Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The five separate lawsuits https://tmsnrt.rs/3BBEdIr, filed in Miami-Dade County, claim the state's ban curtails the clergy members' ability to counsel congregants about abortion in accordance with their faiths, since Florida law prohibits counseling or encouraging a crime. Abortion rights face voter test in Kansas after Roe v.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Florida clergy lawsuits say abortion ban violates religious freedom

Clergy members of five religions sued the state of Florida on Monday over a new law criminalizing most abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying the ban violates their religious freedom rights. The five separate lawsuits https://tmsnrt.rs/3BBEdIr, filed in Miami-Dade County, claim the state's ban curtails the clergy members' ability to counsel congregants about abortion in accordance with their faiths, since Florida law prohibits counseling or encouraging a crime.

Abortion rights face voter test in Kansas after Roe v. Wade reversal

Voters in Kansas will decide on Tuesday whether the state constitution should go on protecting abortion rights in a closely watched referendum that could lead to abortion access being curtailed or banned in America's heartland. The vote is the first statewide electoral test of abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Georgia anti-abortion law allows tax deductions for fetuses

Pregnant women in the U.S. state of Georgia will be able to deduct their fetuses as dependents on their taxes under a 2019 anti-abortion law that a judge allowed to go into effect last month, the state said. The state's tax agency said on Monday that any woman whose fetus has a detectable heartbeat as of July 20, the date of the court ruling, can take a personal tax exemption in the amount of $3,000 for each fetus, if she is carrying more than one.

Fossil fuel side deal for U.S. climate bill slammed by green groups

A deal among U.S. Senate Democrats that would provide faster approvals for fossil fuel projects in exchange for party-line support for a spending bill focused on tackling climate change drew harsh criticism from environmental groups on Tuesday. U.S President Joe Biden and Senate Democratic leaders have agreed to measures speeding fossil fuel permitting, including for the controversial Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline in Appalachia, to secure West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin's backing for a $430 billion spending bill, according to Manchin's office and a summary of the agreement seen by Reuters.

Death toll climbs to 4 in California's largest wildfire this season

Search teams have found two more bodies in an area scorched by a forest fire raging for a fifth day in northern California near the Oregon border, bringing to four the number of lives lost in the state's biggest blaze this year, officials said on Tuesday. The latest two victims were found on Monday at separate homes along a highway that runs through the fire zone in the Klamath National Forest about 300 miles (483 km) north of San Francisco, according to a statement issued by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office.

After unexpected hurdles, military toxic burn pits bill passes U.S. Senate

A bill expanding healthcare coverage for veterans sickened by gases from military toxic burn pits passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night after unexpectedly getting held up by opposition from Republicans last week. The U.S. military used burn pits to dispose of waste on foreign bases until the mid-2010s. Fumes from burning everything from rubber, chemical waste, ammunitions and human feces have caused rare cancers and respiratory illnesses in veterans.

Biden continues to test positive for COVID, his doctor says

U.S. President Joe Biden continued to test positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and will maintain his isolation procedures, but he is feeling well and does not have a fever, his physician said in a memo released by the White House. "The President continues to feel well, though he is experiencing a bit of a return of a loose cough," his physician Kevin O'Connor said. "He remains fever-free and in good spirits."

Alex Jones says he never meant to hurt Sandy Hook parents with hoax claims

U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told a Texas jury on Tuesday that he never intended to hurt parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre when he claimed the shooting was a hoax, saying his comments were taken out of context. Jones, founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, is on trial to determine how much he must pay for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Jones has since acknowledged the shooting took place.

Trump-backed candidates on ballot as voters in five U.S. states go to polls

Donald Trump's effort to play Republican kingmaker faced fresh tests on Tuesday as voters in five states cast ballots in high-profile races for U.S. Congress, governor and other offices ahead of November's midterm elections. In Arizona and Michigan, candidates who embraced the former president's false claims of voter fraud could win the Republican nominations for governor, even as some in their party worry they could be too extreme to defeat Democrats on Nov. 8.

Abortion ban in Idaho faces first U.S. legal challenge since Roe

The United States sued Idaho on Tuesday to block a state law that it said imposes a "near-absolute ban" on abortion, marking its first legal challenge to state abortion laws since the Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Idaho, says the state's abortion ban violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that compels hospitals receiving federal funds to provide emergency medical care.