US Domestic News Roundup: Americans' July Fourth festivities sparkle after last year's pandemic cancellations; Tropical storm Elsa exits Cuba trailing heavy rains, takes aim at Florida and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Americans' July Fourth festivities sparkle after last year's pandemic cancellations Americans marked their nation’s 245th birthday on Sunday with fireworks that may look brighter, hot dogs that may taste juicier and marching bands that may sound jauntier after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of nearly all celebrations last year.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Americans' July Fourth festivities sparkle after last year's pandemic cancellations

Americans marked their nation's 245th birthday on Sunday with fireworks that may look brighter, hot dogs that may taste juicier and marching bands that may sound jauntier after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of nearly all celebrations last year. As always, fireworks displays are the highlight of the July Fourth holiday. Two of the biggest pyrotechnic shows in the country will blast off over the National Mall in Washington, and over a mile stretch of New York City's East River, separating Manhattan from the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn.

Tropical storm Elsa exits Cuba trailing heavy rains, takes aim at Florida

Tropical storm Elsa's center exited Cuba late on Monday, just east of Havana, churning northwards on track to Florida although the lopsided weather system continued to dump heavy rains over the Caribbean's largest island in its wake. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 11 p.m. (0300 GMT) update that Elsa was advancing at just 19 km per hour (12 mph) as it moved out to sea and sustained winds had picked up to peak near 95 kmph with higher gusts.

Promise vs practice: Police body-cam delays in Texas capital frustrate reformers

Advocates of police reform in Austin, Texas, cheered a year ago when the city agreed to release video from officers' body cameras within 60 days of incidents in which they used force that caused serious injuries. But since then, only a single body camera video has been released on time - in a non-fatal police shooting. Footage from three fatal police shootings was made public past the deadline. In at least 10 use-of-force incidents during Black Lives Matter protests last year, the department did not release any video.

Pro-Trump social media app hacked on launch day as half million sign up

A social media site launched on Sunday by Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, was briefly hacked, and more than 500,000 people have registered to use the site, Miller said. GETTR, a Twitter-style platform with posts and trending topics, has advertised itself on the Google and Apple app stores as "a non-bias social network for people all over the world."

Liability from Florida condo collapse: everyone will 'blame everybody else'

The collapse of a condominium tower near Miami will set off years of litigation as victims and their families look to find fault among the building's management as well as engineers, architects and others, according to legal experts. Disaster struck in Surfside, Florida, on June 24 as a major repair project was beginning, although the cause of one of the worst residential construction failures in the United States is likely to have many contributing factors stretching back years.

Death toll in Florida building collapse rises to 28, with 117 missing

The death toll from a collapsed Miami-area condominium rose to 28 on Monday after the controlled demolition of the remainder of the building on Sunday night enabled rescuers to expand their search, officials said. The discovery of the 28th victim was announced during a news conference Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day, officials reported pulling three other bodies from the wreckage.

Celebrating nation's birth, Biden urges Americans to help end COVID-19 pandemic

U.S. President Joe Biden celebrated the nation's 245th birthday on Sunday by opening the gates of the White House and calling on Americans to do their part to end the COVID-19 pandemic once and for all. "This year, the Fourth of July is a day of special celebration for we are emerging from the darkness of ... a year of pandemic and isolation, a year of pain, fear and heartbreaking loss," Biden told a White House party opened to around 1,000 people, including military families and workers involved in the COVID-19 response.

U.S. lobby groups write battle plan to beat Biden tax hikes

U.S. business lobbying groups cheered a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal, but are gearing up to fight the corporate tax hikes looming in a separate but linked spending bill that Democrats aim to pass without Republican votes. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation and other deep-pocketed lobby groups plan to use the same argument they employed in 2017 to secure huge tax cuts from Republicans: higher corporate taxes equal fewer jobs.

NTSB searches for Boeing plane off Hawaii in probe of emergency landing

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it would scan the ocean floor on Monday to locate a Boeing 737-200 cargo plane that sank off Hawaii last week after the two-member crew made an emergency water landing. Investigators plan to use sonar technology to search for the decades-old plane and recover cockpit voice and flight data recorders, the NTSB said in a statement.

Biden to host summit of Quad countries this year - White House

The U.S. coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday that U.S. President Joe Biden will host a summit with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan this year and it should bring "decisive" commitments on vaccine diplomacy and infrastructure. Campbell made the remarks at an event hosted by the Asia Society think tank.