WASHINGTONPOST (Cole Reynolds) - Polymarket let users bet on wildfires. Lawmakers warn that could spur arson.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) said “you never want to encourage the obscene act of starting a fire.”
JUSTTHENEWS (John Solomon, Steven Richards) - FBI had 14 informants on Biden corruption but ran secret op to dismiss evidence as disinformation
Bureau secretly flagged Cabinet officials like Bill Barr and Mike Pompeo, lawmakers and journalists as ‘conduits’ for Russia propaganda.
NYTIMES (Muktita Suhartono and Ulet Ifansasti) - In Bali, a Quest to Restore the Sacred Glow of Fireflies
The insects, revered in local culture, are disappearing for many reasons, including rapid development to cater to tourists.
NYTIMES (Amanda Schupak) - Telescope Spots Two Black Holes on the Cusp of Merging
New images from the James Webb telescope show a galaxy with a trio of supermassive black holes. Two of them appear to be locked in a tight tango.
NYTIMES (Dana G. Smith) - Blood Tests to Predict Alzheimer’s Are Causing Confusion and Distress
The tests aren’t a guarantee that someone will develop dementia, but that hasn’t stopped people from getting them.
NYTIMES (Amy Harmon) - Trump Administration Bars Medicaid Funding of Transition Treatment for Transgender Youth
Transgender rights advocates said the new rule would face a legal challenge.
NYTIMES (Ian Austen) - Trump Tariffs Force Some Canadian Companies to Move South of the Border
If President Trump moves ahead with 50 percent tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products later this month, some companies may only survive by relocating to the United States.
NYTIMES (Kurtis Lee and Shelby Tauber) - Heat Kills Hundreds of Workers Each Year. A Postal Carrier Was One.
About half a dozen states explicitly protect workers from excessive heat. And some others, like Texas, prevent local governments from passing their own laws.
NYTIMES (Joshua Barone and Dustin Franz) - Musical Manuscripts Are Intimate and Transporting. See Why.
Franz Welser-Möst, the Cleveland Orchestra’s music director, takes us on a tour through the handwritten score of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony.
NYTIMES (Megan DiTrolio and Nicholas Casey) - How a Reporter Interviewed Deportees Sent to a Prison in Africa by the Trump Administration
A Times reporter spoke with detainees in southern Africa using a cellphone one of them obtained after a hunger strike.