Reuters US Domestic News Summary

New York state may move colleges with COVID-19 spikes to remote learning: Cuomo New York will require kindergarten through 12th grade schools to disclose the number of students and staff testing positive for COVID-19 and may force colleges with more than 100 cases to switch to remote learning, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. How a 'blue shift' in U.S. mail ballots might set off Election Week chaos

When polls closed in Arizona's U.S. Senate race in November 2018, initial results from in-person voting showed Republican Martha McSally in the lead. Her advantage evaporated in the days that followed with the tallying of postal ballots. "Electoral corruption - call for a new election?" President Donald Trump posted on Twitter at the time. His suggestion had no effect, and McSally conceded to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema six days after Election Day. Rochester, New York, police chief resigns in wake of Daniel Prude's death

Rochester, New York's police chief abruptly resigned on Tuesday along with his command staff, saying there had been a "mischaracterization and politicization" of his actions following the death of Daniel Prude in police custody. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren told a City Council meeting that she had not asked Chief La’Ron Singletary to resign, though she said there was "information that was brought to light today that I have not previously seen before." She did not elaborate. Raging wildfires destroy Washington town, roar through California, Oregon

Uncontrolled wildfires driven by high winds and unprecedented temperatures raged across the U.S. West on Tuesday, incinerating the Washington town of Malden and threatening communities in Oregon and California. Firefighters and emergency responders searched on Tuesday for residents of tiny Malden, about 300 miles (480 km) east of Seattle, a day after a firestorm destroyed 80% of its homes, along with the fire station, post office, city hall and library. New York state may move colleges with COVID-19 spikes to remote learning: Cuomo

New York will require kindergarten through 12th grade schools to disclose the number of students and staff testing positive for COVID-19 and may force colleges with more than 100 cases to switch to remote learning, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday. Cuomo said the regulations would provide a check on the procedures put in place by colleges and give parents transparency about testing at elementary through high schools. After Trump comments, top Army general defends military's leaders

A day after President Donald Trump accused the U.S. military brass of wanting to fight wars to keep weapons makers happy, the Army's top general said on Tuesday leaders of the armed forces would recommend sending troops into combat only when it is in American national security interests or as a last resort. Asked about Trump's Monday criticism of Pentagon leaders, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General James McConville declined to comment directly on it, saying the military should remain out of politics, especially close to an election. Northrop Grumman wins $13.3 billion missile replacement contract

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp said on Tuesday it was awarded a $13.3 billion contract by the U.S. Air Force to modernize the country's intercontinental ballistic missile system. The contract comes as the U.S. military embarks on a costly modernization of its aging atomic weapons. Trump's ex-lawyer Cohen links Falwell’s endorsement in 2016 to suppression of racy photos

In his book released today, Michael Cohen, the former fixer for U.S. President Donald Trump, ties for the first time the 2016 presidential endorsement of Trump by American evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr to Cohen’s own role in helping to keep racy “personal” photographs of the Falwells from becoming public. As Reuters reported last year, the Falwells enlisted Cohen to keep “a bunch of photographs, personal photographs” from becoming public, Cohen said in a recording, made surreptitiously by comedian Tom Arnold. “I actually have one of the photos,” he said, without going into specifics. “It’s terrible.” Senate aims for Thursday vote on scaled-down coronavirus aid bill

The U.S. Senate later this week aims to vote on a drastically scaled-back Republican coronavirus aid bill, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday, despite opposition from Democrats who are needed for any measure to be enacted into law. The bill, which some senior Republican aides described as a $300 billion package that was reduced from the $1 trillion McConnell advocated in July, would face a vote on Thursday. Judge voids Trump 'joint employer' rule that U.S. states called anti-labor

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a Trump administration rule that narrowed the definition of "joint employer," and which the attorneys general of 17 states and Washington, D.C. said would eliminate important labor protections for workers. U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said the rule was "arbitrary and capricious" because the Department of Labor failed to justify it or account for its costs to workers, which the states estimated at more than $1 billion annually. COVID-19 cases rise in U.S. Midwest and Northeast, deaths fall for third week

Several states in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast have seen new COVID-19 cases increase for two weeks in a row, though nationally both new infections and deaths last week remained on a downward trend, a Reuters analysis showed. The United States reported more than 287,000 new cases in the week ended Sept. 6, down 1.4% from the previous week and marking the seventh straight week of declines. More than 5,800 people died from COVID-19 last week, the third week in a row that the death rate has fallen.