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US Mint produces a $1 coin bearing Trump’s face to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Mint has begun producing a new $1 coin bearing President Donald Trump’s face to help celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. https://apnews.com/article/trump-gold-coin-treasury-us-mint-d4e8b5fb44bd899ea6dfa53f6744a2f0?

Sanctioned former President Michel Martelly returns to Haiti as some cheer Former Haitian President Michel Martelly returned to Haiti on Wednesday, making a rare visit to his homeland. Read More.

Donald Trump endorses 'Pillow Man' Mike Lindell for Minnesota governor President Donald Trump has endorsed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell for Minnesota governor, praising him as “one of America’s greatest and most hard working Patriots” and giving formal backing to a fellow election denier a day before the Republican president delivers a national address he says will focus on election security. Read More.

⚽️ More than a match Today's England vs. Argentina World Cup semifinal is the latest saga in a rivalry shaped by disputed goals, national humiliation and war, Axios' David Adkins writes. 🪖 Britain and Argentina fought the Falklands War in 1982 over islands that Argentina calls the Malvinas. 649 Argentines, 255 Brits and three islanders were killed in the conflict. ⚽️ Four years later, Diego Maradona delivered one of the World Cup's most extraordinary performances, scoring both the illegal "Hand of God" goal and the "Goal of the Century" in Argentina's 2-1 quarterfinal win. Maradona later described the victory as revenge: "More than defeating a football team, it was defeating a country." 🟥 Argentina again eliminated England in 1998 after David Beckham's infamous red card. Beckham answered with a game-winning penalty kick in 2002. How to watch.

🪙 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled new images of a proposed $1 gold-colored coin featuring President Trump to commemorate America's 250th anniversary. Go deeper. ps:Just absolutely pathetic!!!!! 🚔 President Trump said ICE should keep doing traffic stops, despite reports that his administration has mostly suspended them after two deadly shootings. Trump wrote on Truth Social: "I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job." Go deeper.

🔥 Smoke season The HRRR model's near-surface smoke predictions through later this week. Image: NOAA Air quality across the Midwest and Northeast is plummeting as wildfire smoke from Minnesota and Canada is pushed eastward and falls to ground level. That's alongside a continuing "heat dome," causing a dangerous combination of high temperatures and poor air quality for millions. ☀️ Thick smoke could actually suppress temperatures by blocking sunlight. Yet smoky air brings its own health risks, especially for sensitive groups. 🚒 Dan Westervelt, associate professor at Columbia University's Climate School, tells AP that severe drought conditions combined with heat in Canada and the U.S. have created "a perfect storm for really dry conditions to provide a lot of fuel for these wildfires to burn." Researchers have found that climate change made past major wildfires both more intense and more likely. Go deeper.

Trump's CDC cut tracking of 'explosive diarrhea' parasite before 2026 outbreak FoodNet, a CDC-led federal collaboration, made tracking the cyclospora parasite optional in 2025. Claim: In 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration cut surveillance of cyclospora, a parasite that causes an intestinal disease called cyclosporiasis, of which thousands of cases were reported across the country in 2026. Rating: True Context In 2025, FoodNet — a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and state health departments created in 1995 — made surveillance of cyclospora, the parasite that causes cyclosporiasis, optional. Snopes could not determine whether this directly led to the 2026 outbreak, and neither the CDC nor the Trump administration has responded for comment as of this writing. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cyclospora-parasite-trump-cuts/? ps:All he does is make decisions that benefit his billionaire friends! Nothing to benefit the people and those that voted him in!!

Stan, we are in a fourth turning. The last forth turning was the great depression in USA. There will be many changes taking place. I had an older friend back in Michigan. He told me about the time of the depression there was a popular movement towards socialism. He was a young man then. His opinion was that it almost succeeded. Way to close. I suspect that this experiment will continue. Let's hope people wake up before it's too late.

I have watched many videos on this event. In my opinion, the reason so many people died, was they were caught off guard. It was a slow moving disaster. The water slowly kept rising. They did not expect this. Many were drawn to the water out of curiosity.

Researchers have uncovered a hidden feature beneath the Pacific Ocean that helps explain why Japan's devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami became so destructive. The discovery also offers new clues that could improve forecasts of future megaquakes and tsunamis. A new study found that a thin layer of soft, clay-rich sediment beneath the Japan Trench played a critical role in the disaster. Located just below the seafloor, this unusually weak layer allowed the fault to rupture all the way to the trench during the 2011 "megathrust" earthquake. As a result, the seafloor shifted by an extraordinary 130 to 200 feet, helping generate the massive tsunami. "That's equivalent to the entire area between Los Angeles and San Francisco moving 130 to 200 feet in just six minutes," said Christine Regalla, an associate professor in Northern Arizona University's School of Earth and Sustainability and a co-author of the study. "We've never seen anything like that in the time we've been observing earthquakes. Based on what we understood, we didn't think that could happen." The research, led by Regalla and more than a dozen scientists from around the world, was published in Science. Hidden Clay Layer Beneath the Japan Trench Most large earthquakes begin much deeper below Earth's surface. Regalla explained that when tectonic plates shift, the rupture that produces an earthquake usually occurs far underground. For example, the rupture that caused the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually earthquake in the Pacific Northwest in 2001 started about 32 miles beneath the seafloor. The 2011 Japan earthquake was very different. The rupture reached only about 15 miles below the seafloor, allowing the fault to break much closer to the ocean bottom. The resulting magnitude 9.1 earthquake triggered one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern Japanese history, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing more than $200 billion in damage. To understand why this happened, researchers traveled to the western Pacific aboard the research vessel Chikyu. They drilled about 26,000 feet into the ocean floor, recovered sediment samples, and analyzed the material. Guinness World Records recognized the expedition as the deepest scientific ocean drilling project ever completed. The samples revealed a 100 foot thick layer of pelagic clay, an extremely soft, slippery sediment formed over millions of years as microscopic particles slowly settled to the seafloor. Sandwiched between much stronger rock layers, the clay acted like a natural "tear line" that concentrated the rupture along a narrow path. "At the Japan Trench, the geologic layering basically predetermines where the fault will form," said study co-author Patrick Fulton, an associate professor in Cornell University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "It becomes an extremely focused, extremely weak surface, which makes it easier for ruptures to propagate all the way to the seafloor." Why the Discovery Matters Because this pelagic clay layer stretches for hundreds of miles along the Japan Trench, researchers believe the region may be more vulnerable to shallow slip earthquakes than previously thought. Regalla said understanding where these weak layers exist could improve scientists' ability to identify areas capable of producing the largest earthquakes and tsunamis. "An earthquake and tsunami in Japan doesn't just impact people who live locally -- it also impacts people at the ports and people who live across the ocean," Regalla said. "Think about Hawaii: Their most devastating tsunamis come from Japan and Alaska. These are truly global events." Improving Earthquake and Tsunami Forecasts The researchers hope the findings will help scientists better understand where powerful earthquakes and tsunamis are most likely to occur. That knowledge could help policymakers strengthen building codes, improve earthquake resistant infrastructure, update evacuation plans, and better prepare communities for future disasters. "Japan is one of the world leaders in earthquake and tsunami preparation, but even they weren't prepared for what happened in 2011," Regalla said. "We all need to gain a better understanding of where these events might happen in the future. Only then can we make emergency plans that will keep everyone safe."

