US Domestic News Roundup: Analysis-Trump allies' push to move Georgia subversion trial could mean delays; Texas nuclear waste storage permit invalidated by US appeals court and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Texas judge blocks state ban on gender-affirming care for minors

A Texas judge on Friday blocked a Republican-backed state law banning so-called gender-affirming care including puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for transgender minors from taking effect next week while she hears a legal challenge to it. However, the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said it filed an immediate appeal to the state Supreme Court, an action that would automatically put the judge's order on hold and let the law take effect at least until the appeal is decided.

Texas nuclear waste storage permit invalidated by US appeals court

A U.S. appeals court on Friday canceled a license granted by a federal agency to a company to build a temporary nuclear waste storage facility in western Texas, which the Republican-led state has argued would be dangerous to build in one of the nation's largest oil basins. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked the authority under federal law to issue permits for private, temporary nuclear waste storage sites.

Maui officials release list of hundreds missing since deadly wildfire

Hawaii officials have released the names of 338 people still missing more than two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century swept through the resort town of Lahaina. The list, compiled by the FBI, includes only people whose full names are known and who were reported missing by someone for whom authorities have verified contact information.

Divided US embraces Trump mug shot merchandise

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's historic mug shot, posted by a Georgia courthouse on Thursday evening, is being turned into T-shirts, shot glasses, mugs, posters and even bobblehead dolls by friends and foes alike. The shot of Trump with a red tie, glistening hair, and an icy scowl was taken as the Republican presidential front-runner was arrested on more than a dozen felony charges, part of a criminal case stemming from his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

No DeSantis debate bounce, but some Republicans more open to him -Reuters/Ipsos

Donald Trump leads Ron DeSantis by nearly 40 percentage points in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even after declining to debate the Florida governor and other rivals, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Friday.

The survey found that half of Republican respondents who followed the party's first debate on Wednesday were more open to DeSantis' bid - good news for a campaign banking on the event boosting his profile after a summer slide in opinion polls.

In battleground Arizona, key independent voters decry Trump, support Georgia election indictment

Mark Clarcq is an independent voter in the presidential battleground state of Arizona. In 2016 he cast his ballot for Donald Trump, but as the former Republican president appeared at a Georgia jail on Thursday on criminal charges of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Clarcq said he will never support him again. "He's delusional. He's still saying the 2020 election was fraudulent. In Georgia, he was definitely trying to gain votes he didn't have. That's an illegal process. Absolutely I support the Georgia indictment. The justice system should play out and I don't think he should be pardoned," Clarcq, 77, said in a shopping mall in northern Phoenix.

Analysis-DeSantis' dream of a two-horse race on hold as others shine at Republican debate

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis emerged from the first Republican presidential debate having retained his position as Donald Trump's top rival, but the absence of a game-changing moment for him means other contenders now see more of a chance to dislodge him from his vulnerable No. 2 spot. The governor's team had gone into the debate in Milwaukee hoping to draw a line under a summer slide in the polls and begin consolidating his position as the obvious alternative to former President Donald Trump, who holds a nearly 40-point lead in most polls.

'We're all Maui': Climate change tests emergency alert systems across US

A fire suddenly swallows a Hawaiian town, killing scores. Wildfire smoke from Canada unexpectedly drifts across the U.S. Northeast, choking millions. Record rains surprise Vermont, triggering landslides. This summer has been one of weather extremes across the United States, a season of intense heat waves, torrential storms and runaway wildfires that have tested how well prepared public safety officials and the emergency warning systems they oversee are for the changing climate.

Analysis-Trump allies' push to move Georgia subversion trial could mean delays

Efforts by Donald Trump allies to move Georgia's criminal case charging the former U.S. president with trying to overturn an election to federal court is raising legal questions that could delay a trial, which may be a key part of their strategy. On Aug. 28, Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was charged alongside the former president with trying to subvert the results of the 2020 election, will argue his case should be heard in federal court rather than in Fulton County Superior Court, where it was filed.

Sixty years after King's 'dream' speech, thousands gather in Washington

Thousands of Americans will converge on Washington on Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a pivotal event in the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement at which Martin Luther King Jr gave his galvanizing "I have a dream" speech. The 1963 march brought more than 250,000 people to the nation's capital to push for an end to discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Many credit the show of strength with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

(With inputs from agencies.)