US News Roundup: Hurricane shifts from offshore U.S. oil fields; Biden to outline how he would oversee coronavirus vaccine and more

NHC says 40% chance of cyclone over southwestern Gulf of Mexico A low pressure system located over the south-western Gulf of Mexico now has a 40% chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Hurricane shifts from offshore U.S. oil fields, heavy rains to damp fuel demand

Hurricane Sally crawled offshore along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday, moving away from oil fields while soaking the region with heavy rains that could damp fuel demand in the U.S. southeast. The hurricane has shut more than a quarter of U.S. offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production and stirred heavy seas that closed ports from Louisiana to Florida. It moved at a snail's pace toward a Wednesday landfall on the coast between Mississippi and Florida.

Behind $12 million Breonna Taylor settlement, 'Black America's attorney general' Benjamin Crump

Tamika Palmer's voice broke as she spoke about the city of Louisville, Kentucky's $12 million settlement and planned reforms after the killing of her daughter, Breonna Taylor, during a botched police raid. "As significant as today is, it's only the beginning of getting full justice for Breonna," Palmer said during a news conference on Tuesday. "It's time to move forward with the criminal charges because she deserves that and much more."

'It made a lot of ash': California lightning fire torches family cabin

Sandra Stone's family has been coming for years to the cabin along Clear Creek in Brookdale, California, that her great-grandparents built in 1907 using redwood for beams and cut glass crystal for windows. It is now a pile of rubble after the CZU Lightning Complex fire swept through San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties in mid-August, killing one person, burning 86,509 acres and destroying nearly 1,500 structures.

Hurricane Sally careens into Alabama's Gulf Coast, bringing heavy rains

Hurricane Sally made landfall on Alabama's Gulf Coast on Wednesday morning as a Category Two hurricane, spreading strong winds inland across the region, shaking windows and throwing debris into roadways. The storm is expected to cause extensive flooding, dumping nearly three feet (90 cm) of rain in some spots along the Gulf Coast, as it is moving at a glacial 3 mph (6 kph) pace.

NHC says 40% chance of cyclone over southwestern Gulf of Mexico

A low pressure system located over the south-western Gulf of Mexico now has a 40% chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday. "Tropical depression could form late this week or over the weekend while the low meanders over the southern Gulf of Mexico for the next several days," the NHC said.

Democrat Biden to outline how he would oversee coronavirus vaccine

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden will lay out on Wednesday how he plans if elected to develop and distribute a safe coronavirus vaccine, seeking to draw a contrast with President Donald Trump's approach to combating the pandemic. Biden will deliver remarks in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, after getting briefed by public health experts on the efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

As some U.S. college students party, others blow the whistle

Some U.S. college students are doing the once-improbable: blowing the whistle on classmates who break rules aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus. At the University of Missouri, one senior is posting photos and videos on a "University of Misery" Twitter account that shows students gathered in large groups at pools, outside bars and other places - few of them wearing masks.

Pivotal Harvard race discrimination case to be weighed by U.S. appeals court

A federal appeals court on Wednesday will consider whether Harvard University discriminates against Asian-American applicants in a closely-watched case that could impact whether U.S. colleges can use race as a factor in admissions. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a non-profit founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum, and backed by the Trump administration.

Color blind? How boardroom diversity data eludes advocates

Last month CtW Investment Group urged Fresenius Medical Care AG to add diverse directors to its board. The group determined the German company lacked diversity by studying photos of directors and reviewing their backgrounds online to determine their race. "It’s a very crude way," Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of labor-affiliated CtW, acknowledged in an interview with Reuters. He added that without formal declarations by the directors themselves, outsiders could not be certain of their race.

Headaches and hospital visits as wildfire smoke blankets the U.S. West

The splitting headaches began when smoke from wildfires rolled in around Tim Hunt's suburban Seattle home. Next came a debilitating fatigue. As deadly wildfires rage across the U.S. West, Hunt and others are struggling with some of the world's worst air pollution.

(With inputs from agencies.)