US News Roundup: Biden farms for crucial votes in Trump Country

Trump and Biden to barnstorm across Midwest in final stretch of campaign President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will barnstorm across battleground states in the Midwest where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded anew, as they head into the final weekend before Tuesday's Election Day. Trump is scheduled to campaign on Friday in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Biden has planned stops in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Iowa.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden farms for crucial votes in Trump Country

By planting a sign in early October supporting Joe Biden on a country road near her Minnesota dairy farm, Meg Stuedemann initially stood out from her neighbors. The 54-year-old, who runs Derrydale Farm in Belle Plaine with her husband, supports the former vice president, a Democrat, for president because of his pledges to combat climate change and promote renewable energy.

Why the U.S. military would welcome a decisive 2020 election win

Politics aside, there is one outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election that could bring some relief to Pentagon planners: a clear-cut victory. By either candidate. In the months preceding the election on Tuesday, U.S. military officials have been forced to contemplate the possible fallout from a contested election, including protests like those in June over racial injustice that brought the National Guard to the streets.

U.S. faces record surge of coronavirus cases as election looms

A record surge of coronavirus cases in the United States is pushing hospitals to the brink of capacity and killing up to 1,000 people a day, the latest figures show, with much of the country's attention focused on Tuesday's presidential election. The United States broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections on Thursday, reporting at least 91,248 new cases, as 21 states reported their highest daily number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients since the pandemic started, according to a Reuters tally of publicly reported data.

Mother of U.S. teenager in Wisconsin shootings to testify at extradition hearing

Lawyers for the teenager accused of fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third are planning to elicit testimony from his mother and four experts in a bid to prevent his extradition to Wisconsin at a court hearing on Friday. Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide and five other criminal counts related to the shootings, which occurred on Aug. 25 in Kenosha, Wisconsin amid civil unrest sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Two popular state governors put West in play for Senate Democrats

A pair of popular two-term state governors have put Democrats within striking range of winning control of the U.S. Senate after Tuesday's election, and with better than a bare 50-seat majority. Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Montana Governor Steve Bullock, who both ran for president before jumping into the Senate campaign, could complete a Western sweep of Republican-held Senate seats, along with fellow Democrat Mark Kelly in Arizona.

Democrats count on independents to hold Montana governor's mansion

Democrat Mike Cooney's recent ad in his race to become governor of Montana shows the white-haired 66-year-old rocking out on a drum set, wryly bemoaning having given up his "dream job" to become a public servant. Aides hope the ad, along with a hefty schedule of to door-to-door campaigning - in gloves and a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic - will pull the Lt. Governor over the finish line in a Republican-leaning state that Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2016.

As election looms, U.S. authorities seek to separate bluster from threats

When former special agent Tom O'Connor held a training session for new recruits this month at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Virginia headquarters, he turned to a key example to underscore the threat of domestic extremist attacks: the October 2018 mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooting, which killed 11 worshippers making it the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history, came a little more than a week before congressional elections.

Trump and Biden to barnstorm across Midwest in final stretch of campaign

President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will barnstorm across battleground states in the Midwest where the coronavirus pandemic has exploded anew, as they head into the final weekend before Tuesday's Election Day. Trump is scheduled to campaign on Friday in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Biden has planned stops in Wisconsin and Minnesota as well as Iowa.

Factbox: Donald Trump's legacy - six policy takeaways

Saying he knew best what ailed America and often governing by executive order, President Donald Trump dismantled or disrupted multilateral pacts, overhauled tax and immigration systems and, with the help of Senate Republicans, reshaped the judiciary. Trump's actions may be undone in many areas over time, but win or lose, his legacy will endure in the federal courts where his conservative lifetime appointees will influence every aspect of American life for decades.

Two arrested with explosives in van during Philadelphia protests: police

Two men have been charged with explosives offenses over a suspected plot to use civil unrest over the police shooting of a Black man as cover to rob cash machines, Pennsylvania state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. The driver and passenger of a van were arrested on Wednesday with dynamite, a propane tank torch, a Taser and tools including electric drills, bolt cutters and machetes, Shapiro said in a statement late on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies.)