Texas blasted Abbott, a Republican, for what he called a lack of planning and funding for safely reopening schools, especially with the statewide coronavirus positivity rate hitting a record 24.5% this week. U.S. rejects Ghislaine Maxwell's complaints about treatment in jail

U.S. prosecutors on Thursday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's claim that she is being treated "worse" than other inmates at the Brooklyn jail where she is being held on charges she facilitated late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of underage girls. In a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, prosecutors also said it was "at best premature" to require they disclose the identities of three alleged victims named in Maxwell's indictment. U.S. Justice Department says Yale illegally discriminates against Asians, whites

The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday accused Yale University of illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants in its undergraduate admissions process in violation of U.S. civil rights law. The findings are the result of a two-year investigation in response to a complaint by Asian-American groups concerning Yale's conduct, the department said in a statement. Tropical Storm Josephine breaks record for Atlantic storms, more likely on the way

Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, hitting the earliest benchmark of a J-named storm on record, another sign the Atlantic hurricane season is more active than usual, forecasters said. "It's the earliest 10th named storm on record. It means we're in a busy time ahead," said Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center. Former prosecutor Harris to target Trump's virus response in U.S. campaign push

Kamala Harris joins presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on the campaign trail for the second time in two days on Thursday in an appearance that will focus on hammering President Donald Trump's his response to the coronavirus pandemic. Biden and Harris will receive a briefing on COVID-19 from public health experts and then deliver speeches in Biden's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Southern California wildfire forces evacuation of hundreds of homes

A California wildfire forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes as it raged largely unchecked through densely forested mountains north of Los Angeles that last burned some 50 to 100 years ago, fire officials said on Thursday. The blaze has scorched some 10,500 acres (4,249 hectares) since erupting Wednesday afternoon near Lake Hughes in the Angeles National Forest. As of Thursday afternoon, it remained at zero percent containment, despite a light morning rain over the area, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Andrew Mitchell said. Top U.S. health official says approval of COVID vaccines unlikely before November

Any potential COVID-19 vaccine backed by the Trump administration's "Operation Warp Speed" program is unlikely to receive a green light from regulators any earlier than November or December, given the time needed for a large-scale clinical trial, the National Institutes of Health director said on Thursday. In a call with reporters, Francis Collins said he thinks testing a vaccine in at least 10,000 people could potentially give enough evidence of safety and efficacy to clear it for wider use. U.S. late-stage vaccine trials launched so far aim to recruit up to 30,000 people. Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen says to reveal president's 'skeletons' in upcoming book

Michael Cohen, U.S. President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, on Thursday promised to show how Trump cheated in the 2016 election with Russian help in an upcoming book titled "Disloyal, A Memoir." "Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything — and I mean anything — to 'win' has always been his business model and way of life," Cohen writes in the book's foreword, which was published online on Thursday. U.S. mayors identify police unions as an obstacle to reform

The U.S. Conference of Mayors took direct aim at powerful police unions on Thursday, calling the collective bargaining agreements they negotiate an obstacle to police reform and the regaining of public trust. That finding in a report could escalate tensions in the national debate over police use of force and racial inequality that burst into nationwide street protests following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump holds up coronavirus aid to block funding for mail-in voting

President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was blocking Democrats' effort to include funds for the U.S. Postal Service and election infrastructure in a new coronavirus relief bill, a bid to block more Americans from voting by mail during the pandemic. Congressional Democrats accused Republican Trump of trying to damage the struggling Postal Service to improve his chances of being re-elected as opinion polls show him trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.