Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The order marks the third time that a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped the state from defunding the reproductive health organization on the grounds that it provides abortions. Republicans back deporting illegal immigrants as Trump looks for Super Tuesday blowout Many Republicans voting in U.S. presidential primary elections on Super Tuesday said immigration was their top issue and that immigrants in the country illegally should be deported, a campaign pledge made by Donald Trump.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Factbox-Voters focused on immigration in Super Tuesday's Republican primaries -exit polls

Voters in Republican presidential primary contests in North Carolina, Virginia and California appeared particularly focused on immigration, according to the preliminary results of exit polls conducted on Tuesday by Edison Research. Updated results for the Super Tuesday exit polls will be available as more responses to the polls are gathered.

Minnesota 'uncommitted' Biden protest draws Jewish, Muslim, young voters

U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to sweep Minnesota's Democratic primary on Tuesday, but some suburban women and Jewish activists are joining Muslim Americans in an "uncommitted" protest vote over his Israel policy, voter interviews show. Biden, 81, has been dogged by anger and a growing, organized backlash from some members of his own party over his staunch support for Israel as the U.S. ally's attacks on Gaza have created a humanitarian catastrophe and killed over 30,000 people. Israel is responding to Hamas's Oct. 7 attacks that killed 1,200.

Analysis-Biden's scaled-back power rule raises doubts over US climate target

The Biden administration’s decision to exclude the existing U.S. fleet of natural gas power plants from upcoming carbon emissions regulations raises questions over the nation's ability to meet its climate goals, according to researchers. Cleaning up the U.S. power industry, source of about a quarter of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, has been a central plank of President Joe Biden’s strategy to decarbonize the nation’s economy by 2050 to counter global warming.

US Senator Menendez charged with obstruction of justice in new indictment

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and his wife were charged with obstruction of justice in a new, 18-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday, adding to corruption charges the New Jersey Democrat already faces. Menendez has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement probes they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. A trial is scheduled for May 6 in Manhattan federal court.

Taylor Swift urges US fans to vote in Super Tuesday elections

Pop megastar Taylor Swift encouraged her millions of fans on Tuesday to vote in Super Tuesday primary contests across the U.S., but did not endorse any specific candidate. The 14-time Grammy award winner, whose ongoing "Eras" tour is the world's highest-grossing concert tour with more than $1 billion in ticket sales, told her 282 million followers on Instagram to make a voting plan on Tuesday, and linked to vote.org, a nonprofit voter registration group.

South Carolina still cannot defund Planned Parenthood, US court rules

South Carolina cannot cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, finding that doing so would deprive Medicaid patients of their right to choose their provider. The order marks the third time that a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stopped the state from defunding the reproductive health organization on the grounds that it provides abortions.

Republicans back deporting illegal immigrants as Trump looks for Super Tuesday blowout

Many Republicans voting in U.S. presidential primary elections on Super Tuesday said immigration was their top issue and that immigrants in the country illegally should be deported, a campaign pledge made by Donald Trump. The former president aimed to vanquish his sole remaining challenger for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, on Super Tuesday, the biggest day in the presidential nominating calendar when 15 states and one territory were voting.

Dartmouth basketball team votes to form first union in US college sports

Men's basketball players at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in New Hampshire, voted on Tuesday to form a union, in a potentially transformative moment for U.S. college athletics. The team voted 13-2 to join an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union that had petitioned to represent the players last year, according to results tallied by the National Labor Relations Board.

Independent Kyrsten Sinema will not seek reelection to US Senate

Independent U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said on Tuesday that she will not run for reelection in the highly competitive state, which will be critical to her former Democratic Party's chances of maintaining its narrow majority. Sinema's decision clears the way for an expected head-to-head contest in the November 2024 election between Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego, a former Marine veteran who served in Iraq, and Kari Lake, a far-right Republican who lost a bid for Arizona governor in 2022.

Liberty University fined record $14 million under federal crime-reporting law

Liberty University, founded by Christian televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell, was ordered to pay a record $14 million fine for breaking a federal law requiring schools to report sexual assaults and other campus crimes, the U.S. Education Department said on Tuesday. The department issued the fine, the largest ever levied under the Clery Act, alongside a 108-page report that detailed how the Lynchburg, Virginia, school had repeatedly misclassified and failed to disclose crimes on campus between 2016 and 2023.