Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
US CDC says existing antibodies can work against new COVID variant
Early research data has shown that antibodies produced by prior infection or existing vaccines against the coronavirus were sufficient to protect against the new BA.2.86 variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. The Food and Drug Administration in the coming days is expected to authorize the updated vaccines that target the XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron, and early data provide encouraging signs for the new shots, CDC said.The public health agency added that the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus was not driving the current increases in COVID cases and hospitalizations in the United States, but rather attributed it to other predominantly circulating viruses.
Biden administration takes abortion pill dispute to US Supreme Court
President Joe Biden’s administration took its battle to preserve broad access to the abortion pill mifepristone to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday as it appealed a lower court’s ruling that would curb how the drug is delivered and distributed. The Justice Department said it filed its appeal of an August decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would bar telemedicine prescriptions and shipments of mifepristone by mail. The drug’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, also said it filed its appeal on Friday.
Abortion rights at stake as Florida court weighs DeSantis-backed ban
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration urged the state’s conservative high court on Friday to reverse decades of precedent and find that the state constitution does not protect abortion rights. State Solicitor General Henry Whitaker asked the Florida Supreme Court to uphold a ban on most abortion after 15 weeks, which went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated a nationwide right to abortion last year. If the state court does so, a more stringent six-week ban – one of the strictest in the nation – would automatically take effect a month later.
Nikki Haley’s 2024 White House bid charts hazardous path in isolationist Republican Party
U.S. 2024 Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley wants to send special forces to Mexico to wipe out drug cartels, double down on sending weapons to Ukraine and make sure China understands “there will be hell to pay” if it attacks Taiwan. The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is stubbornly bucking traditional political wisdom that foreign policy does not influence American voters in elections.
Georgia grand jury recommended charging Lindsey Graham, other Trump allies
A Georgia grand jury recommended criminal charges against Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and other allies of Donald Trump as part of its investigation into efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 presidential defeat, said a report released on Friday. None were ultimately charged when Georgia prosecutors filed a sweeping criminal case against Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators.
Los Angeles City Council acts to spare Marilyn Monroe house from demolition
The Los Angeles City Council voted on Friday to launch a process to designate actress Marilyn Monroe’s former home, where she died of a drug overdose in 1962, a historic and cultural landmark, blocking plans to demolish the property. The motion to initiate consideration of the Spanish Colonial-style house in L.A.’s Brentwood section for historic preservation was introduced by Councilwoman Traci Park and approved unanimously the same day, according to her spokesperson Jamie Paige.
Mark Meadows fails in bid to move Georgia election case to federal court
Charges against Donald Trump’s onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows over efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election will not be heard in federal court, a sign that similar bids by the former U.S. president and his co-defendants to move the criminal case to a more favorable venue will fail. Friday’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Steve Jones denying Meadows’ request to move his case from state to federal court is an early win for Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors, who in August charged Trump and 18 others with conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
A month after deadly Maui fire, 66 people still missing
A month after a ferocious fire razed a town in Maui, 66 people remained unaccounted for as workers continued to remove toxic debris from the burn site, a process that could take almost a year, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said on Friday. The official death toll of the Aug. 8 fire that left the historic town of Lahaina in charred ruins still stands at 115 people, a number unchanged in more than two weeks.
Elon Musk’s X Corp sues California to undo content moderation law
Elon Musk’s X Corp sued California on Friday over a state law establishing new transparency rules for social media companies, requiring them to publish their policies for policing disinformation, harassment, hate speech and extremism. X, the social media platform once known as Twitter, said the law known as Assembly Bill 587 violates its free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and California’s state constitution.
New York says Trump inflated net worth by up to $3.6 billion; Trump seeks dismissal
New York state’s attorney general on Friday said Donald Trump may have fraudulently inflated his fortune by far more than previously thought, her latest salvo in preparation for trial in her civil lawsuit against the former U.S. president and his family business. In a filing with a New York state court in Manhattan, Attorney General Letitia James said her valuation and accounting experts believe Trump falsely boosted his net worth by between $1.9 billion and $3.6 billion a year over a decade.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)