Regular exercise may benefit the heart in a way scientists are only beginning to understand. Beyond improving cardiovascular fitness, new research suggests that moderate aerobic exercise reshapes the nerves that regulate the heart. The findings could eventually help doctors develop more precise treatments for common heart conditions. Researchers from the University of Bristol (UK) found, for the first time, that regular aerobic training changes the heart's controlling nerves differently on the left and right sides of the body. The study, published in Autonomic Neuroscience, uncovered a striking left-right difference that may one day improve treatment strategies for irregular heartbeats, chest pain, angina, and stress-induced 'broken-heart' syndrome. Study lead author Dr. Augusto Coppi, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Bristol, said: "The discovery points to a previously hidden left-right pattern in the body's 'autopilot' system that helps run the heart. "These nerve clusters act like the heart's dimmer switch and we've shown that regular, moderate exercise remodels that switch in a side-specific way. This could help explain why some treatments work better on one side than the other and, in future, help doctors target therapies more precisely and effectively." Exercise Alters Heart-Control Nerves The project was carried out in collaboration with University College London (UCL) in the UK, the University of São Paulo (USP), and the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil. Using advanced three-dimensional imaging techniques known as stereology, the team examined how exercise changed nerve clusters that help regulate heart function. After 10 weeks of training, rats that exercised had about four times as many neurons in the cardiovascular nerve cluster on the right side of the body compared with the left, relative to untrained animals. At the same time, neurons on the left side nearly doubled in size, while those on the right became slightly smaller. These findings suggest that exercise remodels the heart's nerve network in different ways on each side. Potential Benefits for Heart Treatments Dr. Coppi explained: "Irregular heart rhythms, known as arrhythmias, stress-induced 'broken-heart' syndrome, and certain types of chest pain are often treated by dialing down overactive stellate ganglia - the paired small nerve hubs in the lower neck/upper chest area that send 'go faster' signals to the heart. "By mapping how exercise changes these ganglia on each side, the study offers clues that could one day fine-tune procedures like nerve blocks or denervation to the side most likely to help. The findings are early-stage and in rats, so clinical studies would need to follow." Although the research is still in its early stages and was conducted in rats, the results raise the possibility that future therapies could be tailored to target one side of these nerve clusters more effectively than the other. That approach could improve treatments for arrhythmias, stress-induced 'broken-heart' syndrome, and difficult-to-treat angina. Next Steps for the Research The researchers now plan to investigate how these structural changes affect the heart's performance both during exercise and at rest. They also intend to determine whether the same left-right pattern appears in other animal models and in humans using non-invasive markers. Dr. Coppi added: "Understanding these left-right differences could help us personalize treatments for heart rhythm disorders and angina. Our next step is to test how these structural changes map onto function and whether similar patterns appear in larger animals and humans."

A new machine learning system has flagged more than 250,000 cancer research papers that may be connected to so called "paper mills." The study, published in The BMJ, examined 2.6 million cancer research papers released between 1999 and 2024. It was led by QUT researcher Professor Adrian Barnett, from the School of Public Health and Social Work and Australian Centre for Health Services and Innovation (AusHSI), together with an international group of collaborators. The researchers found that more than 250,000 papers contained writing patterns similar to those seen in studies that had already been retracted over suspected fabrication. "Paper mills are companies that sell fake or low-quality scientific studies. They are producing 'research' on an industrial scale, and our findings suggest the problem in cancer research is far larger than most people realized," Professor Barnett said. How Paper Mills Produce Fake Research Paper mills sell authorship positions and, in some cases, complete ready made scientific papers. These studies may contain reused text, unusual or awkward language, and fabricated data or images. "Most likely, they're relying on boilerplate templates which can be detected by large language models that analyze patterns in texts," Professor Barnett said. To search for these patterns, Barnett and his colleagues trained a language model called BERT. The system was designed to identify subtle textual "fingerprints" that repeatedly appear in known paper mill products. When evaluated using verified examples, the model correctly detected suspicious papers 91 percent of the time. "We've essentially built a scientific spam filter," Professor Barnett said. "Just like your email system can spot unwanted messages, our tool flags papers that match the writing style and structure we see in retracted, fraudulent work." Suspicious Cancer Papers Have Surged The large scale analysis revealed several major trends: Flagged papers rose sharply over the past two decades, increasing from about 1 percent in the early 2000s to a peak of more than 16 percent in 2022. The suspected problem appears across thousands of journals published by major companies, including journals with strong reputations and high impact. Suspicious papers were especially common in areas such as molecular cancer biology and early stage laboratory research. Certain cancer types, including gastric, liver, bone and lung cancer, had particularly high rates of flagged studies. Journals Begin Testing the AI Tool Three scientific journals are already testing the system as part of their editorial review process. The goal is to help editors identify potentially fabricated manuscripts before they are sent to outside experts for peer review. The researchers also plan to adapt the tool for use in other scientific fields. They expect its accuracy to improve as more confirmed examples of paper mill activity become available. However, the team emphasized that papers identified by the system should not automatically be treated as fraudulent. The results are warning signals, not confirmed findings of misconduct, and each case still needs to be reviewed by human experts. Why Fake Research Can Harm Patients "Cancer research influences clinical trials, drug development and patient care," Professor Barnett said. "If fabricated studies make their way into the evidence base, they can mislead real scientists and ultimately slow progress for patients. That's why it's vital we get ahead of this problem."

