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1 science thing: Bird DNA breakthrough Zebra finches rest on an electric guitar at an art installation in London in 2010. Photo: Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty Images Scientists at Rockefeller University and elsewhere say they've created the first complete genome assembly of the zebra finch, a songbird found in Australia and Indonesia. 🧬 How it works: A genome is the complete set of DNA instructions found in any given organism. Mapping genomes can help scientists better understand biology, evolution, health and more. 👂 Erich D. Jarvis, who runs Rockefeller's Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language, said in a statement: "We can use this complete genome to interrogate the biology of vocal learning." "If there is a key molecule that converts a non-vocal learning species to a vocal learning species, it's in there somewhere." Go deeper ... Read the study.

🛰️ NASA engineers this week freed up power on Voyager 2 in a plan called "Big Bang," extending its useful life for at least another year. The nearly 50-year-old probe is now in interstellar space, nearly 13.3 billion miles from Earth. Go deeper.

President Trump publicly defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying that reporting suggesting any friction between the two was "treasonous." Go deeper.

Ford's first low-cost EV Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios Ford's first electric vehicle built on its new low-cost platform will be a sub-$30,000 pickup called Fathom, Axios' Joann Muller reports. The truck — arriving in 2027 with a $28,350 starting price — is part of Ford's answer to the mounting threat of cheap Chinese EVs. 🤓 The Fathom was designed from the ground up by a skunkworks group of engineers obsessed with efficiency and cost reductions. Ford says it'll have a large high-res touchscreen, bidirectional power capability and a front trunk. What's next: Pre-orders start early next year, though Ford isn't showing off the design yet. Go deeper ...

Americans grapple with extreme heat Reproduced from AP. Chart: Axios Visuals Greater shares of Americans now say that extreme heat is affecting parts of day-to-day life compared to just two years ago, Alex Fitzpatrick writes from a new poll. The findings, from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, suggest people are increasingly aware of extreme heat's impact on their health, budgets, travel plans and more. 🌡️ By the numbers: 90% of Americans now say that extreme heat has had at least a minor impact on their lives broadly, up from 83% two years ago. 80% say extreme heat has had at least a minor impact on their power bills, up from 69% in 2024. 68% say it's affecting their outdoor activities, up from 57%. 42% say it's affecting their travel or vacation plans, up from 26%. A youth football coach amid a July 2026 heat wave in Chicago. Photo: Octavio Jones/AFP via Getty Images 🥵 Zoom in: The bumps were driven in part by people in the West and Midwest, both of which have recently been hit by dangerous and deadly extreme heat events. There's also a partisan divide, with Democrats more likely than Republicans to say that heat has had a major impact on the parts of life included in the survey. 🌎 Between the lines: Researchers have found that climate change is making extreme heat events more frequent and more intense. Yet the share of Americans who say that climate change is happening is dropping: 66% said so in this latest survey, down from 73% in September 2025. Go deeper ... See the data.

Americans Overwhelmingly Call BS on Trump as Chaos Fear Spikes A new poll shows the public rejecting the president’s insistence that a deal is close. Americans aren’t convinced the war with Iran is anywhere close to over, despite President Donald Trump’s claims that his administration is locked in talks to bring a close to hostilities. In fact, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, they expect things to get worse before they get better, and those who think the Middle East will spiral into chaos outnumber those who think the war will bring more stability by a ratio of three to one. The six-day poll concluded Monday, the same day Trump again backed away from threatened “massive attacks” on Iran, underscoring the uncertainty surrounding a five-month conflict he initially predicted would deliver a swift victory. On July 23, Trump told Axios he was “considering a massive attack” that would be “bigger than ever before,” adding he was “close to making a decision.” But by July 27, following reports that senior leadership had advised him to hold off, Trump told reporters he was pursuing negotiations instead. “They want to meet, and we’re meeting,” Trump said, traveling on Air Force One. “We’ll see what happens.” Iran denied that direct talks with the United States were taking place. Talks or not, the American public isn’t buying the reassurances. Fifty percent of poll respondents said they expect U.S. military action in Iran to destabilize the Middle East over the next year, roughly three times the 17 percent who said the war would bring more stability. Another 16 percent said stability would stay about the same, while 17 percent said they were unsure. Respondents were similarly pessimistic about gas prices, which have climbed as Iran chokes off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for global oil supplies. Fifty-eight percent said they expect gas prices to get worse, compared with just 15 percent who expect improvement. Even Republicans, who overwhelmingly back Trump personally, are split on how his war is playing out. While 80 percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s overall performance and 66 percent back his handling of Iran, 41 percent believe Middle East stability will actually improve over the next year because of the war. The conflict, which Trump launched alongside Israel in late February, has cost U.S. taxpayers at least $37.5 billion, killed 18 U.S. service members and killed thousands of Iranians. Just 35 percent of Americans approve of the war overall. Asked which party has a better approach to handling war and terrorism, registered voters picked Democrats over Republicans, 37 percent to 36 percent, the first time Democrats have led on the question since Reuters/Ipsos began asking it in December 2024, when Republicans led 39 percent to 28 percent. The same polling has shown voters now see Democrats as better equipped to manage the economy for the first time in roughly a decade. “This war was unpopular the day it started, and it’s gotten more unpopular since,” said Justin Logan, director of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank. Logan said Trump faces a difficult tradeoff, having set ambitious goals for the conflict—destroying Iran’s missile capabilities and preventing it from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon— while also trying to limit U.S. casualties and the political fallout that could come with them. “That incoherence, or rudderlessness, in the conduct of the war is causing more problems for the president,” Logan said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/americans-overwhelmingly-call-bs-on-trump-as-chaos-fear-spikes/?

