Reuters US Domestic News Summary

The justices in a brief order denied Trump's Oct. 4 emergency request to lift a lower court's decision that prevented the arbiter from reviewing more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among the roughly 11,000 records seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Aug. 8. Georgia U.S. Senate rivals Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock set for debate Republican Herschel Walker's bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia comes to a head on Friday when they meet for their sole televised debate in a contentious race that could help determine which party controls the Senate.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Alex Jones faces long odds hiding assets after $1 billion Sandy Hook verdict, experts say

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has vowed to fight a nearly $1 billion defamation verdict against him, but experts say neither bankruptcy nor an appeal of a Connecticut jury's findings on Wednesday are likely to salvage his personal fortune and media empire. A jury in Waterbury, Connecticut, state court found Jones and the parent company of his Infowars website must pay $965 million to numerous families of the 20 children and six staff members slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 for claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy as part of a government plot.

U.S. Supreme Court rejects Trump request over seized documents

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's bid to have an independent arbiter vet classified documents that were seized by the FBI from his Florida home as part of his legal battle against investigators probing his handling of sensitive government records. The justices in a brief order denied Trump's Oct. 4 emergency request to lift a lower court's decision that prevented the arbiter from reviewing more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among the roughly 11,000 records seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on Aug. 8.

Georgia U.S. Senate rivals Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock set for debate

Republican Herschel Walker's bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia comes to a head on Friday when they meet for their sole televised debate in a contentious race that could help determine which party controls the Senate. The battle between Walker, a one-time football star and political novice backed by former President Donald Trump, and Warnock, a pastor at a historic Atlanta church who has served less than two years in the Senate, is one of the most closely watched contests in the Nov. 8 congressional elections.

Suspect in deadly North Carolina shooting identified as 15-year-old

A 15-year-old male suspect was in a North Carolina hospital in critical condition on Friday after he went on a shooting spree that led to an hours-long manhunt and left five people dead in the state capital, Raleigh's police chief said. Police have yet to determine a motive for the shooting, which turned a quiet middle-class neighborhood into a two-mile-wide 2 mile (3.2-km-wide) crime scene on Thursday, Police Chief Estella Patterson said during a news conference on Friday.

Biden heads to Oregon as Democratic hold on governorship threatened in Nov. 8 election

U.S. President Joe Biden travels to Oregon on Friday to rally support for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who is in danger of losing in a state where the last Republican to be elected governor was in 1982. The race for the open seat pits Democrat Tina Kotek against Republican Christine Drazan and a strong independent candidate, Betsy Johnson, a former Democrat who is financially backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. All three women are former state legislators. Incumbent Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, cannot run for re-election due to term limits.

U.S. may extend humanitarian migrant access beyond Venezuelans, Mexico says

The United States has told Mexico it will consider granting humanitarian access for migrants of other nationalities following an accord this week for Venezuelans, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Friday. Under a plan announced Wednesday, Washington will grant up to 24,000 Venezuelans humanitarian access to the United States by air, while enabling U.S. officials to expel to Mexico those caught trying to cross illegally by land.

Rupert Murdoch considers combining Fox, News Corp

Rupert Murdoch started a process that could reunite his media empire, News Corp and Fox Corp disclosed on Friday, saying they would consider combining at his behest, nearly a decade after the companies split. Both have formed special committees to review proposals of a potential combination, they said.

Biden takes aim at Big Pharma, Republicans in California

U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Republicans and drug companies during a stop at a California community college, as he campaigned for fellow Democrats in November's midterm elections as his party tries to retain thin margins in Congress. The trip includes stops in California on Friday and Oregon on Saturday as Biden positions his party as a champion of consumers and lower healthcare costs at a time that inflation ranks among voters' top concerns. The midterm elections are on Nov. 8.

U.S. Senate Democrats cite insufficient election workers ahead of midterms

A group of U.S. Senate Democrats sounded the alarm over a lack of election workers ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm voting, citing threats and harassment as hurdles to recruiting crucial staff. In an Oct. 6 letter to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 13 Senate Democrats and two independents aligned with Democrats called for the federal agency to step up efforts to support states in recruiting workers needed to run next month's midterm elections.

Justice Dept. asks court to end arbiter's review of Trump documents

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday asked an appeals court to end a third-party review of documents seized from Donald Trump's Florida home, arguing that a judge should not have appointed an independent arbiter as the former president battles a criminal investigation into his handling of sensitive government records. At issue is the appointment of a special master by the Florida-based federal judge presiding over Trump's legal effort to restrict access to documents seized by FBI agents during a court-approved Aug. 8 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

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