Commonly used sweeteners can directly interfere with the growth of bacteria that help support a healthy gut, according to laboratory research from the University of Cambridge. The strongest effect appeared when researchers combined isosteviol, a sweetener used by the food and beverage industry, with the antidepressant duloxetine. Together, the two compounds sharply reduced the growth of two important bacterial species associated with digestive health, blood sugar regulation, and immune function. The scientists caution that the experiments were conducted in a laboratory rather than in people. More research will therefore be needed to determine whether the bacterial changes lead to meaningful health effects under real-world conditions. Sweeteners May Not Be Biologically Inactive Sweeteners are found in countless everyday products, including soft drinks, candy, desserts, breakfast cereals, snacks, and some medications. They are commonly promoted as alternatives that provide sweetness with less sugar or fewer calories. However, growing evidence has linked sweetener consumption with conditions including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and cancer. These associations do not prove that sweeteners directly cause those diseases, and researchers are still working to understand the biological processes that might explain the connections. One possible factor is the gut microbiome, the enormous community of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the digestive system. These microbes help break down food, produce useful compounds, train the immune system, and influence metabolism. Changes in the number or balance of these organisms may affect health throughout the body. Despite the widespread use of sweeteners, relatively little research has examined whether they directly affect individual gut bacteria. Professor Kiran Patil from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Toxicology Unit at the University of Cambridge said: "Most of what we know about the potential impact of sweeteners on our health comes from animal research or from population studies. While these studies have indicated involvement of the microbiome in mediating the effect of sweeteners, it's difficult to know how sweeteners act in the body -- is it through direct interactions with our gut bacteria?" "Answering this is further complicated by the fact that we rarely ever take sweeteners by themselves -- we take them with drinks, in snacks, or even in medication to mask bitterness," added Dr. Sonja Blasche, a lead author of the study, also the MRC Toxicology Unit. Testing 39 Sweeteners Against Gut Bacteria For the study, published in Molecular Systems Biology, Dr. Blasche and her colleagues investigated how artificial and low-calorie sweeteners influence gut bacteria. They also examined whether those effects change when sweeteners are mixed with substances commonly encountered in foods, drinks, and medicines. The team grew 25 bacterial species separately in the laboratory. The selection included bacteria considered beneficial, neutral, or potentially harmful. Each species was then exposed to 39 commercially used sweeteners, including both natural and artificial varieties. The researchers monitored how quickly each bacterial culture multiplied and whether its growth slowed or stopped. About three-quarters of the sweeteners affected the growth of at least one bacterial species. Several reduced or completely halted the growth of bacteria associated with a healthy digestive system. These findings suggest that some sweeteners are not simply inactive substances that pass through the digestive tract without interacting with the organisms living there. More Than 100 Unexpected Interactions People rarely consume a sweetener in isolation. It may appear alongside caffeine in a beverage, flavoring in a dessert, or an active ingredient in a medication. To recreate some of that complexity, the researchers paired the sweeteners with substances including caffeine, vanillin (vanilla extract), advantame (an artificial sweetener), and eight commonly used drugs. The team identified more than 100 cases in which a sweetener's effect changed when another compound was present. The combined effects became stronger in 34 cases and weaker in 68 cases. This means that the impact of a particular sweetener may depend partly on what else is consumed at the same time. Antidepressant Combination Stood Out The most dramatic result involved isosteviol and duloxetine, an antidepressant prescribed to treat depression, anxiety, and certain types of chronic pain. When used together, the compounds strongly suppressed Roseburia intestinalis and Parabacteroides merdae. Both species are considered important members of the gut microbiome and have been linked to digestive health and metabolic regulation. Duloxetine is widely used. More than 4.2 million patients in the US received prescriptions for the drug in 2023. Studying bacteria one species at a time can reveal direct effects, but the human gut is a crowded ecosystem in which microbes constantly interact. To better reflect those conditions, the scientists constructed a simplified microbial community containing all 25 bacterial species. They allowed the community to develop and then exposed it to different combinations of sweeteners and drugs. The team tracked which species became more abundant, which declined, and whether the community retained its overall variety. Gut Microbial Diversity Declined The combination of isosteviol and duloxetine reduced microbial diversity within the synthetic community. Greater diversity is generally considered a feature of a resilient and healthy gut microbiome, although the ideal microbial composition can vary between individuals. The combination also changed the community's internal balance by allowing some bacterial species to flourish while others declined. Additional experiments suggested that these changes increased toxicity toward certain host cells. They also disrupted the activity of other cells involved in inflammation and immune responses. These results raise the possibility that interactions between sweeteners, medications, and microbes could influence more than digestion alone. However, the simplified laboratory system cannot fully reproduce the complexity of the human body. Dr. Blasche said: "Sweeteners are often marketed as metabolically neutral, but our study challenges this idea. We found that they can directly affect gut bacteria, particularly when mixed with other compounds such as medication and food additives. These common combinations could have unintended effects on our gut microbiome." Human Studies Are Still Needed The researchers emphasize that the findings should not be interpreted as proof that sweeteners or the tested combinations cause harm in people. The experiments involved bacteria and cell models under controlled laboratory conditions. In the human digestive system, sweeteners may be absorbed, chemically altered, diluted, or broken down before reaching particular microbes. Diet, genetics, medication use, and the existing composition of a person's microbiome could also change the outcome. Future studies will need to determine whether similar interactions occur in humans, what doses would be required, and whether any microbial changes produce measurable effects on health. Professor Patil, the study's senior author, added: "Our study suggests that artificial sweeteners don't just pass through the body passively -- they can interact with gut microbes, and these effects can be amplified or altered by other substances like medications. These findings can help guide new studies towards understanding how sweeteners might influence health in unexpected ways." The research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program and the UK Medical Research Council. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260716023552.htm

There are rumors that he died in Ukraine. Rumors that the plant he visited was blown up by Russian rockets and the Hotel where many VIP's stay was also blown up.