Trump’s Reflecting Pool Target Faces Explosive New Test The criminal contempt referral against Dr Anthony Fauci now lands on the desk of the embattled MAGA prosecutor. After infuriating Donald Trump by throwing out the Reflecting Pool vandalism case, MAGA prosecutor Jeanine Pirro now faces another politically explosive test: whether to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci for criminal contempt. Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the former COVID adviser in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about the origins of the pandemic, marking the GOP’s latest attempt to jail the 85-year-old. The matter will now be referred to the Justice Department, where Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, must decide whether to prosecute. The move sets up another challenge for the embattled former Fox host, who Trump came close to firing this week after she refused to back his claims that vandals ruined the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump fumed to reporters before the pair reportedly “had it out” in the Oval Office on Monday. “She folded like an umbrella.” Thursday’s vote came after Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee after being subpoenaed by Republicans, who have spent years targeting and vilifying him. He invoked his Fifth Amendment rights—but not before he went scorched earth on GOP members and accused committee chairman Rand Paul of being obsessed and unhinged. “Given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said. “Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.” The showdown on Capitol Hill came after Paul released over 1,100 pages of Fauci’s personal diary entries ahead of the grilling, detailing his daily life between December 2019 and December 2022 when he retired from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But among other things, the secret diary exposed the hypocrisy of some MAGA Republicans. For instance, it revealed how Fauci calmed Stephen Miller’s wife Katie when she tested positive for COVID while only 10 weeks pregnant with her first child, and gave her husband advice on what to do for both their safety. Both have publicly called for him to be jailed. Democrats on Thursday had unsuccessfully tried to delay the contempt vote, with a series of procedural motions. Michigan Senator Gary Stevens argued that the full Senate, not just the committee, should determine whether a witness should be in contempt. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan sought a delay so the committee could hear testimony from outside legal experts on the constitutional and procedural questions surrounding the case. And Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal also urged the vote to be postponed so the committee could hear from Fauci’s lawyer, who was ejected from the hearing when Fauci appeared last week. He said parts of the hearing were “worse than the darkest days of the McCarthy era.” “There is virtually no chance that a court would actually approve any contempt because he had a well-founded fear of self-incrimination, which entitled him to invoke the Fifth Amendment and to hear from his counsel,” Blumenthal said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-reflecting-pool-target-faces-explosive-new-test/?

Abdul El-Sayed Beats the Democratic Establishment and AIPAC in Michigan Despite record amounts of outside spending and attacks from the Democratic establishment, Abdul El-Sayed prevailed in a bitter primary race for the U.S. Senate seat in Michigan. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/05/michigan-primary-results-el-sayed-stevens-aipac/? The Most Expensive Democratic Senate Primary Has a Winner Over the course of Donald Trump’s second term, Democratic voters have expressed dissatisfaction with their party over what many view as an inability to stand up to the president and his broader movement. That dissatisfaction with the establishment has manifested in primaries in coastal cities across the country, where the progressive movement appears to be ascendant. On Tuesday, that test played out in Midwestern states, Michigan and Missouri. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/05/michigan-missouri-primary-results-el-sayed/? Bari Weiss’s “60 Minutes” Hires Producer Who Downplayed Gaza Starvation, Justified Killing Journalists Bari Weiss’s latest hire for “60 Minutes,” whose major journalistic output includes smearing genocide victims and putting a target on the backs of reporters in Gaza, shows that the full-blown right-wing tabloidification of the television news program is charging ahead. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/04/60-minutes-bari-weiss-cbs-news-israel-gaza/? Wesley Bell Again Defeats Cori Bush — With Plenty of Help From AIPAC Fueled by pro-Israel funding, Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., fended off a primary challenge from former Rep. Cori Bush, whom he ousted from Congress two years ago. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/04/wesley-bell-cori-bush-missouri-aipac/? Liberals Are Ceding Ground to the Far Right on Ceuta Border Crossings Over 50,000 people last week risked their lives to cross the border between Morocco and Ceuta, the tiny Spanish enclave in north Africa, in the hope of making it to mainland Europe. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/03/ceuta-spain-morocco-refugee-border/? The Pentagon Found a New Way to Undercount U.S. Casualties in Iran The Pentagon is using a new method of tallying the number of U.S. soldiers killed and wounded in the Iran war that a U.S. government official said was “designed to obscure the count.” https://theintercept.com/2026/08/04/us-military-casualties-count-iran-war/? NYPD Used High-Tech Surveillance to Find Gaza Paint Splatter Protester, Docs Show Columbia University had just resumed classes for the first time since a major crackdown on pro-Palestine demonstrations roiled campus throughout the first half of 2024. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/03/nypd-surveillance-gaza-protest-columbia/? There’s No Time for Centrists to Be Doomers About El-Sayed’s Victory Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic Party’s nominee for the Senate in Michigan after besting Rep. Haley Stevens by less than 1 percentage point. Not long after The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday morning, Stevens threw her “full support” behind El-Sayed. While the votes were still being counted on Tuesday night, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow — who had dropped out of the running in July — also endorsed her former opponent, acknowledging that despite a “brutal” primary race, what is most important now is to head into November as a “unified party.” https://theintercept.com/2026/08/05/abdul-el-sayed-michigan-democratic-senate-primary/? When a President Promises a Massacre “I want to give them every last chance before decapitation,” President Donald Trump said on Tuesday when asked about his floundering war with Iran. “It’s a very, very tough thing to do.” https://theintercept.com/2026/08/05/trump-colonial-extermination-asymmetric-warfare/? BLM Protester Transferred Thousands of Miles Away After They Organized Against Their Solitary Confinement A political activist serving the longest federal prison sentence of any 2020 Black Lives Matter protester was transferred without warning to a detention facility thousands of miles away from their supporters and attorney. https://theintercept.com/2026/08/04/malik-muhammad-black-lives-matter-prison-transfer/?

