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 …

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.

US defense secretary says Tuberville holds are ‘national security issue’  —  Watch the full interview with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at 6 p.m. ET on “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.”  —  CNN —  US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville's holds …

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 …

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

Republican Gains in 2022 Midterms Driven Mostly by Turnout Advantage  —  An examination of the 2022 elections, based on validated voters  —  An examination of the 2022 elections, based on validated voters  —  How we did this Terminology  —  In midterm elections that yielded mixed results …

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.”

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.

Justice Department appeals Jan. 6 prison sentences for Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers  —  Prosecutors are dissatisfied with the severity of the sentences handed down by the federal judge overseeing the case.  —  The Justice Department on Wednesday appealed the sentences handed down to seven members …

Suspect in Larry Nassar stabbing said ex-doctor made lewd remark watching Wimbledon, AP source says  —  A prisoner suspected of stabbing Larry Nassar at a federal penitentiary in Florida said the disgraced former sports doctor provoked the attack by making a lewd comment while they were watching …

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.

Arizona Man Cited in Conspiracy Theories Sues Fox News for Defamation  —  Ray Epps, a two-time Trump voter, says Tucker Carlson repeatedly and falsely named him as a covert government agent who incited the Jan. 6 attacks.  —  Ray Epps, the man at the center of a widespread conspiracy theory …

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 …

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.

G.O.P.'s Far Right Seeks to Use Defense Bill to Defund Ukraine War Effort  —  The group's proposals have no chance of passage, but they have further mired the military spending bill in a partisan fight and highlighted Republican divisions over the war.  —  Reporting from Washington

Former Trump aide and Jan. 6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson signs book deal  —  Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Trump White House aide who testified before the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, has signed a deal to release a book in September.

McCarthy-backed House candidate is getting help from an antisemitic podcaster who wants political leaders assassinated  —  U.S. House candidate Riley Moore, who's backed by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has made six appearances on virulent antisemite Michael Scheuer's podcast …

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 …

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 …

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 …

A Sea Otter Is Stealing Surfboards Near Santa Cruz, California  —  California wildlife officials are hoping to apprehend a 5-year-old sea otter, who has a knack for riding the waves after committing longboard larceny.  —  Annie Roth lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., where she knows enough to stay away from sea otters in the ocean.

Secret Service to brief House committee on cocaine found at White House  —  The drug was found near the West Executive entrance on July 2.  —  The U.S. Secret Service on Thursday will give a classified briefing to members and staff of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee …

Kamala Harris plans tour energizing key Democratic groups in coming weeks  —  The vice president will speak to major Black and Latino groups and a gun safety organization in a month-long series.  —  Vice President Kamala Harris is preparing to kick off a month-long series …