US Domestic News Roundup: Gig companies' push for state-level worker laws faces divided labor movement; Former Virginia Governor McAuliffe wins Democratic primary in closely watched governor's race and more

Brandenburg, 46, was also ordered to pay about $83,800 in compensation to the hospital at which he worked, according to a statement https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwi/pr/hospital-pharmacist-sentenced-attempt-spoil-hundreds-covid-vaccine-doses on Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin. U.S. forming expert groups on safely lifting global travel restrictions The Biden administration is forming expert working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to determine how best to safely restart travel after 15 months of pandemic restrictions, a White House official said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Gig companies' push for state-level worker laws faces divided labor movement

Uber and other gig economy companies are trying a new approach to ending their battles with unions, and getting ahead of possible federal regulation that could upend their business based on classifying workers as independent contractors. In New York, for example, gig economy companies are working with several unions including the Machinists and Transport Workers Union to strike a compromise that would allow drivers and food delivery workers to organize in a union and negotiate minimum pay and other benefits without being reclassified as employees.

Former Virginia Governor McAuliffe wins Democratic primary in closely watched governor's race

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe easily won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday for the state's gubernatorial election, securing his spot in a race that could signal where voters stand after the divisive 2020 presidential contest. McAuliffe, a 64-year-old moderate who served as governor from 2014 to 2018, was leading four other candidates, with more than 60 percent of the vote with 2,063 precincts of 2,584 reporting. Major news organizations projected him the winner shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m.

U.S. Senate passes sweeping bill to address China tech threat

The U.S. Senate voted 68-32 on Tuesday to approve a sweeping package of legislation intended to boost the country's ability to compete with Chinese technology. An indignant China responded to the vote by saying it objected to being cast as an "imaginary" U.S. enemy.

U.S. pharmacist jailed for three years for tampering with COVID-19 vaccines

A Wisconsin pharmacist who pleaded guilty to trying to spoil hundreds of doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine because he was skeptical about them has been jailed for three years, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesay. Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, was also ordered to pay about $83,800 in compensation to the hospital at which he worked, according to a statement https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwi/pr/hospital-pharmacist-sentenced-attempt-spoil-hundreds-covid-vaccine-doses on Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

U.S. forming expert groups on safely lifting global travel restrictions

The Biden administration is forming expert working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to determine how best to safely restart travel after 15 months of pandemic restrictions, a White House official said on Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the administration will not move quickly to lift orders that bar people from much of the world from entering the United States because of the time it will take for the groups to do their work. The White House informed airlines and others in the travel industry about the groups, the official said.

Senator Manchin unmoved by U.S. civil rights leaders' voting rights push

Seven U.S. civil rights leaders met with Senator Joe Manchin to urge the Democrat to drop his opposition to a sweeping election reform bill backed by his party, but the West Virginian emerged from the virtual meeting unmoved. The bill is a Democratic response to a slew of measures making their way through Republican-controlled state legislatures, which voting-rights activists say would limit the ability of some voters to go to the polls.

U.S. to buy about 1.7 million courses of Merck's COVID-19 treatment for $1.2 billion

Merck & Co Inc said on Wednesday the U.S. government has agreed to buy about 1.7 million courses of the company's experimental COVID-19 treatment, molnupiravir, for about $1.2 billion, if it is authorized in the country. Molnupiravir is an experimental antiviral therapy Merck is developing with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics for the treatment of COVID-19 patients who are not hospitalized.

U.S. Vice President Harris pledges to visit U.S. southern border

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday defended herself from Republican critics who criticized her for making her first international trip to Mexico and Guatemala instead of visiting the U.S. border with Mexico, saying she has visited the border and will do so again. After meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City, Harris told reporters she had "been to the border before and will go again."

Gambling habit: nun admits squandering school cash at casinos

A retired California nun has agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges for stealing more than $835,000 from a school to pay for personal expenses including gambling trips, the Justice Department said. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, faces a maximum jail time of 40 years in federal prison for the charges, according to a Tuesday statement https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/nun-who-ran-catholic-school-torrance-will-plead-guilty-federal-charges-after-embezzling from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California.

U.S. investigates disclosure of tax records on rich Americans

The Treasury Department has asked law enforcement authorities to investigate the disclosure of tax records cited in a media report that showed that some of America's richest people paid little to no income taxes, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. U.S. media outlet ProPublica said it obtained "a vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years." The data indicated that billionaires including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk paid no federal income taxes during some years.

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