👋 Good morning! Are you ready for some football? The NFL preseason kicks off tonight in Canton, Ohio. In today's edition: NFL power rankings, LIV finds a lifeline, Olson passes Musial, soccer's déjà vu, Hall of Fame Game, the Jefry Yan experience, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES ⚾️ PCA wins MVP showdown: Pete Crow-Armstrong (2 HR, 4 RBI) and Shohei Ohtani's (2 HR, 3 RBI) battle of MVP contenders did not disappoint in Wednesday's series finale, which saw the Cubs hand the Dodgers their sixth straight loss and PCA become the first Cub ever with consecutive 25-HR, 25-SB seasons. ⛳️ LIV finds lifeline: LIV Golf, which has been on life support since its Saudi backers pulled funding as of the end of this season, has found a lead investor to secure the tour's future. Most details remain unknown, but the plan is to make players "majority equity holders." 🏈 NFL headlines: The Commanders signed WR Stefon Diggs to a one-year, $12M contract; Aaron Donald had an official workout with the Rams amid comeback rumors; the Chiefs' home field will once again be known simply as "Arrowhead Stadium" (rather than GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium). ⚾️ "I'll be back this season": Those five words, uttered on Wednesday by Aaron Judge, were music to Yankees' fans ears. Their captain has finally been cleared for "light activity" and vows to be back "sooner than later" after missing over two months with a rib injury. ⚽️ Cities seeking FIFA payment: The U.S. host cities for the World Cup are reportedly chasing $1 million "legacy" payments that were allegedly promised to them by FIFA, which made roughly $15 billion in revenue during the World Cup cycle.   🏈 SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE NFL OFFSEASON POWER RANKINGS (Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports) Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab spent the summer ranking and previewing every team to get you ready for the 2026 season. Below, we break down his power rankings division-by-division ahead of tonight's preseason kickoff. NFC East: The 2025 Cowboys, with their high-octane offense and league-worst defense, were far more entertaining than they were successful. This year, with a re-tooled defense led by first-year DC Christian Parker, perhaps America's Team will be more than just "Red Zone" fodder. Cowboys (No. 8 in Frank's rankings) Eagles (9) Commanders (18) Giants (25) North: Two years ago, this division had the best win rate in NFL history, and last year it became just the second division since the merger to have every team finish above .500. What does the mighty North have in store for us this time around? Lions (6) Bears (11) Packers (15) Vikings (19) South: The NFC North is the only division with all four teams ranked in Frank's top 20, and the South is the only division with no teams ranked in the top 20. Sorry, but that's what you get after all four teams finished under .500 last season. Buccaneers (22) Panthers (23) Saints (24) Falcons (26) West: The defending champions don't even get top billing in their own division thanks to the reigning MVP and DPOY teaming up in Los Angeles. And if Aaron Donald comes out of retirement to join the party? Hoo boy. Rams (1) Seahawks (2) 49ers (13) Cardinals (30) AFC ‌East: The Bills' seven-year playoff streak is the longest in the league, yet they still haven't reached the Super Bowl with Josh Allen — something the Patriots did in Year 2 of the Drake Maye era. How those two perform should decide the division, and perhaps the conference. Bills (3) Patriots (5) Jets (31) Dolphins (32) North: The Mike Tomlin era in Pittsburgh has given way to a reunion between Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers in the four-time MVP's farewell season. Speaking of change: Jesse Minter replaced John Harbaugh in Baltimore, and Todd Monken replaced Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. Ravens (7) Bengals (17) Steelers (20) Browns (29) South: Can C.J. Stroud improve enough to put some points on the board for Houston's all-world defense? How will the Jags follow up on their stunning 13-4 campaign? Can Indy bounce back after their disappointing finish? Will Cam Ward make a sophomore leap? Texans (10) Jaguars (16) Colts (21) Titans (28) West: All eyes will be on Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, as the former returns from a torn ACL and the latter seeks to restart the dynasty that was put on hold during a catastrophic 6-11 season. But don't forget about the Broncos, coming off the 1-seed in their best season since the Peyton Manning era. Broncos (4) Chiefs (12) Chargers (14) Raiders (27) Countdown: The NFL preseason kicks off tonight with the annual Hall of Fame game, and the regular season begins in 34 days with a Super Bowl rematch between the Seahawks and Patriots in Seattle on Wednesday, Sept. 9.   ⚾️ IRON MAN OLSON PASSES MUSIAL (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) Braves 1B Matt Olson continued his climb up the all-time Iron Man ranks on Wednesday when he played in his 896th consecutive game, passing Stan Musial for the eighth-longest streak in MLB history. Looking ahead: Olson's streak began on May 2, 2021, his final season with the Athletics before being traded to Atlanta. If the 32-year-old slugger stays healthy, he'll keep ascending the leaderboard over the next few years. By the end of next season he'll reach 1,106 consecutive games, barely edging out Joe Sewell (1,103) for seventh. Midway through 2028 he'll pass Billy Williams (1,117), Miguel Tejada (1,152) and Steve Garvey (1,207) for fourth, and by May of 2029 he'll pass Everett Scott (1,307) for third. Beyond that, well… good luck, Matt! To catch Lou Gehrig (2,130) he'll have to play every game until 2034, when he's 40 years old. And to catch Cal Ripken Jr. (2,632), he'll have to keep going another three years after that. Underrated? Olson's biggest claim to fame may be his endurance, but he also happens to be one of the best players in the sport, full stop. Since 2021, the season his streak began, his 216 home runs rank fifth in MLB, his 212 doubles and 615 RBIs rank second and his 30.8 WAR ranks sixth. He's also a four-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover and the 2023 Silver Slugger. Who's got next? The next-longest active Iron Man streak belongs to Orioles 1B Pete Alonso, with 524 consecutive games — more than two full seasons behind Olson.   ⚽️ TIMELINE HISTORY REPEATED, SAME RESULT (Rob Pinney/Getty Images) Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it, and after the events of the last week, it's safe to say FIFA president Gianni Infantino is no Ken Burns. Déjà vu: The FIFA Forward Enterprise project uncannily retraced the exact steps of 2021's European Super League fiasco, another commercially oriented endeavor that bucked tradition to the world's displeasure. Neither idea survived a week. Day 1 European Super League (2021): The Times' Martyn Ziegler breaks the news that five English clubs have pledged allegiance to a 20-team European Super League. Fan, pundit, and government backlash swiftly follows. FIFA Forward Enterprise (2026): The Times' Martyn Ziegler breaks the news that FIFA is pursuing private investment in a new commercial entity. Fan, pundit, and federation backlash swiftly follows, with UEFA condemning the plan within hours. Day 2 ESL: UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin condemns the Super League and threatens that European players who participate will be banned from the Euros and World Cup. The U.K. government says it will do whatever it takes to stop English clubs from joining. FFE: Condemnation of FIFA's plan grows far and wide, with even new U.K. prime minister Andy Burnham insisting "football does not belong to investors." Day 3 ESL: Rival clubs begin to issue statements rebuking the proposed Super League as fan protests build. By the end of the night, all involved English clubs announce that they will withdraw from the league. FFE: UEFA holds an emergency meeting and confirms plans to boycott all FIFA competitions until the proposal is abandoned. Concacaf soon joins them in formally condemning it. Their joint opposition puts the plan on life support. Day 4 ESL: Liverpool owner John Henry apologizes to fans. Super League founder Andrea Agnelli acknowledges that the league is effectively dead, and by day's end, just four of the original 12 teams remain. The ESL concept survived in zombie form until early 2026, but in reality, it ended just four days in. FFE: The Asian Football Confederation declares its opposition to the proposal. Senior FIFA advisor Carlos Cordeiro resigns in protest, while FIFA COO Kevin Lamour declares that staff were deceived about the project. Day 5 FFE: FIFA withdraws the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, noting that it had divided the world when it intended to unite. Full-time FIFA Forward Enterprise lasted one day longer than the European Super League, but the overlap on their bingo cards was striking. From being scooped by Martyn Ziegler* to UEFA condemnation to insider backtracking, Infantino and company played the hits in what would be considered an unimaginative and formulaic sequel by Hollywood standards. *There's a real case to be made that Ziegler is one of the most important football figures of the 21st century, having put both of these proposals on the back foot by breaking the news.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, AUG. 6 (Nick Cammett/Getty Images) 🏈 Hall of Fame Game The NFL preseason kicks off tonight in Canton, Ohio (8pm ET, NBC), where the Cardinals and Panthers will play in the annual Hall of Fame Game before the Class of 2026 is enshrined this weekend. Kenny Pickett will start at QB for Carolina, while rookie Carson Beck will start for Arizona. Honorees: The Class of 2026 includes Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, hence the teams chosen for tonight's game. The other three members are quarterback Drew Brees, running back Roger Craig and kicker Adam Vinatieri. ⛳️ Wyndham Championship The PGA Tour's regular-season finale tees off today (6:45am, ESPN+; 3pm, Golf) at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, where dozens of golfers are fighting for a berth in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 59 players have already clinched, leaving just 11 open spots. Elsewhere: The U.S. Women's Amateur Round of 64 is today (11am, Golf) at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tennessee, and LIV New York (12pm, Fox One) tees off at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. 🏀 WNBA on Prime Caitlin Clark's Fever host A'ja Wilson's Aces in the first leg of tonight's star-studded doubleheader (7pm, Prime). Then, rookie sensation Olivia Miles and the first-place Lynx host the Sparks as they go for their 11th straight win (9pm, Prime). MVP race: Wilson (-500), Miles (+900) and Clark (+1400) are three of the top five betting favorites to win MVP. Paige Bueckers is tied with Clark at +1400. More to watch: ⚾️ MLB: Twins at Royals (7:30pm, ESPN) … Minnesota (56-59) is just one game out of the third wild card spot. 🎾 Tennis: Canadian Open (11am, Tennis) … Frances Tiafoe, Alex de Minaur, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula headline the Round of 32 action. 🤸🏻‍♀️ Gymnastics: U.S. Championships (10pm, NBCSN/Peacock) … The four-day event gets underway in Phoenix, with the men kicking things off.   ✌️ SEEING DOUBLE TRIVIA TIME (Chris Coduto/Getty Images) The Cardinals (Arizona, St. Louis) and Panthers (Carolina, Florida) — playing in tonight's Hall of Fame Game — are two of the six names in the "Big Four" leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) attached to multiple teams. Question: Can you name the other four examples? Answer at the bottom.   ⚾️ JUMPING FOR JOY WELCOME TO THE BIG LEAGUES Yan's first MLB strikeout. (SNY) Are you ready for the Jefry Yan experience? The Mets have called up the demonstrative lefty, whose strikeout celebrations include jump splits, mid-air leaps and 360 spins. And it didn't take long to see them in action, as the reliever recorded two strikeouts in his MLB debut on Wednesday.   Trivia answer: Jets (New York and Winnipeg), Rangers (New York and Texas), Giants (New York and San Francisco), Kings (Los Angeles and Sacramento)

