Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Explainer: What's at stake on Super Tuesday for U.S. Democrats

Fourteen states and one U.S. territory are hosting Super Tuesday primary elections, a flurry that could bring more clarity about which Democratic presidential contender voters prefer to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in November. More than a third of delegates will be doled out in Tuesday's nominating contests, compared with less than 5% awarded from the four states voting in February. A candidate needs at least 1,991 delegates to the party's national convention in July to win the Democratic nomination outright. Latino voters in U.S. started changing outcomes in 2018: they may do so again in 2020

John Verdejo moved to North Carolina by way of the Bronx, with only basketball great Michael Jordan and the folksy humor of the Andy Griffith television show as references, neither particularly relevant to a Puerto Rican family in the mid-1990s. Two years ago he saw Raleigh elect its first Latino councilman, saw Latino voters help defeat Wake County's tough-on-immigration Republican sheriff, and now feels that energy continuing into the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign. Moderate Democrats close ranks as Buttigieg, Klobuchar endorse Biden

Former rivals Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar endorsed Joe Biden's presidential candidacy on Monday on the eve of Super Tuesday voting, as moderate Democrats rallied around the former vice president to strengthen his challenge to front-runner Bernie Sanders. Buttigieg threw his support to Biden at an emotional appearance at a Dallas restaurant, while Klobuchar delivered a barnstorm of a speech at a rally, reminiscent of the types politicians give at their party conventions when anointing their presidential nominees. Sanders looks to take charge on Super Tuesday, Biden hopes to catch up

Bernie Sanders will look to take command of the Democratic presidential race when 14 states vote on Tuesday, while top rival Joe Biden aims to gain ground by muscling aside upstart Michael Bloomberg and consolidating moderate support on the nominating campaign's biggest day. In Super Tuesday contests that stretch from tiny Maine in the east to the delegate-rich prize of California in the west, the Democratic battle to find a challenger to Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election will become a national competition for the first time. U.S. national security agencies gather to combat potential election interference

National security professionals from across the U.S. government will meet on Tuesday in a Northern Virginia office building for an unprecedented monitoring effort to counter cyberattacks and foreign disinformation aimed at Super Tuesday presidential primaries. Since U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election - allegations Moscow denies - the U.S. government has introduced measures to combat hacking and foreign propaganda activities designed to affect the vote. Election security experts say that while the government has made improvements, many vulnerabilities still exist. 'Perfect Storm': Washington virus deaths highlight risk at nursing homes

Less than a year after Constantine Valhouli moved his 85-year-old father into a Massachusetts elder-care facility, he is considering bringing his dad back home, his confidence rattled by a deadly coronavirus outbreak at a Washington state nursing home. The deaths of four residents at the LifeCare long-term care facility in Kirkland has stoked Valhouli's fears that the virus could spread quickly and quietly in facilities such as the home where his father resides after a series of strokes. 'Refused/Angry/Republican': How 2020 text campaigns learn from voters' replies

When Brian Durst got a text message from the campaign of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, the restaurant cook in Hawaii sent back a photo of himself wearing a 'Trump 2020' cap. Three minutes later, he got a reply from someone named Will from the Vermont senator's campaign asking if he had a second choice candidate. Durst shot back an angry message listing Vice President Mike Pence and members of Republican President Trump's family, and tweeted out a screenshot of the exchange. In a Texas chicken joint, Biden and onetime rival Buttigieg unite to stop Sanders

It was a scene that was hard to imagine just one week ago. Joe Biden, 77, and until Sunday his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination Pete Buttigieg, 38, appeared together before a tiny crowd in the Chicken Scratch restaurant in Dallas, where Buttigieg endorsed the former vice president. Two people killed, around 40 buildings destroyed by Nashville tornado

A tornado struck Nashville, Tennessee in the early hours of Tuesday morning, killing at least two people, destroying around 40 buildings and leaving tens of thousands of people without power. The Metro Nashville Police reported http://bit.ly/2PHXpM2 two fatalities in the East Nashville region. The Nashville fire department said it was responding to reports of approximately 40 structure collapses around Nashville. Coronavirus deaths rise to six in Seattle area as U.S. pushes for more testing

Six people in the Seattle area have died of illness caused by the new coronavirus, health officials said on Monday, as authorities across the United States scrambled to prepare for more infections with an emphasis on increasing testing capacity. Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for the Seattle and King County Public Health agency, announced the rise in fatalities from the previous two in Washington state.