Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Wisconsin says Foxconn short of 2019 jobs pledge, misses out on tax credits A Wisconsin factory hailed by President Donald Trump as proof he was reviving U.S. manufacturing did not create enough jobs in 2019 to earn its owner Foxconn Technology Group tax credits, the state said on Monday, the second year it has missed its targets.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. After frying chicken for over 100 years, Kansas restaurant is shut by pandemic

Mark Martin's family restaurant weathered two world wars, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, serving up heaping plates of hand-battered fried chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn to a devoted clientele. But it could not survive the pandemic. The restaurant, nestled by the highway in Abilene, Kansas, closed permanently on Sept. 25, after struggling to break even amid shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. Trump's Supreme Court nominee to face tough scrutiny from Senate Democrats

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday will face the first of two days of direct questioning from senators, as Democrats try to make the case that her confirmation would threaten healthcare for millions of Americans. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing presents Barrett with a chance to respond to Democratic lawmakers who have been unified in opposing her primarily on what they say would be her role in undermining the Obamacare healthcare law and its protection for patients with pre-existing conditions. Trump, Biden head to Pennsylvania and Florida as campaigns focus on swing states

President Donald Trump on Tuesday will travel to Pennsylvania for his second campaign rally since his bout with COVID-19, while Democratic rival Joe Biden is heading to Florida as the fight for the White House focuses on two of the biggest battleground states. Trump returned to the campaign trail on Monday night in Florida for the first time since disclosing he had the coronavirus, throwing out protective masks to supporters but not wearing one himself as he talked about his recovery. Court reinstates Texas governor's order limiting ballot drop sites to one per county

A federal appeals court reinstated an order from Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott that limits absentee ballot drop-off sites to only one per county, regardless of population or size, despite opposition from Democrats and voting rights advocates. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday put on hold a lower court ruling that had blocked Abbott's order from taking effect, finding it would not hinder Texans from exercising their right to vote. J&J pauses coronavirus vaccine trials due to unexplained illness

Johnson & Johnson has paused clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine candidate due to an unexplained illness in a study participant, delaying one of the highest profile efforts to contain the global pandemic. The move comes around a month after AstraZeneca also suspended trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine - which uses a similar technology - due to a participant falling ill. Desperate Americans hit by pandemic beg Congress, Trump to pass economic relief bill

Sylvia Padilla spent last Thursday checking food pantries in Lubbock, Texas for groceries to feed herself, her daughter and three-year-old grandson. Some places were closed, others had nothing available. Outside the shuttered St. John's United Methodist Church, Padilla, 50, recounted her struggle to survive during the economic disaster that the novel coronavirus pandemic had dumped upon her, choking words out through tears of fear and frustration. Ghislaine Maxwell to urge U.S. appeals court to keep damaging deposition secret

Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, will urge a federal appeals court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling she says jeopardizes her ability to defend against criminal charges she enabled Epstein's sexual abuse of girls. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review a judge's order to unseal sworn testimony related to Epstein, including a April 2016 deposition from Maxwell and a deposition by an Epstein accuser. How poor regions lose out because of U.S. census undercounts

Getting an accurate count of America’s population has proven difficult in the 2020 Census as the coronavirus pandemic has hampered voluntary responses and forced officials to scale back door-knocking efforts. The administration of President Donald Trump has placed other hurdles on the path to an accurate count. Its attempt to add a question about citizenship to the census earlier this year likely discouraged undocumented immigrants from filling out the survey, even though the administration's effort failed, demographics experts say. Local officials nationwide worry about the impact of undercounts on their communities. Wisconsin says Foxconn short of 2019 jobs pledge, misses out on tax credits

A Wisconsin factory hailed by President Donald Trump as proof he was reviving U.S. manufacturing did not create enough jobs in 2019 to earn its owner Foxconn Technology Group tax credits, the state said on Monday, the second year it has missed its targets. In a letter to the Taiwan-based company's Vice Chairman Jay Lee, Wisconsin’s economic development agency said Foxconn was a long way away from building the large TV screens it had proposed in 2017, when it promised to eventually create 13,000 jobs in the state. Trump tests negative for COVID-19, is not infectious: White House physician

U.S. President Donald Trump has tested negative for COVID-19 and he is not infectious to others, the White House physician said on Monday, 10 days after Trump announced he had contracted the coronavirus. In a memo released by the White House just hours before Trump was due to resume holding campaign rallies, Dr. Sean Conley said the president had tested negative on consecutive days using an Abbott Laboratories BinaxNOW antigen card.