Otit appears to me that you hae not read the artical that i citrd and are not aware of a 6- day week that occured and changed the order of the dayes of the week and Sunday became the 7th day.

Auditor General: DeSantis administration ‘significantly delayed’ access to Medicaid records The DeSantis administration slowed down state auditors reviewing how Florida conducted its Medicaid eligibility determinations following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, a state Auditor General report found. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/05/auditor-general-desantis-administration-significantly-delayed-access-to-medicaid-records-required-for-review/? Instead of installing more EV chargers, Florida DOT dreams of flying cars I watched a lot of cartoons as a kid. None was more visually stunning than “The Jetsons.” It focused on a family coping with life in a streamlined future filled with snazzy gadgets. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/06/instead-of-installing-more-ev-chargers-florida-dot-dreams-of-flying-cars/?

George Mantello: How One Man Saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews He forged thousands of passports and risked his life to save Jews from the Nazis, then exposed Auschwitz to the world. https://aish.com/george-mantello-how-one-man-saved-100000-hungarian-jews/?

Texas judge rules that law regulating firearm suppressors and some guns can’t be enforced AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday struck down a 1930s law that imposed regulations on firearm suppressors and guns that are considered the most dangerous, more than a year after President Donald Trump signed a bill eliminating taxes on those items. https://apnews.com/article/gun-law-firearms-rifle-silencer-texas-judge-7a29ec3b20d9a4ee36e04eb1b276e372?

Firefighters get a handle on Spokane wildfires as tens of thousands remain evacuated Firefighters have taken advantage of cooler weather to try to take control of the wildfire in Washington state’s second-largest city. But hotter, drier and breezier days lie ahead. Read more. What to know: The fires — one of which authorities say was deliberately set by a man who was arrested and charged with arson — have destroyed about 850 buildings and forced the evacuation of around 67,000 people since they erupted last weekend. Damage assessment crews have yet to tally exactly how many houses have been lost or damaged. No deaths have been reported. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Wildfire tracker WATCH: Thick smoke clouds rise above mountains Man charged with setting Spokane’s largest wildfire was questioned about 2 other blazes last year Wildfire near Athens leaves rescuers scrambling to reunite hundreds of animals Rising temperatures could keep more flights from taking off on time Where extreme heat is having the biggest impact on Americans’ lives, according to a new AP-NORC poll

Judge criticizes the Justice Department as he dismisses Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta decried efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol as he reluctantly dismissed the seditious conspiracy case against members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group. Read more. Why this matters: The Department of Justice in April acted to vacate the convictions of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and others who had their sentences commuted but did not receive pardons. Mehta, who oversaw the Oath Keepers’ trials, criticized the department’s move, writing in his ruling that the government “asks to absolve these Defendants of crimes against the United States itself.” But Mehta wrote that he had no choice but to grant the administration’s request. Mehta’s order closes the book on the Jan. 6 cases that were wiped out with President Donald Trump’s sweeping pardons and commutations last year. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ No evidence? No problem. Trump pushes ahead on false claims that Reflecting Pool was vandalized Senate panel to vote on holding Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions State of New Mexico sues Justice Department and Todd Blanche, saying they blocked its Epstein probe North Carolina congressman Edwards quits reelection bid after committee finds inappropriate conduct GOP Rep. Max Miller resists pressure to drop reelection bid as party anxiety grows over abuse claims Fauci’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment tees up a legal debate and a contempt vote Crews remove the granite seal on the White House helipad, signaling potential project delays

