U.S. cases and deaths dropped further, in a week when vaccinations ticked up slightly after weeks of declining. Daily U.S. air travelers exceeded 2 million for the first time since the pandemic began.

“It is long past time we close the loopholes that allow gun buyers to bypass background checks in this country," Biden said in a statement.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the department will scrutinize election laws that seek to curb voter access and discriminate against Black voters.

Garcia arrived as voting kicked off around 8 a.m. at John Jay High School in Park Slope, where rival Donovan also cast his vote about an hour later.

Federal regulators said on Friday that millions of doses of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine produced at a troubled Baltimore factory could not be used, the latest in a series of setbacks for a company whose single-shot vaccine was once considered...