A Crisis of Civic Credibility (Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty)   View in browser You know that conspiracy theories have gotten out of hand when even Donald Trump thinks so. Yesterday in the Oval Office, reporters asked the president about FBI Director Kash Patel’s statement that his agents were assisting in an investigation into Senator Lindsey Graham’s death. Trump said the matter was simple: Graham had fallen victim to a heart problem. “What happened is actually something that’s very hard to detect,” he said. “I don’t see a lot of evil there. I know there’s all sorts of conspiracy theories going along. And I don’t think the FBI—I think the FBI’s wasting their time if they’re doing that.” Despite Trump’s effort to tamp down rumors, speculation about Graham’s death continues to spread, especially among Republicans. The MAGA influencer and self-proclaimed McCarthyite Laura Loomer suspects that Graham was murdered, but Marc Thiessen, a Washington Post columnist and former George W. Bush speechwriter, has questions as well. Patel is a MAGA insider and veteran conspiracist, but John Cornyn—an establishment senator who lost Trump’s support and then a primary in May—also wants to see a toxicology report “to rule out any foul play.” At the same time, Mitch McConnell’s prolonged absence from the Senate is inspiring conspiracy theories as well. The senator’s office released a photograph Sunday night that was intended to quell rumors, and it even included a copy of that day’s Washington Post, like a proof-of-life picture of a hostage. The image was immediately dissected by would-be sleuths who wondered whether it was an AI-generated deepfake or some other kind of fabrication. (The Post acquired the original photo from McConnell’s office and says that metadata appear to show it was taken Sunday.) Senator Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has seldom met a wild hare he won’t chase, went on the right-wing channel Real America’s Voice and said, “I’ve just heard from some other sources that was an older photo. So I really don’t know.” One can hardly be surprised that so many MAGA-aligned voices are leaping to unproven theories. (I have seen members of the public and media on the left also casting doubt on McConnell’s status, but no comparable remarks by Democratic lawmakers.) A conspiratorial bent has long suffused the right, but Trump made it core to his appeal. His 2016 campaign centered on the ideas that foreign countries were sending criminals to the United States and that Hillary Clinton was engaged in an elaborate uranium scheme with Russia. More recently, his rallying cry is the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The president can scarcely complain about the FBI wasting its time when Patel espoused conspiracy theories before his appointment, and when agents have been reinvestigating (yet again) the 2020 election results in Georgia. Fringe ideas find fertile territory in Congress, where roughly two-thirds of House members have joined the chamber since Trump won in 2016. This MAGA tendency has exacerbated a broader trend toward low trust in American society, which both preceded and contributed to Trump’s rise. “When people in a society lose faith or trust in their institutions and in each other, the nation collapses,” my colleague David Brooks warned in a 2020 essay. “In periods of distrust, you get surges of populism; populism is the ideology of those who feel betrayed. Contempt for ‘insiders’ rises, as does suspicion toward anybody who holds authority. People are drawn to leaders who use the language of menace and threat, who tell group-versus-group power narratives. You also get a lot more political extremism.” In such an environment, many people are slow to believe official explanations, whether they take the form of medical examiner’s reports or photographs issued by senatorial offices. Distrust has been further exacerbated recently by the rise of artificial intelligence. Disinformation and misinformation experts who spent years telling the public to be on guard against deepfakes are now trying to convince the public that the McConnell image is real. They weren’t wrong to be concerned before, but it’s easy to see how years of warning, combined with a social-trust deficit, contribute to the proliferation of doubt. I see this even in people around me whom I’ve never known to be suspicious or susceptible to baseless rumors. I see it in myself at times. The situation reminds me of a famous old bit called “Of Course—But Maybe” by the comedian Louis C.K. “I have, like, the thing I believe—the good thing, that’s the thing I believe—and then there’s this thing and I don’t believe it but it is there.” That has become the modern American condition. Skepticism of authority is prudent; excessive skepticism is corrosive. But it’s hard to tell when you’ve crossed that barrier, especially when everyone around you is wrestling with the same question. Trump’s attempts to soothe suspicions about Graham’s death are unlikely to make much difference. One reason is that the atmosphere of distrust has broken containment. Trump may have risen by exploiting that feeling, but now he’s just another authority figure to be doubted. Meanwhile, he continues to feed the problem elsewhere. The president is scheduled to give a speech tomorrow night in which he’s expected to speak about supposed threats to election integrity. Trump’s claims about noncitizen voting and other fraud have all been nonsense. For those who believe what he says, these comments encourage distrust in election officials and democracy broadly; for those who reject what he says, they create reasons not to trust the government he leads. Believe it or not, we are condemned to distrust. Related: America is having a moral convulsion. A Department of Justice for an age of conspiracy theories

Defending champion Argentina reaches World Cup final by beating England 2-1 ATLANTA (AP) — No “Hand of God” this time. Argentina didn’t need it. https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-england-argentina-score-2ae6a218ae88248db6565ffd13f60d38?

France’s National Assembly gives final approval to assisted-dying bill after years of debate PARIS (AP) — France’s National Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care. https://apnews.com/article/france-medically-assisted-dying-euthanasia-vote-628a8191b3756ae1fb2cc0e429526b67?

