Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The Bidens will meet with first responders, state and local officials and people impacted by the recent storms, and survey recovery efforts, the White House said in a statement. Republican Senator Rand Paul blocks bid to ban Chinese-owned TikTok U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked a bid to fast-track a ban of popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which more than 150 million Americans use, citing concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Biden on Friday to visit Mississippi town devastated by tornado

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will visit Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on Friday after the town was devastated by a tornado last week that killed 26 people, the White House said. The Bidens will meet with first responders, state and local officials and people impacted by the recent storms, and survey recovery efforts, the White House said in a statement.

Republican Senator Rand Paul blocks bid to ban Chinese-owned TikTok

U.S. Republican Senator Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked a bid to fast-track a ban of popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which more than 150 million Americans use, citing concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies. "I think we should beware of those who use fear to coax Americans to relinquish our liberties," Paul said on the Senate floor. "Every accusation of data gathering that has been attributed to TikTok could also be attributed to domestic big tech companies."

Democrats' 2024 convention dilemma: Chicago tradition or Atlanta's 'new Georgia'

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced presidential candidate Joe Biden to accept the Democratic Party's nomination inside a largely empty arena in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Biden's 2024 race will be different, aides and Democratic party officials say. Democrats are gearing up for a live coronation of their nominee in the summer of 2024.

Bipartisan bill aims to increase penalties for US child labor violations

U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bipartisan bill that would raise penalties on employers who violate child labor laws, in the wake of reporting and federal investigations that found a growing number of companies employing underage migrant workers in dangerous factory settings. The bill, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, follows a similar Democrat-led effort proposed this month in the Senate. The Department of Labor has also taken steps to increase enforcement of child labor violations and called on Congress to boost penalties.

Early 2024 salvos foreshadow unpredictable Trump vs DeSantis fight

The battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has for months been seen as a two-man race: a fight between Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a rising national star long viewed as the only candidate capable of defeating the former Republican president. Yet missteps by DeSantis on foreign policy and a doubling down by Trump on politically violent rhetoric in recent days – the type of grievance politics that has alienated some previously loyal Trump supporters – has underscored the volatility of a race still in its earliest stages, party strategists and donors say.

N.Y. grand jury probing Trump to break for most of April -reports

The New York grand jury probing former President Donald Trump's alleged role in a hush-money payment to a porn star is not expected to reconvene on the matter for most of April as it takes a pre-scheduled break, U.S. media reported on Wednesday, citing sources. The grand jury has been hearing evidence from the Manhattan District Attorney's office about possible crimes related to a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

U.S. prosecutors move to drop Libor case against ex-SocGen bankers

U.S. criminal charges should be dropped against two former Societe Generale SA bankers for allegedly trying to rig the London interbank offered rate, prosecutors told a New York court on Wednesday. Muriel Bescond, a former head of Societe Generale SA's Treasury desk in Paris, and her boss Danielle Sindzingre, who was SocGen's global head of treasury, were charged in 2017 with preparing inaccurate Libor submissions in 2010 and 2011.

Former Maryland mayor indicted by grand jury on child pornography charges

A Maryland grand jury has indicted a former mayor of College Park on 80 counts of possession of child pornography and intent to distribute, prosecutors in Prince George's County said on Wednesday. A representative of the former mayor, Patrick Wojahn, could not immediately be reached. His lawyer told the New York Times earlier this month after Wojahn's arrest that he was fully cooperating with law enforcement.

US Senate backs repeal of 'zombie' Iraq war authorizations, 20 years after invasion

The U.S. Senate easily passed legislation on Wednesday to repeal two decades-old authorizations for past wars in Iraq, as Congress pushes to reassert its role in deciding whether to send troops into combat 20 years after the last invasion. The Democratic-led Senate voted 66-30 in favor of legislation to repeal the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, a bipartisan majority well above the 51 votes needed to pass the measure that would formally end the Gulf and Iraq wars.

Nashville mourns victims of school shooting, governor speaks of 'need for hope'

First lady Jill Biden visited Nashville on Wednesday to join a memorial vigil for the three children and three adults shot to death this week at a Christian day school, including two educators who were close friends of the Tennessee governor's wife. The outdoor ceremony was scheduled to start about 90 minutes before sunset, at a public park in the heart of Nashville, the state capital and Tennessee's largest city, several miles from the scene of Monday's massacre.

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