AP Exclusive: Trump’s immigration crackdown has detained dozens of military spouses and parents More than 50 parents and spouses of active-duty service members have been detained since Trump took office for a second term. At least six have been deported and one self-deported, an AP investigation found in the first accounting of such detentions, which the government does not track. Read more. Why this matters: Parents and spouses of people in the military have generally been shielded from deportation under bipartisan consensus for decades. Experts warn that the reversal could undermine military preparedness even as the U.S. is at war in Iran. It’s left military members without emotional support and caretakers for their children, delayed deployments and forced some to take leave. “DHS and ICE value the contributions of all those who have served in the U.S. military,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “U.S. military service alone does not automatically grant lawful immigration status, or exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. immigration laws.” RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Service members speak about how their lives have been upended Empty pews and fear of ICE on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after TPS ends for Haitians Salvadoran man complained of access to medication before death at NJ immigration jail, family says A $150M contract for migrant kids’ lawyers goes to a Trump-linked Texas firm, raising concerns

Artificial intelligence Another week, another warning about AI getting a little too good at its job. Geoffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist known as the "godfather of AI," told CNN on Wednesday that humans may no longer be able to outsmart the next generation of superintelligent AI models. "As they get smarter, we're going to see more and more complex intentions they have – and more and more ability to escape control," Hinton said. His warning comes after the two leading AI labs, OpenAI and Anthropic, reported separate incidents in recent weeks involving their models hacking into other systems during testing. On Wednesday, Meta reported a similar incident, saying one of its AI agents went rogue and hacked another organization's systems.

Peace talks Iran is pushing back on President Trump's claim that negotiations to end the war are underway. While Tehran denies holding talks with Washington, it is negotiating with Oman, and those talks have led to some progress over the Strait of Hormuz. A senior Gulf official familiar with the talks told CNN there is about a 50-50 chance of a deal by Friday. Still, tensions remain high, with Trump insisting earlier today that the US has "massive amounts" of munitions, despite sources telling CNN that some key stockpiles are running low.

Flu vaccines The FDA has approved the first mRNA-based flu vaccine in the US for adults 50 and older, drugmaker Moderna announced Wednesday. Unlike traditional flu shots, which require strains to be selected months in advance, the mRNA vaccine can be updated much closer to flu season, potentially making it a better match for circulating viruses. In Moderna's study of more than 40,000 adults 50 and older, the vaccine was about 27% more effective than standard flu shots last year. If rolled out as planned, Moderna said the vaccine will be available to eligible US adults for the 2026-27 respiratory virus season, which typically begins in October.

Fauci vote A Senate panel is set to vote today on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly declined to answer questions during a contentious hearing last week on Covid-19. Ahead of the vote, the panel's chair, GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, obtained a copy of Fauci's former iPhone from the Department of Health and Human Services. Johnson said he hopes the device will answer questions Fauci refused to address. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during last week's hearing, which Republicans had hoped would open him up to claims of perjury.