👋 Good morning! Happy Hump Day. In today's edition: Spain topples France, the AL wins the All-Star Game, golf's major season is almost over, the worst contracts of the NBA offseason, Argentina and England's rivalry is reignited, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Suni commits to LA28: Six-time Olympic medalist Suni Lee will return for the LA 2028 Games, marking the American gymnast's third Olympics. And, as is now standard practice, there will also be a documentary exploring her story, including her comeback from chronic kidney disease and her journey to these next Olympics on home soil. 🎾 Coming soon: Speaking of documentaries, the first trailer for Prime Video's "Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter" was released on Tuesday. The feature-length documentary from the director of "The Last Dance" will premiere on Aug. 20 ahead of the U.S. Open. ⚾️ Roch gets record bonus: The White Sox have given No. 1 overall pick Roch Cholowsky a record $10.35 million signing bonus, breaking the previous mark of $9.25 million set by Reds RHP Chase Burns and Rockies minor leaguer Charlie Condon, the No. 2 and 3 picks in 2024. 🏒 Cover athlete: Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini, 20, will grace the cover of EA Sports' NHL 27, making him the youngest player ever to earn that honor. 🏀 Kawhi investigation expands: The NBA's investigation into Kawhi Leonard's no-work, multi-million dollar endorsement deal has expanded to include a previously unreported endorsement deal with another company, among additional potentially improper benefits. Leonard's trade to the Raptors cannot be completed until this investigation concludes.   ⚽️ WORLD CUP SEMIFINAL LA ROJA SHUTS DOWN LES BLEUS (Pablo Garcia/Soccrates/Getty Images) In a battle of the collective versus the individuals — of fundamentals versus flair — Spain emerged victorious, claiming a place in the World Cup Final for the first time since their 2010 triumph. Spain 2, France 0: Spain controlled the game for its duration, seizing the advantage through a 22nd-minute penalty calmly dispatched by Mikel Oyarzabal. Despite the early lead, La Roja did not park the bus, instead remaining aggressive in a match that saw France's once-fearless attack rendered toothless. Pedro Porro's 58th-minute goal slammed the door on Les Bleus, who surely expected Bastille Day to go a little differently. More clean sheets than a laundromat: With the shutout win, Spain have extended their unbeaten run to 37 games and recorded their record sixth clean sheet at this World Cup, where they've surrendered just a single goal through seven matches. That they added mighty France to their ledger is perhaps the greatest feat of all. Consider that Golden Boot leader Kylian Mbappé didn't record a single shot on goal, his first such failure in a World Cup match since the 2022 quarterfinals. And France, which had scored 16 goals this tournament, suffered their first scoreless World Cup game since the 2022 group stage, a span of 10 matches. We knew this would be a battle of strength vs. strength, we just didn't know how completely one of those sides would dominate the other. As Yahoo Sports' Steven Goff eloquently put it, "[France] needed a jackhammer to open the Spanish defense. It came with a butter knife." One-sided rivalry: France entered the match as slight favorites, just 90 minutes away from becoming the third team ever to reach three straight World Cup Finals. But La Roja have now won eight of their last 11 matches against Les Bleus, including three straight major tournament semifinals in each of the last three years as their collective brilliance yet again toppled France's collection of stars. The last word: "This team is made up of huge individuals, but all individuals work towards the benefit of the whole group," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said after the victory. "We are a team, and when you're facing a team like us, then we're unbeatable, and that's how we're feeling now."   🌎 SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS (Al Bello/Getty Images) 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — The AL beat the NL 4-0 in an All-Star Game that gave fans little to cheer about on the field; to wit, Yankees LF Cody Bellinger won MVP on the strength of his 2-run single in the first inning of a game that featured just one extra-base hit. But the environment at the ballpark turned an otherwise forgettable game into an unforgettable evening. The highlight: A massive fireworks display doubled as the dramatic finale of a five-minute midgame ceremony intended to echo the 1993 classic, "The Sandlot." The interlude began with a group of kids riding their bikes to the ballpark, where they eventually hung out with the big leaguers on the diamond as Ray Charles' rendition of "America the Beautiful" played, a la the iconic Fourth of July set piece from the movie. How can you not be romantic about baseball? Or, as Kyle Schwarber said of the Americana-drenched scene, "Man, this is heaven right now." (Dario Belingheri/Getty Images) 🇫🇷 Le Lioran, France — Tadej Pogačar won Stage 10 of the Tour de France on Tuesday, running away from his rivals at the end of a grueling mountain stage to extend his overall lead by nearly a minute (3'36") and strengthen his grip on what would be a record-tying fifth yellow jersey. Must-watch ascent: Pogi's win came courtesy of a chasedown that would make LeBron jealous, closing a 44-second gap in less than 900 meters to pass leader Richard Carapaz on the stage's penultimate climb. And by the way, Carapaz is no slouch, winning gold in the 2020 Olympics and the polka dot jersey (best climber) in the 2024 Tour. Pogačar is simply on another level. (Ander Gillenea/AFP via Getty Images) 🇪🇸 Pamplona, Spain — The annual Festival of San Fermín — the week-long celebration best known for its daily running of the bulls — ended Tuesday at midnight as the townspeople met in City Hall Plaza to sing the traditional notes of "Pobre de Mí" and officially close out the festivities. The running of the bulls: Each morning during the festival (July 7-14), millions of spectators watch as thousands of participants make a three-minute, 850-meter dash through the streets of Pamplona alongside six bulls and six steer en route to the city's bullring.   💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS Scottie Scheffler signs autographs for fans during Tuesday's practice round. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images) ⛳️ 101 days That's how long golf's major season lasts, just a little over three months from the opening round at Augusta to the moment someone hoists the Claret Jug this Sunday at Royal Birkdale. How quick is that? Consider that Indiana won the national championship, Seattle won the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics came and went before the Masters even began. It's a sprint that leaves us with an interminable nine-month wait before it all comes around again, so you'd be wise not to take for granted this week's Open Championship, which tees off 'tonight' at 1:35am ET. Record purse: The Open is offering a tournament-record $17.75 million purse this week, though that figure is still by far the lowest among the four majors ($22.5M for the U.S. Open and Masters; $20.5M for the PGA Championship). It also trails the PGA Tour's eight signature events and first two playoffs ($20M each), The Players ($25M) and the Tour Championship ($40M). 🎾 78 of 92 The Big Three's monopoly (triopoly?) on men's tennis has blended seamlessly into a new era of dominance by the two-headed monster of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who just won his fifth Grand Slam. All in, those five men have accounted for an astonishing 78 of the 92 major titles (85%) since Roger Federer claimed his first back in 2003. Full breakdown: Novak Djokovic leads the way (24), followed by Rafael Nadal (22), Federer (20), Alcaraz (7) and Sinner (5). Andy Murray (3) and Stan Wawrinka (3) briefly crashed the party, while the remaining eight Slams in that time were won by eight different players: Andy Roddick, Gastón Gaudio, Marat Safin, Juan Martín del Potro, Marin Čilić, Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. ⚾️ 89 runs Nationals All-Star outfielder James Wood has scored an absurd 89 runs this season, which is 21 more than anyone else in the majors. That's the largest such lead in MLB history at the break, and the gap between him and second-place is the same as the gap between second and… 71st! Offensive powerhouse: Wood's proficiency (obviously) extends beyond his run-scoring prowess. The 6-foot-6 lefty, who's just 23, also has the fourth-most HR in the majors (28), the second-best OPS (.984) and the most walks (79). In fact, he joins Bobby Bonds in 1973 as the only players in MLB history with 85+ runs, 20+ HR and 15+ SB at the break.   🏀 OVERPAID THE WORST CONTRACTS OF THE NBA OFFSEASON (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) There are no bad contracts in the NBA… at least not for players. But there are definitely bad contracts for teams, who can't afford to misallocate their financial resources with such a deep well of talent in the league and the second apron acting as a de facto salary cap. The worst of the worst: Here are the six worst moves of the summer so far, according to Yahoo Sports' Ben Rohrbach. These massive overpays, wild sign-and-trades, accounting errors and missed opportunities all come at an even greater cost than the half a billion dollars these players will earn. Trae Young, Wizards (4 years, $212.8M): Washington just tied 30% of its salary cap over the next four years to a rather polarizing figure. On the one hand, he's just 27 and has an All-NBA ceiling; on the other, he's a weak link on defense, hasn't won a playoff series in five years and drew zero interest from the league's other 29 teams. Walker Kessler, Lakers (4 years, $129.5M): It's not just that the Lakers are giving Kessler an average of $32.5 million a year, roughly what Miami will pay three-time All-Star Bam Adebayo next season. It's that they also sent Utah two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps in a questionable sign-and-trade for the right to give the oft-injured center that deal. Gary Trent Jr., Bucks (4 years, $64M): Huh? Trent's signing was so surprising that a number of capologists posited it could be some kind of under-the-table agreement left over from last summer. How else do you explain $64 million for a guy who just averaged 8.1 inefficient points per game in his worst season since his rookie campaign eight years ago? DeAndre Jordan, Pelicans (2 years, $7.95M): The number is hardly eye-popping, especially for the ultimate glue guy who just won Teammate of the Year. But the way they structured his deal — perhaps due to a bookmaking mistake? — will cost them $3 million more than it has to, not an insignificant amount for a small-market team that makes its money on the margins. Tobias Harris, Spurs (2 years, $30.8M): This was a real head-scratcher. Not in absolute terms, but San Antonio needs a better upgrade at the 4 position than just a solid veteran and good locker room presence. Props to Harris, though, who's played 15 years without ever making an All-Star team and yet has earned over $300 million in his career. John Collins, Pistons (3 years, $51M): Detroit moved on from Harris and replaced him with Collins, who's averaged a pedestrian 15 and 7 across the last three years on middling teams. It was a puzzling move in a vacuum, and even more so as ascendant superstar Jalen Duren — who should be the Pistons' top priority — languishes in restricted free agency. Best available: Who's still on the board two weeks after free agency kicked off? LeBron James, of course, headlines our list of the best remaining free agents, which also includes Duren, DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15 (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) ⚽️ England vs. Argentina The Three Lions and La Albiceleste meet this afternoon in Atlanta (3pm ET, Fox) for a spot in the World Cup Final alongside Spain, as Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and the rest will continue the bitter, decades-long rivalry that has laid dormant for more than two decades. Head-to-head: They've squared off five times in the World Cup (England leads, 3-2), including two of the most consequential and memorable matches in soccer history. England's quarterfinal victory at Wembley in 1966 was so heated and controversial that it's believed to have led to the introduction of red and yellow cards, first used four years later. And then there's the 1986 quarterfinal, when Diego Maradona scored the most infamous goal in tournament history (the "Hand of God") just four minutes before scoring one of the greatest ever ("Goal of the Century"). More to watch: ⚽️ NWSL: Gotham FC vs. Washington Spirit (8pm, ESPN) … A rematch of last year's championship game, which Gotham won. 🏀 WNBA: Valkyries at Fever (8pm, USA) … Golden State (17-7) has won seven straight to climb within a game of first place; Indiana (14-9) has won two straight and sits in fifth. 🚴 Tour de France: Stage 11 (7am, Peacock) … Riders travel 100 miles from Vichy to Nevers in today's flat stage. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   🌎 GEOSPORTS TAP THE MAP GeoSports is a five-question daily trivia game that combines sports with geography. Tap where it happened! The closer you are, the more points you get.   🏀 BEST OF THE BEST WNBA MIDSEASON AWARDS CHECK-IN (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports) The WNBA season's halfway point has arrived, as all 15 teams have reached the 22-game threshold. With that in mind, Yahoo Sports' Cassandra Negley shares her midseason contenders for the league's major awards, led by Vegory (the "Hand of God") just four minutes before scoring one of the greatest ever ("Goal of the Century").as' A'ja Wilson (MVP), Minnesota's Olivia Miles (ROY), Golden State's Gabby Williams (DPOY) and Dallas' Jessica Shepard (MIP), among others.

