Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the illness known as COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. EST on Saturday versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/3m662x4) Fauci says 100 million vaccinations in 100 days 'absolutely a doable thing' President-elect Joe Biden's goal of delivering 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the first 100 days of his presidency "is absolutely a doable thing," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Google disputes Texas' suit claiming unfair advertising sales practices

Google said on Sunday that antitrust claims in a Texas lawsuit were "misleading," responding in a blog post as state attorneys general plan suits against the Alphabet Inc unit. In December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint about Google's advertising technology business, in one of several suits alleging that Google abused its dominance of the internet search business or otherwise broke antitrust law. The fight to avert one last execution on Trump's watch

On Thursday evening, Dustin Higgs, 48, waited in a cell on death row at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, his scheduled execution less than 24 hours away. A five-minute drive down the road, members of his legal team sat around a laminated plastic table in the lobby of a no-frills hotel off the interstate. Federal Defender Shawn Nolan sipped beer as he waited for his colleagues in Philadelphia to patch together the four or five points needed for a last-ditch court filing aimed at delaying Higgs’ execution by lethal injection. Parler's website is back online, but app still not in stores

The chief executive of social media platform Parler, popular with American right-wing users but which virtually vanished after the U.S. Capitol riot, posted a brief message on the company's website. Parler's app, however, remains offline. "Hello world, is this thing on?," Matze asked in a message dated Saturday, posted above a note from the company saying the platform would be restored after challenges were resolved. U.S. CDC reports 394,495 deaths from the coronavirus

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sunday reported 23,653,919 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 213,145 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 3,557 to 394,495. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the illness known as COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. EST on Saturday versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/3m662x4) Fauci says 100 million vaccinations in 100 days 'absolutely a doable thing'

President-elect Joe Biden's goal of delivering 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the first 100 days of his presidency "is absolutely a doable thing," Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday. Fauci, speaking on NBC's "Meet The Press", said two new vaccines under development by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson could "very soon" be presented to U.S. regulators for approval, which would increase the pace of vaccinations. "We're weeks away, not months away, for sure," he said. 'It was a non-event': U.S. capitals see few protesters after bracing for violence

Law enforcement officers far outnumbered protesters at state capitol grounds on Sunday, as few Trump supporters who believe the president's false claim that he won the 2020 election turned out for what authorities feared could be violent demonstrations. More than a dozen states activated National Guard troops to help secure their capitol buildings following an FBI warning of armed demonstrations, with right-wing extremists emboldened by the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6. GitHub apologizes for firing Jewish employee who warned of Nazis in U.S. Capitol: TechCrunch

Technology company GitHub has apologized for firing a Jewish employee who cautioned his colleagues about the presence of Nazis in Washington on the day of the assault of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, TechCrunch reported. After a probe found "significant errors of judgment and procedure" in the termination of the employee, GitHub's head of human resources resigned, GitHub Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia said on Sunday. Music producer Phil Spector, convicted of murder, dead at 81

Rock producer Phil Spector, who changed the sound of pop music in the 1960s with his "Wall of Sound" recordings and was convicted of murder for the 2003 murder of a Hollywood actress, has died at age 81 of COVID-19, according to authorities and media reports. Spector produced 20 top 40 hits between 1961 and 1965 and went on to work with the Beatles on "Let It Be," as well as Leonard Cohen, the Righteous Brothers and Ike and Tina Turner. Biden will wait for recommendation on sharing secrets with Trump

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will wait for a recommendation from his intelligence advisers on whether to share classified information with President Donald Trump after the Republican leaves office, Biden's top aide said on Sunday. Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff, made the comment after former principal deputy director of national intelligence, Sue Gordon, wrote an op-ed arguing against sharing such information with Trump once he has left the presidency. U.S. Vice president-elect Harris set to resign Senate seat on Monday

U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California will resign from the Senate on Monday in preparation for her inauguration as Joe Biden's vice president on Wednesday, according to aides familiar with her plans. Governor Gavin Newsom has picked California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the rest of Harris' term, which could include President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial. But it was not immediately clear when he would be seated, an aide said.