Afghan Contractor Handed Out Russian Cash to Kill Americans, Officials Say  —  A small-time businessman became a key middleman for bounties on coalition troops in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence reports say.  Friends saw him grow rich, but didn't know how.  —  KABUL, Afghanistan …

Record cash floods Democrats, Black groups amid protests and pandemic  —  Online donors poured a record $392 million into campaigns and causes via ActBlue in June, a sign of surging activism and political enthusiasm on the left that smashed the previous monthly high, from just before the 2018 election, by a whopping 50 percent.

Alabama students throwing ‘COVID parties’ to see who gets infected: Officials  —  Rising infections prompt Gov. Kay Ivy to extend ‘Safer at Home’ orders.  —  Students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 have been attending parties in the city and surrounding area …

Trump's aides debate a new virus approach as President claims it will ‘disappear’  —  President Trump says he's ‘all for masks’  —  (CNN)A divide has emerged inside President Donald Trump's inner circle over whether he should turn his attention back to the coronavirus pandemic or continue …

Scoop: Trump regrets Kushner advice on prison reform  —  President Trump has told people in recent days that he regrets following some of son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner's political advice — including supporting criminal justice reform — and will stick closer to his own instincts …

Senate Republicans can't catch a break  —  The high point of 2020 for Senate Republicans — if there is one — may have been Feb. 6.  —  The Senate had acquitted President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial the day before, and he held an hour-long “victory celebration” in the East Room of the White House.

Tell-All Book on Trump Can Move Forward Pending Hearing, Judge Rules  —  The decision reversed a lower court's ruling that had temporarily halted publication of the book by the president's niece, but it didn't address whether she violated a confidentiality agreement.

Official U.S. coronavirus death toll is ‘a substantial undercount’ of actual tally, Yale study finds  — The 781,000 total deaths in the U.S. in the three months through May 30 were nearly 19% higher than what would normally be expected, the study said.  — The number of excess deaths …

In wake of Trump's Tulsa rally, his campaign is still contending with the fallout  —  It was just hours before President Trump was set to take the stage for his rally in Tulsa last month when the news broke: Six staff at the site had just tested positive for the coronavirus.

​Popular Pro-Trump ​Digital Strategist Made Racist Comments on a Secret Twitter Account  —  Caleb Hull, ​a digital communications strategist popular with pro-Trump Republicans, made racist ​and inflammatory​ comments, including the use of the n-word …

GOP senators debate replacing Columbus Day with Juneteenth as a federal holiday  —  Republican senators are debating whether Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, should replace Columbus Day on the federal government's list of official holidays.

How Mount Rushmore Became Mount Rushmore  —  The South Dakota landmark has drawn criticism over the land it occupies, the main sculptor behind it and the legacies of the men it memorializes.  —  This year, for the first time in more than a decade, there will be a major fireworks display …

Exclusive: Hundreds of George W. Bush administration officials to back Biden, group says  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said …

In Austin, Where Nearly All Concerts are Canceled, Vanilla Ice Set to Perform Friday  —  Relive the Nineties, “When we didn't have coronavirus!”  —  Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order last Friday closing all bars due to an expected surge in COVID-19 cases effectively put an end to those in-person concerts still taking place locally.

U.S. urges companies to steer clear of Chinese forced labor  —  The Trump administration has cautioned U.S. companies about doing business with Chinese suppliers that rely on the forced labor of Uighurs, an ethnic group that lives mostly in China's Xinjiang province.

America's Enduring Caste System  —  Our founding ideals promise liberty and equality for all.  Our reality is an enduring racial hierarchy that has persisted for centuries.  —  We saw a man face down on the pavement, pinned beneath a car, and above him another man, a man in uniform …

Internal Messages Reveal Crisis at Houston Hospitals as Coronavirus Cases Surge  —  Texas was one of the first states in the nation to ease social distancing mandates.  In Houston, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has quadrupled since Memorial Day.  “It's time to be alarmed,” one expert said.

Whipping post removed from outside Sussex County Courthouse  —  GEORGETOWN, Delaware (WPVI) — An eight-foot tall whipping post has been removed from outside the Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown, Delaware.  —  The Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs (HCA) …

Live updates: Daily reported coronavirus infections in the U.S. top 50,000 for the first time  —  New reported coronavirus infections in the U.S. topped 50,000 on Wednesday for the first time.  California added 9,740 new cases to its official tally — a new daily high for the state …

The virus didn't stop a Washington socialite from throwing a backyard soiree.  Then the tests came back positive.  —  This is A Cautionary Tale featuring well-intentioned people making poor choices.  It is also the tale of a socialite with an Instagram habit who recently held a fabulous backyard soiree during a pandemic.

Senate Republicans shrug off Trump's veto threat over renaming Confederate bases  —  Senate Republicans were unfazed Wednesday by President Donald Trump's threat to veto the annual defense policy bill over his opposition to the renaming of U.S. military installations honoring prominent Confederate figures.

Harvard grad Claira Janover says she's lost Deloitte job over TikTok ‘stab threat’  —  The Harvard graduate who said in a TikTok video that she would “stab” anyone who told her “All Lives Matter” revealed in a new pair of recordings that she has lost her job over the perceived threats and ensuing furor.

Scoop: Twitter removes photo from Trump tweet after NYT copyright complaint  —  Twitter has removed a picture from a tweet by President Trump on Tuesday after it received a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint from the New York Times, which owns the rights to the photo.

Here's what happens when a neighborhood's only grocery store closes  —  New York (CNN Business)The nearby Save A Lot supermarket was a lifeline for Karina Rayeford, a single mom of three kids in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.  —  The grocery store, located in the predominantly Black public housing community …

Amid Virus Surge, Republicans Abruptly Urge Masks Despite Trump's Resistance  —  Masks became a political cause for some in the early months of the pandemic.  A growing set of Republican leaders are suddenly pushing Americans to wear them.  —  CHICAGO — Protesters marched on the State Capitol in Texas …