Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.
Here’s how many watched Biden’s State of the Union on major TV networks
An estimated 23.4 million people watched U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech on the biggest TV networks Tuesday, according to early ratings figures from Nielsen and shared with Reuters by Fox News and NBCUniversal, down from total viewership last year. The early figure includes viewership on the biggest U.S. broadcast and cable networks, including Fox News, CNN, ABC News and NBC News.
U.S. House votes to end foreign air traveler COVID vaccine requirement
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to end a requirement that most foreign air travelers be vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the few remaining pandemic travel restrictions still in place. The vote was 227 to 201 with seven Democrats joining Republicans. No Republicans voted against the bill.
Former Twitter execs tell Republicans they erred on Hunter Biden laptop story
Former Twitter executives told a Republican-led U.S. House committee on Wednesday that they made a mistake by blocking tweets about a laptop said to belong to President Joe Biden’s son Hunter but said government officials were not involved. At a combative day-long hearing before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, Republicans claimed that Twitter cooperated with government officials and the news media to suppress a New York Post article on the laptop’s contents, two weeks ahead of Biden’s 2020 election victory over former President Donald Trump, a Republican.
Texas Walmart massacre suspect pleads guilty to U.S. hate crimes
A Texas man accused of targeting Latinos during a 2019 massacre of 23 people at an El Paso Walmart store pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal hate crimes, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office that prosecuted the case. Patrick Crusius changed his plea to guilty during a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District…
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