Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Details on Trump's $200 cards for Medicare users scarce and conflicted The Trump administration's planned distribution of $200 benefit cards to Medicare recipients will take place over the next few months, with not all beneficiaries receiving one before the Nov. 3 presidential election, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump administration proposes allowing new roads in Alaska's Tongass forest

The Trump administration has proposed reopening the Tongass National Forest to road-building, setting the stage for more logging, mining and development in the heart of North America’s largest temperate rainforest. The U.S. Forest Service on Thursday released a final environmental impact statement that said the state of Alaska should be exempt from a 2001 rule that bars new roads in national forests. Test administrator pleads guilty in U.S. college admissions scandal

A former college entrance exam administrator pleaded guilty on Friday to charges that she participated in a vast U.S. fraud and bribery scheme that has resulted in charges against dozens of wealthy parents. Federal prosecutors in Boston said Niki Williams, a former employee of the Houston Independent School District, accepted bribes in exchange for facilitating cheating on ACT and SAT exams. Trump to nominate conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Ginsburg, sources say

President Donald Trump plans on Saturday to name conservative federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, two sources said on Friday. His decision, which comes a week after the liberal icon's death at age 87, sets the stage for what promises to be a bitter confirmation fight in the U.S. Senate, which is controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans. Trump has asked Senate Republicans to confirm his nominee ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. election, when he seeks a second term in office and Democrats aim to seize control of the chamber. Details on Trump's $200 cards for Medicare users scarce and conflicted

The Trump administration's planned distribution of $200 benefit cards to Medicare recipients will take place over the next few months, with not all beneficiaries receiving one before the Nov. 3 presidential election, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said on Friday. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that 33 million Medicare beneficiaries would "soon receive a card in the mail" to help pay for prescription drugs. Nearly 60 million people are enrolled https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2018-mdcr-enroll-ab-1.pdf in Medicare, the U.S. federal health insurance program for older people and the disabled. Special Report: Will your mail ballot count in the U.S. presidential election? It may depend on who's counting and where

Two elderly women in small towns in Wisconsin voted by mail during April’s presidential nominating contests. Both were sheltering in place as coronavirus surged across their state. Each mailed her ballot to the local election office with a note explaining why no witness had signed the envelope, as Wisconsin’s strict voting laws require. The women didn’t want to risk virus exposure, they told Reuters in telephone interviews this month. Tears, push-ups mark historic goodbye for Ginsburg at U.S. Capitol

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of gender equality, made history again on Friday as the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol, in a ceremony marked by soaring music, tears and even push-ups. Ginsburg, a stalwart liberal on the high court since 1993, died last Friday at age 87. Known simply as RBG, the first Jewish woman on the court became an icon to millions of Americans - especially young girls - after a long legal career fighting for equal rights. Oregon governor 'incredibly worried' about violence at Proud Boys rally

Oregon Governor Kate Brown on Friday declared a state of emergency in Portland over the weekend due to risks of violence as thousands of members of what she called "white supremacist groups" such as the Proud Boys hold a rally. Leaders of the self-described "Western chauvinist" Proud Boys called Saturday's rally to "end domestic terrorism" after four months of near daily demonstrations against police violence and racism in Oregon's largest city that have often ended in violence. Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Biden leads Trump nationally, but race much tighter in key states

The U.S. presidential race is much closer than national surveys suggest, according to Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls in battleground states that show Democrat Joe Biden with only a slim lead over President Donald Trump in three highly competitive states and in a dead heat in three others. The online state polls, conducted earlier in September and released this week, found Biden and Trump tied among likely voters in Florida and North Carolina. Biden led by 1 percentage point in Arizona, 3 points in Pennsylvania and 5 points in Wisconsin and Michigan. Lawyer for Breonna Taylor's family calls for release of Kentucky grand jury evidence

A civil rights lawyer representing Breonna Taylor's family on Friday demanded Kentucky's state attorney general release the evidence presented to a grand jury that decided against charging police officers with homicide in her death during a botched raid. "Release the transcripts!" Ben Crump said, leading Taylor's relatives and others in a chant outside the grand jury building and questioning whether Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented the grand jury with enough evidence against the white officers. Flexing financial muscle, Biden swamps Trump on airwaves

Joe Biden's fundraising advantage appears to be translating into an edge on the airwaves, as the Democratic presidential nominee is swamping President Donald Trump with a blitz of television advertising less than 40 days until Election Day. The Biden campaign is spending $45.8 million on television, radio and digital ads in the week from Sept. 22 to Sept. 28, according to figures compiled by the tracking firm Advertising Analytics. That total includes more than $35 million in new ad buys since the start of the week.