US Domestic News Roundup: Hunter Biden hit with federal charges for evading tax; Republican-majority US House takes step toward vote on Biden impeachment inquiry and more

The trip comes a day after the Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against Biden's son, Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. Trump immunity appeal offers best chance to stave off 2020 election trial Donald Trump is readying what may be his best shot at avoiding spending much of next year in a courtroom facing criminal charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, kicking off an appeal that could go to the Supreme Court.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Hunter Biden hit with federal charges for evading tax

The Department of Justice on Thursday filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. Hunter Biden, 53, was hit with three felony and six misdemeanor tax offenses, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Republican-majority US House takes step toward vote on Biden impeachment inquiry

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives took a procedural step on Thursday toward voting to authorize their impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, an escalation of a Republican probe the White House has dismissed as baseless. House Republicans accuse the Democratic president and his family of improperly profiting from policy decisions Biden participated in as vice president during President Barack Obama's 2009-2017 administration.

Trump, Republicans push private school options to win over parents across party lines

Beyond the tumult surrounding Donald Trump's presidential bid and his threats to seek revenge against his political enemies should he win, the Republican frontrunner has seized on an issue that even some Democrats say could attract new voters in 2024. Trump is backing "school choice" programs that use taxpayer dollars to send students to private and religious schools. It is a stance with wide appeal as parents have become increasingly fed up with the state of U.S. public education.

Georgia Republicans approve new US House map, setting up fresh court battle

Republican lawmakers in Georgia on Thursday approved a new map of U.S. House of Representatives districts for the 2024 election that maintains their current 9-5 advantage while creating a court-ordered majority-Black district west of Atlanta. In order to preserve Republicans' statewide advantage, however, lawmakers dismantled a heavily minority district represented by Democratic U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, a move that Democrats said contravenes a federal judge's ruling.

Las Vegas campus gunman described as struggling academic with 'target list'

The gunman who killed three professors and wounded one at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, was a financially struggling academic whose job applications were rejected by several higher-education institutions in Nevada, police said on Thursday. Anthony James Polito, 67, also had mailed nearly two dozen suspicious letters to faculty at universities across the country and had prepared a "target list" of people at both UNLV and a North Carolina university where he once worked, police said.

Texas AG threatens to prosecute doctors in emergency abortion

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday threatened to prosecute any doctors involved in providing an emergency abortion to a woman, hours after she won a court order allowing her to obtain one for medical necessity. Paxton said in a letter that the order by District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin did not shield doctors from prosecution under all of Texas's abortion laws, and that the woman, Kate Cox, had not shown she qualified for the medical exception to the state's abortion ban.

Biden heads to California for big Hollywood money haul

President Joe Biden kicks off a three-day, star-studded fundraising trip in California on Friday that a top campaign official boasted will rake in a record amount of cash for the Democratic president's 2024 re-election effort. The trip comes a day after the Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against Biden's son, Hunter, accusing him of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle.

Trump immunity appeal offers best chance to stave off 2020 election trial

Donald Trump is readying what may be his best shot at avoiding spending much of next year in a courtroom facing criminal charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, kicking off an appeal that could go to the Supreme Court. The gambit by the former U.S. president and frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination may succeed, legal experts said -- not necessarily by persuading higher courts of the merits of his case, but simply by bogging down the system and keeping him free to campaign against Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump fake electors buckle in Wisconsin, get charged in Nevada

Nevada charged six Republican fake electors in connection with a scheme to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden, while 10 false electors reached a legal settlement in Wisconsin that affirmed the Democrat's victory. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Congress poised to extend domestic surveillance law by four months

Congress is preparing to extend the domestic surveillance authority that allows law enforcement to spy on Americans without a warrant by another four months, giving lawmakers more time to either reform or keep the disputed program. The extension of the surveillance provision - known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) - was tucked into the 2,353rd page of the more than 3,000-page National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass piece of legislation lawmakers hope to send to President Joe Biden's desk before the end of the year.