August 6, 2026 By Evan Gorelick Good morning. Today we’re looking at a major side effect of President Trump’s A.I. blitz. A Meta A.I. data center under construction near El Paso, Texas. Paul Ratje for The New York Times Dirty data You don’t have to be a technophobe to hate data centers these days. And you don’t have to have much skin in the game, either. Even if there’s no blocky, gas-guzzling, million-square-foot behemoth coming soon to a neighborhood near you … you probably still loathe these bad boys. More than half of Americans say they’d support a national ban. Savvy politicians are converting the pitchforks into votes. In Michigan, where OpenAI is building a very big, very unpopular data center, a progressive organizer campaigning on a moratorium walloped two better-funded candidates in a House Democratic primary on Tuesday. That same day in Kansas, Democrats nominated a candidate for governor who has made opposing these facilities a core part of her platform. It makes political sense for them. Energy prices are high, driven by Trump’s war in Iran, and data centers make that worse. And the president has pushed A.I. companies to build out infrastructure faster than ever, arguing that to do otherwise would be to hand the race for A.I. dominance to China. Plenty of A.I. wonks agree with him. It takes years, in some cases, to connect data centers to the grid — too slow to meet the technology’s monstrous power demands. But Trump can read the room, and Americans are upset about data centers jacking up their electricity bills. (Nearly four in five say they’re worried about that, recent polling found.) His solution is to make A.I. companies build or buy their own energy infrastructure, so as not to strain the grids used by households and businesses. In March, he got a handful of tech bosses from Google, Microsoft and OpenAI (among others) to sign a nonbinding pay-for-power pledge. That hasn’t stopped prices from going up. The nation’s largest electrical grid operator said last month that data centers would heap billions in additional charges on consumers over the next three years. But the Trump administration’s plan has had a different effect, my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reports: It’s driving a boom in gas-burning power plants. Nationwide, at least 82 gas-burning plants are being built or have been proposed to power data centers, according to the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan research organization. They’re easy to get up and running, and they’re cheap — especially in fossil-fuel-friendly places like Texas, which could soon overtake Virginia as the world’s largest data center market. Texas has been particularly aggressive in approving on-site power plants at data centers, fast-tracking permits with little public scrutiny or oversight. The competition for gas power is now so fierce that Elon Musk bought a company specializing in rapid-deployment gas and diesel turbines. Look at what it’ll take to power a new Meta data center in El Paso: The New York Times If built as planned, these plants could spew as much planet-warming carbon dioxide in a year as roughly half of all the passenger vehicles in the country. Read more about the air pollution tied to Trump’s plan for A.I. dominance. In other A.I. news … Chinese A.I. models have become a hot commodity in Africa, where thrifty developers are looking for the best systems at the lowest possible prices. Unlike the models put out by top American A.I. companies — which are “closed” and charge fees — the “open-source” Chinese ones are publicly available free. Read about how entrepreneurs in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana are creating a new market for Chinese A.I. Having an A.I. boss can be a lot like working for a forgetful teddy bear. At least that’s what employees said after researchers let an A.I. agent run a San Francisco store for four months. “She is probably the most lenient boss I have ever had,” said one of three humans hired by Luna, the A.I. agent. Luna approved every employee’s request for time off, even if it meant the store had to close. A little more spine might not hurt. Google Earth released its own generative A.I. feature — which, for about 24 hours last week, allowed the creation of deepfake aerial images. The company had intended to unleash users’ imaginations. (“What did my neighborhood look like 100 years ago?”) Instead, people showed how easily it could be used to generate very realistic nuclear power plants, refugee camps, burned forests, flooded cities and even a fatal car crash. THE LATEST NEWS Michigan Elections Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in Detroit yesterday. Finn Gomez/Getty Images Dr. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Representative Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary by around one percentage point. (The election results were the most clicked link in The Morning yesterday.) Left-wing Democrats notched another win in Michigan when Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist state representative, ousted Representative Shri Thanedar. In an unusual upset, Trump’s favored primary candidate for a battleground House district, Amir Hassan, lost to a little-known Republican who raised only $1,850, ran no TV ads and had suspended his campaign last month. One lesson from Michigan, our political reporter Reid Epstein writes, is that the pro-Palestinian movement is becoming a force in the Democratic Party. Here are seven more takeaways. More on Politics A helicopter carrying Trump came less than a mile from a passenger jet above Washington this week after garbled communications with air traffic controllers. A new class of warships named for Trump is expected to cost $275 billion — at least 50 percent more than previously estimated. Trump’s plan to display the jet donated by Qatar at his presidential library has changed, according to his son Eric. Health The F.D.A. approved the first mRNA flu vaccine. The Senate confirmed Dr. Erica Schwartz as C.D.C. director. She has publicly supported childhood vaccines. A Senate panel got a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s cellphone. The panel's chairman said he hoped it would address questions Fauci refused to answer at a hearing last week. The federal government is cutting ties with the group that coordinates organ donations in Kentucky, after finding that it tried to pursue organs from critically ill people who were recovering. (The move was prompted in part by The Times’s reporting.) Around the World The New York Times Could water be the next front in the U.S.-Iran conflict? In the video above, our reporter Dustin Volz looks into recent cyberattacks on America’s municipal water systems. Click to watch. The C.I.A. has established a secret task force to influence Cuba’s political elite. Customs officials in Indonesia said they found about 55 pounds of ecstasy in the luggage of a Malaysia Airlines pilot. Other Big Stories Jason Arday, the youngest Black professor ever hired at Cambridge, resigned while facing accusations of plagiarism and scholarly misconduct. A Times analysis found dozens of areas in the Reflecting Pool’s new liner that showed tears, bubbles and peeling. See them here. HOW FAR WILL UBER GO? max-o-matic Uber riders have filed thousands of lawsuits over the years claiming that the company failed to protect them from sexual assaults by its drivers. While Uber pushes back on many of the claims, it also proclaims that it is devoted to handling sexual violence in a “survivor-centric” and “trauma-informed” way, treating accusers with dignity. But in practice, Uber pursues a much more aggressive strategy, a Times investigation found. Its lawyers scour women’s private communications, medical records and therapy notes for sensitive details — including other sexual assaults, childhood abuse and domestic violence — and then grill them about those issues, their sex lives and their behavior. Some examples from our reporting: In one case, Uber’s lawyer asked a woman exactly how much vodka she had drunk, how many milligrams of Adderall she had taken and whether she had “felt regret” about mixing the two. The lawyer also inquired about her outfit, asking, “Can you describe the dress?” In another case, a lawyer for Uber asked a woman whether she had been wearing underwear and if she had become “extra sexually active” after the Uber incident. Read the full investigation here. OPINIONS What’s a personality quirk and what’s a medical condition? Plenty of influencers say they can help you find out. “The Opinions” podcast takes on the phenomenon of self-diagnosis. The Met announced that John Galliano, a onetime creative director at Dior and a convicted antisemite, will be the subject of the Costume Institute’s exhibition next spring. That’s a bizarre choice, writes Dana Thomas, a biographer of the designer. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS In Nairobi. Fredrik Lerneryd for The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. Hoe down: Country music is finding new fans in Kenya. A tale of two cities: Ceuta, Spain, and Fnideq, Morocco, are separated by only a mile and connected by family and trade. But they are worlds apart, as recent border crisis showed. Be prepared: Finland has long taught its children to spot fake news. A.I. is making those lessons more challenging. TODAY’S NUMBER Kelsey McClellan for The New York Times 150 million — That’s how many customers, across 100 countries, buy Crocs annually. But when tax season arrives, the shoemaker, based Colorado, claims that all its global profits were earned in a two-person office in the tiny European nation of Malta. SPORTS Golf: LIV Golf, the renegade league seemingly on its last breaths, says it has found a new investor to fund it through 2027. Soccer: The embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino still has backing from the organization’s senior leadership after his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup. RECIPE OF THE DAY Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog. It’s almost peak eggplant season, which means it’s a great time to try this chicken, basil and eggplant stir-fry. Instead of relying on a copious amount of oil to cook the eggplant, this recipe uses a steam-fry technique that leaves it silky and caramelized. Ground chicken anchors the dish, and a giant handful of wilted basil gives dimension and freshness. Served over steamed jasmine rice. SOUNDS OF SUMMER Vincent Tullo for The New York Times Jacek Smolicki fishes for sound. An artist, scholar and designer based in Stockholm, Smolicki has dedicated his practice to the fine art of listening. On a recent trip to New York, he wandered around the city on “soundwalks” — an opportunity, he said, to “take a break” from our visually dominant culture. Want to hear some classic sounds of New York? You’ll find them in the full story. More on culture Not even “Sesame Street” is safe from extreme weather. A new episode addresses the effects of a dangerously warming planet. Last year, our arts reporter Reggie Ugwu declared this hot, sweaty stretch of summer “lizard season.” Now he’s offering a playlist to mark its return. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Matt Chase Stop procrastinating with these expert-approved strategies. Choose the right gift for your Gen Z friends and relatives with these 33 recommendations from Wirecutter. Shop for food at IKEA. It has some surprisingly delicious items. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was hayfork. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. P.S. Have you ever wondered why some words are playable and others are off-limits? Here, the editors of Wordle, Spelling Bee and more explain the unique rules for each game. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. As a reminder, Sam Sifton is on vacation this week and next. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 6 1945 American bomber drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima The United States becomes the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people are killed and another 35,000 are injured. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1846 Donner Party encounters first delay 1890 First execution by electric chair Arts & Entertainment 1911 Lucille Ball is born 1928 Andy Warhol is born Civil War 1862 Confederate ship blown up by crew 1864 Philip Sheridan receives orders to command the Army of the Shenandoah Crime 1902 Mobster Dutch Schultz is born 1930 Judge Joseph Force Crater becomes the “missingest man” in New York Inventions & Science 1996 Researchers claim to have found signs of Martian life in Antarctic meteorite Sports 1926 Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim English Channel U.S. Constitution 1787 First draft of Constitution debated U.S. Presidents 1965 President Johnson signs Voting Rights Act Vietnam War 1969 Army announces murder charges against Green Berets

