US News Roundup: These states could decide the U.S. presidential election; Democrats favored to take control of U.S. Senate, but results could be delayed and more

Due to a surge in mail voting amid the coronavirus pandemic - as well as the states' varying rules for when ballots can be counted - the results may not be known on Tuesday's Election Day. LGBT and religious rights collide in U.S. Supreme Court foster-care case In a case pitting LGBT rights against religious rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear arguments in a dispute over the city of Philadelphia's refusal to place children for foster care with a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that excludes same-sex couples from serving as foster parents.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

These states could decide the U.S. presidential election

The U.S. presidential election will be decided by about a dozen states that could swing to either President Donald Trump, a Republican, or Democratic challenger Joe Biden. These states will play a critical role in delivering the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House. Due to a surge in mail voting amid the coronavirus pandemic - as well as the states' varying rules for when ballots can be counted - the results may not be known on Tuesday's Election Day.

LGBT and religious rights collide in U.S. Supreme Court foster-care case

In a case pitting LGBT rights against religious rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear arguments in a dispute over the city of Philadelphia's refusal to place children for foster care with a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that excludes same-sex couples from serving as foster parents. It will be the first major case to be heard by President Donald Trump's conservative appointee Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed to the court last week and participated in oral arguments for the first time on Monday.

Anxious Americans brace for Election Day with faces masked, stores boarded up

Millions of Americans will cast ballots on Tuesday in an Election Day unlike any other, braving the threat of COVID-19 and the potential for violence and intimidation after one of the most polarizing presidential races in U.S. history. In and around polling places across the country, reminders of a 2020 election year shaped by pandemic, civil unrest and bruising political partisanship will greet voters, although more than 90 million ballots have been already submitted in an unprecedented wave of early voting.

Democrats favored to take control of U.S. Senate, but results could be delayed

Democrats are favored to emerge from 14 hotly contested U.S. Senate races with full control of Congress in Tuesday's election, but final results from at least five of those contests may not be available for days, and in some cases, months. With public disapproval of President Donald Trump weighing on Republicans across the country, voters will decide whether to end the political careers of embattled Republican senators including Trump ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and moderate Susan Collins of Maine among others.

Big push under way for Latino turnout in battleground Arizona

When a brass band, mariachi musicians and a folk dancer wearing a dress embroidered TU VOTO CUENTA -- "your vote counts" -- paraded through her West Phoenix neighborhood, Marizol Moreno, who had never before voted in a presidential election, came outside in her pajamas to watch. Moreno, who was born in California, had never been interested in politics, feeling both parties worked for people wealthier than her family. "I feel like my vote won't count," she said. But after her husband, father and several family members got coronavirus, she thought she needed to get more involved.

After tumultuous campaign, an uneasy American electorate heads to the polls

Americans head to the polls on Tuesday to conclude a bitter and divisive U.S. election campaign, as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to overcome Democratic rival Joe Biden's lead in opinion polls to win four more years in the White House. The voting caps a campaign dominated by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people in the United States and put millions out of work, and shaken by nationwide protests over racial injustice against Black Americans.

U.S. experts to review Biogen drug that could be first new Alzheimer's treatment in decades

U.S. health experts this week will decide whether to recommend approval for Biogen Inc's Alzheimer's drug, which could become the first new treatment for the mind-wasting disease in decades even as serious questions persist over whether data show if it works. In a field littered with unrelenting failure, Biogen believes in aducanumab it has the first drug that can treat an underlying cause, and therefore slow progression, of Alzheimer's. But its path to approval has been anything but smooth or assured.

U.S. TV networks prepare to deliver results of an unprecedented election

U.S. television news networks are preparing for an election night like no other, as a divided nation chooses the next president amid a global pandemic, with more voters casting their ballots early and by mail than ever before. In this year's contest between Republican U.S. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democrat, TV networks are facing heightened pressure to report election results accurately and without unwarranted speculation.

As Americans head to the polls, COVID-19's long shadow looms

For many Americans, this is the coronavirus election. The pandemic has killed about 230,000 people in the country and destroyed millions of jobs, defining the last year of Donald Trump's presidency and becoming a rallying cry for his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.

California voters to decide fate of gig economy workers

Trend-setting California votes on the future of the gig economy on Tuesday, deciding whether to back a ballot proposal by Uber and its allies that would cement app-based food delivery and ride-hail drivers' status as independent contractors, not employees. The measure, known as Proposition 22, marks the culmination of years of legal and legislative wrangling over a business model that has introduced millions of people to the convenience of ordering food or a ride with the push of a button.