The danger of a fourth wave  —  The U.S. may be on the verge of another surge in coronavirus cases, despite weeks of good news.  —  The big picture: Nationwide, progress against the virus has stalled.  And some states are ditching their most important public safety measures even as their outbreaks are getting worse.

Once omnipresent Kushner now MIA from Trump's political pack  —  (CNN)As Donald Trump plotted his Conservative Political Action Conference appearance last week, and a broader, more-robust plan to return to politics as an omnipresent disruptor, one person was conspicuously absent from the confab.

House Democrats pass sweeping elections bill as GOP legislatures push to restrict voting  —  The House late Wednesday night passed expansive legislation to create uniform national voting standards, overhaul campaign finance laws and outlaw partisan redistricting, advancing a centerpiece …

Glenn Greenwald Says ‘I Consider Tucker Carlson To Be A Socialist’  —  Glenn Greenwald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-founder of The Intercept, claimed Monday that Fox News host Tucker Carlson is “a socialist.”  —  Greenwald appeared on the Daily Caller's “Wall Street Meets Washington” …

Hard and Soft Threats to Democracy  —  Conspiracy theorists and militia threats led the House of Representatives to abandon its work.  —  Today should be a typical Thursday in Washington, or at least as typical as COVID permits.  But on Capitol Hill, security threats have resulted …

Honors for Doug Mills  —  Doug won 10 awards from the White House News Photographers Association, including Photographer of the Year and Political Photo of the Year.  Gabriella Demczuk was also honored for her contribution to a magazine piece.  —  The Times won 11 awards …

How covid hastened the decline and fall of the U.S.-China relationship  —  Donald Trump's victory in 2016 shattered a fragile understanding between Washington and Beijing and put the most important relationship of the 21st century in the hands of a novice.  Trump had attacked China …

Kelly Loeffler Just Lost Her WNBA Team to a Player She Refused to Meet  —  A massive story just went down in Atlanta, if we take the time to acknowledge it.  —  By any measure, it should be the biggest story in sports: a franchise owner runs a racist Senate campaign, throwing their own Black players under the bus in the process.

Klobuchar lines up first antitrust hearing  —  With help from Cristiano Lima, Leah Nylen, Mark Scott and John Hendel  —  Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.  —  QUICK FIX  — Klo's big plans: Senate Judiciary Antitrust Chair Amy Klobuchar will hold her first hearing one week from today …

Here's how a single resignation, retirement or death could flip control of the 50-50 Senate  —  19 seats could potentially flip if there was an unexpected vacancy, according to state vacancy rules.

Scoop: Leaked HHS docs spotlight Biden's child migrant dilemma  —  Fresh internal documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show how quickly the number of child migrants crossing the border is overwhelming the administration's stretched resources.

Inspector General's Report Cites Elaine Chao for Using Office to Help Family  —  The Justice Department under the Trump administration declined to open a criminal investigation into the actions by Ms. Chao when she was transportation secretary.  —  WASHINGTON — While serving …

David Brooks's Side Hustle Was Funded By Facebook And Jeff Bezos's Father  —  New York Times columnist David Brooks is drawing a second salary for his work on an Aspen Institute project funded by Facebook and other large donors — a fact he has not disclosed in his columns.

A Military Strike in Syria Shows Biden Team at Work  —  ‘You own the clock,’ president was told by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.  But last-minute intelligence forced a change in plans.  —  WASHINGTON—After 10 days of deliberations, President Biden had ordered the Pentagon to conduct airstrikes …

125 people got $500 per month free for 2 years.  Here's what happened.  —  The real-world experiment in one U.S. city gave 125 people $500 per month with no rules on how to spend it.  —  SACRAMENTO, Calif — Editor's note: The video above was published July 1, 2020.

Former Trump appointees say they're still waiting on their vacation payouts  —  A number of former Trump political appointees have still not received their lump-sum vacation payouts and required forms that are necessary to file for unemployment benefits as they face a tough job market in a Democratic Washington.

Texas family detention centers expected to transform into rapid-processing hubs  —  The Biden administration is preparing to convert its immigrant family detention centers in South Texas into Ellis-Island-style rapid-processing hubs that will screen migrant parents and children with a goal …

Republicans Won Blue-Collar Votes.  They're Not Offering Much in Return.  —  Party leaders want to capitalize on Donald Trump's appeal to the white working class.  But in recent weeks, they've offered very little to advance working people's economic interests.

“QAnon Shaman” claims he wasn't attacking the country in first interview since Capitol riot arrest  —  Jacob Chansley, the man seen wearing face paint and a fur helmet with horns during the January 6 insurrection, tells 60 Minutes+ he was trying “to bring God back to the Senate.”

Feds quietly dismiss dozens of Portland protest cases  —  KGW found 31 of 90 protest cases have been dismissed by the U.S. Department of Justice, despite warnings there would be “consequences for acts of violence.”  —  PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal prosecutors have dismissed more than one-third …

Is Biden's Outreach to Republicans Real?  —  Senator Susan Collins was driving to the airport in Bangor, Maine, for a flight back to Washington, when her cellphone rang.  Hours earlier, she and some of her Republican colleagues had sent President Joe Biden a letter objecting to the scale of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus-relief bill.

As Online Shopping Surged, Amazon Planned Its New York Takeover  —  The e-commerce giant added at least nine new warehouses in the city over the past year as 2.4 million packages a day strained the nation's largest urban delivery system.  —  When the pandemic gripped New York City …

'I'm angry and I'm hurt' |  Social media post shows 5 teachers holding up racial slur  —  It started as a game of human Scrabble.  The photo shows faculty from the Christian School District rearranging letters to form the word “coons”  —  O'FALLON, Mo. — The St. Charles County branch …

Businesses tied to Noem family got $600,000 in virus grants  —  PIERRE, S.D. — Family members of South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem received more than $600,000 in funds from a state grant program pushed by the governor that directed federal coronavirus relief funds to small businesses.

Trump made Twitter the White House's spiked-ball cudgel.  Ron Klain wants to change that.  —  After four years in which the White House used Twitter as a tool to batter the media and knife political opponents, the Biden administration is trying a softer touch.

How Much Longer Can This Era Of Political Gridlock Last?  —  Democrats may have a narrow majority in both the House and the Senate for the next two years, but it's nothing near the margin they hoped for.  And the likelihood that Democrats keep both the House and the Senate in 2022 are low …

Just one Republican backed the George Floyd police overhaul bill.  He ‘accidentally pressed the wrong voting button.’  —  When the U.S. House on Wednesday flashed a final vote tally for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds among other sweeping police policy changes …

Pediatrician: The pandemic is taking an alarming toll on children  —  How teens are coping with COVID-19's mental health crisis  —  Lee Savio Beers, MD, FAAP, is the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author.  View more opinion at CNN.

Trump election fraud investigation in Georgia enters new phase with grand jury set to be seated  —  Atlanta (CNN)A criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia is set to intensify this week, as a grand jury convenes …

U.S. suspends federal agent who joined crowd outside Capitol during rampage, lawyer says  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has suspended an agent who was outside the Capitol when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building, his lawyer said …