Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The nine-minute video, recorded by Eric Stillman's body camera, shows showed the 34-year-old officer chasing and shooting Toledo on March 29 at 2:30 a.m. in Little Village, a working-class neighborhood on the city's West Side with a large population of Mexican Americans. Conservative U.S. House Republicans to form 'America First' caucus Conservative House of Representatives Republicans plan to form an "America First" caucus to promote the policies of ex-President Donald Trump and said on Friday the group would soon release a policy platform.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

'NASA rules,' Musk says as SpaceX wins $2.9 billion moon lander contract

NASA awarded billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to bring astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, the agency said on Friday, picking it over Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. Bezos and Musk - the world's first and third richest people respectively, according to Forbes - were competing to lead humankind's return to the moon for the first time sine 1972.

Chicagoans plan rally for 13-year-old boy killed by policeman

Hundreds of Chicagoans are expected to rally on Friday evening to show solidarity with the family of Adam Toledo, a day after the city released a graphic video of a police officer shooting and killing the 13-year-old boy in an alley two weeks ago. The nine-minute video, recorded by Eric Stillman's body camera, shows showed the 34-year-old officer chasing and shooting Toledo on March 29 at 2:30 a.m. in Little Village, a working-class neighborhood on the city's West Side with a large population of Mexican Americans.

Conservative U.S. House Republicans to form 'America First' caucus

Conservative House of Representatives Republicans plan to form an "America First" caucus to promote the policies of ex-President Donald Trump and said on Friday the group would soon release a policy platform. The platform promotes "a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions" and advocates for infrastructure with aesthetic value that "befits the progeny of European architecture," Punchbowl News reported on Friday.

U.S. parents begin to ask: Should my child get a COVID-19 shot?

(Reuters) - Tristen Sweeten, a 34-year-old nurse in Utah, hopes her three children will receive Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine through its pediatric clinical trial. The sooner the better, she said, for their safety and the greater goal of ending the pandemic. Angie Ankoma, a 45-year-old Black mother of four who works in philanthropy in Rhode Island, believes trials must include diverse populations and participated in one for a COVID-19 vaccine herself. Volunteering her kids for possible inclusion in Moderna's trial was a tougher call.

Biden keeps U.S. refugee cap at Trump-era 15,000 - for now

President Joe Biden signed an order on Friday limiting U.S. refugee admissions this year to the historically low 15,000 cap set under his predecessor Donald Trump, shelving a plan to raise it to 62,500 and drawing the ire of refugee advocates and some Democratic lawmakers. But as criticism mounted, the White House issued a statement saying Biden would set a "final, increased refugee cap" for the remainder of this fiscal year by May 15.

Members of Sikh community among victims in Indianapolis Fedex shooting - group

Members of the Sikh religious community are "among those" dead and wounded in a Thursday night shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis that claimed the lives of eight workers, a community group said on Friday. "The Sikh Coalition is deeply saddened to learn that Sikh community members are among those injured and killed," the New York-based Sikh Coalition group tweeted on Friday. It did not provide any further details on victims.

U.S. preliminary plan on Afghanistan is to remove at least some contractors -Pentagon

The Pentagon said on Friday the preliminary plan on Afghanistan is for at least some contractors to be removed during the United States' military withdrawal from the country. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan starting May 1 to end America's longest war, rejecting calls for them to stay to ensure a peaceful resolution to that nation's grinding internal conflict.

Gunman who killed 8 workers at Indianapolis FedEx site had been detained for mental illness

The 19-year-old gunman who opened fire at a FedEx site in Indianapolis, killing eight workers before taking his own life, was a former employee with a history of mental illness that led to his detention by law enforcement last year, police and FBI officials said on Friday. The incident - the latest in a spate of at least seven deadly mass shootings in the United States over the past month - unfolded at a FedEx operations center near Indianapolis International Airport after 11 p.m. local time on Thursday, police said.

U.S. sues Trump ally Roger Stone, alleging he owes about $2 million in unpaid taxes

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday sued Roger Stone, saying the close ally of former President Donald Trump owes about $2 million in unpaid federal income taxes, according to a court document seen by Reuters. The civil lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleged that Stone and his wife, Nydia, used a commercial entity to "shield their personal income from enforced collection and fund a lavish lifestyle despite owing nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties."

J&J scientists refute idea that COVID-19 vaccine's design linked to clots

Scientists at Johnson & Johnson on Friday refuted an assertion in a major medical journal that the design of their COVID-19 vaccine, which is similar AstraZeneca's, may explain why both have been linked to very rare brain blood clots in some vaccine recipients. The United States earlier this week paused distribution of the J&J vaccine to investigate six cases of a rare brain blood clot known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), accompanied by a low blood platelet count, in U.S. women under age 50, out of about 7 million people who got the shot.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)