Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Trump pushes tough-on-crime agenda in town with historic links to white extremism
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday attacked Democratic rival Kamala Harris' record on crime and safety, while brushing aside criticism from her campaign over holding an event in a Michigan town where white supremacists had rallied a month ago. The campaign stop was one of a number Trump is holding this week in battleground states as Democrats meet in Chicago to formally choose Vice President Harris as their nominee in the Nov. 5 election.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy forgives $100 million in medical debt
Nearly 50,000 people in New Jersey will have $100 million in medical debt erased, Governor Phil Murphy said on Tuesday, in one of the largest cases of a state providing direct relief to people unable to pay medical bills. Murphy allocated $550,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funds and partnered with Undue Medical Debt, a non-profit that buys unpaid medical bills from hospitals at a discount, to execute the one-time debt abolishment.
Utah lawsuit challenges federal control of a third of its land
The state of Utah filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the U.S. Supreme Court challenging federal control over more than a third of the land within its borders, saying U.S. government policies are restricting access to those lands for recreation and energy and infrastructure development. The move is the latest by a Republican-led state to push back against federal land management policies put in place by the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
RFK Jr to weigh dropping US presidential bid to join forces with Trump
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is considering ending his campaign to join forces with Republican rival Donald Trump, Kennedy's running mate said in an interview posted online on Tuesday. The vice presidential candidate, Nicole Shanahan, said that as independents she and Kennedy ran the risk of drawing support from would-be Trump voters and clearing the way for Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to win the November election.
Law firm Clifford Chance 'in shock' after lawyer missing in yacht disaster
A prominent New York lawyer who is among six missing passengers of a sunken yacht off Italy's coast was traveling with his longtime client, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, just weeks after helping him avoid conviction in a 12-year legal saga. Divers were still searching on Tuesday for the defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Christopher Morvillo, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance, and his wife Neda, along with Lynch and three other missing passengers. There are 15 known survivors.
New York's top court upholds mail-in voting for all, rejecting Republican challenge
New York's highest court upheld a state law on Tuesday that allows any voter to cast a ballot by mail, rejecting a Republican-led lawsuit challenging the statute. In a 6-1 decision, the state Court of Appeals affirmed lower court rulings that the Early Mail Voter Act, which was passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature and signed by Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul last year, did not run afoul of the state constitution.
Exclusive-Harris' election effort raises around $500 million in a month, sources say
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' election effort has raised around $500 million since she became the Democratic presidential candidate, sources told Reuters, an unprecedented money haul that reflects donor enthusiasm going into the Nov. 5 election. Four sources familiar with the fundraising effort told Reuters that figure had been banked for Harris in the four weeks since she jumped into the race on July 21.
George Floyd killer Derek Chauvin transferred to Texas prison
Derek Chauvin has been transferred to a prison in Texas, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons said on Tuesday, nine months after the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd survived a prison stabbing in Arizona. KEY QUOTE
US judge strikes down Biden administration ban on worker 'noncompete' agreements
A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday barred a U.S. Federal Trade Commission rule from taking effect that would ban agreements commonly signed by workers not to join their employers' rivals or launch competing businesses. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown in Dallas said the FTC, which enforces federal antitrust laws, does not have the authority to ban practices it deems unfair methods of competition by adopting broad rules.
Tech donor network co-founded by JD Vance seeks to push America to the right
Before JD Vance began his rapid rise to vice presidential candidate, he co-founded a Silicon Valley-backed donor organization to finance right-wing news stories, voter turnout operations and election polls with a goal of spreading U.S. President Donald Trump´s brand of nationalism, according to previously unreported documents on the group. Founded in 2019, Rockbridge Network seeks to influence U.S. politics through a centrally controlled network of right-wing political groups backed by some of the same deep-pocketed tech investors who helped bankroll Vance´s political rise.
