Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Califf, who was sworn in on Thursday, did not specify any particular misinformation the FDA should fight, but millions of Americans still refuse COVID-19 vaccines, with many conservative media outlets and Republicans in the U.S. Congress spreading doubt about their effectiveness. FBI to form digital currency unit, Justice Dept taps new crypto czar The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Winter storm, packing heavy snow and rain, sweeps across eastern U.S

A powerful winter storm was barreling through the eastern half of the United States on Thursday, bringing a variety of weather threats to the area that included heavy snow, damaging thunderstorms and the potential of isolated tornadoes. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued winter storm, strong wind and thunderstorm warnings and watches for the wide swath of the nation stretching 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from western Oklahoma to northern Maine from Thursday afternoon into Friday.

U.S. military academies have sharp jump in reports of sexual assault -Pentagon

There was a sharp rise in reports of sexual assault at top U.S. military academies during the 2020-2021 academic year, a Pentagon report released on Thursday said, reaching their highest levels since data started to be collected in 2005. Sexual assault and harassment in the U.S. military is largely underreported, according to the military itself, and the Pentagon's handling of it has come under renewed scrutiny.

Colorado elections clerk is sued after passing on voting data

A Colorado elections clerk was sued on Thursday after he copied data from voting machines with the help of two men with ties to groups supporting the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from former Republican President Donald Trump. Dallas Schroeder, who oversees elections in Elbert County, east of Denver, was sued by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold for making two copies of his county's voting system hard drives and then handing the images to "unauthorized people", according to the lawsuit.

'Enough is enough,' activist Al Sharpton says at Amir Locke memorial in Minnesota

Prominent civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said on Thursday that Amir Locke was killed for being Black in America, telling mourners at a church in Minneapolis Thursday that "enough is enough." Hundreds of people gathered to mourn Locke, the 22-year-old fatally shot by law enforcement in a Minneapolis apartment during a no-knock raid. It was the latest in a series of killings to spark outrage over police treatment of racial minorities.

U.S. court orders further review of United Airlines vaccine mandate

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday ordered a new review of a decision not to block United Airlines from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for workers. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to return the issue to a U.S. district judge who had rejected a request for an injunction blocking the mandate while employees argue their case against it. Chicago-based United was the first major air carrier to issue a vaccine requirement.

Full U.S. Congress invited to Biden's State of Union speech as COVID fades

The full U.S. Congress will be invited to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on March 1, a year after the invitation list to his address to Congress was radically cut back to 200 due to the pandemic, officials said on Thursday. The White House hopes the sight of a packed House of Representatives chamber, also filled with Senate members and other officials, will help project a return to normalcy. Biden's handling of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic has dragged heavily on his popularity for months.

Trump, children are ordered to testify in N.Y. attorney general probe

A New York judge ruled on Thursday that former U.S. President Donald Trump and two of his adult children must answer questions under oath within 21 days in the state attorney general's civil probe into their family company. Justice Arthur Engoron of the New York state court in Manhattan ruled in favor of Attorney General Letitia James in directing Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr and his daughter Ivanka Trump to testify.

U.S. Senate nears passage of stop-gap funding bill to avoid gov't shutdown

The U.S. Senate on Thursday moved toward final passage of legislation to fund the government through March 11, hoping to avoid the embarrassing spectacle of a federal government shutdown amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Senators faced a midnight Friday deadline for passing the bill and sending it to President Joe Biden for signing into law before existing federal funds expire.

New U.S. FDA chief says he will prioritize fighting misinformation

Misinformation about science is increasingly prevalent and a significant public health threat that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will focus on fighting, incoming Commissioner Robert Califf said on Thursday. Califf, who was sworn in on Thursday, did not specify any particular misinformation the FDA should fight, but millions of Americans still refuse COVID-19 vaccines, with many conservative media outlets and Republicans in the U.S. Congress spreading doubt about their effectiveness.

FBI to form digital currency unit, Justice Dept taps new crypto czar

The U.S. Justice Department has tapped a seasoned computer crimes prosecutor to lead its new national cryptocurrency enforcement team and announced on Thursday that the FBI is launching a unit for blockchain analysis and virtual asset seizure. The creation of the FBI's "virtual asset exploitation" unit comes after the Justice Department's largest-ever financial seizure earlier this month. It charged a married New York couple with allegedly laundering bitcoins now valued at over $4.5 billion that were stolen in the 2016 hack of the digital currency exchange Bitfinex.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)