Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Johnson's visit, which he said was meant to support Jewish students intimidated by some anti-Israeli demonstrators, took place shortly after the university extended a deadline from Wednesday morning to Friday morning to reach an agreement to remove an encampment that has come to symbolize the campus protest movement. Biden notches another union endorsement as building trades back reelection President Joe Biden secured another union's backing on Wednesday as the organization representing American construction workers lined up behind the Democratic incumbent and called Republican candidate Donald Trump a dangerous threat to the nation.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Grand jury indicts 18 in alleged Arizona fake elector scheme to re-elect Trump

A grand jury has indicted 18 people on charges that they took part in an Arizona fake elector scheme to re-elect then-U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020, the state's attorney general said on Wednesday. The court papers list a "former U.S. president," presumably Trump, as an unindicted co-conspirator.

US Supreme Court split over Idaho's strict abortion ban in medical emergencies

U.S. Supreme Court justices, wading back into the battle over abortion access, appeared divided on Wednesday in a case pitting Idaho's strict Republican-backed abortion ban against a federal law that ensures that patients can receive emergency care. The justices heard arguments in an appeal by Idaho officials of a lower court's ruling that found that the 1986 U.S. law at issue, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), supersedes the state's near-total ban in the relatively rare circumstances when the two conflict.

Arizona House lawmakers vote to repeal 1864 abortion ban

Lawmakers in Arizona's House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to repeal an 1864 ban on abortion that may go into effect next month. In a 32-28 vote, lawmakers decided that the old abortion ban should be repealed. The Arizona state Senate must now also vote to repeal the bill before the 160-year-old ban is knocked down.

US House Speaker Johnson heckled and booed at Columbia, center of Gaza protests

Columbia University students heckled House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday as he visited the flashpoint of nationwide student demonstrations over the Israeli war in Gaza, even as the New York school agreed to 48 more hours of negotiations to end a protest encampment. Johnson's visit, which he said was meant to support Jewish students intimidated by some anti-Israeli demonstrators, took place shortly after the university extended a deadline from Wednesday morning to Friday morning to reach an agreement to remove an encampment that has come to symbolize the campus protest movement.

Biden notches another union endorsement as building trades back reelection

President Joe Biden secured another union's backing on Wednesday as the organization representing American construction workers lined up behind the Democratic incumbent and called Republican candidate Donald Trump a dangerous threat to the nation. The head of the North America's Building Trade Union, which hosted Biden at its legislative conference in Washington, said in an ad that Trump "was not a good man" and was only focused on returning to the White House "to exert revenge on people."

US House Democrat Donald Payne Jr. dead at 65

Donald Payne Jr., a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives who represented a northern New Jersey district, has died after a cardiac episode, the state's governor's office said on Wednesday. "As a former union worker and toll collector, he deeply understood the struggles our working families face, and he fought valiantly to serve their needs, every single day," Governor Phil Murphy said in a statement.

How US allies are preparing for a possible second Trump term

Germany is waging a charm offensive inside the Republican Party. Japan is lining up its own Trump whisperer. Mexican government officials are talking to Camp Trump. And Australia is busy making laws to help Trump-proof its U.S. defense ties. Everywhere, U.S. allies are taking steps to defend or advance their interests in the event former President Donald Trump returns to power in November elections, an even chance based on recent opinion polls in swing states.

Biden signs Ukraine aid, TikTok ban package after Republican battle

President Joe Biden signed a hard-fought bill into law on Wednesday that provides billions of dollars of new U.S. aid to Ukraine for its war with Russia, notching a rare bipartisan victory for the president as he seeks reelection and ending months of wrangling with Republicans in Congress. "It gives vital support to America's partners so they can defend themselves from threats to their sovereignty," Biden said.

Pro-Palestinian US high school students accuse school of censoring speech

Some U.S. students at Washington, D.C.'s Jackson-Reed High School filed a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the public high school's administrators censored them by prohibiting pro-Palestinian events. The lawsuit said administrators treated the Arab Student Union, a student club at the high school, differently from other groups like the Black Student Union and the Asian Student Union by restricting its activities.

'Stop arming Israel' Passover protest in Brooklyn harkens back to 1969 Freedom Seder

Gathered around a banner emblazoned with the words "stop arming Israel," thousands of protesters joined with Jewish-led peace groups in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday evening to attend a Passover protest that recalls the "Freedom Seder" held in the tumultuous year of 1969. Organizers said they drew inspiration for Tuesday's demonstration from ties forged between Jewish organizers and African-American civil rights activists to create a multiracial interfaith "Freedom Seder" on the first anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's 1968 assassination as the Vietnam War raged. The Seder is a Passover celebration and ceremony that commemorates the story of Exodus - Moses leading enslaved Jews out of Egypt.

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