Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The plans will be a blow to U.S. miners who had hoped Biden would rely primarily on domestically sourced metals, as his campaign had signaled last autumn, to help fulfill his ambitions for a less carbon-intensive economy. Several reported killed in shooting near Columbus, Ohio At least five people were found dead from a shooting on Monday in West Jefferson, Ohio, a suburb of the state's capital and largest city, Columbus, according to local media.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

After ceasefire, tensions over Mideast still boil on California campus

Lea Toubian was deep into an online discussion with university administrators about the safety of Jewish students when news of a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas was relayed to the group. It left her with some hope that tensions on campus would ease. Now the senior at the University of California, Santa Barbara says she is worried an expected measure this week will reignite divisions at the beachside school, where the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long been a source of discord, driving a wedge between even Democrats like herself and liberal groups on campus.

Alabama governor signs bill that prohibits vaccine passports

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on Monday signed a bill that prohibited private businesses and public institutions from requiring COVID-19 "vaccine passports" to access services or refusing those not inoculated against the coronavirus. "I've signed SB 267! Since the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, both Dr. Scott Harris (state health officer) and I have said that we would not mandate vaccines in the state of Alabama", the governor said in a statement on Monday.

U.S. freeways flattened Black neighborhoods nationwide

Syracuse wasn't the only city where Black residents were displaced by the U.S. freeway-building boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Across the country, local officials saw the proposed interstate system as a convenient way to demolish what they regarded as "slum" neighborhoods near their downtown business districts, historians say. With the federal government picking up 90% of the cost, freeway construction made it easier for politicians and business leaders to pursue their own "urban renewal" projects after residents were evicted.

Can this U.S. city heal racial wounds by busting up its freeway?

For more than 50 years, Interstate 81 has cut through the heart of hard-luck Syracuse, New York, raining vehicle exhaust on its Southside neighborhood, where most residents are Black and poor. Now, New York State wants to replace that elevated stretch of freeway with a street-level boulevard to knit the city's urban grid back together. Construction could begin as soon as next year.

U.S. Senate banking chair plans interest-rate cap bill as he turns up heat on lenders

The Democratic head of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown, is prioritizing legislation that would set a national cap on how much lenders can charge in interest, he told Reuters, as he ramps up pressure on abusive lending practices. Brown hopes to build on his victory this month in repealing a rule introduced under former President Donald Trump's administration that consumer advocates said allowed payday and other high-interest lenders to circumvent state interest rate caps.

A year since George Floyd's murder, Americans reflect on his legacy

Americans on Tuesday will mark the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd beneath a white Minneapolis police officer's knee, which catalyzed the largest U.S. protest movement in decades over police brutality against Black people. In Washington, President Joe Biden will meet privately with members of Floyd's family at the White House, not far from where promised police reform legislation in Floyd's name has stalled in the U.S. Congress.

US Justice Dept appeals order faulting former U.S. Attorney General Barr

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday said in a court filing it would appeal a court decision faulting former U.S. Attorney General William Barr's handling of the 2019 special counsel report on then-President Donald Trump, a move congressional Democrats had opposed. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had given the Justice Department until May 24 to appeal a decision she issued earlier this month that faulted Barr for how he publicly summarized Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 2019 report.

Wall Street bank CEOs to tout COVID relief push, diversity efforts before Congress

Wall Street bank chiefs will tout the role their institutions have played in getting the pandemic-hit U.S. economy back on track when they appear before Congress this week, but they are likely to face tough questions on hot-button social and economic issues. The Senate Banking and House of Representatives Financial Services committees will hear from the chief executives of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo & Co, Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Biden looks abroad for electric vehicle metals, in blow to U.S. miners

U.S. President Joe Biden will rely on ally countries to supply the bulk of the metals needed to build electric vehicles and focus on processing them domestically into battery parts, part of a strategy designed to placate environmentalists, two administration officials with direct knowledge told Reuters. The plans will be a blow to U.S. miners who had hoped Biden would rely primarily on domestically sourced metals, as his campaign had signaled last autumn, to help fulfill his ambitions for a less carbon-intensive economy.

Several reported killed in shooting near Columbus, Ohio

At least five people were found dead from a shooting on Monday in West Jefferson, Ohio, a suburb of the state's capital and largest city, Columbus, according to local media. Two Columbus-based television stations said at least three people were found shot to death in a building, with more victims dead outside at the same location, though a precise number of casualties was not immediately confirmed.

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