US Domestic News Roundup: Biden visits tornado-hit Mississippi town; Judge blocks Tennessee law restricting drag performances in public and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

US Justice Dept appeals Obamacare ruling blocking coverage mandate- White House

The U.S. Justice Department is appealing a decision by a Texas judge that blocked Obamacare's mandate that health insurance plans cover preventive care at no cost to patients, the White House said on Friday. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday blocked the federal government from enforcing requirements that insurance plans cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP).

Trump to face criminal charges in Stormy Daniels hush money probe

Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

Trump's expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, as the Republican mounts a bid to regain the presidency, could further inflame divisions in the United States. A New York judge in a document unsealed on Friday authorized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to disclose that Trump had been indicted, but it was not clear when the specific charges would be made public.

Boy Scouts insurers seek to delay $2.5 billion abuse deal, bankruptcy exit

A group of Boy Scouts' insurers on Friday asked a judge to delay the youth group's exit from bankruptcy to allow them more time to appeal a record-setting $2.46 billion settlement of sexual abuse claims. More than a dozen insurers, including Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, have said the Boy Scouts' bankruptcy settlement puts them on the hook for paying "thousands of invalid and questionable claims."

Judge blocks Tennessee law restricting drag performances in public

A federal judge in Memphis, Tennessee, on Friday temporarily blocked a law restricting drag performances in public from going into effect, saying it was likely "vague and overly-broad" in its restriction of speech. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, in February, had signed the bill passed by the state's legislature that was meant to go into effect on Saturday. The bill aimed to restrict drag performances in public or in front of children, putting the state at the forefront of a Republican-led effort to limit drag in at least 15 states in recent months.

Biden visits tornado-hit Mississippi town

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday consoled families of victims and toured scenes of devastation in a Mississippi town after storms last week killed 26 people and destroyed homes and property in Mississippi and Alabama. Biden and first lady Jill Biden drove through Rolling Fork, Friday afternoon, viewing the damage left by a powerful tornado that reduced many of the community's 400 houses to unrecognizable debris.

Minnesota's 21-year age minimum for handgun carry permits struck down

A federal judge on Friday struck down a Minnesota law requiring a person to be at least 21 before obtaining a permit to carry a handgun in public, finding it violated the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The order by U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez in St. Paul is the latest in a series of legal defeats for state gun control measures following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year expanding gun rights nationwide.

Meet Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over Trump's criminal case

When Donald Trump walks into Justice Juan Merchan's courtroom on Tuesday to face criminal charges, it will be a first for a former U.S. president but familiar territory for the veteran judge who serves on Manhattan's criminal court. Merchan last year oversaw a criminal trial of the Trump Organization that ended with the real estate company convicted by a jury of tax fraud and hit with fines, while one of its longtime executives, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty and was sent to jail.

Little Rock picks up the pieces after deadly tornado pummels central Arkansas

Arkansas first responders will sift through rubble on Saturday, searching for more possible victims after a fierce tornado blasted through the Little Rock area, killing at least two people and injuring dozens. The twister sheared roofs and walls from many buildings, flipped over vehicles and downed trees and power lines, officials said.

US Republicans defend Trump by attacking criminal justice system

Many Republicans in the U.S. Congress have responded to Donald Trump's looming Tuesday arraignment by characterizing the criminal justice system as corrupt, in accusations that parallel their earlier broadsides against the nation's elections after the former president's 2020 defeat. Trump and his allies in the House of Representatives and Senate have used rhetoric that echoed his false claims of widespread election fraud in the build-up to the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

US softens cut to Medicare Advantage 2024 payments

The U.S. government announced on Friday a lower-than-expected 1.1% average cut of 2024 reimbursement rates for health insurers that offer coverage through the Medicare Advantage program, boosting shares of the market's largest players. It improved the rates it would pay insurers after pushback from the industry, which contended the government was cutting reimbursement rates by too much for them to adequately serve older people enrolled in their plans.

(With inputs from agencies.)