Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The starting gate has been returned to downtown Anchorage, a year after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted organizers to launch the 2021 race from a secluded riverside spot north of the city and off limits to the usual crowds of spectators. U.S. VP Harris to travel to Poland, Romania next week U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week, her office said on Friday, with the visit coming after Russia's invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. looks to show support for Ukraine and its eastern NATO allies.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. Archives turns over Trump White House visitor logs to Jan. 6 committee

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration has delivered White House visitor logs from former President Donald Trump's administration to the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the committee said on Friday. NARA also turned over records from former Vice President Mike Pence, meeting a March 3 deadline.

U.S. Supreme Court restores Boston Marathon bomber's death sentence

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday reinstated convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's death sentence for his role in the 2013 attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others, ruling in favor of the federal government.

In a 6-3 decision, the justices sided with the Justice Department's challenge to a 2020 federal appeals court ruling that had upheld Tsarnaev's conviction but overturned his death sentence. Because President Joe Biden's administration has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in federal cases, Tsarnaev does not face imminent execution.

Exclusive-Americans broadly support Ukraine no-fly zone, Russia oil ban -poll

A broad bipartisan majority of Americans think the United States should stop buying Russian oil and gas and work with NATO to set up "no-fly zones" to protect Ukraine from Russian air strikes, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Friday. The poll, conducted Thursday and Friday, suggests that U.S. outrage is growing over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which in recent days has increasingly involved Russian bombing of urban areas.

U.S. Supreme Court rules for FBI in Muslim surveillance dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of the FBI in a case concerning discrimination claims by three Muslim men from California who accused the agency of conducting illegal surveillance on them after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The court unanimously overturned a lower court's 2019 ruling that said a federal law regulating government surveillance called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) trumped the state secrets privilege - a legal defense based on national security interests - that the government asserted.

Sept. 11 victims seek seizure of Iran oil from U.S.-owned tanker

Victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks asked a U.S. judge to order the seizure of Iranian crude oil from a tanker owned by an American private equity firm, to help satisfy a $3.61 billion judgment against Iran over the attacks. The request came in filings on Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Climate change, COVID loom over Alaska's 50th annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race

Forty-nine mushers and their teams of huskies were due to depart Alaska's largest city on Saturday for the 50th annual running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an event drastically altered by climate change and commercialism since its humble beginnings. The starting gate has been returned to downtown Anchorage, a year after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted organizers to launch the 2021 race from a secluded riverside spot north of the city and off limits to the usual crowds of spectators.

U.S. VP Harris to travel to Poland, Romania next week

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week, her office said on Friday, with the visit coming after Russia's invasion of Ukraine as the U.S. looks to show support for Ukraine and its eastern NATO allies. Harris' visit is scheduled from March 9 to March 11, her office said.

Trucks, RVs and cars flock to Washington area to protest COVID restrictions

More than a thousand large trucks, recreational vehicles and cars are gathering on the outskirts of Washington as part of a protest against COVID-19 restrictions that threatens to roll on the U.S. capital in the coming days. The so-called "People's Convoy," which originated in California and has drawn participants from around the country, is calling for an end to all pandemic-related restrictions. It was inspired by demonstrations last month that paralyzed Ottawa, Canada's capital city.

U.S. court allows Biden's Mexico border expulsions, with limits

President Joe Biden's administration can continue to rapidly expel migrant families caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, but should not send them anywhere they could be persecuted or tortured, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lets the government keep in place restrictions first implemented under Democrat Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. job growth surge underscores economy's strength as headwinds rise

U.S. job growth accelerated in February, pushing the unemployment rate to a two-year low of 3.8% and raising optimism that the economy could withstand mounting headwinds from geopolitical tensions, inflation and tighter monetary policy. The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed the economy created 92,000 more jobs than initially estimated in December and January. It suggested that the labor market was moving past the COVID-19 pandemic and that the economy has weaned itself off government money.

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