🔊 1 for the road: Running raves GIF: Pacific Coast Run Club New trend: Run clubs are turning their weekly jogs into moving raves with DJs blasting music from the back of a truck, Axios San Diego's Claire Trageser writes. Read the full story ...

Work slowdown in immigration offices Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: Brendan Smialowski/AFP and Spencer Platt/Getty Images A work slowdown by the Trump administration's immigration offices has exploded the backlog of applications for citizenship, green cards and work permits to an unprecedented 7.5 million people, Axios' Brittany Gibson writes from the latest agency data. Add the millions of immigrants waiting on decisions for asylum, work visas and permission to stay in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons, and the total backlog soars to more than 12.1 million. Why it matters: The delays have put potentially millions of people in legal immigration limbo — vulnerable to being arrested by ICE agents and deported, even if they've followed the rules to try to stay in the U.S. Officials say the delays are being driven by the administration's new focus on stricter vetting. A wave of DOGE-induced retirements also reduced the workforce at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Critics see a calculated plan to boost arrests and deportations. Keep reading.

🥊 Tucker's 10-point manifesto Tucker Carlson used a highly promoted livestream last evening to unveil a 10-point vision for America — defining the worldview of a breakaway MAGA faction increasingly at odds with President Trump, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. After vowing last month to "help build a third party," Carlson fueled further speculation this weekend by hosting MAGA dissidents at his home in Maine, where they urged him to run for president in 2028. Why it matters: Carlson has become the intellectual hub for a small but vocal faction of MAGA exiles who say Trump abandoned the "America First" agenda by launching the Iran war, mishandling the Epstein files and allowing Israel to exert too much influence over U.S. policy. The former Fox News host stopped short of a formal launch. Instead, he presented his manifesto as the foundation for "whatever comes next" — a new political order he said could "find all kinds of expressions": Fair: The same rules should apply to presidents, federal agents and elites such as Jeffrey Epstein, whose impunity Carlson cast as emblematic of an "Epstein class" enriching itself through a corrupt system. Sovereign: Carlson claimed Israel pushed the U.S. into the Iran war through "bribery or threat or both," while describing foreign lobbying, corporate control of government and high-interest debt as forms of "slavery." Productive: America should rebuild farming, manufacturing and craftsmanship while rejecting an economy dominated by finance, real estate speculation, surveillance systems and weapons. Healthy: Carlson embraced RFK Jr.'s food agenda, called for universal sobriety and said widespread use of drugs such as Xanax, Adderall and SSRIs had left Americans "half-addled." Optimistic: Carlson argued that having children is a biological imperative and the foundation of long-term thinking, while blaming aging and childless elites for policies that disregard future generations. See all 10 points.