Scoop: Centrists back $3.5T package  —  Two of the nine House centrists who demanded Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bring the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to the floor by Monday are now publicly promising to vote for the separate $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, Axios has learned.

Kidnapping, assassination and a London shoot-out: Inside the CIA's secret war plans against WikiLeaks  —  In 2017, as Julian Assange began his fifth year holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder, spurring heated debate among Trump administration officials …

Goldman Sachs, Ozy Media and a $40 Million Conference Call Gone Wrong  —  The digital media company has raised eyebrows for its claims about its audience size for years.  Then came the strange voice on the phone.  —  This past winter, Goldman Sachs was closing in on a $40 million investment in Ozy …

As Treasury scrambles to pay bills, pandemic fuels uncertainty over calamitous ‘X Date’  —  Administration officials rule out more heterodox ideas, such as minting $1 trillion coin, to resolve debt ceiling impasse  —  Treasury officials face an unusually difficult task this fall …

Glenn Youngkin's play: Forever- and Never-Trumpers  —  Standing on a flatbed hitched to a John Deere tractor in red Rockingham County, Virginia, Glenn Youngkin decried California liberalism and bashed his rival, Terry McAuliffe.  He also encouraged early voting.  Two words he avoided: Donald Trump.

Liz Cheney on being a Republican while opposing Donald Trump  —  Liz Cheney tells Lesley Stahl about running for re-election as an anti-Trump Republican in Wyoming, as her own party there has called for her resignation, and joining the House Select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

Photographer, social media star Matt Mathews: Opossum taken by the state was his ‘baby’  —  Maybe he should have played possum.  —  Matt Mathews, one of the most sought-after boudoir photographers in the Southeast and a multiple time world-qualifying barrel racer, is also a fierce animal advocate …

The survival of U.S. democracy may hinge on this decision by Pa.'s next governor  —  To millions of Americans, what just happened in Arizona's largest county was a laughingstock, a bad joke that blew up in the face of Donald Trump and his cultists like some exploding cigar from a 1940s cartoon.

Social Democrats beat Merkel's party in tight German election  —  Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD) won a narrow victory in Sunday's general election, topping the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the race to replace her after she stepped down following 16 years in power.

President Biden is making the world a more dangerous place  —  Last week, President Biden gave his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.  He continues to claim that “America is back,” and that the United States intends to “lead on all of the greatest challenges of our time.”

HATE HOAX: Black employee arrested over racist graffiti on Emory University building  —  “Emory is unable to share personnel information and can't speculate his intentions.  Unfortunately, we are unable to share any additional details beyond what is in the statement,” an Emory spokesperson said.

Johnson prepares to call in army as panic buying drains UK petrol pumps  —  Competition rules eased with more than half of garages outside motorway network estimated to have no fuel  —  Boris Johnson is preparing to draft in hundreds of soldiers to tackle the UK's fuel crisis as at least half …

Kyrsten Sinema Is Enigma at Center of Democrats' Spending Talks  —  Arizona senator says $3.5 trillion price tag is too high, holds discussions with Biden, party leaders  —  SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—Senate Democrats trying to pass a sweeping education, healthcare and climate package must first crack an enigma …

Abbott says he'll hire Border Patrol agents who whipped at migrants  —  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Sunday defended the actions of U.S. Border Patrol agents who charged at Haitian migrants on horseback, blaming the Biden administration for not preventing them from crossing the border.

With Abortion Largely Banned in Texas, an Oklahoma Clinic Is Inundated  —  The new law prohibits abortions after about six weeks, a very early stage of pregnancy.  Many women are now traveling out of state for the procedure.  —  OKLAHOMA CITY — On a windy Tuesday morning …

Group opposing indoor vaccine mandate storms food court on Staten Island … MORE ON:  —  A group opposed to New York City's vaccine requirement for restaurants and other indoor activities stormed a Staten Island food court over the weekend — refusing to show proof-of-inoculation before sitting down to eat.

Straw poll: Trump influence among Michigan Republicans might be waning  —  Mackinac Island — The influence of President Donald Trump among Michigan Republicans appears to have waned, according to a straw poll of attendees at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island.

As more Californians head to Texas, how do the states really stack up?  —  After the pandemic shut down all of his construction sites last year, San Jose homebuilder Dan Dang decided to start a new kind of real estate venture.  —  First came a YouTube channel, then a Facebook group with the same name …