Reuters US Domestic News Summary

A grand jury of New Yorkers is expected to decide within days whether to bring charges against the former president for his role in a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Denver police search for student accused of shooting two faculty members Police were searching on Wednesday for a Denver high school student who shot and wounded two faculty members as they were patting him down for weapons as part of a "safety plan" devised for the youth based on previous behavioral issues, officials said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Florida moves to expand ban on sexual orientation, gender identity teaching

Florida is looking to expand its ban on teaching young children about sexual orientation and gender identity issues to include all students in its public schools under a new rule set for a vote by the state Board of Education next month. The proposed rule is the latest move by the administration of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to seek his party's 2024 nomination for president, to limit or prohibit instruction on topics conservatives consider inappropriate for the state's classrooms.

Trump porn star hush-money grand jury takes Wednesday off -source

Another day passed on Wednesday without an indictment against former President Donald Trump, who had forecast he would be arrested on Tuesday in a Manhattan probe of alleged illegal hush-money payments he made to porn star Stormy Daniels. A Manhattan grand jury did not meet as had been expected on Wednesday, a law enforcement source said, although it was unclear why that was or how much longer the grand jury would take to conclude its work.

Biden team eyes Delaware for 2024 campaign HQ - sources

U.S. President Joe Biden's team is leaning toward basing his 2024 re-election campaign in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, and is considering at least three people to serve as his campaign manager, Democratic sources familiar with the matters said. Biden, who has said he intends to run for re-election but has yet to make a formal announcement, travels regularly on weekends to Wilmington, making it a natural place for political work outside of the White House in Washington.

U.S. Senate Commerce chair seeks quick rail safety action

The chair of the Senate Commerce Committee said on Wednesday she would push for quick passage of rail safety legislation after a Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that sparked a fire and released over a million gallons of hazardous materials and pollutants into the environment. Senate Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said she wants the committee to debate and approve rail safety legislation in April. Senators questioned Norfolk Southern Chief Executive Alan Shaw for the second time this month and he backed calls for rail safety reform but did not endorse a bipartisan bill.

Trump hush-money charges would bring 'zombie case' back to life

Manhattan has started and stopped its investigation into Donald Trump's hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels so many times that it has come to be known as a "zombie case" like the mythical character who returns from the dead. A grand jury of New Yorkers is expected to decide within days whether to bring charges against the former president for his role in a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Denver police search for student accused of shooting two faculty members

Police were searching on Wednesday for a Denver high school student who shot and wounded two faculty members as they were patting him down for weapons as part of a "safety plan" devised for the youth based on previous behavioral issues, officials said. The East High School student, identified by police as 17-year-old Austin Lyle, fled the shooting scene on foot immediately after Wednesday's violence, which unfolded just before 10 a.m. local time (1600 GMT).

Tens of thousands without power in California as latest storm lashes state

Tens of thousands of storm-weary Californians were without power and under evacuation warnings on Wednesday as the latest storm packing wind-blown rain and snow threatened to bring more flooding to the rain-soaked state. The "atmospheric river" storm could dump more than an additional 1 inch (3 cm) of rain throughout the day in parts of the already-saturated Southern and Central California region, which has been hit hard by a relentless string of storms that began in late December.

U.S. flies migrants caught at Canada border to Texas in deterrence effort

U.S. authorities have been flying migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Canada border to Texas as part of a deterrence effort to tackle a rise in crossings, according to authorities, flight records and a Reuters witness. U.S. Border Patrol has quietly transported about 100 migrants this month on two charter flights from Plattsburgh, New York, near the border with Canada, to the Texas cities of Harlingen and El Paso.

California lawmaker introduces bill to ban caste discrimination in state

A bill to ban caste discrimination was introduced in the California Senate on Wednesday by a Democratic lawmaker, which, if passed, could make California the first U.S. state to outlaw the practice, a problem for the state's substantial South Asian diaspora. The bill was introduced and authored by state Senator Aisha Wahab, an Afghan American Democrat, and comes weeks after Seattle became the first U.S. city to outlaw caste discrimination after a city council vote and Toronto's school board became the first in Canada to recognize that caste discrimination existed in the city's schools.

U.S. employers should be careful in drafting severance pacts, labor board warns

A recent U.S. labor board ruling limiting what employers can include in severance agreements is a reminder that companies must be careful not to ask workers to sign away their rights, the agency's top prosecutor said on Wednesday. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in a memo to agency staff said the February decision prohibits agreements that restrict workers' ability to file lawsuits or communicate with the board, unions and the media. The decision also applies retroactively, Abruzzo said, meaning agreements offered to workers before the NLRB decided last month's case could still be deemed illegal.