ICE should keep making traffic stops despite recent shootings, Trump says WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to keep pulling over vehicles, signaling his opposition Wednesday to plans announced just a day earlier to suspend most traffic stops following another string of fatal shootings. https://apnews.com/article/ice-immigration-enforcement-deaths-traffic-stops-3d614361d8354474bc4eb8e37ec26b28?

Alzheimer’s diagnosis Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, best known for landing safely on the Hudson River after birds disabled both of his plane’s engines in 2009, has announced he has Alzheimer’s disease. The 75-year-old recently received an early-stage diagnosis. “This disease ... impacts millions of people around the world. It is the unwanted visitor at the door,” he wrote. Read more.

Trump DOJ Goons Melt Down After Blanche’s Secret Confession Is Leaked It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the acting AG. The Department of Justice has lashed out at a Democratic senator who claimed that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund was a “mistake.” Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin made the bombshell claim about Trump’s former personal lawyer while speaking to reporters Tuesday, on the eve of Blanche’s confirmation hearing to lead the DOJ on a permanent basis. “[Blanche said] ‘What more can I do? What more can I say? I made a mistake. I don’t want to see the weaponization fund go forward,’” Durbin, the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said. Durbin said he told Blanche to put the admission in writing so it would be more “credible.” He also claimed Blanche told him he would work with Congress to “codify the fact that it’s gone and it’s not going to be used again,” adding that it “seemed like a very weak defense.” Hours after Durbin’s remarks were reported, the DOJ Rapid Response X account suggested the senator misconstrued Blanche’s comments about Trump’s highly controversial taxpayer-funded compensation scheme. “With all due respect to Senator Durbin, it is unfortunate that a cordial private meeting was taken out of context,” the account wrote. “The Acting Attorney General looks forward to answering any and all questions the Senators have [Wednesday]—in public—before the Senate Judiciary Committee.” Blanche’s attempt to establish the “weaponization” scheme is set to be a key line of attack for Democrats during the acting attorney general’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The $1.8 billion slush fund was announced by the DOJ to compensate Trump allies who claim they were wrongfully persecuted by the Biden and Obama administrations, including those convicted of attacking police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The scheme was announced in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service—which taxpayers would ultimately have been on the hook for—alleging that the agency failed to take steps to prevent the leak of his tax returns. The slush fund received such bipartisan condemnation that the DOJ backtracked and announced last month that it would no longer move forward with it. However, Blanche has yet to confirm in writing that the scheme has been canceled. Durbin discussed the one-on-one meeting he had with Blanche on Tuesday on X, but did not mention Blanche’s apparent admission that the slush fund was a mistake. Instead, Durbin provided a laundry list of examples to suggest Blanche has played a key role in “aiding and abetting the most corrupt Administration in history.” “Mr. Blanche is at the helm of a weaponized Justice Department, putting President Trump ahead of the Constitution, the rule of law, and you,” Durbin wrote. “It’s clear that Mr. Blanche has never stopped being President Trump’s personal attorney, and I pushed him on his role in the botched release of the Epstein Files, the MAGA slush fund for cop beaters, the Trump-IRS sweetheart deal, and his crypto corruption.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-doj-goons-melt-down-after-todd-blanches-secret-confession-is-leaked/?

