First on CNN: Secret Service concludes cocaine investigation, no suspect identified  —  The Secret Service has concluded its investigation into the small bag of cocaine found at the White House and has been unable to identify a suspect, two sources familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Arizona escalates probe into alleged efforts to swing election for Trump  —  PHOENIX — Arizona's top prosecutor is ramping up a criminal investigation into alleged attempts by Republicans to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state by signing and transmitting paperwork …

F.D.A. Approves First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill  —  The price of the pill, which has not been announced, will determine how affordable it will be when it becomes available in early 2024.  —  Pam Belluck has covered reproductive health for more than a decade.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. press dinner explodes in war of words and farting  —  Page Six regrets to report that a press dinner to boost Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign devolved into a foul bout of screaming and polemic farting on Tuesday night.  —  The White House hopeful attended …

Close to 100,000 Voter Registrations Were Challenged in Georgia — Almost All by Just Six Right-Wing Activists  —  On March 15, 2022, an email appeared in the inbox of the election director of Forsyth County, Georgia, with the subject line “Challenge of Elector's Eligibility.”

New York Is Ordered by Appeals Court to Redraw House Map  —  The decision, if upheld, could allow Democrats to shift as many as six G.O.P.-held seats in their direction.  Republicans vowed to appeal.  —  The Latest  —  A New York appeals court on Thursday ordered the state's congressional map …

The FTC is investigating whether ChatGPT harms consumers  —  The agency's demand for OpenAI's documents about AI risks mark the company's greatest U.S. regulatory threat to date  —  The Federal Trade Commission has opened an expansive investigation into OpenAI, probing whether the maker …

Trump reveals new details about $1 billion in earnings in revised filing  —  In a revision to an earlier filing, the Republican presidential hopeful showed specific income from foreign ventures, speaking fees and real estate  —  Former president Donald Trump disclosed new details …

Biden slams Tuberville's blockade of Pentagon nominees  —  Speaking in Helsinki on Thursday, Biden called the ongoing hold “ridiculous” and “bizarre.”  —  President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized an ongoing hold on votes for military promotions and nominations led by Sen. Tommy Tuberville …

Former crypto CEO arrested on fraud charges  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Trade Commission also filed charges.  —  U.S. authorities on Thursday arrested Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of failed crypto lending platform Celsius Network …

Top donors start giving Tim Scott a look after souring on DeSantis  —  Billionaire Ronald Lauder met with the South Carolina senator.  Others in the check-writing class are also showing interest.  —  With Ron DeSantis stalling in the Republican presidential primary, some wealthy donors …

Democrats Try a Novel Tactic to Revive the Equal Rights Amendment  —  Proponents of the measure to enshrine a guarantee of sex equality into the Constitution are using a creative legal theory to try to resurrect the long-stalled amendment.  —  Reporting from Capitol Hill

SAG-AFTRA Television, Theatrical and Streaming Contracts Expire Without a Deal  —  Negotiating Committee Votes Unanimously to Recommend a Strike SAG-AFTRA National Board to Meet Thursday to Vote on a Strike  —  SAG-AFTRA's Television/Theatrical/Streaming contracts have expired without a successor agreement.

Floods, fires and deadly heat are the alarm bells of a planet on the brink  —  The world is hotter than it's been in thousands of years, and it's as if every alarm bell on Earth were ringing.  —  The warnings are echoing through the drenched mountains of Vermont, where two months of rain just fell in only two days.

The head of the GOP is still elevating 2020 election skepticism  —  RNC chair Ronna McDaniel won't say the election was fair because, given her position, she can't  —  A particularly easy question for a fourth-grade social studies test would be to ask who won the 2020 presidential election.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly suggested that chemicals in water are impacting sexuality of children  —  Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a history of repeatedly sharing unfounded conspiracies that man-made chemicals in the environment could be making children gay …

How Our Efforts to Bring Competition To Television Unknowingly Helped Create the Fox Disinformation Machine  —  For what little it may, or may not, be worth at this point, Preston Padden, Ken Solomon and Bill Reyner wish to express their deep disappointment for helping to give birth …

Trans people's rush to alter their Kansas licenses created a ‘safety concern,’ a judge says  —  A state-court judge has declared that the nearly 200 transgender people in Kansas who rushed in recent weeks to change the sex listings on their driver's licenses created an immediate “public safety concern.”

Gallego rakes in $3.1 million as Kari Lake mulls Senate bid in Arizona  —  Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) announced on Thursday that his Senate campaign pulled in more than $3 million in the second quarter.  —  The Arizona Democrat is looking to win the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema …

‘Racist,’ ‘grooming’: Why parents are trying to ban so many picture books  —  The culture war over what children can read has reached illustrated texts for the youngest readers  —  “Dangerous.”  “Grooming.”  “Reckless.”  “Racist.”  “Lying.”  —  All are adjectives that adults applied …

Trump-supporting Ohio lawyer admits voting twice in past elections: ‘Accidents do happen’  —  An attorney in Ohio who has donated money to former President Donald Trump acknowledged this week that he double-voted in past elections, but he says he only did so accidentally.

‘No way in hell’: Rep. Ilhan Omar says she won't attend Israeli president's address in protest  —  Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said “there is no way in hell” she will attend Israeli President Isaac Herzog's address to a joint session of Congress next week.  —  Omar announced she would boycott …

Senate appropriators to debate Supreme Court ethics proposal  —  Good morning, Early Birds.  Congrats to the Bad News Babes for beating the Members of Congress 15-9 in the Congressional Women's Softball Game last night.  The best stat of the game: A record $588,000 was raised to beat cancer.

Texas A&M Celebrated a New Journalism Director.  Then Came the Complaints.  —  Kathleen McElroy was appointed head of a journalism program at the university.  But then her work in D.E.I. seemed to come into question.  —  Kathleen McElroy, who had recently served as the director of the University …

Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons.  Russia plans to build many more  —  The Ukrainian civilians woke long before dawn in the bitter cold, lined up for the single toilet and were loaded at gunpoint into the livestock trailer.  They spent the next 12 hours …