Exclusive: Mueller refers foreign agent inquiries to New York prosecutors  —  Trump assails Mueller ‘conflicts’ though evidence scant  —  (CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller has referred a collection of cases to New York federal prosecutors concerning whether several high-profile American lobbyists …

Accused Russian Spy Maria Butina Told American CEO: Send Cash to Moscow … Maria Butina, the accused Russian operative, didn't just allegedly cultivate the NRA on behalf of the Kremlin.  The 29-year-old Russian national also braced one of America's best-known businessmen …

Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign  —  WASHINGTON — Facebook is preparing to announce that it has identified a coordinated political influence campaign, with dozens of inauthentic accounts and pages that are believed to be engaging in political activity ahead …

The Justice Department Finds ‘No Responsive Records’ to Support a Trump Speech  —  President Donald Trump delivering an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 28, 2017 (Source: Wikimedia/Office of the Speaker)  —  “According to data provided by the Department of Justice …

Paul Manafort trial: A jury has been selected  —  Paul Manafort, President Trump's onetime campaign chairman, is on trial in federal court in Alexandria on bank and tax fraud charges.  Prosecutors allege he failed to pay taxes on millions he made from his work for a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party …

“Don McGahn Hates Rudy with Intensity of 1,000 Burning Suns”: Is Trump Ready to Cook Giuliani?  —  Inside the West Wing, Giuliani's recent wacko media appearances have attracted the wrong kind of notice.  “Trump thinks he's saying too much,” one Republican close to the White House told me.

‘Everyone talked with Woodward’: Trump White House braces for new book  —  Unlike previous administrations, this White House had no process for making officials available to the legendary reporter.  —  Bob Woodward, the legendary Washington Post journalist, was sitting on the couch …

A Federal Judge Launches a Futile, Unconstitutional Effort to Block Blueprints for 3D-Printed Guns  —  If there's a hall of fame for futile, symbolic, and ultimately unconstitutional federal court orders, the temporary restraining order just issued in Seattle blocking Defense Distributed …

Collins Sides With GOP Leaders in Kavanaugh Documents Fight  —  While Democrats are crying foul after Republican leaders angled to limit disclosures of documents related to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's past work, one of the GOP senators whose vote may be pivotal to his confirmation says she's just fine with it.

US says driving would be riskier if fuel standards tougher  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration says people would drive more and be exposed to increased risk if their cars get better gas mileage, an argument intended to justify freezing Obama-era toughening of fuel standards.

Flynn, Comey, and Mueller: What Trump Knew and When He Knew It  —  Previously undisclosed evidence in the possession of Special Counsel Robert Mueller—including highly confidential White House records and testimony by some of President Trump's own top aides—provides some of the strongest evidence …

What ‘Interracial’ Cuckold Porn Reveals About White Male Insecurity  —  The genre, in which a Black man has sex with a white man's wife, represents the ultimate threat to white manhood and racial purity.  And it's loaded with racist undertones that have real-world implications.

Watch: Top Trump Officials Refuse to Raise Hands to Defend Family Separation … Top Trump administration officials were asked in a Senate hearing on Tuesday to raise their hands if they thought that the “zero tolerance” immigration and family separation policies were good ideas.

Berkeley zoning board says latest 2701 Shattuck proposal is ‘still excessive’  —  A proposal for a five-story, 57-unit building in South Berkeley has come back in its latest iteration after a failed attempt in 2013 to get city approval.  —  The project, at 2701 Shattuck Ave., at Derby Street …

U.S. Considers Higher Tariffs on $200 Billion in Chinese Imports  — U.S. may now seek 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion in goods  — Officials seeking ways to re-engage after talks stalled  —  The Trump administration will propose raising to 25 percent its planned 10 percent tariffs …

Here's How America Uses Its Land  —  There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is.  Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014.  The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century.

L.A. City Councilman Wants Ban on Electric Scooters  —  LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Los Angeles city councilman introduced a motion today to ban the operation of electric scooters until the city drafts full regulations on their use.  —  The move by Councilman Paul Koretz comes as the City Council …

Worker pay and benefits climbing at fastest pace in 10 years, ECI finds  —  The numbers: American workers are finally reaping the benefits of the lowest unemployment rate and best jobs market in decades: Wages and benefits are rising at the fastest pace in a decade.

Kushner Family Newspaper Cuts Ties With A Writer Who Attacked Kremlin Foes  —  The Kushner family-owned New York Observer has cut ties with a writer who has, since 2014, authored dozens of pro-Kremlin articles for the website, the most recent a story in April offering Russia's spin …

WATCH: Safeway calls cops on black mother for giving food to the homeless because they thought she was a shoplifter  —  Altruism can now be added to the list of benign activities black people apparently can't engage in without being treated like criminals.  —  Sunnyvale, California resident …

A Migrant Boy Rejoins His Mother, but He's Not the Same  —  Parents reunited with young children are reporting mental health issues.  One 5-year-old boy has started a new life with his mother in Philadelphia, but signs of trauma remain.  —  PHILADELPHIA — Before they were separated …

Will Democrats lurch to the left?  Watch Michigan.  —  This state has long been known as an early indicator of emerging trends in politics — and for upending expectations.  —  In 2016, Michigan voters dealt Hillary Clinton two stunning upsets: first in the Democratic primary …

Trump administration must stop giving psychotropic drugs to migrant children without consent, judge rules  —  A federal judge on Monday found that U.S. government officials have been giving psychotropic medication to migrant children at a Texas facility without first seeking the consent …

An open letter to the NFL's owners  —  To deny professional athletes the right to express dissent in a peaceful manner is a disgrace to the Constitution, the opposite of patriotism and shameful moral weakness  —  Dear NFL owners:  —  Whew!  What a tumultuous year for your league.

Ready, Aim, Hire a ‘Fortnite’ Coach: Parents Enlist Videogame Tutors for Their Children  —  It's not the violence or the addiction of the hit game that bothers mom and dad—it's the losing  —  Ally Hicks fretted over her 10-year-old son playing the hugely popular shoot-em-up videogame “Fortnite.”

Alex Jones, Pursued Over Falsehoods, Faces a Legal Crossroads  —  AUSTIN, Tex. — In the five years since Noah Pozner was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., death threats and online harassment have forced his parents, Veronique De La Rosa and Leonard Pozner, to relocate seven times.

WATCH LIVE: ICE, Border Patrol testify at Senate hearing on family separations  —  The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. EDT today.  Watch the immigration officials' remarks in the player above.  —  But a hearing scheduled for Tuesday on the topic may have a wider focus …

Briton ran pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign that helped Trump deny Russian links  —  A British IT manager and former hacker from Darlington ran a disinformation campaign that duped former US intelligence agents and provided Donald Trump with manufactured “evidence” to deny that Russia interfered with the US election

Spokane GOP chairwoman defends alt-right provocateur James Allsup at tea party meeting  —  chadso@spokesman.com  —  (509) 459-5047  —  The chairwoman of the Spokane County Republican Party offered a defense of James Allsup during a meeting of local conservatives this month …