Manchin proposed $1.5T top-line number to Schumer this summer  —  Joe Manchin proposed a deal to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this summer to limit the total cost of Democrats' sweeping spending bill to $1.5 trillion, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by POLITICO.

Durham issues fresh round of subpoenas in his continuing probe of FBI investigation into Trump, Russia  —  Washington (CNN)Special Counsel John Durham has issued a new set of subpoenas, including to a law firm with close ties to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, an indication that Durham …

Ozy Built a TV Show on a False Claim, Says Its Former Producer  —  Producers say they were led to believe they were making a talk show for A&E, which said no to the program.  “You are playing a dangerous game with the truth,” the top producer wrote in his resignation email.  — Read in app

Leader of Prestigious Yale Program Resigns, Citing Donor Pressure  —  The historian Beverly Gage, who has run the Grand Strategy course since 2017, says the university failed to stand up for academic freedom amid inappropriate efforts to influence the curriculum.

Pelosi Plans Infrastructure Vote Tonight; Democrats Prepare for Showdown  —  The Senate and House passed a short-term spending bill, which would fund the government until early December.  Senator Joe Manchin III, a key holdout on the president's social policy and climate bill …

Harris' office does damage control over student's Israel ‘ethnic genocide’ comment  —  Vice President Kamala Harris' office is working behind the scenes to mend relationships with pro-Israel Democrats after not pushing back on a student who, in asking her a question, accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.”

Covid is killing rural Americans at twice the rate of people in urban areas  —  Unvaccinated Covid patients still overwhelming health care workers  —  Rural Americans are dying of Covid at more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts — a divide that health experts say is likely …

Why I Am Suing UCLA  —  I refused to discriminate against my students.  Then the problems began.  —  Recently, I was suspended from my job for refusing to treat my black students as lesser than their non-black peers.  —  Let me back up: I teach at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, and I've been doing this for 40 years.

US Marine who says he rescued baby at Kabul airport investigated for appearing at Trump rally [Updated]  —  “The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) has initiated a command investigation regarding LCpl Hunter Clark's attendance at the event last weekend to determine if any DoD policies were violated.”

Harriet Hageman once rebuked Trump and endorsed Liz Cheney.  She's now challenging her with his support  —  (CNN)Harriet Hageman, who earned the endorsement of former President Donald Trump in her 2022 bid to challenge Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, once called her current opponent a “proven, courageous, constitutional conservative.”

Alex Jones Just Lost 2 Sandy Hook Cases  —  A judge issued default judgments — a rarity in the legal world — against Jones and Infowars after the conspiracy theorist failed to produce discovery records.  —  Infowars host Alex Jones has lost two of several lawsuits filed against him by relatives …

IG Horowitz discovers more FBI abuses of FISA process  —  A bad day for FBI Director Wray  —  Today, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz issued a damning new report on the FBI's “Execution of its Woods Procedures for Applications Filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Relating to US Persons.”

Kristi Noem cuts ties with adviser Corey Lewandowski after donor alleged unwanted sexual advances  —  South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has severed ties with political strategist Corey Lewandowski, following allegations reported by POLITICO that Lewandowski made unwanted sexual advances toward a woman at a recent fundraising event.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw bypassed Capitol security, police say.  He's the latest lawmaker to be hit with a $5,000 fine.  —  Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) must pay a $5,000 fine for skipping security procedures as he entered the Republican cloakroom inside the U.S. Capitol last week …

Biden's Approval Rating Recovers Some From Last Month's Low, An NPR Poll Finds  —  Since the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan a month ago, President Biden's approval rating has recovered some in the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.  —  Last month, just 43% of survey respondents approved …

Senate to vote this week on Rohit Chopra, Biden pick to lead CFPB  —  The Senate is expected to vote this week on the nomination of Rohit Chopra, President Joe Biden's choice to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  —  This week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture …

How a Secret Google Geofence Warrant Helped Catch the Capitol Riot Mob  —  A WIRED investigation has found 45 federal criminal cases that cite Google geolocation data to place suspects inside the US Capitol during the January 6 riot.  —  COURT DOCUMENTS SUGGEST the FBI has been using …

Hack Of Oath Keepers Militia Group Includes Names Of Active NYPD Officers, De Blasio Launches Investigation  —  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's office said it will scrutinize NYPD ranks following a WNYC/Gothamist investigation of online records that appears to tie several …

New Initiative Explores Deep, Persistent Divides Between Biden and Trump Voters  —  The University of Virginia Center for Politics has partnered with Project Home Fire, a new initiative dedicated to finding common ground in American politics, on an innovative new data analytics and polling project …

Houston, epicenter of Harvey damage, still would get $0 under Texas' latest disaster aid plan  —  Harris County and the city of Houston this week blasted the Texas General Land Office's revised plan for distributing billions in federal Hurricane Harvey aid, saying that while it is an improvement …

Alito speaks out on Texas abortion case and ‘shadow docket’  —  Justice Samuel Alito leapt into a political fray over the Supreme Court on Thursday, lashing back at critics who have accused the justices of increasingly issuing momentous decisions on its emergency docket without the benefit of a full briefing or oral arguments.

I just rode the bus with Biden's education chief.  You should hear what he said about Trump supporters, critical race theory, and mask mandates.  — Education Secretary Miguel Cardona toured the Midwest last week.  — He's touting a safe return to school amid the pandemic.

Lobbyists' frustration with BIF uncertainty spills out into the open  —  HEADS OF LOBBYING GROUPS GET TESTY ON BIF: The heads of three major trade associations pushing hard for the House to move forward with a vote in the bipartisan infrastructure bill today betrayed their frustration …

Democracy Cannot Survive the Fracturing of the Democratic Coalition  —  When anti-authoritarian coalitions splinter, the authoritarians take over.  —  (PHOTOS: GETTYIMAGES / SHUTTERSTOCK)  —  In the early days of the first Trump presidency, our organization cohosted a “Summit for Democracy” …

Top Republicans rub shoulders with extremists in secretive rightwing group, leak reveals  —  Wealthy entrepreneurs and media moguls also named on membership list for influential Council for National Policy  —  A leaked document has revealed the membership list of the secretive Council for National Policy …

DEA Agents Arrest 800 in the U.S. in Crackdown on Illegal Sales of Drugs Laced With Fentanyl  —  Agents also seized 1.8 million fake pills that were manufactured in Mexico and sold online  —  WASHINGTON—Drug-enforcement agents seized 1.8 million fake pills laced with the synthetic opioid fentanyl …

A Declassified State Department Report Says Microwaves Didn't Cause “Havana Syndrome”  —  Noises linked to mysterious injuries among US diplomats in Cuba were most likely caused by crickets — not microwave weapons — according to a declassified scientific review commissioned by the US State Department and obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Pompeo: Sources for Yahoo News WikiLeaks report ‘should all be prosecuted’  —  Former CIA Director and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called for the criminal prosecution of sources who spoke to Yahoo News  —  for a story detailing proposals by the intelligence agency …