Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

U.S. mulling pausing federal gas tax as option to cut prices, energy secretary says

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Sunday that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden was evaluating a pause on federal gas tax as one of the options to bring down prices.

Senate candidate Greitens draws criticism for ad showing him hunting fellow Republicans

Republican Eric Greitens, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, released a campaign ad on Monday depicting him and a group of armed men going hunting for "RINOS," or "Republicans in name only" - prompting social media platforms to flag or take down the video. "I'm Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL, and today, we're going RINO hunting," the 48-year-old former Missouri governor says at the start of the ad, racking a shotgun.

Tesla sued by former employees over 'mass layoff'

Former Tesla Inc employees have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. electric car company alleging its decision to carry out a "mass layoff" violated federal law as the company did not provide advance notice of the job cuts. The lawsuit was filed late Sunday in Texas by two workers who said they were terminated from Tesla's gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nevada in June. According to the suit, more than 500 employees were terminated at the Nevada factory.

Yellowstone National Park to partly reopen after rare closure forced by floods

Yellowstone National Park will partly reopen on Wednesday after record flooding and rockslides following a burst of heavy rains that led the park to be closed for the first time in 34 years. The entire park, spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, was closed to visitors, including those with lodging and camping reservations, from last Monday, as officials inspected damage to roads, bridges and other facilities.

Biden says decision on pause on federal gasoline tax could come by end of week

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that a decision on whether to pause a federal gasoline tax could come by the end of this week, as the United States struggles to tackle soaring gasoline prices and inflation, now at its highest in 40 years. Speaking a day after Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the president was evaluating pausing the tax temporarily, Biden told reporters: "Yes, I am considering it. I hope I have a decision based on data I am looking for by the end of the week."

No deal to end gun violence, U.S. Republican lawmaker says

Lawmakers remain far apart on the most important gun safety issues now under debate in Congress, a Republican senator said Sunday, casting doubts on hopes that the United States could pass the first federal gun legislation in decades. "The issue that we have here is that we don't have a bill," Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee told Fox News Sunday.

Parades, street festivals and speeches mark Juneteenth across U.S

With street parties, the trumpets and drums of marching bands, speeches and a few political rallies, people across the United States marked Juneteenth this weekend, a jubilee commemorating the end of the legal enslavement of Black Americans. Events started on Friday and continued through Sunday featuring concerts at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, freedom walks in Galveston, Texas, and jazz music in New York City's Harlem neighborhood.

Some shoppers balk at retailers peddling new 'Juneteenth' merchandise

Clothing retailer Kohl's is offering gray, green and red "Juneteenth 1865" tank tops and t-shirts for juniors and boys for $23.99. JCPenney.com hopes to lure shoppers with dozens of wall hangings featuring abstract graphic designs and silhouettes of Black women, priced at $60 to $160 apiece. In the first big push to commercialize Juneteenth, commemorated by Black people for generations as the day in 1865 when a Union general informed a group of enslaved people in Texas that they were free, a handful of major retailers are rolling out merchandise.

Texas Republicans declare Biden election illegitimate, despite evidence

Republicans in Texas formally rejected President Joe Biden's election in 2020 as illegitimate and voted in a state-wide convention that wrapped up this weekend on a party platform that calls homosexuality an "abnormal lifestyle choice." The party's embrace of unfounded electoral fraud allegations in a bedrock Republican state came as a bipartisan congressional committee seeks to definitively and publicly debunk the false idea that Biden did not win the election.

Jan. 6 panel to implicate Trump in fake elector plot, Schiff says

The U.S. House panel investigating the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol will present evidence this week that former President Donald Trump was involved in a failed bid to submit slates of fake electors to overturn the 2020 election, a key lawmaker said on Sunday. "We will show evidence of the president's involvement in this scheme," Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, a member of the House of Representatives Select Committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union."

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