US Domestic News Roundup: Pfizer signs $5.3 billion COVID-19 pill deal with U.S. govt; Jury in Rittenhouse murder trial to deliberate for third day in Wisconsin court and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Pfizer signs $5.3 billion COVID-19 pill deal with U.S. govt

Pfizer Inc has signed a $5.29 billion deal with the U.S. government to deliver 10 million courses of its COVID-19 oral antiviral drug starting this year, the drugmaker said on Thursday. The oral drug could be a promising new weapon in the fight against the pandemic, as it can be taken as an early at-home treatment to help prevent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

Jury in Rittenhouse murder trial to deliberate for third day in Wisconsin court

Jurors in the Wisconsin murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse will deliberate for a third day on Thursday, picking up after they reviewed a series of videos of the teenager killing two men and wounding a third during racial justice protests last year. Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and attempted homicide in the wounding of Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, during a chaotic night of protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 25, 2020.

Amid calls for clemency, Oklahoma set to execute Julius Jones

Oklahoma is set to deploy a contested three-drug cocktail on Thursday to execute Julius Jones, who has maintained his innocence in the 22-year-old murder he was convicted of and whose case has attracted the support of celebrities and anti-death penalty activists. Jones' last hope for clemency rests with Republican Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt who has yet to rule on a recommendation on a 3-1 vote by the state's Pardon and Parole Board earlier this month that his sentence be commuted to life in prison.

Judge sentences U.S. Capitol rioter 'QAnon Shaman' to over three years in prison

A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the U.S. Capitol rioter known as the "QAnon Shaman" for his horned headdress to 41 months in prison for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 attack by followers of then-President Donald Trump. Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to impose a longer 51-month sentence on Jacob Chansley, who pleaded guilty in September to obstructing an official proceeding when he and thousands of others stormed the building to try to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election.

Manhattan D.A. will move to exonerate two men convicted of killing Malcolm X

Two men convicted of killing Black activist and civil rights advocate Malcolm X in 1965 will be exonerated, the Manhattan district attorney's office said on Wednesday, saying it will move to "vacate the wrongful convictions." It would be an official acknowledgment of errors made in the case.

Ghislaine Maxwell sex crimes trial highlights conditions at Brooklyn jail

When Ghislaine Maxwell leaves Manhattan federal court at the end of each day of her upcoming sex abuse trial, the British socialite will return to a Brooklyn jail cell that she says is plagued by vermin and the scent of raw sewage. Since her July 2020 arrest on charges of grooming underage girls for now-deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, Maxwell has been held in isolation at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), a jail where, according to several defense attorneys, conditions are substandard.

Former Trump adviser Bannon pleads not guilty to obstructing Jan. 6 congressional probe

Former President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Steve Bannon on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to criminal charges that he defied a congressional subpoena from a U.S. House panel investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to court documents. Bannon, who made his initial appearance in federal court on Monday, was indicted last week by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of Congress.

U.S. Catholic bishops pass communion document without direct rebuke of Biden

U.S. Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday reaffirmed their stance that Catholics who defy church teaching without repenting should refrain from the sacrament of Holy Communion, but did not directly rebuke politicians for supporting abortion rights as some conservatives had hoped. The matter of communion eligibility has ignited fierce debate within the church over whether politicians like U.S. President Joe Biden, who support abortion rights, should be able to receive the sacrament, which is a central tradition for the faith.

Judge to decide on racial slur allegedly uttered by murder suspect in Arbery case

A Georgia judge will decide on Thursday whether a jury can hear from Travis McMichael about a racial slur officials say he uttered as Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, lay dying from shotgun blasts fired by McMichael last year. Travis McMichael began testifying in his own defense on Wednesday, taking the stand even though it opened him up to questioning by prosecutors who have said they might ask him about evidence he had "racial animus" against Black people.

U.S. House censures Republican Gosar for posting violent video

The U.S. House of Representatives censured one of its members for the first time in over a decade on Wednesday, rebuking a Republican over an anime video that depicted him killing progressive Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and swinging two swords at President Joe Biden. After the 223-207 largely party-line vote in the Democratic-controlled House, Representative Paul Gosar was called to the stand in the well of the chamber to hear his censure and to be stripped of two committee assignments. The move drew just two votes of support from Republicans, who largely portrayed the Democrats' action as partisan politics.

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