Reuters US Domestic News Summary
Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
New York expands coronavirus travel quarantine as U.S. pandemic widens
Visitors from three more U.S. states who travel to New York will be required to quarantine for 14 days to control the spread of coronavirus, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday, as alarm grew over a surge in infections in large parts of the country. New York state, which had been the early epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, unveiled the travel advisory last month in an effort to prevent a resurgence after the state got its outbreak under control.
U.S. judge denies Dakota Access motion to reconsider pipeline shutdown order
A federal judge denied an emergency request by owners of the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL) for the court to reconsider its order to shut and drain the 570,000 barrel-a-day line within a month, court records showed on Tuesday. The pipeline, operated by Energy Transfer, is the largest out of the Bakken shale region in North Dakota, one of the biggest oil producing patches in the United States. Without the pipeline, the region's production capacity will be constrained.
Disney says Walt Disney World reopening is on track for Saturday
Walt Disney Co will stick to its plans to reopen its Walt Disney World theme parks in Orlando, Florida, to a limited number of guests on Saturday, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Florida's coronavirus cases have soared in the last month, with the state's daily count topping 10,000 three times in the last week. The death rate from COVID-19 rose nearly 19% in the last week from the week prior, bringing the state's death toll to more than 3,800.
Texas reports more COVID-19 cases in single day than any EU country as cases rise by 10,000
Texas shattered records on Tuesday when it reported over 10,000 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase in the state since the pandemic started, according to the state health department. Texas, with 30 million residents, has reported more new daily coronavirus cases than any European country had at the height of their outbreaks, according to a Reuters tally.
U.S. coronavirus cases hit 3 million, stoking fears of overwhelmed hospitals
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States rose by over 50,000 on Tuesday to push past 3 million, according to a Reuters tally, stoking fears that hospitals will be overwhelmed. The United States has the highest known numbers of both COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world. More than 131,000 Americans have died from the disease, a toll that experts warn will likely surge following recent record spikes in case numbers in many states.
As New York grapples with shootings surge, gunshots mix with fireworks over holiday weekend
The crack of fireworks mixed with gunfire over the Independence Day holiday weekend in New York City. In Brooklyn's Cypress Hills neighborhood just after midnight on Sunday, a 20-year-old man was fatally shot at a home still decorated with birthday balloons, one of 64 people reported injured or killed over the weekend amid an increase in shootings.
U.S. colleges scramble after new Trump order on foreign students
Many U.S. colleges were scrambling on Tuesday to modify plans for the fall semester in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic a day after the Trump administration issued an order that could force tens of thousands of foreign students to leave the country if their schools hold all classes online. The announcement blindsided academic institutions grappling with the logistical challenges of safely resuming classes, particularly after the federal government had granted exceptions to the rules limiting online learning for foreign students when colleges and universities in March rushed to shutter campuses and move to online classes as the pandemic forced lockdowns.
Trump paid proxy to take college entrance exam for him, niece's book says
President Donald Trump paid a proxy to take a standardized college entrance exam for him when he was a high school student, his niece writes in a tell-all book scheduled to be published next week. In the book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," Mary Trump writes that Trump paid someone to take the SAT, an entrance exam used by most U.S. universities, in his place, according to The New York Times.
Five states, Washington, D.C. sue Education Department, say coronavirus relief deprived low-income schools
Five states and Washington, D.C. sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, saying Education Secretary Betsy DeVos "unlawfully and erroneously" earmarked coronavirus relief funds for private and affluent schools. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the states say the Trump administration misinterpreted a key portion of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to determine how aid was distributed to schools.
Dozens of Florida hospitals out of available ICU beds, state data shows
More than four dozen hospitals in Florida reported that their intensive care units (ICUs) have reached full capacity on Tuesday as COVID-19 cases surge in the state and throughout the country. Hospital ICUs were full at 54 hospitals across 25 of Florida's 67 counties, according to data published on Tuesday morning by the state's Agency for Health Care Administration. More than 300 hospitals were included in the report, but not all had adult ICUs.