July 15, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. President Trump returned to the combative posture toward Iran that he displayed at the war’s start, threatening yesterday to attack civilian infrastructure and refusing to rule out a ground invasion. And the House voted overwhelmingly to make daylight saving time permanent. (The Senate may feel differently.) There’s more news below. But I’m going to start today with the deadly business of federal immigration enforcement. A memorial for Joan Sebastian Guerrero. Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times Fatal encounters Federal agents have killed two immigrants to the United States in the last eight days, both of them in their cars. The first man to be killed, in Houston on July 7, was in the country illegally. Details in the other case, of a man killed in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday, have remained unclear. The shootings weren’t exactly uncommon. Since President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025, agents involved in the immigration crackdown have shot at least 22 people. Six have been killed. Three were U.S. citizens. Nearly all of the shootings involved officers firing at people in vehicles. We’re still piecing together the particulars of the two most recent shootings. In Maine, officials said the man was trying to flee. In Texas, they said the victim had tried to use his vehicle as a weapon. None of the agents in either incident was wearing a body camera. But The Times has been talking to witnesses and examining video footage. Here’s what we’ve learned. What happened in Biddeford It was early Monday morning in the small, working-class city on the banks of the Saco River, 20 miles south of Portland. Federal agents attempted a traffic stop on a white sedan driven by Joan Sebastian Guerrero, 25, a Colombian national who lived in Biddeford with his wife and 3-year-old daughter. According to Guerrero’s father, he was in the United States legally, though Homeland Security described him, without naming him, as an “illegal alien.” It’s not clear whether ICE was targeting Guerrero — a spokesman for Senator Angus King said the homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, had told the senator the agents were looking for someone else. But they pursued Guerrero, and the stop went awry. The Times obtained several videos of their encounter. In one, there is audio of shouting and five gunshots. Another, from after the shots were fired, shows Guerrero’s car circling slowly around an intersection. After three loops, agents manage to stop the car, open the door and pull out Guerrero. His body falls to the ground. It’s unclear if he’s alive. “I heard agony,” Mary Hayes, a local resident, told The Times. She was describing Guerrero’s wife, kneeling and wailing in the street as his daughter looked on. “I heard a howl that came from your soul, that your whole life had just changed and it was never going to be the same.” In Maine yesterday. Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times What happened in Houston The shooting in Houston also happened early in the morning, in the historically Hispanic neighborhood of Magnolia Park, near the Houston Ship Channel. Immigration agents in two unmarked vehicles there began trailing a white work van. Minutes later, the van’s driver, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, had been fatally shot in the abdomen. Our colleagues on the visual investigations team took a close look at videos of the pursuit. The footage shows the ICE agents driving after the van aggressively, seemingly without flashing emergency lights. At one point one of the pursuit vehicles appears to veer toward the van, possibly making contact, though it’s unclear if it was a ramming or an accident. If there is video of the shooting, it has not emerged yet. But a few moments later, footage from a passing motorist shows two agents bent over Salgado Araujo. He was lying on the street, his hands behind his back, his shirt soaked in blood. A memorial for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Meridith Kohut for The New York Times A surge in arrests These shootings didn’t happen in a vacuum. My colleagues have reported a recent surge in immigration enforcement activity. It has happened both in large cities like Chicago and Las Vegas and in small suburbs outside Milwaukee and San Antonio. Daily immigration-related arrests doubled in the last week in June, they found, and continue to rise at a pace of about 2,000 arrests a day. The recent enforcement operations “may be more targeted, but they escalate quickly, and it is leading to violence just like before,” a Hispanic community leader in Pennsylvania told The Times. “That is the part that is scary.” Yesterday, The Times reported, the Trump administration ordered ICE officers to halt most vehicle stops while carrying out their operations. (ICE said in a statement that the agency would not discuss law enforcement tactics.) Still, death stalks their work. This also happened yesterday: A 28-year-old man ran from what the authorities called “an encounter” with federal immigration officers at a gas station in St. Augustine, Fla. He was hit by a tractor-trailer and killed. THE LATEST NEWS War in Iran Near the Strait of Hormuz this morning. Reuters Trump backed down from his plan to charge hefty fees on ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the United States would instead provide safe passage in return for investment. The strait is now the focus of the war. But it’s unclear how far the U.S. military will go to exert control there. Trump has made flexing his power on the world stage a hallmark of his second term, but the strategy isn’t working on Iran. On Capitol Hill On Capitol Hill. Kenny Holston/The New York Times The Supreme Court justices Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan testified about threats to themselves and their families during a budget hearing over the court’s request for millions of dollars to enhance security. Todd Blanche is scheduled to testify this morning in his confirmation hearing to be attorney general. One focus is likely to be his role in Trump’s retribution campaign. Congress has grown older and older over the past few decades, as the chart below shows. Click the image to see more charts about our aging lawmakers. The New York Times More on Politics Trump has paid the writer E. Jean Carroll $5.6 million after a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting and then defaming her, court records show. Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protester who became a prominent focus of Trump’s campus crackdown, filed a lawsuit accusing administration officials, pro-Israel groups and others of colluding to suppress his constitutional rights. Data Centers New York’s governor enacted the first U.S. statewide moratorium on building the largest kind of data centers. The nation’s largest electrical grid operator said electricity rates would rise for millions of households and businesses within the next three years because of the power that data centers need. OPINIONS Stephan Dybus Looking to break a social media addiction? Meher Ahmad recommends a lo-fi way to do it. Lindsey Graham struck a devil’s bargain with Trump. It was a choice that gave him power, Bret Stephens writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS We’ve made all of these links free for you. Gus the T. rex. Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Sotheby’s sold a towering T. rex fossil, nicknamed Gus, for $50.1 million, reanointing the carnivore as the most valuable dinosaur on the commercial fossil market. (Two years ago, it had been unseated — by a herbivore, no less — when a stegosaurus sold for $44.6 million.) In a small Brazilian city deep in the rain forest, you follow either the blue bull mascot or the red one. It’s nothing to do with sports or politics. It’s all about class. The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about menopause myths. Scientists say they have solved what may be the most famous lawn-care-related problem in physics: What happens if you run a sprinkler in reverse, underwater? (One of the scientists who helped with the research was the aptly named Brennan Sprinkle.) TODAY’S NUMBER 12 — That is how many miles Dale Sanders, 91, plans to hike each day on his quest to reclaim his record as the oldest person ever to hike the whole Appalachian Trail. At 80, he became the oldest person to paddle the full length of the Mississippi. Luke Piotrowski/The New York Times WORLD CUP Spain totally outclassed France in yesterday’s semifinal. The 2-0 victory was no accident, our analyst writes. The outcome of today’s semifinal between England and Argentina will likely come down to Lionel Messi and Jude Bellingham. The matchup between the nations is steeped in bad blood. Erling Haaland led Norway to its best-ever World Cup finish. Now he’s big in China. Fans there call him “Baby Ha.” RECIPE OF THE DAY Nico Schinco for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. The tomatoes at my market are starting to get good, and it’s time to return to one of my favorite summer meals: Ali Slagle’s tomato Cheddar toasts. You don’t really need a recipe to make them (it’s just tomato and Cheddar on toast slathered with mayonnaise), but you sure can benefit from the advice she picked up from the chef Chris Kronner about how. That is, to grate your cheese into the mayonnaise before swiping it onto the hot toast (wall to wall, please). It melts into a queso-like almost-cream that complements the sliced tomatoes beautifully. 🍅 A FORGOTTEN MASTERPIECE “The Lost Crucifix,” carved by Michelangelo when he was about 18. Augustinian Community of Santo Spirito, Florence Tired: Michelangelo’s David. Wired: Michelangelo’s small wooden sculpture of Christ at the Santo Spirito church in Florence. Here’s the argument. More on culture They’re shorts, but longer. They’re a skirt, but with pant legs. And while they came into fashion in the 1800s, their last big hurrah was during the 1970s. Until now. Culottes are back! The writer Chris Brancato helped create “Narcos” and “Godfather of Harlem.” Now he has brought “The Westies” to the screen, a series about the scrappy Irish street gang that ran the West Side of Manhattan in the early 1980s. “I consider myself in charge of the scumbag universe,” he told The Times. Late night hosts discussed Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Six Flags Over Texas Strap yourself into one of five new — and frankly terrifying — American roller coasters. One will take you up 309 feet, pause, then drop you at a 95-degree angle at a top speed of 87 miles per hour. Invest in a soundbar for that giant television you found on sale at the big box store. Even the budget pick recommended by the audiophilic cineastes at Wirecutter can help bring Hollywood into your home. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was vitriolic. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam 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 Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

🦖 1 fun thing: T. rex record Photo: Matthew Sherman/Sotheby's via AP A Tyrannosaurus rex fossil billed as one of the world's largest and most complete specimens was sold for $50.1 million yesterday to a mystery bidder. Sotheby's said the 67-million-year-old fossil, nicknamed "Gus," is now the most expensive set of dinosaur bones ever auctioned. The specimen — about 61% complete — measures 12½ feet tall and 38 feet long. Go deeper.

⚡ Data center fight's new blueprint Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's first-in-the-nation data center moratorium could provide a playbook for Democrats confronting one of the most heated issues of the midterms, Axios' Maria Curi writes. Why it matters: Data centers have become a lightning rod across the country, and Hochul is testing how far Democrats can go on it. 🔭 Zoom out: The backlash against data centers — and the political response — isn't limited to blue states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) recently called for a ban on new AI data centers in rural neighborhoods and requiring the industry to shoulder more of its infrastructure costs.