US News Roundup: Tyson Foods workers to replace some federal inspectors; Outbreak in VP Pence team and more

The decision Monday evening kept in place a Wisconsin policy that mail-in ballots must be in the hands of election officials by the close of polls on Election Day. The decision was issued minutes before the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to confirm Barrett, President Donald Trump's third Supreme Court appointee, giving it a 6-3 conservative majority.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Tyson Foods workers to replace some federal inspectors at U.S. beef plant

Tyson Foods said on Tuesday it plans in January to replace more than a dozen federal inspectors at a large Kansas beef plant with company employees, after getting a U.S. government waiver. Tyson said the changes would improve food safety and efficiency, though some activists worried they could result in less oversight.

Political adviser sparked COVID-19 outbreak on Vice President Pence team: sources

A political adviser to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is suspected of sparking an outbreak of the coronavirus on his team that sidelined a senior official days before the presidential election, according to a current White House official and a former official familiar with the matter. Marty Obst, a political strategist for Pence, was determined by contact tracers from the White House Medical Unit to be the likely origin of the outbreak, the two people said.

U.S. Homeland Security agency faulted for election planning around potential violence

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's watchdog body said on Tuesday that officials at its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had not adequately planned for potential violence at polling places and vote-counting stations. The watchdog's report, issued with a week to go before the Nov. 3, comes as the threat of violence has crept up the national agenda. 

NXIVM sex cult founder Keith Raniere sentenced to 120 years in prison

Keith Raniere, the founder of the cult-like group NXIVM where women were kept on starvation diets, branded with his initials, and ordered to have sex with him, was sentenced on Tuesday to 120 years in prison following his conviction for sex trafficking and other crimes. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, after a hearing where 15 former NXIVM members spoke out against Raniere, 60. Garaufis said "no words can adequately express the lasting pain" Raniere caused his victims.

U.S. EPA approves use of Bayer weed killer for five years

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will allow farmers for the next five years to spray crops with a Bayer AG weed killer whose sales were blocked by a U.S. appeals court in June, Administrator Andrew Wheeler said on Tuesday. XtendiMax, a dicamba-based herbicide that is sprayed on soybeans and cotton genetically engineered to resist it, is known to drift away and damage other crops that are not resistant to it. Texas supreme court says state can limit mail ballot drop-off sites

The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the state's Republican governor may limit drop-off sites for election ballots, in a political win for U.S. President Donald Trump days before the Nov. 3 election. The ruling reverses an appeals court decision on Friday that said Governor Greg Abbott could not limit drop-off sites to one per county.

U.S. Supreme Court's divisions in voting cases put the spotlight on Barrett

Divisions within the U.S. Supreme Court exposed in its decision preventing a deadline extension for mail-in ballots in Wisconsin indicates how new Justice Amy Barrett Coney Barrett could cast a decisive vote in similar disputes as the Nov. 3 election approaches. The decision Monday evening kept in place a Wisconsin policy that mail-in ballots must be in the hands of election officials by the close of polls on Election Day. The decision was issued minutes before the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted to confirm Barrett, President Donald Trump's third Supreme Court appointee, giving it a 6-3 conservative majority.

Biden lead over Trump grows in Michigan, the race is statistically even in North Carolina: Reuters/Ipsos

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's lead over President Donald Trump in Michigan is looking increasingly comfortable but the two remain neck and neck in North Carolina, Reuters/Ipsos opinion polls showed on Tuesday. Reuters/Ipsos is polling likely voters in six states - Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona - that will play critical roles in deciding whether Trump wins a second term in office or if Biden ousts him.

'Baptism by fire' for newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Barrett

Newly confirmed conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett faces a barrage of politically fraught cases in her first days on the job, as the court weighs election disputes and prepares to hear a challenge to the Obamacare healthcare law. The Republican-controlled Senate on Monday pushed through her confirmation over Democratic objections to an appointment so close to the Nov. 3 presidential election. President Donald Trump, who nominated Barrett, has said he expects the court to decide the outcome of the election in which he is being challenged by Democrat Joe Biden.

Philadelphia calls on National Guard after shooting death of Black man sparks unrest

Philadelphia will deploy more police officers and has called for help from the National Guard as it braces for further unrest after the police killing of a Black man armed with a knife, authorities said on Tuesday. Hundreds of protesters took to Philadelphia's streets on Monday after a bystander's video was shared on social media showing two officers shooting 27-year-old Walter Wallace after he did not heed orders to back off and to drop the knife.

(With inputs from agencies.)