US Domestic News Roundup: Florida condo death toll rises to 79 after another body is found; Biden fires Trump-nominated Social Security commissioner and more

The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for much of the West through Monday evening, predicting "dangerously hot conditions" including temperatures up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) in Death Valley, California. Texas lawmakers to consider sweeping voting restrictions Texas lawmakers will consider new voting restrictions on Saturday as part of a special legislative session called by Republican Governor Greg Abbott after Democrats blocked earlier versions of the legislation in a dramatic walkout.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Florida condo death toll rises to 79 after another body is found

The death toll in the collapse of a Miami-area condominium tower rose to 79 on Friday after workers extracted 14 more bodies from the ruins and said they had reduced the pile of debris down nearly to ground level. The recovery left 61 people still missing and feared dead in the concrete and steel rubble of the 12-story oceanfront building in Surfside, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told an afternoon news conference.

Biden fires Trump-nominated Social Security commissioner

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration, but Saul told the Washington Post he plans to be at work on Monday morning because his term isn't over. "Andrew Saul refused to resign as requested, and he has notified his employment as Commissioner was terminated immediately," said a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

After hottest June ever, U.S. braces for new heatwave in West

Western states are bracing for more scorching weather this weekend after the hottest month of June on record in the United States killed scores of people, strained electric grids and depleted reservoirs. The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for much of the West through Monday evening, predicting "dangerously hot conditions" including temperatures up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) in Death Valley, California.

Texas lawmakers to consider sweeping voting restrictions

Texas lawmakers will consider new voting restrictions on Saturday as part of a special legislative session called by Republican Governor Greg Abbott after Democrats blocked earlier versions of the legislation in a dramatic walkout. Republican state senators introduced their latest version of the bill, now known as SB 1, on Thursday, sparking outcry from Democrats and voter advocates who said it was being rushed through the legislative process to avoid public scrutiny.

Illinois becomes first U.S. state to require Asian-American history in schools

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill on Friday requiring public schools to teach Asian-American history, the first such step by a U.S. state amid rising concerns about violence against people of Asian descent. The bill mandates the teaching of a unit of Asian-American history in public elementary and high schools starting in the 2022-2023 school year.

U.S.'s Yellen says will try to address concerns of tax deal holdout countries

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Saturday that she would work to try to address the concerns of holdout countries that have not signed onto a global corporate tax deal, but added that it wasn't necessary for all nations to adopt it. Speaking to reporters alongside German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Yellen said she believed that some of the concerns of countries such as Ireland, Estonia and Hungary could be addressed in the run-up to a G20 leaders' summit in October.

U.S. CDC updates school guidance to emphasize in-person learning

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday updated its guidance for U.S. schools reopening in the fall, recommending masking indoors for everyone who is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and three feet of distance within classrooms. The agency said school administrators can require indoor mask use even for students and educators who are vaccinated, depending on the needs of the community. Reasons would include schools with children under age 12, who are not currently authorized to receive COVID-19 vaccines, or high rates of COVID-19 transmission in the region.

Fencing around U.S. Capitol coming down six months after Jan. 6 attack

Workers began to remove the last of the high-security fence around the U.S. Capitol on Friday, more than six months after former President Donald Trump's supporters launched a deadly assault on the home of the U.S. Congress. The eight-foot-high (2.4-m) black mesh fencing at one point surrounded several blocks of Capitol Hill, interfering with pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The remaining sections, enclosing just the white-domed Capitol complex, will take about three days to remove, according to U.S. House of Representatives Sergeant-at-Arms William Walker.

Charlottesville removes Confederate statue at center of deadly 2017 protest

A statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was taken down in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday, nearly four years after white supremacist protests over plans to remove it led to clashes in which a woman was run down by a car and killed. Onlookers cheered as the statue was put on a truck and driven away. City authorities had welcomed viewers from 6 a.m. to the site of the statue in Market Street Park.

Wreckage located of Boeing cargo jet that made emergency landing off Hawaii

Investigators have located a Boeing 737-200 cargo jet that made an emergency water landing off the Hawaiian island of Oahu in the Pacific Ocean on July 2, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday. Transair Flight 810 was found approximately 2 miles offshore from Ewa Beach. The major components of the airplane -- the aft fuselage including both wings and tail along with both engines, and forward fuselage -- were located on the sea floor at depths between 360 and 420 feet, the NTSB said in a statement.