The Latest: GOP eyeing $1B disaster funds cut to help wall  —  https://www.apnews.com/83e6782d48e04993 a741b834771c078b  —  Link copied!  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and Congress (all times local):  —  President Donald Trump is promising billions …

Legal challenge to Arpaio pardon begins  —  After President Trump's pardon of ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of criminal contempt for violating a court order designed to stop the violation of the constitutional rights of suspected illegal immigrants, conventional wisdom …

Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant  —  WASHINGTON — In the hours after European antitrust regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in late June, an influential Washington think tank learned what can happen when a tech giant that shapes public policy debates …

NBC Insider: ‘Total Panic’ Over Megyn Kelly's Morning Show … Four weeks before the Sept. 25 debut of Megyn Kelly Today—the 9 a.m. replacement for the venerable morning show's third hour, Today's Take—some NBC insiders are expressing doubts, and even worries, about the network news division's plan …

The incredible shrinking president  —  As President Trump formally launches his tax-reform drive this afternoon with a no-details, “vision-casting” speech in Springfield, Missouri, the self-inflicted wounds of the past 222 days are adding up.  (Speech preview here, off embargo at 6 a.m.)

Sandra Bullock Donates $1 Million to Help Hurricane Relief Effort  —  Actress Sandra Bullock is pitching in to help victims of Hurricane Harvey — donating $1 million to the Red Cross relief effort, the relief organization confirms.  —  “This is an incredible gift.  We're so thankful.

How to Get Rich in Trump's Washington  —  His presidency has changed the rules of influence in the nation's capital — and spawned a new breed of lobbyist on K Street.  —  As for so many other people, election night did not pan out quite the way Robert Stryk expected.

Christopher Columbus Statue Beheaded in Yonkers  —  Police say it could have been juveniles or could be fallout from the deadly protests earlier this month in Charlottesville  —  A statue of celebrated explorer Christopher Columbus was found beheaded in a Yonkers park.

Presidential Pardons Might Not End Russia Prosecutions  —  President Donald Trump's unusual pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, issued before his federal case was even finished, has sparked a debate over whether the president could end Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe with a spate of pre-emptive pardons.

IVANKA BACKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S PLAN TO SCRAP OBAMA RULES PREVENTING PAY DISCRIMINATION  —  The White House, with the backing of Ivanka Trump, will end an Obama-era policy that would have required business owners to document how much they pay their workers alongside their gender, race and ethnicity.

Here's why people hate Joel Osteen  —  Twitter is loathing Houston's megawatt-smile, mega-pastor Joel Osteen right now.  What gives? … The question over whether Osteen's 38,000-member Lakewood Church has sufficiently aided in the disaster relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Harvey has …

Mattis responds to Trump: US ‘never out of diplomatic solutions’ on North Korea  —  on Wednesday sought to downplay President Trump's earlier assertion that seemed to rule out a diplomatic solution to North Korea's ongoing missile tests.  —  “The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years.

Trumka: Some White House trade backers ‘turned out to be racist’  —  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday morning that some White House aides who support protectionist trade policies “turned out to be racist,” after President Donald Trump held a news conference blaming both sides …

King County deputy on leave after pulling gun during traffic stop  —  Raw: Deputy pulls gun during traffic stop.  Video: Alex Randall. … A King County Sheriff's deputy will be placed on administrative leave Tuesday after a video surfaced that shows the deputy confronting a motorcyclist with a gun during a traffic stop.

The Search For Aaron Rodgers … Photographs by Randall Slavin  —  After the game, Aaron Rodgers got on the bus.  It was unusually cold in Arlington during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLV; a winter storm had barreled into Texas, blanketing Cowboys Stadium with so much snow that slabs of ice cascaded from the roof.

Feinstein surprises SF crowd by expressing hope for Trump  —  U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein shocks an audience in San Francisco saying Trump could be a good president.  Elizabeth Keatinge (@elizkeatinge) has more.  —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein may be San Francisco's favorite politician …

Nation's largest oil refinery forced to shut down as Harvey floods Port Arthur  —  See dramatic rescues as Harvey flooding spreads  —  The largest oil refinery in the country is shutting down as Hurricane Harvey causes more catastrophic flooding.  —  Early Wednesday, Motiva said it started closing …

How Apple Plans to Change the Way You Use the Next iPhone  —  Premium device is said to come with new gesture controls to replace home button, taller screen with rounded corners.  —  Apple Inc. plans to transform the way people use its next high-end iPhone by eliminating the concept …

When a furniture showroom becomes a storm shelter  —  Richmond, Texas (CNN)David and Maria Parks sit for hours on a sofa, intently watching news footage of flooding in Houston.  This couch is the only place they have left to go for now.  —  The Parks and about 300 other evacuees are taking refuge …

ESPN Football Analyst Walks Away, Disturbed by Brain Trauma on Field  —  LONG BEACH, Calif. — If Ed Cunningham had not already seen enough, he would be back in a broadcast booth on Saturday afternoon, serving as the color analyst for another top college football game televised on ABC or ESPN.

Contractors, Not Troops, Will Save Afghanistan  —  In 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor pulled the United States into World War II, a group of volunteer American aviators led by Gen. Claire Chennault known as the Flying Tigers fought Japanese aggression in China.