Reuters US Domestic News Summary

U.S. health agency reports 853 new COVID-19 deaths, taking total to 204,033 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 7,059,087 total COVID-19 cases, an increase of 49,871 infections from its previous count, and said the nation's death toll had risen by 853 to 204,033.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Trump frequently paid no federal income taxes in years leading up to presidency: New York Times

President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, after years of reporting heavy losses from his business enterprises to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing tax-return data. In a report that Trump dismissed as "fake news," the Times said the Republican president also paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the previous 15 years through 2017, despite receiving $427.4 million through 2018 from his reality television program and other endorsement and licensing deals. U.S. health agency reports 853 new COVID-19 deaths, taking total to 204,033

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 7,059,087 total COVID-19 cases, an increase of 49,871 infections from its previous count, and said the nation's death toll had risen by 853 to 204,033. The new CDC case tally is as of 4 pm ET (2000 GMT) on Sept. 26 versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/2FWikc8) Police clash with Portland protesters and press; more than 20 arrested

Police clashed with anti-racism protesters and pushed back members of the press in downtown Portland, Oregon into early Sunday morning, making more than 20 arrests. The violence followed a relatively peaceful rally by the right-wing Proud Boys group and counter protests by anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter activists on Saturday. Positive COVID-19 test rates top 25% in some U.S. Midwest states

The number of tests coming back positive for COVID-19 is topping 25% in several states in the U.S. Midwest as cases and hospitalization also surge in the region, according to a Reuters analysis. North Dakota's positive test rate has averaged 30% over the past seven days compared with the prior week. The positivity rate has risen to 26% in South Dakota, up from 17% the previous week, according to the analysis using testing data from The COVID Tracking Project. With classroom time reduced, U.S. college students demand tuition cuts

Full-time students at Chicago's Columbia College spend $14,000 a year for professional, hands-on training in dance, film and music that the school normally offers in studios and classrooms scattered across the city's South Loop and Near South Side. When the coronavirus pandemic led the school to move some coursework online this summer without reducing tuition, many students, including Isaiah Moore, cried foul. From Kennedy-Nixon to Trump-Biden: 60 years of U.S. presidential debates

Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden face off on Tuesday in a televised presidential debate, part of a 60-year-old tradition marked by some of the most memorable moments of modern U.S. political history: - 1960: The first televised debate pitted Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy against Republican Vice President Richard Nixon, who was recovering from a hospital visit and had a 5 o'clock shadow, having refused makeup. The 70 million viewers focused on what they saw, not what they heard. Kennedy won the election. The missing grandparents: families mourn elder generation lost to COVID-19

Mel Solomon loved to sing. He knew the lyrics to entire Broadway musicals and shared them with his granddaughters Zoe and Madeline during their annual summer visits from Brooklyn, New York, to Kansas City, where he was a renowned architect. U.S. Supreme Court nominee Barrett would have final say on recusal calls

Democrats are urging U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett to recuse herself from any election-related cases because of President Donald Trump's comments that he expects the justices to potentially decide the outcome, but there is no way to force her to do so. Although U.S. law requires justices to step aside when there is a conflict of interest or genuine question of bias, it leaves the individual justice to decide whether such a conflict exists. Aside from direct financial and personal conflicts, they rarely do so. Kentucky legislator urges police to drop charges against her and fellow Breonna Taylor protesters

A Kentucky legislator who was arrested during demonstrations over the Breonna Taylor case accused Louisville police of detaining her and about 20 allies on false pretenses on Sunday and called for charges to be dropped. State Representative Attica Scott, the only Black woman in the Kentucky legislature, was arrested along with her 19-year-old daughter, prominent activist Shameka Parrish-Wright and others on Thursday during protests against a grand jury decision on Wednesday to clear police of homicide charges in the shooting death of Taylor. Swiftly spreading wildfire erupts in California's Napa Valley wine country

A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of northern California's Napa Valley wine country and spread across more than 1,000 acres (404 hectares), forcing the evacuation of several communities and a hospital, authorities said. The blaze, dubbed the Glass Fire, broke out east of Calistoga, about 75 miles (120 km) north of San Francisco, and raced toward the adjacent towns of Deer Park and St. Helena, with flames advancing to within a mile of the Adventist Health St. Helena hospital.

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