The Latest: GOP eyeing $1B disaster funds cut to help wall  —  https://www.apnews.com/83e6782d48e04993 a741b834771c078b  —  Link copied!  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and Congress (all times local):  —  President Donald Trump is promising billions …

Arkema: No way to prevent explosion at flooded Texas chemical plant  — All residents within 1.5 miles of a chemical plant in southeast Texas were evacuated on Tuesday because of the rising risk of an explosion.  — The owner of the plant, Arkema, said in a statement the situation at its Crosby …

Google Critic Ousted From Think Tank Funded by the Tech Giant  —  WASHINGTON — In the hours after European antitrust regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in late June, an influential Washington think tank learned what can happen when a tech giant that shapes public policy debates …

Fox News Poll: Voters' mood sours, 56 percent say Trump tearing country apart  —  Voter satisfaction with the direction of the nation is down by double digits, as a majority says President Donald Trump is tearing the country apart.  —  That's according to the latest Fox News Poll.

Legal challenge to Arpaio pardon begins  —  After President Trump's pardon of ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio, who had been convicted of criminal contempt for violating a court order designed to stop the violation of the constitutional rights of suspected illegal immigrants, conventional wisdom …

Sandra Bullock Donates $1 Million to Help Hurricane Relief Effort  —  Actress Sandra Bullock is pitching in to help victims of Hurricane Harvey — donating $1 million to the Red Cross relief effort, the relief organization confirms.  —  “This is an incredible gift.  We're so thankful.

Contractors, Not Troops, Will Save Afghanistan  —  In 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor pulled the United States into World War II, a group of volunteer American aviators led by Gen. Claire Chennault known as the Flying Tigers fought Japanese aggression in China.

Christopher Columbus Statue Beheaded in Yonkers  —  Police say it could have been juveniles or could be fallout from the deadly protests earlier this month in Charlottesville  —  A statue of celebrated explorer Christopher Columbus was found beheaded in a Yonkers park.

NBC Insider: ‘Total Panic’ Over Megyn Kelly's Morning Show … Four weeks before the Sept. 25 debut of Megyn Kelly Today—the 9 a.m. replacement for the venerable morning show's third hour, Today's Take—some NBC insiders are expressing doubts, and even worries, about the network news division's plan …

Trump makes policy pledge to senator investigating son's Russia meeting  —  President promises federal support for ethanol to industry backer Chuck Grassley a day after reports that Trump Jr will meet with Grassley's committee … Donald Trump called a senior Republican senator from Iowa …

Feinstein surprises SF crowd by expressing hope for Trump  —  U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein shocks an audience in San Francisco saying Trump could be a good president.  Elizabeth Keatinge (@elizkeatinge) has more.  —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein may be San Francisco's favorite politician …

Trump's tax speech: light on substance, heavy on populism  —  You won't learn anything new about the secretly-negotiated details of the Republican tax plan, when President Trump visits a manufacturing company in Springfield, Missouri.  —  What you will learn is how Trump plans to sell the GOP tax plan …

Trumka: Some White House trade backers ‘turned out to be racist’  —  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday morning that some White House aides who support protectionist trade policies “turned out to be racist,” after President Donald Trump held a news conference blaming both sides …

Betsy DeVos's Hiring Of A Former For-Profit College Dean To Head Fraud Unit Spurs Anger  —  “This is a joke, right?”  —  Betsy DeVos has hired a former official at the for-profit college DeVry University to run a unit that investigates for-profit college fraud, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News.

A fresh crisis may be emerging within Trump's administration  —  MORE FROM: … As horrible as it is, the Houston deluge eventually will fade from the headlines and the media's attention will return full-time to the rising waters around Donald Trump's presidency.

The Search For Aaron Rodgers … Photographs by Randall Slavin  —  After the game, Aaron Rodgers got on the bus.  It was unusually cold in Arlington during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLV; a winter storm had barreled into Texas, blanketing Cowboys Stadium with so much snow that slabs of ice cascaded from the roof.

Part of our rescue team is now fighting an apartment fire and rescuing folks from the complex.  And the lightning has slowed up some rescues, but they have NOT stopped.  —  Our whole city is underwater right now but we are coming!  If you called, we are coming.

How to Get Rich in Trump's Washington  —  His presidency has changed the rules of influence in the nation's capital — and spawned a new breed of lobbyist on K Street.  —  As for so many other people, election night did not pan out quite the way Robert Stryk expected.

King County deputy on leave after pulling gun during traffic stop  —  Raw: Deputy pulls gun during traffic stop.  Video: Alex Randall. … A King County Sheriff's deputy will be placed on administrative leave Tuesday after a video surfaced that shows the deputy confronting a motorcyclist with a gun during a traffic stop.

Fox News Signs Tomi Lahren as Contributor  —  Conservative media host Tomi Lahren has joined Fox News in a contributor role, the cable news network announced Wednesday.  —  She will make her debut as a contributor on tonight's edition of “Hannity” at 10 p.m. ET/PT. According to FNC …

FDA approval brings first gene therapy to the United States  —  CAR T-cell therapy approved to treat certain children and young adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia … For Immediate Release … The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a historic action today making …

Mattis responds to Trump: US ‘never out of diplomatic solutions’ on North Korea  —  on Wednesday sought to downplay President Trump's earlier assertion that seemed to rule out a diplomatic solution to North Korea's ongoing missile tests.  —  “The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years.

Presidential Pardons Might Not End Russia Prosecutions  —  President Donald Trump's unusual pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, issued before his federal case was even finished, has sparked a debate over whether the president could end Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe with a spate of pre-emptive pardons.

IVANKA BACKS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S PLAN TO SCRAP OBAMA RULES PREVENTING PAY DISCRIMINATION  —  The White House, with the backing of Ivanka Trump, will end an Obama-era policy that would have required business owners to document how much they pay their workers alongside their gender, race and ethnicity.