US Domestic News Roundup: Chauvin verdict weighs heavily on Oscars broadcast; U.S. states, cities await guidelines on spending stimulus and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Chauvin verdict weighs heavily on Oscars broadcast

Following one of the most consequential court cases in recent U.S. history, Hollywood wasted no time in reflecting on the state of race relations and police use of force in Sunday's Academy Awards show. The theme was revisited several more times, injecting politics into a broadcast seen around the world.

U.S. states, cities await guidelines on spending stimulus

U.S. states and local governments are raring to tap billions of dollars coming their way in new federal stimulus funding, but are anxiously awaiting guidance to determine whether items on their wish lists are allowed. U.S. Treasury Department guidance is also expected to clarify states' ability to cut taxes and may address using stimulus money to pay off debt.

If Joe Biden is America's Robin Hood, this is his merry band

Bolstered by popular support, U.S. President Joe Biden plans to take from the rich to give to the poor, aided by advisers keen to address economic disparities and stop companies from avoiding paying taxes. Biden on the campaign trail in 2019 first signaled that he hoped to hike taxes on investment gains paid by the wealthy as a way to fund social programs, in that case, healthcare.

Breaking a barrier, women become U.S. Marines after surviving the 'crucible'

The U.S. Marine recruits, both women and men, patrolled through a mock village that suddenly was struck by simulated machine gunfire and explosions. When the dust cleared, women emerged carrying men across their shoulders, and vice versa, practicing how to extract casualties from the battlefield. Others lifted dummies on a litter as if they were wounded comrades, passing them over a wall, before moving on to sparring in a cage with other recruits and an obstacle course.

For many U.S. college Republicans, time to 'move on' from Trump

When a majority of Cornell University's Republican club voted to endorse President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, many of its moderate members left the group. After Joe Biden won and club leader Weston Barker wrote an op-ed in the school paper urging people to accept the Democrat as the legitimately elected president, pro-Trump members defected.

U.S. Supreme Court weighs conservative groups' bid to conceal donors

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is set to hear arguments in a challenge by two conservative groups to a California requirement that tax-exempt charities disclose to the state the identity of their top financial donors. The nonprofit groups - the Americans for Prosperity Foundation and the Thomas More Law Center - argued that California's policy violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and association. They argued that if the information were to be made public it could lead to harassment or threats to their donors.

U.S. Supreme Court ponders cheerleader's profanity in free speech flap

A Pennsylvania teenager whose profanity-laced outburst on social media got her banished from her high school's cheerleading squad is in the spotlight at the U.S. Supreme Court this week, arguing "I shouldn't have to be afraid to express myself." Brandi Levy, who made her Snapchat post away from school and on a weekend, is at the center of a major case testing the limits of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. The nine justices on Wednesday are set to hear arguments in the Mahanoy Area School District's appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of Levy that found that the First Amendment bars public school officials from regulating off-campus speech.

Louisiana Democrat wins U.S. House seat in special election

Democratic Louisiana State Senator Troy Carter has defeated a challenger from the party's left-wing in a special election to win the U.S. House of Representatives seat vacated by White House adviser Cedric Richmond. Carter won 55% of the vote on Saturday to beat Karen Carter Peterson's 45%, according to unofficial results posted on Louisiana's secretary of state website with all precincts reporting. He will represent a congressional district in the state's southeast that extends from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.

Reinvented Oscars hands 'Nomadland' win on diversity-packed night

"Nomadland," the story of van dwellers in America, won the best picture Oscar and two other Academy Awards on a triumphant night for women that also saw a return to Hollywood glamour after a long pandemic shutdown. In a major upset, Britain's Anthony Hopkins won the best actor trophy for his role as a man battling dementia in "The Father." The Oscar had been widely expected to go to the late Chadwick Boseman for his final film, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."

European Union will let vaccinated Americans visit this summer: official

A top European Union official said Sunday that Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 should be able to travel to Europe by summer, easing existing travel restrictions.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told The New York Times that the union's 27 members would accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved" by the European Medicines Agency. The agency has approved the three vaccines used in the United States.