GOP Senators Had No Idea They Voted For Controversial Gambling Tax  —  How the sausage is made in Washington: In the dark and behind closed doors.  —  WASHINGTON - The massive tax and spending bill that President Donald Trump signed into law last week contains a provision limiting tax deductions …

X Chief Says She Is Leaving the Social Media Platform  —  Linda Yaccarino, whom Elon Musk hired to run X in 2023, grappled with the challenges the company faced after Mr. Musk took over.  —  Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive of X and a top lieutenant to its owner, Elon Musk …

Meet the new national police force  —  A version of this story appeared in CNN's What Matters newsletter.  To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.  —  CNN —  The agency of mask-wearing officers who aren't afraid to smash windows, detain lawmakers and pluck nonviolent …

Biden's physician declines to cooperate in GOP probe of former president's mental fitness  —  Kevin O'Connor, who served as Joe Biden's physician while the former president was in office, is refusing to testify in a closed-door interview as part of the House GOP probe into Biden's mental acuity.

Measles Cases Hit Record High, 25 Years After U.S. Eliminated the Disease  —  Experts worry that if vaccination rates do not improve, deadly outbreaks will become the new normal.  —  There have now been more measles cases in 2025 than in any other year since the contagious virus …

The CIA Director Didn't Read His Own Report  —  THE FBI HAS LAUNCHED A CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION into James Comey and John Brennan, respectively directors of the FBI and CIA, for an alleged criminality involved in the investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign's links with the Russian government.

Slingshot Poll: The NYC Mayor's Race, July 2-July 6  —  Slingshot conducted a poll of registered voters in NYC from July 2nd to July 6th.  The poll provides an early look at the electorate after the Democratic primary and ahead of an intriguing general election on November 4th

Over 2,000 senior staff set to leave NASA under agency push … Many of those leaving also serve in NASA's core mission sets, according to the documents.  Those leaving include 1,818 staff serving in mission areas like science or human space flight, with the rest performing mission support roles like IT …

The Supreme Court Says the President Can Fire People  —  The Justices nix a lower-court universal injunction that presumed illegality.  —  Do you hear the Justices now?  That's the question for lower court judges after the Supreme Court on Tuesday nixed a universal injunction that had barred …

ICE Is Searching a Massive Insurance and Medical Bill Database to Find Deportation Targets  —  Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have gained access to a massive database of health and car insurance claims and are using it to track down people they want to deport …

Comey Tracked by Secret Service After Post Critical of Trump  —  After the former F.B.I. director put a picture on Instagram of seashells arranged to say “86 47,” law enforcement tailed his car and tracked his cellphone, steps usually reserved for serious threats.

Trump combats TACO reputation as White House extends tariff deadline  —  As Wall Street traders continued to share the unflattering accusation that “Trump Always Chickens Out,” the president falsely insisted that he did not delay a deadline to collect tariffs.  —  Just now

Trump admin suing California over alleged Title IX violations  —  California was found to be in violation of Title IX late last month, the Education Department says  —  The Trump administration on Wednesday announced it will sue the California Department of Education (CDE) …

Trump appointees have ties to companies that stand to benefit from privatizing weather forecasts  —  As commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick oversees the U.S. government's vast efforts to monitor and predict the weather.  The billionaire also ran a financial firm, which he recently left …

Elon Musk Consulted Curtis Yarvin, Right-Wing Thinker, on Third Party  —  The two men spoke about Mr. Musk's push to create the America Party before the midterm elections.  Mr. Yarvin has expressed support for a monarchy, along with provocative ideas about race.

J.D. Vance's Anti-Declaration  —  Truths Self-Evident No More  —  There's a lot going on in the world, arguably much of it of more material consequence, so readers will be forgiven if they missed J.D. Vance's speech on July 5th at the Claremont Institute, where he accepted their “Statesmanship Award.”

ICE accused of racial profiling in detentions of Latino U.S. citizens  —  A growing number of U.S. citizens — many of them Latinos — are reporting they were detained for various periods by immigration agents in what critics say were instances of racial profiling and overzealous policing.

The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Elon  —  No friendship with Donald Trump can last for very long.  We've seen plenty of examples: Michael Cohen, “Sloppy” Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, Elon Musk—and now Vladimir Putin.  “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said yesterday.

Liberalism is worth saving.  Just ask its critics.  —  Prior to Kanye West, Lawrence Dennis was America's most famous Black fascist.  —  Born in 1893, Dennis had European features and light skin that allowed him to pass for white, which he did for nearly his entire life.

As the Texas Floodwaters Rose, One Indispensable Voice Was Silent  —  When a reporter demanded to know why the summer camps along the Guadalupe River weren't evacuated before its waters reached their deadly peak on July 4, Rob Kelly, the highest-ranking local official, had a simple answer: “No one knew this kind of flood was coming.”

Scoop: Secret White House meeting on Gaza raises hopes for ceasefire deal  —  Senior U.S., Israeli and Qatari officials held secret talks at the White House on Tuesday that honed in on the key remaining sticking point for a long-sought ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, two sources with direct knowledge tell Axios.

‘People Are Going to Die’: A Malnutrition Crisis Looms in the Wake of USAID Cuts  —  Warehouses in the US are full of foods that fight malnutrition, while kids go hungry in places like South Sudan.  —  Few lifesaving tools are as effective as ready-to-use therapeutic foods, known as RUTFs …

Some of Mamdani's far-left allies want to primary Hakeem Jeffries and other NYC Democrats  —  Democratic socialists in New York City emboldened by Zohran Mamdani's mayoral primary win are warning that they may go after five House incumbents next — and Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader at the top of their list, is daring them to try.

Musk chatbot Grok removes posts after complaints of antisemitism  —  Grok, the chatbot developed by the Elon Musk-founded company xAI, removed what it called “inappropriate” social media posts on Tuesday after complaints from X users and the Anti-Defamation League that Grok produced content …

Trump's Big Beautiful Gift to Anduril  —  Anduril Industries is a major beneficiary of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes a section that essentially grants the weapons firm a monopoly on new surveillance towers for U.S. Customs and Border Protection across the southern and northern borders.

Senate panel advances Trump's nominee to lead CDC  —  President Donald Trump's pick to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is one step closer to confirmation.  On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted to advance the nomination of Susan Monarez …

Scoop: RFK Jr. postpones Obamacare coverage panel meeting  —  Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s office has postponed a meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force scheduled for Thursday that was due to take up healthy diet, physical activity and other steps to prevent cardiovascular disease, sources familiar told Axios.

Trump Administration Renews Attacks On Harvard With Negotiations Uncertain  —  The Department of Homeland Security issued administrative subpoenas seeking data about the university's international students, while two federal agencies challenged Harvard's accreditation.

Trump says the president of Liberia, where English is the official language, speaks ‘good English’  —  Trump's remarks came during a meeting in Washington with the leaders of several African nations.  Many people who live in Liberia are descendants of freed American slaves.

Trump said he threatened to bomb Moscow if Putin attacked Ukraine, 2024 fundraiser tapes show  —  Donald Trump told a private gathering of donors last year that he once sought to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine by threatening to “bomb the sh*t out of Moscow” …

'They're killing us': Immigrants complain of inhumane conditions inside NYC holding site … We rely on your support to make local news available to all  —  Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2025.  Donate today  —  Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations