Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is a rising Republican power in House, as well as a whip  —  The beginning of the collapse of House Speaker John A. Boehner's border bill came Wednesday evening, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gathered more than a dozen House Republicans at his office in the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill.

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JULY 2014  —  Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.  Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction.

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: July 2014  —  Liz Hamel and Jamie Firth and Mollyann Brodie … Unfavorable Views Of ACA Increase In July  —  After remaining steady for several months, the share of the public expressing an unfavorable view of the health care law rose to 53 percent in July …

Vice President Biden loves to skinny dip, says tell-all book  —  Naked from head to Joe?  In ‘The First Family Detail,’ author Robert Kessler quotes unnamed Secret Service agents dishing about the private lives of Presidents and those they protect.  —  It's the Joe Biden you didn't know — and might not want to see.

Senate blocks aid to Israel  —  In the end, the Senate couldn't even agree to deliver emergency aid to one of the United States' closest allies.  —  A last-ditch effort to deliver aid to Israel during its war with Hamas died on the Senate floor, as Republicans blocked the proposal over concerns that it would increase the debt.

Gaza Cease-Fire Collapses; Israeli Soldier Is Captured  —  JERUSALEM — A newly agreed cease-fire in the Gaza conflict collapsed hours after it came into effect on Friday with the Israeli military announcing that a soldier appeared to have been captured by Palestinian militants who emerged …

The C.I.A.'s Reckless Breach of Trust  —  In March, John Brennan, the C.I.A. director, was indignant when Senator Dianne Feinstein charged that the agency had broken into computers used by staff investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which she leads.

Ebola-Stricken Doc Gives ‘Experimental Serum’ to Coworker … An American doctor being treated for Ebola in Liberia has “taken a slight turn for the worse overnight,” according to Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian Charity based in North Carolina.  —  An “experimental serum” …

The secret George W. Bush book project  —  George W. Bush worked on the book in secret for two years, without a book deal, without dribbling a word out to Bush alums or other Republicans who would have leaked it in a second.  As far as the outside world knew, he was just spending all of that time working on his paintings.

IDF soldier feared kidnapped  —  Second Lt. Hadar Goldin named as captured officer; terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated near soldiers prior to the suspected kidnapping.  —  A Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in southern Gaza, which occurred an hour and a half …

Holder Cautions Against Use of Data in Sentencing  —  Attorney General Eric Holder is worried about fairness in sentencing.  —  Holder says he's concerned about judges relying too heavily on data when they sentence criminal defendants.  He says judges in several states have begun factoring in …

Eric Cantor quitting Congress Aug. 18  —  Cantor previously said he would serve his full term.  Getty

California Is Now Experiencing Its Most Severe Drought Ever Recorded  —  Irrigation water runs along a dried-up ditch between rice farms in Richvale, Calif.  —  California's drought has reached levels so high and widespread that it's now the most severe drought ever recorded by the federal government …

Don Young sorry for grabbing aide's arm  —  Rep. Don Young has apologized for grabbing the arm of a congressional staffer at the Capitol.  —  His response came after a photo and video surfaced of the Alaska Republican forcefully holding the arm of a congressional aide on Thursday.