US Domestic News Roundup: U.S. COVID-19 death toll hits 700,000; Trump asks U.S. judge to force Twitter to restart his account and more

The country has reported an average of more than 2,000 deaths per day over the past week, which represents about 60% of the peak in fatalities in January, a Reuters analysis of public health data showed. Trump asks U.S. judge to force Twitter to restart his account Former U.S. President Donald Trump asked a federal judge in Florida on Friday to ask Twitter to restore his account, which the company removed in January citing a risk of incitement of violence.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. COVID-19 death toll hits 700,000

The United States surpassed 700,000 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, as officials roll out booster doses of vaccines to protect the elderly and people working in high-risk professions. The country has reported an average of more than 2,000 deaths per day over the past week, which represents about 60% of the peak in fatalities in January, a Reuters analysis of public health data showed.

Trump asks U.S. judge to force Twitter to restart his account

Former U.S. President Donald Trump asked a federal judge in Florida on Friday to ask Twitter to restore his account, which the company removed in January citing a risk of incitement of violence. Trump filed a request for preliminary injunction against Twitter in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, arguing the social media company was "coerced" by members of the U.S. Congress to suspend his account.

Texas law sparks hundreds of U.S. protests against abortion restrictions

Women marched by the thousands on Saturday on the Supreme Court, the Texas Capitol and cities across the United States to protest increasing state restrictions on abortion and advocate for maintaining a constitutional right to the procedure. The 660 demonstrations around the United States were largely sparked by a Texas law that bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The measure, which went into effect last month, is the most restrictive in the country.

As redistricting gets under way, Democrats' prospects looking brighter

When Republican-controlled states such as Texas and Florida gained U.S. House of Representative seats thanks to 2020 census data showing their populations are booming, it appeared Democrats were in for another bleak redistricting cycle. But the census also found that most of the nation's growth is in urban areas and among minorities. Coupled with the shift of suburban white voters toward Democrats during the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, the party's prospects for the next decade are looking less dire.

U.S. Supreme Court's Sotomayor allows New York school vaccine mandate

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday refused to block New York City's requirement that its public school teachers and employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. Sotomayor denied a challenge by four teachers and teaching assistants who sought to halt enforcement of the vaccine mandate while their lawsuit challenging the policy continues in lower courts. Public school system workers were ordered to be vaccinated by 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Friday or face being placed on unpaid leave until September 2022.

Fed vice chair traded into stocks on eve of Powell pandemic statement- Bloomberg

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida traded between $1 million and $5 million out of a bond fund into stock funds one day before Chair Jerome Powell issued a statement indicating potential policy action due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Clarida's trades were described in his 2020 financial disclosures, showing the shifting of funds out of a Pimco bond fund on Feb. 27, 2020, and buying the Pimco StocksPlus Fund and the iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor exchange-traded fund in similar dollar ranges, on the same day, the report said. 

Exclusive-Some Afghan evacuees leaving military bases in U.S. before resettlement

Something unexpected is happening at U.S. military bases hosting Afghan evacuees: Many hundreds of them are simply leaving before receiving U.S. resettlement services, two sources familiar with the data told Reuters. The number of "independent departures," which top 700 and could be higher, has not been previously reported. But the phenomenon is raising alarms among immigration advocates concerned about the risks to Afghans who give up on what is now an open-ended, complex and completely voluntary resettlement process.

Biden says he'll 'work like hell' to pass infrastructure, social spending bills

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday he was going to "work like hell" to get both an infrastructure bill and a multi-trillion-dollar social spending bill passed through Congress and plans to travel more to bolster support with Americans. Biden visited the Capitol on Friday to try to end a fight between moderates and left-leaning progressives in his Democratic Party that has threatened the two bills that make up the core of his domestic agenda.

In political crosshairs, U.S. Supreme Court weighs abortion and guns

Just before midnight on Sept. 1, the debate over whether the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority will dramatically change life in America took on a new ferocity when the justices let a near-total ban on abortion in Texas take effect. The intense scrutiny of the court will only increase when the justices - six conservatives and three liberals - open their new nine-month term on Monday. They have taken up cases that could enable them to overturn abortion rights established in a landmark ruling 48 years ago and also expand gun rights - two cherished goals of American conservatives.

A few skeptical U.S. hospital workers choose dismissal over vaccine

Jennifer Bridges loved her job as a nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she worked for eight years, but she chose to get fired rather than inoculated against COVID-19, believing that the vaccine was more of a threat than the deadly virus. Bridges was among about 150 employees who were fired or resigned rather than comply with the requirement at Methodist, which was the country's first large health system to mandate vaccinations. About 25,000 other employees at the hospital system complied.

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