US Domestic News Roundup: Biden brings empathy to storm-battered Texas, security official lays out state's mistakes; Electric firm Griddy loses access to Texas grid, customers shifted to rivals and more

"Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be." FBI pinpoints suspect in probe of U.S. Capitol policeman's death: NYT The FBI has pinpointed a suspect in its investigation into the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported on Friday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden brings empathy to storm-battered Texas, security official lays out the state's mistakes

U.S. President Joe Biden met with volunteers at a food bank, toured a health centre and visited an emergency operations facility on Friday to assess recovery efforts from a severe Texas winter storm while an aide blamed the state government for being unprepared. Biden and his wife Jill Biden landed in Houston where he met Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner to discuss the recovery from last week's storm, which caused serious damage to homes and businesses, left millions without power or clean water for days, and killed at least two dozen.

Electric firm Griddy loses access to Texas grid, customers shifted to rivals

Texas's grid operator on Friday shut Griddy Energy LLC's access to the state's power network for unpaid bills and shifted its 10,000 customers to other utilities, as new signs of a financial crisis rose after a state-wide blackout. Griddy was the power marketer that sold consumers electricity at wholesale rates, which rose to $9,000 per megawatt-hour as cold weather struck the state last week. Unable to cope with demand, utilities cut power to 4.3 million residents as temperatures fell below freezing.

Biden White House asks 'Trump who?' ahead of speech to conservatives

President Joe Biden's White House has made it clear it plans to ignore Donald Trump's speech on Sunday to a conservative conference in Florida, where the former president is expected to go on the attack against his successor. "Our focus is certainly not on what President Trump is saying" at the Conservative Political Action Conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.

Biden scores legislative win as House passes $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan

President Joe Biden scored his first legislative win as the House of Representatives passed his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package early Saturday, though Democrats faced challenges to their hopes of using the bill to raise the minimum wage. Democrats who control the chamber passed the sweeping measure by a mostly party-line vote of 219 to 212 and sent it on to the Senate, where Democrats planned a legislative maneuver to allow them to pass it without the support of Republicans.

U.S. Capitol riot suspect disavows far-right group, but loses bid for release

A leader of the far-right Oath Keepers group accused of helping lead the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters lost her bid to be released from jail, despite disavowing the group during a Friday court hearing. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied Jessica Watkins's request to be released while the criminal case against her unfolds.

U.S. says more than 300 people charged to date over Capitol riots

The U.S. Justice Department has charged more than 300 people with taking part in the deadly storming of the Capitol by former President Donald Trump's supporters, and at least 280 have been arrested, Acting Deputy Attorney General John Carlin told reporters on Friday. "The investigation into those responsible is moving at a speed and scale that's unprecedented, and rightly so," he said. "Those responsible must be held to account, and they will be."

FBI pinpoints suspect in probe of U.S. Capitol policeman's death: NYT

The FBI has pinpointed a suspect in its investigation into the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported on Friday. The Times, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials briefed on the inquiry, said investigators have zeroed in on an individual seen in video footage of the riot who attacked several officers with bear spray, including Brian Sicknick, the policeman who died.

"Things are tenuous," U.S. CDC says as downward trend in COVID-19 cases stalls

The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases may be stalling, a development she described as concerning while urging that safeguards to fight the virus remain in place. Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters the number of cases had been increasing for the past three days compared to the prior week and that declines in hospitalizations and deaths were also "potentially leveling off at still a very high number."

Donald Trump's niece blasts his 'chutzpah' toward her fraud lawsuit

Donald Trump's niece accused him on Friday of trying to dodge accountability for defrauding her out of a multimillion-dollar inheritance by claiming she took too long to sue. Lawyers for Mary Trump made the accusation in a New York state court in Manhattan, where the 55-year-old psychologist is suing the former president, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and his late brother Robert's estate.

White supremacist sentenced to nearly 20 years in plot to bomb Colorado synagogue

An avowed white supremacist was sentenced on Friday to 19-1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty months ago to a federal hate-crimes case stemming from a botched plot to bomb a historic Colorado synagogue in 2019. Richard Holzer, 28, appeared in a federal courtroom in Denver for sentencing that capped an undercover FBI investigation of a plan to blow up Temple Emanuel in Pueblo, Colorado, the second-oldest synagogue in the state.