US News Roundup: Gunman wounds NYC police office; Pompeo urges U.S. state governors to be cautious and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Washington DC | Updated: 10-02-2020 18:58 IST | Created: 10-02-2020 18:26 IST
US News Roundup: Gunman wounds NYC police office; Pompeo urges U.S. state governors to be cautious and more
File photo Image Credit: ANI
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Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Gunman wounds NYC police officer inside station hours after ambushing patrol officers

A gunman opened fire inside a New York City police station on Sunday, striking a lieutenant in the arm, some 12 hours after he had ambushed a patrol van in the same neighborhood, wounding an officer, police said. The gunman was arrested at the police station. The two officers were being treated in hospital and were expected to fully recover from their wounds, officials said at a news conference.

Texas Democrats weighing ballots, bullets in 2020 campaigns

Texas Democrats are pulling out a new playbook in this year's Congressional races, loudly backing gun control in a bet a strategy that paid off in Virginia can also win elections in a conservative-leaning state long associated with gun rights. Their fears of facing a political backlash for supporting gun regulations have evaporated after years of mass shootings, with candidates, party officials and gun-control advocates arguing that making the case for strengthening gun laws will win them more votes.

How a New Hampshire family spent Andrew Yang's 'Freedom Dividend'

A New Hampshire family that received a $1,000-a-month "freedom dividend" for a year from the campaign of Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang spent most of the money on college bills - but also on an improv class for the unemployed dad. Chuck Fassi had lost his job as a manager for a company servicing chemical dispensing equipment when his family got the first check-in in January 2019. He had never heard of Yang before his daughter, Janelle, mentioned the candidate's universal basic income plan, or UBI, and nominated her family for it.

Deal reached to cut bankrupt Puerto Rico's debt by $24 billion

Puerto Rico would shed about $24 billion of debt and move closer to exiting bankruptcy under an agreement with bondholders announced on Sunday by the U.S. commonwealth's federally created financial oversight board. The deal would cut $35 billion of bonds and claims to about $11 billion as it increases the ranks of general obligation (GO) and Public Buildings Authority (PBA) bondholders that signed onto a plan to restructure core government debt and more than $50 billion in pension obligations that the board filed in U.S. District Court in September.

How Bernie Sanders’ passionate base revitalized his campaign

When Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suffered a heart attack in October, what upset his long-time supporter Craig Althof the most was the way it was covered by the media. In the opinion of 65-year-old Althof, who had a similar procedure to Sanders to prop open an artery, journalists were too quick to write Sanders' political obituary, speculating that the 78-year-old’s second White House run was likely over.

Pompeo urges U.S. state governors to be cautious in business with China

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged governors of U.S. states and territories on Saturday to adopt a "cautious mindset" when engaging in business with China, saying Beijing was seeking to use U.S. openness to undermine the United States. In a speech to the National Governors Association in Washington Pompeo said China was pursuing a policy of exploiting U.S. freedoms to "gain the advantage over us at the federal level, the state level, and the local level."

Pentagon recoups $6.5 billion via streamlining, sale of old equipment: official

Pentagon belt-tightening efforts identified and redirected $6.5 billion worth of bloated payments, inefficiencies, and overlap last year, a senior Defense Department official said. The Pentagon's Chief Management Officer Lisa Hershman said in an interview on Friday that the savings, equivalent to 83 F-35A fighter jets, were achieved through methods including the sale of obsolete equipment, better software licensing fee management and smarter purchasing of items such as lumber.

Solar probe embarks on an unprecedented mission to map the sun's polar regions

A new probe built by NASA and the European Space Agency set off on a blazing hot journey to the sun on Sunday to take the first close-up look at the star's polar regions, a mission expected to yield insight into how solar radiant energy affects Earth. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:03 p.m. ET (0403 GMT Monday), kicking off a 10-year voyage.

Trump slashes foreign aid, cuts safety net programs in the new budget proposal

U.S. President Donald Trump will propose on Monday a 21% cut in foreign aid and slashes to social safety-net programs in his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2021, according to senior administration officials. The budget would spend money to fund infrastructure projects and defense, but would also raise funds by targeting $2 trillion in savings from mandatory spending programs in the United States. It assumes revenues of around $3.7 trillion.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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